stress and hair loss question / sobstory

[welshy]

Hi, i'm only 17, and from th UK, and since last summer my hair seems to have been falling out. At the moment it isn't noticible, unless you look at it closely, but i'm guessing that it will gradually progress to be completely obvious. I also have a really itchy scalp (and eyebrows - which are also thinning out) not sure if the itchyness and fallingout-ness are related, I've been to my doctor, and he gave me some shampoo (Polytar or somehing) which really had no effect. My doctor said tht th hairloss thing is probably hormonal. I think it might be stress-related or something, cos i've been spending the odd weekend about 200 miles from home with mates, and after one night away from home, the fallin outness seems to be a LOT less i.e. on th pillow in th morning, and when i wash my hair. I know tht my homelife is kind of stressfull at the minute, stuff like grades starteing to slip cos i've not been feeling 100%, kind of loosing 2 people who were close to me. I can't really talk about these things with anyone, so i guess that might be adding to the hair loss problem. Im off to uni next year with any luck, and what i wa wondering was, if my hairloss was stress-related, would there be any chance that it'll grow back if it is stress-related, after all th stress has gone?

Thanks fr any help, cos its slowly starting to get me down even further.

R

 

[JayBear]

If the loss is really stress related, it should grow back after a while. If it's due to male pattern baldness however, you're going to want to try to treat it if you want to keep it. Did your doctor have an opinion about whether male pattern baldness could be the culprit?

 

[welshy]

thanks for replying, and no, he just said, nothing to worry about, both your father and mother have a full head of hair (both about 50), everyone's hair at some stage of their life thins out, yours is probably hormone related.

i am kind of annorexic(dont know if that's how you spell it), or something along tose limnes, but i would say that it's under control for the most part, so i'm not sure if that could contribute to it at all.

Thanks again
welshy

 

[s.a.f]

DO you know anyone who is'nt stressed!?! Seriously everybody claims to be stressed nowadays and some people can have near breakdowns over the slightest things. Some of the most stressed out people in the world have great hair. You're only 17 right? This is so common when you first notice that your losing your hair you try to find an excuse for it rather than face up to m.p.b. I've seen it on the forums so many times.

 

[Guest]

Excuse me, but isn´t hormone related hairloss androgenetic alopecia???

Are you thinning all over your head or mainly in the crown and temple area?

 

[astral week]

whoa whoa whoa s.a.f., just because a lot of people with male pattern baldness tend to think it might be due to stress because that's the preferred cause DOESN'T mean it can't happen. It's just a fact that stress and diet can cause hair loss when it's severe, and it also goes by a case by case basis.
For the last year and a half, I've had diffuse thinning and miniaturization ALL over my head, and while I'm not denying that I have male pattern baldness, I do firmly believe that stress and diet exacerbated it. I have been under some serious stress since Katrina, and my diet averages about 1,200 calories a day, AND I run and work out! I've read in a couple of sources that prolonged diets of under 1,300 calories a day can lead to chronic telogen effluvium. Since I discovered this I began eating a lot of good healthy food with lots of protein, and my stressors have died down a lot, and my hair is already showing improvement. Generall speaking, I let biology do the talking, but it's downright naive to place no emphasis on these factors.

Welshy, if I were you I would first make SURE that it isn't male pattern baldness, although it can be both like I have. But yes, if you take care of yourself and try to eliminate what is stressing you, you should regrow what you lost. However, if you do have male pattern baldness, then it might not grow back to it's fullest potential (but they say minoxidil can help this). I'm not anorexic in the sense that it's a psychological problem, I'm just stressed and never ate much. But when you're eating 1,500 calories a day for a prolonged period of time, it can show itself through hair loss.

 

[JayBear]

I sort of agree with saf. Not that this kid should automatically assume its male pattern baldness, but that stress has become such a nebulous term. Basically anything that makes us unhappy nowadays is a cause of stress. If it was a major factor in hair loss, everyone would be loosing hair.

Welshy, your doctors assertion that your father has a full head of hair doesn't neccesarily mean you arent suffering from male pattern baldness. The best indication will be the area you are loosing hair from. If it uniformly from your entire head, it may not be male pattern baldness, but if your crown or hairline is receding, its very likely male pattern baldness.I don't want to scare you, but the sooner you begin treating it the better, as hair loss therapy is much better at maitenance than it is at recovery.

 

[emex4]

DO you know anyone who is'nt stressed!?! Seriously everybody claims to be stressed nowadays and some people can have near breakdowns over the slightest things. Some of the most stressed out people in the world have great hair. You're only 17 right? This is so common when you first notice that your losing your hair you try to find an excuse for it rather than face up to m.p.b. I've seen it on the forums so many times.

god, you are such a bitter old bald coot. why does every one of your posts have to be so negative?!!? yes we know that you went bald at like 18 and fucked up your head with shitty transplants! but just because you had intensely agressive baldness doesnt make you the expert on this sh*t. you're just a bitter old baldy and id like you to shut the f*** up and stop being so f*****g negative.

