please help, really losing my hair

[Sunnytimescoming]

Been to GP, she just kind of shrugged it off. I am 48, with an underactive thyroid and daily Omeprazole for acid heartburn. In addition to these I think I may be perimen.. so basically falling apart. I know it seems shallow but losing my hair is making me sick with worry. Is there an over the counter medicine or supplement I could try? Any advice appreciated.

Hi, I hope someone responds with a bit more experience than me. My mum lost a lot of her hair, she now wears a hair piece, which looks great. The best thing she tried was regaine, but even that wasn't too great.
I started losing my hair in my 20's, thankfully it didn't progress very quickly and at 35 I still have most of my hair even though it's a bit thin at the front.
For myself I felt that stress played a huge part and changing my attitude towards life is probably why the hairloss hasn't been too dramatic.
I would warn you against spending a lot of money on medicines advertised on the internet, if anything perhaps look into reputable alternative practicioners. Unfortunately I think hair loss is just part of the aging process for some women, it's just not as well documented as for men. Did the doctor offer any insights into whether it was related to the other things you are suffering from.
Hope it's temporary and comes back when your health is a bit better.

and by the way it doesn't seem shallow at all to be worried about it, who wouldn't be?

I just remembered something important, about 12 years ago I did go and see someone about my hair. He gave me a shampoo, which seemed to help. I realised the only difference between that and normal shampoos are that it didn't contain sodium laureth sulphates. Since then I have always bought shampoo which is free of this. You can get it in health food shops, the bidy shop does a range, and I've heard that even boots do one now. I think this really helps.

Thanks Hardy. Good tip about the shampoo ill look into that. Doc seemed to think its part of ageing but I have 3 older sisters and its just me with this problem. Actually you have me considering the stress aspect, a few things in the past two years have caused me anxiety so that could be the root cause. No pun intended.

How well managed is your thyroid? Thinning hair is a classic hypothyroid symptom, so I wonder if your dose needs changing?

I developed patches of alopecia and went to a trichologist. They gave me coal tar based shampoo and cream, and blood tests for Iron, vit D and zinc. Turned out I was low on all, particularly stored iron, so I took quite heavy duty supplements for a year and the hair eventually grew back.

Helly - the dose was increased about a year ago based on my symptoms even though the blood test levels appeared within the range. I do feel better since. The hair thing is not improving at all, if anything it is worse. Hoarder - I take daily Omeprazole for acid reflux and I wonder if that affect iron or vit D absorbtion (sp?). That's good about your recovery, can you buy the supplements you took over the counter?

I do remember on another thread abaout thyroid problems a poster saying that her hair fell out when she was on a particular brand of thyroxine, I will see if I can find it in case it is relevant to you.

Yes, I bought the ferrograd C in boots and the zinc and vit d in in holland and barratt. It might be a good idea to have the test rather than just take it, as vit D and iron can be toxic if you don't need them.

www.livestrong.com/article/371947-omeprazole-iron-deficiency-anemia/

hoarder

Am going to make an appt to get iron etc checked. Will let you know...

Definitely get your iron checked.

I'm rubbish at storing iron & unless I'm swigging the stuff on a daily basis (I prefer liquid supplements) my Ferritin levels scrape around at desperately low levels. When I forget to take iron supplements and my ferritin drops, my hair falls out - really badly too.

I had to stop omeporazole as it stopped me absorbing a few things. I now have b12 injections and have to take magnesium too. In the US it has a warning on teh box HTH

yes, Spatone liquid is good too but not v strong if you have really low levels. Once periods stop, sometimes the ferritin levels improve.