Seeking Advice on Hair Loss

You mention many blood tests, but not thyroid (T3, T4, TSH).
A change in this hormone is common after pregnancy and can be a cause of hair loss. Are you noticing dry, flaky fingernails, or drier skin than usual, too?

I was experiencing the same thing, my stylist said it was from stress. Granted you can hot oil treatments, take perfectal vitimans & use rogain like I did but once you stop it falls out again. I noticed that my hair would fall out more in April & October that's when I would go crazy with all of the above. I realize when I use it all at once my hair didn't fall out as much.

C.

Have you had your thyroid checked? If it is out of balance, you can loose your hair. Ask your primary care doctor to have your TSH and T4 levels tested. Thyroiditis is very common and managed.

Hi, S.,

That happened to me about 10 years ago (pre-pregnancies) and it turned out I had an underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism). I was put on a Rx that was a piece of cake and I've been on it ever since. After I was pregnant last time, the hair loss started again. Turns out, even though I've been on the same Rx for about 10 years, it needs to go up. My point is that for me, hair loss tends to signal that my thyroid is off and isn't producing enough thyroid hormone. This may have nothing to do with your issue, but I'd check it out. Easy blood test. Good luck! - S.

Hi S.,

Don't take "stress" as an only answer to this. Trust me, we are all under stress, and if stress was the cause of my hair loss, I would have lost it all years before I had children due to my dysfunctional upbringing. I was told that it was stress over and over and its a load of S_IT! Hair loss is a catabolic response to something in your body. Study it, google it, your doctors don't want to help people with this, because it is an unnecessary waste of their time. It means a break-down is happening somewhere in the body due to some process gone awry. Whether it's hormones or not, there are a number of reasons it could be happening.

I started loosing hair 2 years after my youngest was born, especially when I tried to get in shape and began to train for a marathon. In hindsight my nutritional needs were not being met, and my hormones were probably out of whack.

The hair loss went in cycles, off again on again. With no definitive answer of how to handle this, here is what I did. Make sure your hormones are balanced, estrogen, testoterone, thyroid, a whole hormone blood panel. PUSH for a detailed test! Next, Make sure you are getting proper nutrition, not just a multi-vitamen, a high quality vitamen with strong doses and have your doctor approve all this. Bioten and Protein are very important to grow hair. So are all the other vitamens. Even ones you wouldn't necessarily think of. Get a vitamen panel screening if you can.

***Check your vitamen D*** mine was extremely low leading to calcium loss, which can lead to bone loss and is a problem for many women. It can also contriubute to hair loss. Getting vitamen D levels back to normal is not easy. I had to take mega-doses, 150,000 I.U. prescribed by a doctor and it took 4-6 months to get a normal reading. The "regular" doctors missed this (of course it's all in my head, right?), my beloved doctor I have now, found this problem.

I found out I had toxic heavy metals in my body. This is not recent exposure, but years of accumulation. Most doctors won't consider that stuff unless they have reason to think you were recently exposed to something toxic. No, it can happen over time. I am detoxing through chelation therapy. That will probably take more than a year to complete I am still doing that. I go in once a week and sit with an I.V. for 3-1/2 hours which is very tedious, but so worth it in the end. My toxic metals tests show a steady decrease. I have lead, mercury, nickel, tungsten, aluminium, cadmium, uranium. Previous to diagnosing all this with a more natural-path doctor, all the "traditional" Western-medicine doctors told me my lack of energy was "in my head" and my hair loss was due to "stress". BULL-_HIT!! I feel so much better after starting this treatment and getting some answers.

Also, I started a product that's called an "herbal-propecia", for men or women. It's all natural and made of herbs. While I continue to have some minor shedding, my hair has really stopped falling out in excess and seems to be recovering just fine. It's been almost 5 years of off and on hair loss and other symptoms including loss of energy. I also invested in a hair laser which is FDA-approved and seems to help stimulate new growth!

SO, this is a complex problem without one-singular answer for most people. It could be a multi-tude of things. But trust me, I didn't give up in my case, the doctors who road-blocked me made me more determined to keep pushing. I am feeling so much better now and my hair keeps improving. I got to the point I had half the hair I used to and now it's beginning to thicken up and recover.

Send me a personal message if you'd like to dicuss any more or need more information on anything. Best of luck, and don't give up!!!

D.

S.,

I feel for you.

I think you need to add a good source of high quality protein to supplement with - a soy protiein drink or meal replacement bar as well as look at the protein you are ingesting. contact me if you would like some recommendations - I dealt with this after my second child.

I disagree with discontinuing vitamins - a good prenatal is jsut a high quality multi-vitamin. Nothing detrimental to hair in mommy - again - if interested I could make a recommendation.

L.

i'm still losing hair...a lot, and it keeps growing back and it's been 9 years.

I had the same problem but found that I needed more vitamins. I take 2 flintstones everyday and after a few days my hair stopped falling out. Maybe the vitamin you were taking were not helping you, but maybe another type would help.
Good luck. I hope it is nothing more than that.