 

[s.a.f]

I'm not being negative, Just realistic come on, how many people do you know who went bald because of stress? Its just an old cliche' exactly what everyone used to tell me when I started losing it.
I'm not being negative anyway there's a lot to be said for meds which I never knew about 10 yrs ago. (If I knew then what I know now...)
Stress related hairloss is extremely rare especially amongst 17yr olds and it does'nt manifest itself in the classic m.p.b balding patterns (thinning crown, receedind hairline/temples) and the sooner he realises that its almost certain he has m.p.b the sooner he can start doing something about it.
Having personally been through this and researched and tried nearly all the options I think I am in a good position to be offering advice. Unfortunatly there is no easy/fullproof way of dealing with it so I try to help people on here and offer support where I can, sorry if I give you some bad news here but losing your hair is not an easy process to go through you'd better get used to that.
Compared to some guys on here I'm positivly upbeat at least I'm not posting that my life is over and I want to kill myself because I'm like nw2.5.

 

[astral week]

I don't think anyone has really gone bald from stress, but then again you don't need to lose ALL of your hair before it becomes noticable and therefore stressful. And although if you have a receding hairline and a thinning crown there is no doubt that you have male pattern baldness to some degree, stress related hairloss can not only severely exacerbate male pattern baldness, but can also be the initial spark for it to begin. Genetics isn't the only factor in hairloss, just genetic hairloss.

 

[Polish]

Chronic or prolonged stress (mourning) can induce telogen effluvium and Androgenic Alopecia.

 

[Mickey]

I'm not being negative, Just realistic come on, how many people do you know who went bald because of stress? Its just an old cliche' exactly what everyone used to tell me when I started losing it.
I'm not being negative anyway there's a lot to be said for meds which I never knew about 10 yrs ago. (If I knew then what I know now...)
Stress related hairloss is extremely rare especially amongst 17yr olds and it does'nt manifest itself in the classic m.p.b balding patterns (thinning crown, receedind hairline/temples) and the sooner he realises that its almost certain he has m.p.b the sooner he can start doing something about it.
Having personally been through this and researched and tried nearly all the options I think I am in a good position to be offering advice. Unfortunatly there is no easy/fullproof way of dealing with it so I try to help people on here and offer support where I can, sorry if I give you some bad news here but losing your hair is not an easy process to go through you'd better get used to that.
Compared to some guys on here I'm positivly upbeat at least I'm not posting that my life is over and I want to kill myself because I'm like nw2.5.

I agree to certain extent but T.E. can sometimes present itself in a m.p.b. pattern.I myself went through major stress and thinned out in the male pattern baldness areas which is now growing back.I know most of a lot of the time it is male pattern baldness but there are chances if your stress (major stress) levels has been up for a prolonged period or your diet has been poor then this can lead to factors of hair loss. A link to somebody who has T.E and as you can see they have lost hair which could be mistaken for male pattern baldness
http://www.themorbidme.com/2006/03/telogen_effluvi.html

 

[astral week]

Mickey, how long did you have major stress for? And what was your diet like for that period?
I ask because I'm just coming out of a very long (1 and 1/2 years) bout of stress and very poor diet, usually less than 1200 calories a day. At the worst point I lost 15 pounds in 2 weeks and I only weighed 135 to begin with. Now all of my hair is thinner and softer, including the back and sides, although my temples have also receded and my crown has thinned more. I'm thinking Telogen Effluvium exacerbated my male pattern baldness, and was hoping it would improve. Telogen Effluvium hairloss is supposed to fully regrow, but male pattern baldness complicates things. I've even heard that people with male pattern baldness who had Telogen Effluvium never regrew their hair. But I'm eating much better, and considering I'm only 19 and on finasteride, I should have a decent chance to regrow some of what I lost due to Telogen Effluvium, right?

 

[Mickey]

I had what i consider major stress for about 8 months.It started when i woke up one morning and found my mum dead in the morning as she died in her sleep.And aswell as the grieving process,A relationship i was in ended not on good terms,Family problems which also turned nasty,Lost my job,so you could say all that was major stress.3 months after things started to settle down i began losing my hair.My diet at the time was very up and down,mostly down.Its been 2 years since i first started losing my hair and ive noticed regrowth in the past 6 months or so and continueing to do so.Its starting to fill in,in places.

 

[Guest]

yeah i'd consider that major stress.

 

[roki]

yeah i'd consider that major stress.

very major
could be the reason my uncle has a full head of hear at 45 and he was loosing alot of her some time ago when he was very strssed

 

[IBM]

People that loose their hair due to stress gain their hair in some months. They dont loose they hair forever. Why a lot of homeless people have great hair? They should have Telogen Effluvium forever.

 

[Guest]

People that loose their hair due to stress gain their hair in some months. They dont loose they hair forever. Why a lot of homeless people have great hair? They should have Telogen Effluvium forever.

They are probably homeless because they don´t give a f*** about anything and hence don´t go bald.

 

[astral week]

The only thing I'm worried about is Telogen Effluvium and it's combined effects with male pattern baldness. I've even read that hair lost from Telogen Effluvium with people with male pattern baldness never grows back, but I'm guessing that it just doesn't grow back to where it was. I kind of want to start minoxidil as that's a common treatment for Telogen Effluvium (you can actually sotp minoxidil once your hair grows back) but I also still want to wait until I've been on propecia for a year.

 

[klink]

I think I lost some hair during my divorce, I also lost a ton of weight and smoked like crazy. Good luck, think positive and keep yourself anchored.