Hair falling out. Help!

[BillericayDuckie]

I've noticed that my hair is falling out faster than usual. It's like the hair loss after having a baby, except that I haven't built up extra luscious pregnancy locks to lose, IYSWIM. Hair is becoming thin and straggly.

As background, split with my other half last year and going through stressful divorce. Money worries with only one income now and having to finance divorce. Split has been very painful and I've lost weight (but was fairly slim to start with). Am eating better now, but still not getting as much sleep as I should - 6 hours a night maybe?

Could hair loss be due to stress? Weight loss? Lack of sleep? My age (44) All of these? Will it grow back?? Is there anything I can do to help it grow?

Any advice would be welcome, as thought of losing my hair is making me stress even more.

Try hair and nail vitamins. I had similar hair loss and the suppliments stopped it in its tracks. After a few weeks I started so see fine regrowth. My gp suggested taking selenium, which is included in hair and nail vitimans but can be bought separately.

Ah, thank you. Was thinking maybe some sort of supplement would help. Plus chilling out and generally looking after myself more!

Found a Boots supplement that's on offer at the moment so will give this a go.

Might seem a trivial thing compared to some health issues, but for me hair loss just seemed to be the final straw with all that has happened in the last 6 months!

If no improvement then will visit GP.

Sorry to hear of your troubles OP, but sounds like you're on the way up

Agree with supplements and it might be worth eating a couple of spoonfuls of wheat germ daily, sprinkled on your cereal, fruit or yogurt

Never tried it, but have heard of Nioxin shampoo for hair loss

Some sleep should also help. Good luck!

If you can afford it you could try a medical herbalist.
My hair was falling out amongst many other things and very quickly it stopped once on medication.

I suffer from this, my thyroid was borderline underactive so the doctor put me on a low dose of thyroxine which seems to be helping. I also take perfectil supplements from the chemist. The doctor explained to me that it is usually 3 to 6 months after an event such as extreme weight loss before your hair starts falling out, so was interested in what had been happening in my life during that period that could have triggered it.

Hi OP, I advise getting a blood test that checks your iron, and particularly your ferritin levels. I lost a lot of hair (constant shedding from all over) for six months before reading an article about ferritin (link below) and asking for it to be checked. Low levels are very common in women due to menstruation - and I didn't help myself by being a very strict vegetarian and on a diet! Ferritin is strange - medical guidance tends to say that in blood tests, any figure between 18 - 270 is 'normal', which is a ludicrously wide range! Mine was 7, and every health professional I spoke to said ideally it needed to be over 70. I got it up to 45 in about three months by taking two Galfer tablets (iron) with vitamin C daily, and the shedding reduced dramatically. I was then told to stop taking iron when I got pregnant (told by my GP!), and at 20 weeks the hair loss came back with a vengeance and I discovered my ferritin level had reduced to 24. I'm now 40 weeks pg and have been back on the heavy dose iron (with medical advice) and hair loss has stopped. I completely understand how horribly distressing it is.

Aforementioned article: www.philipkingsley.com/clinics/from-the-clinic/ferritin-and-hair-health/

Please go to your doctor before trying any over the counter remedies.
Just to rule out anything serious

Thanks for all the info and wishes, much appreciated.

The low iron levels is quite interesting as I've had bouts of anaemia before. There's been so much going on in my life lately, I hadn't put two and two together. My diet 6-2 months ago would have been very iron poor. I've also put my tiredness down to lack of sleep, but low iron levels could also be a cause.

Yes, better go to the GP to be checked.

Thanks again all

Seconding getting your iron checked.I've lost about 50% of my hair in the last year, a combination of stress, weight loss, hormones, but mainly low iron. I've also found caffeine shampoo helpful.

I had telegen effluvium which is hair loss caused by stress/illness. It was very stressful as my hair got very thin. The good news is 6-12 months later it has started to thicken and although is not fully recovered it is so much better than it was.
Go to your GP as they will conduct tests. I was referred to a dermatologist who gave me some great advice and was very reassuring. She said it wouldn't all fall out and it didn't. Biotin, iron supplements were recommended. My ferritin level was normal as far as GP was concerned but the dermatologist told me it needs to be much higher (over 70) for hair growth.
But please do go to gp as if there is anything health related underlying this than your hair will not recover unless you address it.

Just popping in to say see your gp. I went through stress at work last year, that it turned out had triggered thyroid issues and the hair thinning and falling out has been for me the hardest part of it all to sort out.
Thyroid levels are now in normal range and I'm taking prescription b12 and iron tablets which are helping but I had to have a lot of hair chopped off to help the condition of it on the advice of mumsnet as it was in terrible condition I didn't realise that hair loss and thyroid were linked.

Rambling a bit here but basically get some blood tests done before you try any other hair products etc