Hi S. as a mom of 3 and also a hairdesser, I know this can happen for a long time. One thing you didn't mention was if you are breastfeeding and if your period has returned to normal. I personally (and from experience) think that it is all hormonal and has to do with diet as well.(For example people who go on binge diets tend to lose hair, there are many reasons that it could be medically but I do not think it is any of them) Especially given your age- you are young, have had 3 children and your youngest is only 5 months old!! I know with my 3rd I lost ALOT more hair then with my older 2 (I actually had an almost bald spot at my hairline.) So I hope this helps I would not go too crazy yet give it time-

Hi S.. My daughter is 5 months old. And it seems my hair loss just started about a month and a half ago. I too, can run my fingers through it and pull out lots of strands. It seems everywhere I look, there is hair on the floor and I don't recall this being the case befor I got pregnant. Howver, I do understand that for at least eight months, my hair stopped shedding while pregnant. There is alot that needs to shed. Try not to worry. I'm sure it's hard, but try not too.

Did any doctor suspect any out of balance of your hormones? Vitamins are always good to have unless you have an allergy against them.

Hi S.,
Sorry to hear that you feel you're experiencing excessive hairloss. Prenatal vitamins don't cause hair loss, if anything, they often keep women from the prenatal hair loss until after they go off the vitamins. So often,you'll see breastfeeding moms not lose the hair til they stop breastfeeding, because it's normal to take the prenatal vitamins til breastfeeding stops
Good luck and I hope if there is a genuine problem, the doc will get to the bottom of it. Just to be sure, it is the dermatologist who deals with hair loss issues.

I'm 29 and I feel I have had the same problem. Your hair definately gets thinnet after kids.
Yaz would do! You may have to wait a few months after Yaz before you see an improvement.
I also went to a dermatoligist and they will tell you a duiretic will help but I would not do that because if you decide not to take it you'll suddenly shed all the hair your head would have shed if you did not take it. So you'll really feel like your going bald.
Believe it or not when I use Head and Sholders dandruff shampoo my hair seem to shed less. Maybe it's placebo for me but I still feel it works.
I can't stomach vitamins either especially pre-natals, so I take Airborne Daily Boost(God, I feel like a commercial.) They are a soft chew and the only down fall is you have to take them three times a day but they do not hurt your stomach at all and there's no nausea.
It usually takes me more than two years(I have two kids five years apart)before I feel there's a slow down in my hair shedding. It is frightening to see all that hair through your fingers so I feel for you. But unless there's a medical problem and your mom does'nt have female pattern balding, then I think it will take some time but you'll be fine.
Good Luck!

I had a problem, too, but I also noticed I kept my hair up in ponytails or clips all the time. When I stopped doing that, it got much better. I also took a vitamin for hair skin & nails which had Vitamin C and Biotin in it. I took Vitamin B, E, and omega 3. I definitely saw a difference. But mainly I started keeping my hair out, using a straightener to make it more manageable and not washing it out as much.

Dear S.
I did experience this will after my second child. It was a long time ago so I am not sure what the shot was but I went to a dermatologist and he had to give me injections to try to stop the hair loss. It worked for a while and I continued to loose hair. It was not in patches like Alopecia Areata it is throughout the top of my scalp. I was diagnosed with female pattern baldness. My mom also has very thin hair, thinner then mine so they say it is hereditary. Believe me if stress was the cause I would be completely bald, I am convinced its hormonal. I began using Rogaine for men on my scalp for about ten years now and it really has helped. When I go to my doctor now he can hardly believe the difference. I am not going to say I have returned to my normal thickness, but you cannot see my scalp like you used to. The only drawback is you have to use it religiously twice a day and if discontinued the hair you have grown will probably fall out. I think it is just a small price to pay for having my hair back. I haven't had any side effects even after using it for so long. Good luck!!

Hi there, a similiar thing happened to me (also after my third!) and I used Kevis for a few months and the loss stopped. My hair has always been thin and that start freaking me out. Good luck I hope it works out for you.

Hi S.,
On average a person will lose 150 hairs per day. When the weather changes from warm to cold and cold to warm, you will lose more. Give your hair a good brushing before you shampoo. Give your self some time to let your body adjust to no meds.
Good luck!
R.

Hi S.,
I have to say, I lost hair for almost a year after my third child. It has been growing back but around my temples just never seems to get longer than 2 inches. I always just thought it was all the hormonal changes your body goes thru. I was a hairdresser for 15 years before my kids so I saw it quite often. Good luck and try not to worry too much because that will make it worse. ( Easy to say I know)
J.

I remember also losing a spot on the top of my scalp. I went to a dermatalogist and I was given a shot on the scalp. I think I went another time after that as well. Thankfully, it took care of that bald spot! I believe it was stressed. I did not consider going on the rogaine because once you stop using it, you lose the hair and maybe more. I think you should seek the derm before any other options. I also never heard pre natal can cause losing hair. is that true???