Hey! I'm just curious if anybody here can relate/help me with my hair loss. A few months ago, my hair started to shed a lot more when i would wash it. Now, I had super thick hair, so I was always used to having a lot of shedding, but it was coming out in thicker strands. I went to a doctor about it, and got blood work ran for my thyroid, and nothing came up out of the ordinary. I was told it could be from stress or anxiety. I still don't exactly believe that's what is causing it, I've been through way more stressful times in my life, and my hair never fell out. The whole texture of it has changed as well, it feels dead. I noticed it would feel abnormally soft when i was washing it, I don't exactly know what that was all about. I did take 500 mg of Ciprofloxacin twice a day for 5 days straight, and my hair started to fall out afterwards. I still don't find that to be the likely cause because that has been about 7 or 8 months ago. Still to this day, I'm losing hair, and don't know what to do. I was going to see a dermatologist about it, but I'm tight on money at the moment, and my insurance doesn't cover it. Should I invest in a hair regrowth serum or try to wait it out until I can see another doctor? I'm very lost and have lost a lot of self esteem over this whole ordeal. I'm hoping somebody could give me some insight as to what could possibly be happening. Thanks!
Can Somebody Please Help With Hair Loss
- Thread starter Bree20202
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Hi Bree! I am soon to post my story on this forum with as many details as possible (I think I am recovering) so.. stay tuned. Doctors told me my hair loss is probably due to stress. Like you, I have many episodes of stress in general, but I don't disagree with the doctors because we are not "swiss clocks", so to speak, and something that doesn't usually harm you at times, can cause you damage in other occasions. On websites you might have found that hair loss/ telogen effluvium may be caused by very dramatic events such as childbirth, surgery, death of a dear person, but apparently even less traumatic events can play a role. My advice for you is that you should not go to a dermatologist unless your doctors suggest you to do so. This is because the doctors can run blood and other physiological tests which a dermatologist would do in any case, but charging you much more money. If no underlying health issues are found, then the dermatologist would check the health of your scalp / the doctors might send you to a dermatologist to check your scalp. What I can tell you is that, first of all, you should make sure with the help of the doctors if yours is just an hair loss / telogen effluvium problem or, less likely, androgenic alopecia. Generally diffuse hair loss is reversible and it is characterised by the loss of long-ish hair mainly, with the white bulb at the end, while androgenic alopecia manifests itself by a slow, progressive thinning of the hair, until it doesn't grow anymore, and it is genetic (do your mom or aunts or sisters have androgenic alopecia?). I am no medician and this knowledge came from my own experience, so take it a s a pinch of salt. Again, try to check this with your doctor. Hope you find this information helpful, and so I hope that my experience I am going to post about will be as useful for you.
Thanks Claudia! My mom actually went through the same thing a year before me! We thought hers was from the antibiotics she was on in the hospital though.. Its like our hair has completely changed. We did move from Pennsylvania to Nevada which is a way more drier climate. I notice that my skin has also been breaking out, which I thought maybe I have hormonal issues. I lost my period on the move to here and didn't have it for almost a year, so I had to go to the gyno and got it rebooted. I got blood tests ran there, and nothing out of the ordinary. I'll find a different primary care doctor and hopefully get a better understanding as to what is happening.
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How interesting, years ago I lost a lot of weight and I missed my period for 8-9 months, and my hair changed, like in your case. It is a good idea to see another doctor.
Yeah, the thing is that happened way before this happened with my hair. My weight does yo-yo. When we moved out here, my weight went up to almost 120 pounds which was the heaviest I've ever been, but then I went down to 107 pounds, and now I'm around 110 pounds. I don't know if that's dramatic enough to trigger my hair loss or not. I also thought maybe its just damaged from blow drying, straightening, and curling it too much? I've taken a break from all hot tools for months, and have occasionally used them, but still no change. I've tried using deep conditioners, and they just seem to make my hair fall out even more. I got vitamins that are for hair and nails, so fingers cross it helps somewhat.. Also would you recommend using a hair serum for hair regrowth?
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I've read somewhere that even losing as little as 5 kg can cause a temporary increase of hair shedding, I can't find the article though, sorry. Another thing I read is that hair starts to fall after some weeks or even a few months from the "triggering" factors, so maybe this explains the delay. back then (when I was 14-15) when I first noticed my hair changed, I already had had the time to recover from my eating disorder and come back to my normal weight.
