Hairloss Due To Deficiency ( Please Read )

[Aleksa97]

Okay so..
I have been diagnosed with chronic telogen effluvium combined with start of male pattern baldness. I want to fight it (male pattern baldness) but in order to do that I need to stop the continous shedding that I have from telogen effluvium. While I wait for blood test to come back, I would like to know what vitamon deficiency could contribute to hairloss? My main question is could iron be the case? And if so, can it make hairloss really drastic or no? If there are any other vitamin deficiencies that could contribute to hairloss as well, please list them bellow.

Also, I am really seeking for help. So far this forum was very useful in terms of giving me information about hairloss in general. I would kindly ask all those people who are like - there is no such thing as hairloss other than genetic to not reply. I am DIAGNOSED with chronic telogen effluvium and the beggining of male pattern baldness as well so please just leave a comment if you know something about what I ask, or have any other information.

Thanks in advance!

 

[hairblues]

I have same thing...I had very low iron-ferritin levels for at least 3 years and according to the hair transplant surgeon i consulted with earlier this year this low ferritin 'unmasked' my Androgenetic Alopecia..meaning my Androgenetic Alopecia would have happened later rather than sooner because of my low iron stores....You have to check your ferritin not just iron levels...you can be anemic and it won't show up in regular iron test.

My hair short cycles--meaning some of it grows an inch falls out and has white bulbs...this can also happen with miniaturization as well so it is tricky. But hair tends to short cycle with CTE.

I do know i am treating both--low iron and Androgenetic Alopecia and i can say my shedding has greatly decreased past month....even the short hairs cycling is improving.

Its really too soon for me to know 'which' thing is helping i am using a topical spironolactone estrodial blend and i am taking very high dose of iron under my Dr supervision and blood test..this past few months my ferritin has gotten up to 60...it was 12 for several years. the goal is over 70.

I asked specifically to my hair transplant surgeon if the iron will make it better and he said enthusiastically yes. I mean he's not really making much money off of me i have great donor hair its confirmed by 3 Dr that i have good donor hair and when i went to him for a hair transplant--and he told me i don't need a transplant, its my iron and i purchased iron pills from CVS he told me dosage and monitors my blood that my insurance covers...so he's being genuine. Otherwise i would be really suspicious because so many peoples experience with iron and Androgenetic Alopecia winds up being negative not positive. Meaning does not tend to make a difference for most.

 

[Aleksa97]

Chronic Telogen Effluvium is a tough one to solve and is generally self limiting. Some of the common things to check are Vitamin D, B, Iron, Zinc, Copper. Get a complete blood count test to check for any deficiencies with red blood cells, hemoglobins, etc. Thyroid disorders are another major culprit of Telogen Effluvium.

Other things to consider is diet, protein and healthy fat deficiencies can cause an effluvium. Losing a lot of weight rapidly, however that would probably only result in an acute form of Telogen Effluvium. How do your fingers nail look? Do you have a lot of ridges and bumps? That's a good sign that something is wrong internally that could constitute for a Telogen Effluvium.

Thank you for your reply. What do you mean that it is self limiting and tought one to solve? How much of regrowth should I expect if I find what the problem is that leads to CTE? If you want to, you can see at what stage my current hair is in some of my threads. Also, I do bite my nails, and now that you mention it I realise that my nails take long time to grow even now when I dont bite them as much as I used to. Does slow nail growth indicate something? And when you say ridges and bumps what do you refer to? I am sorry because I am unable to understand some things, english is not my native language.

Anyways thank you for your response.

 

[Aleksa97]

I have same thing...I had very low iron-ferritin levels for at least 3 years and according to the hair transplant surgeon i consulted with earlier this year this low ferritin 'unmasked' my Androgenetic Alopecia..meaning my Androgenetic Alopecia would have happened later rather than sooner because of my low iron stores....You have to check your ferritin not just iron levels...you can be anemic and it won't show up in regular iron test.

My hair short cycles--meaning some of it grows an inch falls out and has white bulbs...this can also happen with miniaturization as well so it is tricky. But hair tends to short cycle with CTE.

I do know i am treating both--low iron and Androgenetic Alopecia and i can say my shedding has greatly decreased past month....even the short hairs cycling is improving.

Its really too soon for me to know 'which' thing is helping i am using a topical spironolactone estrodial blend and i am taking very high dose of iron under my Dr supervision and blood test..this past few months my ferritin has gotten up to 60...it was 12 for several years. the goal is over 70.

I asked specifically to my hair transplant surgeon if the iron will make it better and he said enthusiastically yes. I mean he's not really making much money off of me i have great donor hair its confirmed by 3 Dr that i have good donor hair and when i went to him for a hair transplant--and he told me i don't need a transplant, its my iron and i purchased iron pills from CVS he told me dosage and monitors my blood that my insurance covers...so he's being genuine. Otherwise i would be really suspicious because so many peoples experience with iron and Androgenetic Alopecia winds up being negative not positive. Meaning does not tend to make a difference for most.

