I am 36 years old and about 2 months ago my hair has been coming out in the shower by the handful and another handful while I am blow drying and styling my hair. I immediately stopped coloring my hair and began using Nioxin a shampoo for thinning hair. It has lessened the amount a little but hasn't stopped my hair falling out. Only a few people have noticed but you can really tell if you touch it. Also, the only medication I take is BC pills and I stopped taking those about six months ago. Has anyone else experienced this and know what could be the cause? I have an OBGYN appointment coming up but thought I would ask here first. Thanks:)
ETA: My youngest child is 5 1/2.
Thanks for the responses. I saw my obgyn and received a copy of a standard letter a week later and at the bottom "normal results" was circled. I feel very disappointed and was expecting a more personal response from my doctor, like "what do I do now"?? My hair is still falling out but it seems like less. I may try a dermatologist. Thanks again!
If you haven't delivered a baby in the last 3-12 months (it's normal to lose a lot of hair a few months after delivery because your body begins to shed hair that it "held on to" during pregnancy), please consider having your thyroid checked. Hormone imbalance, particularly high testosterone levels, can also contribute to hair loss. Glad you have an appt soon. Nurse Midwife Mom of 3
Might wanna have your thyroid levels checked. TSH, T3 & T4. Some other symptoms besides hair loss is feeling cold all the time, dry skin, feeling tired all the time. It can often be triggered after gaining weight, having a baby, &/or family history. I would have your OB do some general labs also (CBC, CMP) just to check your electrolytes & stuff too. Good luck & hope things turn out well.
This happened to my sister, and she was given a cream or medication of some sort to take care of it. It was pretty easy to treat. DO get your thyroid checked, though.
not getting enough protein can also cause your hair to fall out...happened to my son when he was younger
It could be thyroid. This happened to me once when I got on a kick of eating a lot of soy protein in protein bars. Soy can mess with your thyroid. I stopped eating them and my hair recovered.
hmmm... not sure - until you said how old your youngest child was, I'd have said maybe due to recent pregnancy and birth. My son is 5 months now and since month 2 I've been losing an obscene amount of hair, thankfully it's not noticeable!!
I'd talk to your general practitioner about it pronto!!
Get your thyroid check out. My hair falls out(not by the handfuls) but it comes out sometimes when I wash my hair and I had my thyroid check after my last child in 2009,because I was depressed really bad,tired all the time and had a hard time losing weight. Sure enough when my blood work came back I had underactive thyroid disease. Symptom of underactive thyroid.
I agree with having your doctor run a full blood panel on you. I can completely empathize; I've been experiencing this as well around my hairline. I start to get a widow's peak on both sides of my temple w/ the hair falling out, then it grows back. It's been doing this on and off for over two years now. Absolutely nothing came back out of the ordinary on my blood panels, so my doctor was at a complete loss, as well as my dermatologist.
What HAS helped me is taking a Biotin supplement. I take 1,000mg a day and that has definitely helped. I notice that if I slack off on the supplement, the hair falls out again.
If you google hair loss, there are literally hundreds of various ailments that can cause hair loss so it's not an easy thing to figure out if the blood panels come back fine. I guess I've attributed mine to hormones (I turn 43 this month) and the fact that baldness runs in my family. THANK GOD I was born with a TON of hair so I've been able to change my part around and hide the loss for the most part.
I wish you luck in figuring this out!!
If your thyroid function has changed, it can trigger some pretty massive hair loss.
There are other symptoms which can include feeling tired/cold all the time, outer edges of eyebrows thinning out, nails grow very slowly and are brittle, hard to lose weight, etc.
There are other things that can cause hair loss.
Besides seeing your obgyn it would be a good idea to get an overall physical and have your thyroid levels and other hormone levels tested.
Your hormones are messed up. Go to your OBGYN and ask her to test your levels. Estrogen/progesterone/testosterone deficiencies can definitely cause this...have you felt less *ahem!* frisky in the bedroom? That's another symptom of hormone imbalance.
Get to the doc before you try anything else so they can get proper tests done.
yes i have severe hair loss my pony tail is now less than dime size and my hair is to my shoulders its awful. ive had everything checked and they say im fine however i had parathyroid issues in the past so i sort of think it may be my thyroid again. call your dr and have them test your thyroid
Several people mentioned thyroid, another possibility is anemia (low iron). Ask your doctor to check your Ferritin level (long term stores of iron). If they are low you start losing hair. Are you also exhausted/low on energy, and pale? These are other signs.
Good luck!!
It sounds like Alopecia Areata. My niece has this. She is in her 30's and hers started when she was a junior in high school. I believe it is autoimmune realted. It can come out in clumps and then grow back or it can all fall out. Something attacks the hair folicles (SP??). It can be just the hair on your head or all over the hair on your body. I do not think they have found out what causes. They say stress may contribte and it could be herditary (SP??). You can look it up on internet, just google it. I would go to my MD and talk to him/her about it and see what they think. They can give shots to try to make it grow back, but they are painful and did not work for my niece. She was also on steroids for a long period of time. Good luck!
A.
try this stuff: (liquid silica)
http://www.eidon.com/store/proddetail.php?prod=01Silica
I'm not trying to sell you anything like some do on this forum, but read the reviews below the product and it helps with hair loss. I took it following each of my births and it reduced the hair loss a lot. Sometimes you can find it at local health food stores, but if not, here it is too. It's totally natural and safe.
