Thyroid loss

[luke77]

Hey everyone,
I’ve pretty much ignored my hair loss recently because I’ve been going through pretty serious depression and I just didn’t care at all…but now I’m getting better and am trying to do something about it. I began losing my hair at a young age (about 16) and always attributed it to male pattern baldness because my dad started losing his hair in his 20’s. Anyways, after posting my pics on here and getting some comments, I started to have some doubt about whether it was male pattern baldness or something else because it’s very diffuse and my hairline is pretty much intact. So I started looking through my blood test history (which is extensive, lol) and realized that on various occasions my t4 (thyroid) levels have been low – but not consistently enough for me to have been diagnosed as hypothyroid. After seeing this I asked my doctor to check my thyroid yesterday again and I am awaiting my results. I don’t want to get my hopes up or anything because I still don’t know that what I have isn’t male pattern baldness – but I’m wondering, has anyone on here had thyroid-related hair loss, and if so, does it improve when you go on thyroid medication? Thanks in advance and I’ll keep you guys updated.

Luke

 

[nohairnodandruff]

Did you check your Testosterone level?

 

[SE-freak]

luke,

were you the pale one with the weird diffuse loss?
If your loss is thyroid related then from what I've read up to now it will probably come back once the cause is eliminated.

Keep us posted on the results.

 

[luke77]

Yes, my testosterone level is also low. I have been started on testosterone replacement thereapy. And yes, I was the "pale one with the weird diffuse loss". Which is weird also, because I used to be very tan...

 

[SE-freak]

luke, I doubt its male pattern baldness from what you have said up to now.

Get your hormones straight and I think you will be fine.

 

[Cornholio]

How low was your testosterone?

The testis (testosterone production) and thyroid gland are BOTH stimulated by the pituitary gland.. It is unusual for a young man to have both problems. ?Could the problem stem from a pituitary problem?

Normally hypothyroidism is accompanied by an increase in TSH if Free T4 is low... Was your Free T4 low and TSH high? (this would argue against pituitary problems and suggest thyroid failure). If both were low there might be a pituitary problem.

Hypogonadism due to pituitary failure may have very low testosterone without an elevated LH (another hormone). If your testosterone was significantly low it might be worth it to look into WHY it was low...

" In summary, a clinical diagnosis of testosterone deficiency requires the presence of appropriate symptoms and subnormal serum testosterone values confirmed by either a consistent morning total testosterone value below 200 ng/dL (6.9 nmol/L) or a free testosterone or bioavailable testosterone value below the normal range for a 40-year-old man. (The latter normal range varies by laboratory.) Most hypogonadal men have a low or normal luteinizing hormone value, signifying a pituitary source for the deficiency. If such patients have total testosterone values below 150 ng/dL, they should be further evaluated with an MRI of the head to rule out a pituitary or hypothalamic lesion. Patients with less severely depressed total testosterone levels should be considered for testosterone replacement therapy without further workup. " http://www.postgradmed.com/issues/2003/ ... cindoe.htm

 

[luke77]

How low was your testosterone?

The testis (testosterone production) and thyroid gland are BOTH stimulated by the pituitary gland.. It is unusual for a young man to have both problems. ?Could the problem stem from a pituitary problem?

Normally hypothyroidism is accompanied by an increase in TSH if Free T4 is low... Was your Free T4 low and TSH high? (this would argue against pituitary problems and suggest thyroid failure). If both were low there might be a pituitary problem.

Hypogonadism due to pituitary failure may have very low testosterone without an elevated LH (another hormone). If your testosterone was significantly low it might be worth it to look into WHY it was low...

" In summary, a clinical diagnosis of testosterone deficiency requires the presence of appropriate symptoms and subnormal serum testosterone values confirmed by either a consistent morning total testosterone value below 200 ng/dL (6.9 nmol/L) or a free testosterone or bioavailable testosterone value below the normal range for a 40-year-old man. (The latter normal range varies by laboratory.) Most hypogonadal men have a low or normal luteinizing hormone value, signifying a pituitary source for the deficiency. If such patients have total testosterone values below 150 ng/dL, they should be further evaluated with an MRI of the head to rule out a pituitary or hypothalamic lesion. Patients with less severely depressed total testosterone levels should be considered for testosterone replacement therapy without further workup. " http://www.postgradmed.com/issues/2003/ ... cindoe.htm

Thanks for replying. My testosterone was originally about 80 ng/dl (well below the normal range of 175-850 provided by the lab). I was started on a testosterone replacement patch which elevated my levels to about 450, although they dropped to about 320 after a couple weeks for some unknown reason. I have not felt completely better (energy-wise) with this dosage so I will be transitioning to trt injections once a week, beginning in 2 weeks. My TSH has been in the range of 2.2-2.6 which is well within the normal range, although I have read on several sites that a reading above 2.0 can be indicative of hypothyroidism. I got my results back from my doctor today and my tsh was 2.3 (range 0.34-5.6) and free t4 was 0.66 (range 0.52-1.21). These are both within the normal range although free t4 is close to being low. I have in fact had an mri of my head and apparently my pituitary is normal, unless it can be abnormal without showing up on an mri.

The complicating factor in this whole thing which I haven't mentioned is that I went through an exercise-related eating disorder beginning about 2 years ago that I have been recovering from for the past 8 months or so. My hair loss led to depression, which led to the ed, etc. Some of the abnormal blood tests are associated with eating disorders, and I think my Doctor has assumed that they are caused by it. Certainly the hypogonadism was probably caused by the eating disorder. However, what my Doctor does not realize is that I had some of these abnormal blood values before the depression/ed - including the low t4. And my hair loss and some of the fatigue (along with depression) began prior to the whole eating disorder thing - this is why I think (or hope) that maybe my hair loss is due to hypothyroidism and not just male pattern baldness. In addition, to further complicate things, I of course style my hair with toppik before seeing my doctor so he is not aware of the severity of my hair loss, although I have mentioned it to him.

Finally, the only other thing that I have not mentioned is that I was on accutane and came off it about 8 months before I noticed my hairloss. There are reports of accutane-induced hairloss, but I can't say whether accutane was to blame for any of this. However, my ALT level (a liver enzyme) has consistently been high, and accutane effects the liver. i can't draw any conclusions from this, however, partly because I don't have the medical expertise. If anyone can make any sense of any of this I'd appreciate your input, opinions, or theories because I'm pretty much overwhelmed. I think the best thing is to see an endocrinologist and tell him my complete history, but I probably won't be able to get an appointment for at least a month or so...so I'm pretty much trying to make sense of it myself for now.

Thanks,
Luke