Keeping our hair on! Hair loss support thread!

[coffeecake]

Hi, as promised and based on a few Mumsnetters expressing a desire of a support thread for hair loss, here it is!
Feel free to ask any questions, share your experiences etc...

[Medal]

I have had blood tests done, for thyroid, ferritin, folate, B12, amongst others and all appeared in the normal range. The hair loss started exactly 3 months after I started low carbing which is apparently the usual time frame for this kind of stress reaction to occur.

I am not sure having it cut would help, it's shoulder length at the moment.

Pseudonymity, that is interesting about the antidepressants. Which one did you go on?

[Pseudonymity]

Yes, mine is depression and anxiety. I'm on citalopram and it works well for me. I would normally be the sort of person to have said that anxiety couldn't have anything to do with hair loss!

[MoomieAndFreddie]

Sea Kelp tablets are meant to be good for hair - no idea how they work though! but I have found they have worked for me.

(have said this in another thread as well but thought i would add it to this one too)

[TantrumsandBananas]

Hi me too!

Its been thinning for sometime, I have my hair cut short, and all pulled forward on top, sort of a comb over! I spray it into place, very concious of it. It has just stopped falling out for a period of time, which is awful. It will do this every once in a while. If my hair gets wet or messed up, its so obvious.

I have had blood tests, I also have a thyroid nodule (large) and memory loss. Not heard anything yet....

Anyway, this may sound odd but one thing that does work for me, is dry shampoo, it stops me having to wash my hair so often, and for whatever reason, it makes it look and feel thicker. I even use it after I have washed my hair and dried it. Its not a permanent solution, but it does make me feel slightly better to have found something that disguises it a little.

Its horrible, makes me feel so unfeminine.

[Medal]

Tantrums have you seen a dermatologist or trichologist, do you know of any reasons for it?

The sea kelp I think can help to balance the thyroid (well that's what I've read).

[homeaway]

Are any of you deficient in b vitamins ? Maybe a vitamin b supplement would help you but it has to have all the vitamin b's in it as otherwise they are out of balance (if that makes sense ). I hope this helps someone.

[TantrumsandBananas]

Not seen any specialists as yet. The nodule has been biopsied a few times, to make sure nothing sinister.

But only just had more blood tests, not got results yet. So I don't know the reason as yet. When I find out, I will post.

[coffeecake]

Thanks homeaway the supplement I take includes Vit B1, B2, B3, B6, B12. Is that all of them?

[coffeecake]

P.S: If you want to see if you have new hair growth, look in the mirror in a well lighted room and brush your hair down very flat. You should see some new hair growth sticking up.
Remember that sometimes new hair growth can be light, wispy and very thin, so it might be hard to see it at first.
I have read that somewhere.
I'm obsessed with looking at that new regrowth, it gives me some hope.

[homeaway]

Coffee, cant find the packaging for my b vitamins but this is a list of all of the b vitamins that there are. If you ask in a chemist or your doctor I am sure they would be able to find you one that has all of them in. Have you had a blood test to see if you are deficient in them ?
Vitamin B1
Vitamin B 2
Vitamin B3
Vitamin B5
Vitamin B6
Vitamin B7
Vitamin B9
Vitamin B12

[coffeecake]

No. Unless they did them without telling me but I doubt it.
They say vitamin D deficiency can cause hair loss too, and that a lot of people are deficient in this country due to the lack of sun.
Does anyone get that tingling in specific areas at all associated with their hair loss?

[coffeecake]

I heard that vitamin D defficiency could also be a factor, I am already taking a supplement which contains 5 mg which is 100% of the RDA.
I saw another supplement called Ultra Vitamin D and that contains 25mg which is 500% of the RDA (apparently the human body needs a lot more that previously thought, especially in this country).
The only thing is, do I have to stop my multi supplement which already contains vitamin D before starting this one, in case I do an overdose of vitamin D? If I take both, that will be 600% of the RDA. Surely that's wrong?

[coffeecake]

Good link Hair loss problems

[kimimimi]

I had this problem and I tried alot of medicins, vitamins etc, the only tablets who helped an I mean REALLY helped was Forcapil, I can't help myself to recommend to everyone who need.
The story:i had really thick hair, then that summer/autumn (more than 10 years ago) it start to fall and looks like not going to stop,my hair get very thin and I started to panic. Tried this and that,did not worked and the chemist sugest to try this one. My hair stopped falling and by the winther it was thik again.
It was the only time I used,never need,never had that problem again after.
Is this
www.amazon.co.uk/Arkopharma-Forcapil-Intensive-Program-months/dp/B004NNSIOA?tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21

Sorry everybody for my english and I really hope I can help you. :)

[coffeecake]

Finally got an appointment with a dermatologist. I'll see what she says and let you know (I'm a bit scared she will say it's irreversible and it's my lot!!)