I can totally relate to your story. Hairs with white bulbs fall out all the time in different lenghts. Small ones, big ones ones that just strarted to grow, you name it. I also think that CTE speeded up my hairloss. I mean think about it. With telogen effluvium in general, hair that were supposed to grow for lets say 40 times in their lifetime, grow out and fall out 40 times in a very short period of time instead. If you are predisposed for male pattern baldness it just speeds up the proces.

I am happy to hear that it is starting to stabilize for you.How is your hair doing currently? At what Norwood are you?
There aren't many people here that suffer from CTE, so I am very happy that there is someone going through the same sh*t that I am.

If you have any suggestions for me, please list them as I will gladly do anything just to stop this.

 

[hairblues]

I can totally relate to your story. Hairs with white bulbs fall out all the time in different lenghts. Small ones, big ones ones that just strarted to grow, you name it. I also think that CTE speeded up my hairloss. I mean think about it. With telogen effluvium in general, hair that were supposed to grow for lets say 40 times in their lifetime, grow out and fall out 40 times in a very short period of time instead. If you are predisposed for male pattern baldness it just speeds up the proces.

I am happy to hear that it is starting to stabilize for you.How is your hair doing currently? At what Norwood are you?
There aren't many people here that suffer from CTE, so I am very happy that there is someone going through the same sh*t that I am.

If you have any suggestions for me, please list them as I will gladly do anything just to stop this.

I was never classified i don't know why I have seen 3 Dr who specialize in alopecia and none of them classified me.
I have typical christmas tree pattern with my middle part for women with FPHL.
My biopsy said 'Androgenetic Alopecia early, with scant inflamation"
But i think my middle part in front is pretty bad--so that does not seem 'early'

Right now my hair shedding is still slow compared to how it was for months.
Why? i cannot say for sure..it is ether how high i got my ferritin OR its the topical blend of spironolactone and estrodial i have from Dr office.

Im not experienced enough to really advice you.
I would wait for blood work to come back.

What was your tests for? did you get ferritin tested? That was what was low on me and it was that low for at least 3 years probably much longer. For me it was probably my monthly period.
I am also vitamin D deficient for years...that is very hard for me to keep up...i have to take 4000 a day just to get it to budge.
Are you vegetarian?

IF you have Androgenetic Alopecia you need an anti androgen and a growth stimulator...which for men is usually propecia/finasteride and minoxidil.
Some men try alternate anti androgen with varying results..you can research that here.
Minoxidil will help you stimulate growth hopefully.

 

[hairblues]

What I meant by self limiting is that it will stop on it's own eventually without knowing what caused it. Telogen Effluvium certainly does speed up androgenic alopecia. Your hair follicles are attacked by DHT and miniaturize little by little everytime they are cycled. When you suffer from Telogen Effluvium these cycles occur more frequently.

Here is an example of nail ridges, these are not my nails lol. View attachment 44922

my nails are very ridgy...mostly vertical but some horizontal..especilly on toe.

 

[Aleksa97]

I was never classified i don't know why I have seen 3 Dr who specialize in alopecia and none of them classified me.
I have typical christmas tree pattern with my middle part for women with FPHL.
My biopsy said 'Androgenetic Alopecia early, with scant inflamation"
But i think my middle part in front is pretty bad--so that does not seem 'early'

Right now my hair shedding is still slow compared to how it was for months.
Why? i cannot say for sure..it is ether how high i got my ferritin OR its the topical blend of spironolactone and estrodial i have from Dr office.

Im not experienced enough to really advice you.
I would wait for blood work to come back.

What was your tests for? did you get ferritin tested? That was what was low on me and it was that low for at least 3 years probably much longer. For me it was probably my monthly period.
I am also vitamin D deficient for years...that is very hard for me to keep up...i have to take 4000 a day just to get it to budge.
Are you vegetarian?

IF you have Androgenetic Alopecia you need an anti androgen and a growth stimulator...which for men is usually propecia/finasteride and minoxidil.
Some men try alternate anti androgen with varying results..you can research that here.
Minoxidil will help you stimulate growth hopefully.

I didnt get my ferritin tested but will do next week. Currently I am just using minoxidil since I thought that it will just make things better because I have minoxidil. I red somewhere that minoxidil is only treatment for Telogen Effluvium sufferers besides fixing the factor that triggeredTE in the first place.

 

[Aleksa97]

What I meant by self limiting is that it will stop on it's own eventually without knowing what caused it. Telogen Effluvium certainly does speed up androgenic alopecia. Your hair follicles are attacked by DHT and miniaturize little by little everytime they are cycled. When you suffer from Telogen Effluvium these cycles occur more frequently.

Here is an example of nail ridges, these are not my nails lol. View attachment 44922

Yea I do have those lines. So what does it mean?