I think, during the past weeks, I lost more hair when I applied conditioner all over my scalp, but my impression is that, since when you wash it off your hair is a bit "slimy", some more strands tend to fall, but probably those are the strands you would lose anyway? Just a thought. Maybe you can ensure that the shampoo/conditioners you are using are not causing you redness/itchiness on your scalp, because that would definitely make your problem worse.
I know nothing about serums and stuff, try to look online for reviews of specific ones so that you can chose wisely. Alternatively, some people swear by the efficiency of applying natural oils to the scalp once or twice a week.
Btw from what you have wrote, you have been through many stressful factors that maybe their combination was the problem, not just the weight loss or the change of country alone. I hope that your new doctor will be able to reveal you more about your issue, and i wish you to recover soon in any case.
I think, during the past weeks, I lost more hair when I applied conditioner all over my scalp, but my impression is that, since when you wash it off your hair is a bit "slimy", some more strands tend to fall, but probably those are the strands you would lose anyway? Just a thought. Maybe you can ensure that the shampoo/conditioners you are using are not causing you redness/itchiness on your scalp, because that would definitely make your problem worse.
I know nothing about serums and stuff, try to look online for reviews of specific ones so that you can chose wisely. Alternatively, some people swear by the efficiency of applying natural oils to the scalp once or twice a week.
Btw from what you have wrote, you have been through many stressful factors that maybe their combination was the problem, not just the weight loss or the change of country alone. I hope that your new doctor will be able to reveal you more about your issue, and i wish you to recover soon in any case.
Yeah, it feels like my hair is just super weak at the moment. I mean, I still have somewhat a lot of hair, its just thinning way more on the left side of my head, and towards the temples. I used to always wear it up in a high ponytail, and it would be tugging on my hair a lot.. I think the best bet is to keep taking the vitamins, and get to a doctor. I might just get a hair serum, because I'm sure it couldn't hurt. Thanks for all your help, Claudia!
german89
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sry for OT: are you from the US? thats just so sad.
in germany, everyone has health care.
every specialist , dentist, emergancy etc is included. half of the insurence cost is paid by the employeur and the other half by you.... and children are free until 25.
so a family father who earns e.g. 3.500 a month has to pay ca 180€ a month for health insurence and he and his whole family is fully insured.
Yes I'm from the US. I do have health insurance (I'm under my dad's), its just the insurance has changed over this year. I'm not quite sure as to why? I tried going to an endocrinologist, and they said that our insurance no longer covered specialists. It would have been around $300 just for the visit alone, let alone the actual blood work etc. I've talked to my mom about just seeing a whole different primary doctor. I originally went to hers, and the only thing they really were worried about was me getting a pap smear and I don't know, it just kind of threw me off because nobody was taking me seriously. Its very discouraging, but nonetheless I got tested for my thyroid, and it came back as normal. I was told to see a therapist, and that's all that happened. Nobody even looked at my scalp, and I don't know why I didn't make a bigger deal about it, and I blame myself for that. I believe that I just saw the wrong person, and hey maybe it is just anxiety or stress causing all my hair issues, but I would at least like someone to take me a bit more seriously rather than writing me off to the psychiatrist.
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Oh another thing. Last time I went to see a doctor here in Malaysia, we had a wee chat. He claimed that many malaysian people moving to other countries, like the UK, notice that their skin becomes dry and they shed more hair. Aside from the stress, this is because they move from a country with soft water to a country where there is hard water. So in their case, the problem lies in the water they shower with. Maybe this is the case of Pennsylvania-Nevada? Also, if Pennsylvania is sunnier than Nevada (I have no idea) maybe you stopped producing enough vit D all of a sudden?
Well the water here is hard, so that's a big reason for the change of my hair. Also it's sunnier here than back in Pennsylvania. Its a dry climate, and that mixed with the different type of water, hasn't done any wonders for my hair.. I just didn't understand why that would cause my hair loss 4 years later, but hey maybe my hair is just damaged? When I do shed hair, it has the white bulb at the root, and I noticed I've been shedding a lot more.