[spiderlight]

Hello, can I join in please? I lsot loads and loads of my hair early this year because of serious iron issues: I have ulcerative colitis and had a very severe flare-up last autumn, lost huge quantities of blood (needed transfusions) and my ferritin was something ridiculous like 7.3. I also lost a lot of weight very very fast and had to take steroids for several months. Just as I was recovering from all that, my hair started to fall out in fistfuls :( It never got so bad that my scalp was showing, but it was very obvious because my hair's long and quite fine anyway and I reckon at least half of it fell out over about a six-week period. It stopped coming out once my anaemia started to improve and has been growing back quite noticeably over the past couple of months, but I now have a strange sort of mullet type situation, with a layer of new hair about three inches long coming through all over, which is wavy, whereas my 'old' hair is straight. Part of me wants to get it all chopped off short, but I look awful with short hair and my DH and DS have both begged me not to cut it, so I'm just putting up with it and looking forward to colder weather so I can start wearing hats on the school run. It's so depressing though - my hair was the only part of me that I actually liked :(

[Napoleon66]

About 2 yrs ago i was in a relationship that was causing me lots of anxiety. I noticed my hair thinning especially on top and the temples. About 18 mths ago i started taking Florisene (loads of iron) and i can say that my hair volume has improved significantly. Now I take 1 Florisene tablet a day plus a supermarket own-brand hair supplement which contains biotin - which is supposed to help.

I'm quite happy with my hair now. Also, no stress in my life at the moment.

Good luck everyone.

[Medal]

Good luck with your apptment Coffee. I went to see another derm a couple of days ago and she did two scalp biopsies, not pleasant but hopefully will be helpful - or like you maybe I won't want to know. Fingers crossed we get some answers soon.

[Mumofjz]

just marking my place. I've suffered with hair loss for about 20yrs (in 40's now) though i'm not bald, it's certainly very thin on top. I also have Ulcerative Colitis (which may or may not contridbute) but have found that this year it's been falling out in handfulls. The only factor i can put down to this is that i've come off the contraceptive implant and got sterilised!!! I'm presuming my body may be working like it does when your pregnant and don't loose much hair then when you've had the baby, it sheds it all!!!!
I need to go to the doctors but having been once and "fobbed off", i'm not holding much hope :(

[heroutdoors]

Good thread, liking it a lot.

About 8 weeks ago, I treated myself to a very very upmarket champoo and conditioner.
I swear these products increased/caused even my hairloss.!
I was/am horrified. You don't need hairloss when your hair is not luxuriant anyway.
Although happy to accept that hairloss in spring and autumn is increased, for some reason.

As you may know, an awful lot of cosmetics are now made in China. From cheap to the best known expensive ones.
I cannot believe that they all have their own factories there. I am sure these factories produce a whole load of stuff for various companies in the West.
I now have this recurring nightmare that I maybe washed my hair with engine cleaner, and someone somewhere is cleaning the car engine with my champoo.

Anyhow have gone back to Philip Kingsley and there is a slight improvement.

[heroutdoors]

Good thread, liking it a lot.

About 8 weeks ago, I treated myself to a very very upmarket champoo and conditioner.
I swear these products increased/caused even my hairloss.!
I was/am horrified. You don't need hairloss when your hair is not luxuriant anyway.
Although happy to accept that hairloss in spring and autumn is increased, for some reason.

As you may know, an awful lot of cosmetics are now made in China. From cheap to the best known expensive ones.
I cannot believe that they all have their own factories there. I am sure these factories produce a whole load of stuff for various companies in the West.
I now have this recurring nightmare that I maybe washed my hair with engine cleaner, and someone somewhere is cleaning the car engine with my champoo.

Anyhow have gone back to Philip Kingsley and there is a slight improvement.

[heroutdoors]

Oh, sorry
connection did not work.

[heroutdoors]

Oh, sorry
connection did not work.

[heroutdoors]

WTF?

[coffeecake]

Welcome spiderlight napoleon mumofjz and heroutdoors, and thanks kimimimi for your precious advice.
Napoleon I can really relate, I have a lot of anxiety due to various things, and I am sure it is not helping with my hair loss.

The iron thing sounds quite promising though, the supplements I take don't have that much iron in them but I am taking extra vitamin D too so I don't want to become a "vitamin" freak and pop as many as I can.
I won't know what's helping if I take too many things at once, although I know that iron deficiency is the most common factor together with anxiety.
I've done everything wrong when it comes to my hair (straightened it every day, combed it hard when wet, used Batiste dry shampoo A LOT, had it tied up in a tight ponytail very very often) so it's so hard to judge what is causing it.
Probably a mixture of everything. Maybe anxiety stops the body from absorbing certain vitamins and minerals.
I am feeling quite down about it at the moment, my hair becomes greasy on the second day and the more greasy it is, the thinner it looks.
The only things that is giving me a bit of hope are you girls and the support to know that I am not alone, and that regrowth I am getting (although I have noticed that some of the newly grown hair falls out too sometimes , what's that all about?).
Also I have noticed some tiny black dots every now and again on my scalp, and when I pick them (I usually notice one at a time) they come off easily.
What are they do you think? It freaks me out I hope they are not droppings of some sort.
My scalp feels itchy at times but I know I don't have nits (they couldn't hold on to the amount of hair I've got!!)
Has anyone had that?