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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 8 of 8. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by CareBear04 on March 30, 2005, at 1:47:27
i've read posts about people losing hair on meds and know it's a frequent side effect. i've always shed a lot of hair, but my hair is so thick and i have so much of it that it didn't matter. in the past week, i've noticed a small bald patch over my forehead. my hair brushes over to cover it, but it's still a little visible, and my hair is thinner than before. i don't think it's med-related since i haven't made any recent changes. my doctor thinks it's a post-stress reaction, my body's response to recovering from some months of sickness-- weight loss, pulse and BP changes, electrolyte imbalances, etc. i think it's b/c i've been doing physical therapy in the pool, and all the chlorine is eating away at my hair! whatever the cause, i just want to know-- DOES IT GROW BACK? i don't have baldness in my family. i'm female and 22; this isn't natural. my dr thinks yes, but i just wanted to hear other people's experiences. thanks!
Posted by Racer on March 30, 2005, at 10:25:13
In reply to losing hair!! does it grow back?, posted by CareBear04 on March 30, 2005, at 1:47:27
I've gone through two or three phases of hair loss in the past year. Each time, handfuls of hair have come out each day and it is horrible! And it was what your doctor described: a reaction to stress.
I did a bunch of research, and found that it's most probably -- at least in my case -- something called telogen effluvium (or thereabouts -- I haven't looked up the spelling, so don't quote me on it) It usually happens about two to three months after the stressor, and what happens is that all the hair in the "resting" phase of the growth cycle falls out at once, rather than spreading the loss over a longer period. Your hair has a three phase growth cycle: active growth, resting, and shedding. In TE, the shedding happens all at once, so you can lose about one third of your hair in a very short time!
It's horrible, there's no question about it, but it grows back. About the same time I resign myself to being half bald, I realize that I'm not anymore. In my case, I had so many major stressors last year, all coming one after the other, that I went through multiple phases of it. But that's unusual, so I wouldn't worry about it.
Yes, it's probably stress. Yes, it's stressful to lose your hair. Yes, it will grow back. Yes, I do envy you greatly for having thick hair! Mine is thin to begin with, so you can imagine how horrible it was to lose so much!
Hope that helps.
Posted by CareBear04 on March 30, 2005, at 10:33:14
In reply to Re: losing hair!! does it grow back?, posted by Racer on March 30, 2005, at 10:25:13
racer, thanks so much for your response. i could never have found all that out on my own, even if i went through google searches of hair loss. it's so good to know that the hair will grow back. the post-stress explanation still surprises me a bit because i've read that people in poor health often show it in their skin and hair. i would have thought that the hair loss would occur during and not after the stress. my hair is thick, but i haven't always like that, especially because there's so much of it. for one thing, it takes half a day to dry! but now that i'm losing it, i'm thankful for my hair as it is. thanks so much!
Posted by Justy on March 30, 2005, at 11:34:23
In reply to Re: losing hair!! does it grow back? » Racer, posted by CareBear04 on March 30, 2005, at 10:33:14
When I was on lamotrigine my hair was falling out. All over the pillow in the morning. I have very fine, thin hair and was I freaked out, but after awhile it started growing back.
Posted by Minnie-Haha on March 30, 2005, at 14:54:36
In reply to losing hair!! does it grow back?, posted by CareBear04 on March 30, 2005, at 1:47:27
Are you taking a good multivitamin? Zinc helped with my hair loss when I was on Depakote, though if I knew then what I know now, I would've made sure that I was getting about 1mg of copper for every 10mg of zinc. A good blend would be 30mg zinc and 3mg copper.
Posted by CareBear04 on March 31, 2005, at 12:54:24
In reply to Re: losing hair!! does it grow back? » CareBear04, posted by Minnie-Haha on March 30, 2005, at 14:54:36
thanks! my dr told me awhile ago to take a multivitamin, but i haven't been doing it. mostly, i envision the pills as being very large, and i already take dozens of pills a day. but since you had good results, maybe i'll try it. what kind do you take? thanks!
Posted by Minnie-Haha on March 31, 2005, at 14:25:44
In reply to Re: losing hair!! does it grow back? » Minnie-Haha, posted by CareBear04 on March 31, 2005, at 12:54:24
> thanks! my dr told me awhile ago to take a multivitamin, but i haven't been doing it. mostly, i envision the pills as being very large, and i already take dozens of pills a day. but since you had good results, maybe i'll try it. what kind do you take? thanks!
I used to get Nature Made Century Vite (I think that was the name), but since my grocery store quit carrying them, I've switched to Centrum From A to Zinc (or the generic or store-brand equivalent, which is cheaper). Now someone else here thinks that Centrum is crap, so go figure. My mom was a One-A-Day gal. The thing is, you don't have to buy the most expensive or "all natural" to get the benefit. Prevention Magazine says that, with the exception of Vitamin E, your body doesn't know the difference between natural and synthetic. Some might disagree. Maybe try the Heath board here to see what they advise?
Whatever you do, don't go overboard. Just get a good multi. And for your specific situation (hair loss), if the multi doesn't have have at least 20-30mg zinc and 2-3mg copper, then you might want to buy those separately to augment the multi. (The ratio is 10mg zinc to 1mg copper.)
Oh, and as for the pills being large, I think you can get liquid versions, but I've never tried those.
Posted by Minnie-Haha on March 31, 2005, at 14:28:19
In reply to Re: losing hair!! does it grow back? » Minnie-Haha, posted by CareBear04 on March 31, 2005, at 12:54:24
> thanks! my dr told me awhile ago to take a multivitamin...
Forgot to mention to take your vitamin/mineral supplements with food whenever possible. Your body uses them much better with food. (I like to take mine with my breakfast.)
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