Am i going to get bald or what?

[Singhhaayushi]

I am 22 years old and have been experiencing severe hairfall since last 2 months! The hair on my scalp have gone visibly thin and can be felt too! The condition is really depressing, i don't understand what to do! I have been practising some crashed diets to reduce weight in the past one year! Also i had a similar episode of hairfall last year in the same season but it got cured itself and the situation this time is worse! Please help me

[cleo26]

Have you seen a doctor for a diagnosis? Why are you crash dieting?

[paw1]

Hi I would speak to your doctor about what is happening. Try not to unduly worry.

[laviolad]

Hi,

I had the same problem exactly one year ago. I would have a shower and the drain would be full of my hair.

First of all, falling hair is more common as the autumn hits in so don’t worry if it’s just a period of falling hair it will probably come back.

As I said I was becoming almost bald in January (hair continuously fell from Oct to Feb) but then I did the following and now my hair has thickened out a lot, not like years back but fill bodied.

Try the following:

- get your thyroid levels checked out. Usually they are TSH but your GP will best guide you. I was diagnosed with Hashimoto and was the main reason as to why I was having huge problems. Ok I have to take tabs for life but I feel much better and my hair is back to normal.

- if it’s alopecia, then it’s an immune disease. Go on a vegan diet and avoid gluten altogether. Try eating fruits and vegetables as well as legumes. Food intake is a huge factor in increasing/decreasing the autoimmune condition.

- try not to stress more while hair is falling out. Sure it’s easier said than done but in any case you have to try stabilise the situation now by doing the previously mentioned things. You won’t see the results until 3/4 months so you have to keep at it even if at times you feel like giving.

I consider myself lucky. I was told in November and in February (after high level specialist doctor visits) that I would become conpletely bald soon (alopecia universalis). Come May, my hair regrew as well as my eyebrows (which were completely gone by November).

Get some blood tests done and get told about what you have. If its autoimmune condition my advice would be to leave corticosteroids (they only temporarily create a miracle) and go straight into a diet described above. Autoimmune diseases start from the gut and intestines. This is what you need to look after.

Good luck

[Chris884 in reply to laviolad]

Does cirrhosis of the liver cause bald spots on the head

[Amkoffee]

Well I totally disagree with the advice that Lavoilad gave. For starters when you have an autoimmune disorder no diet in the world will cure you of the disease. An autoimmune disorder is when your own body attacks itself and when doing that it causes symptoms. The symptoms are generally a hint as to what you might have. There are many many different autoimmune disorders a couple of them is hypothyroidism or hyperthyroidism. Either one of them can cause hair loss. She is right about that. There is also something called female pattern baldness although I think you're a bit young to get that. The most likely thing is alopecia areata. With that the hair falls out in patches so look at your scalp carefully using a mirror if you need to. Regardless whether you have patches or overall thinning you'll want to get your thyroid tested and you also need to see a dermatologist about your hair loss.

Steroids are really hard to take, they're hard on the body and they offer a lot of side effects but they are very helpful with some diseases. Me personally I have a disease called PMR that is extremely painful and the steroids help reduce the inflammation thereby reducing the pain. If you do have alopecia areata the dermatologist can inject steroids into your scalp and that stimulates hair growth. And I think that you do need to relax and not worry about it. In order to do that you can find online guided meditation. These are not just music or sounds that are relaxing this is something where someone's talking telling you to do things like tensing up then letting go. Things like that. If you do the that tape a couple times a day it will really make it easier to relax in between the two times you use it. Even to the point where saying a key word to yourself will automatically make your muscles relax. It's the conditioning from the tape. Well good luck to you and I hope everything works out for you. Keep us posted

[laviolad]

Don’t get me wrong but a diet will not completely remove your autoimmune condition just like a recorded tape to lower stress won’t make your hair grow back, but the objective of my argument was that a cure is not readily available to sort it all out so we need to take positive steps to cure from the inside.

As I said previously, much research has been done to find out more about the different types of diseases and how to treat them. It has been confirmed that gut and intestinal activity has a lot to do with the inflammation as they release free radicals into your bloodstream which then go crazy and start attacking hair follicles, thyroid etc for no apparent reason.

Eating anti oxidant food helps so my suggestion would be an almost vegan diet as it has been confirmed that most ‘bad food’ only aggravates the problem, namely, gluten, sugar, high carbo food like pizza, pasta, meat and fried food to name just a few. High intake of anti oxidant food can stabilise the situation, not cure it. My thyroid is gone because it’s been attacked so much that it is now damaged (I now rely on tabs to keep the levels ok) but should it be alopecia, the positive thing is that the hair follicle still remains active. Although they become attacked, they are still active and waiting to be ‘woken up’ so one can get fully cured from it.

Steroids is a short term solution only if you see some hair coming through (roughly after about a wk /10days) however it should be taken through GP consultation and not for too long. It can cause huge side effects.

Since steroids don’t heal the autoimmune condition from within, you need to focus on the following things:

- diet

- Lower stress

- Exercise

They will help but not cure.

Although it’s been suggested before in the comments that autoimmune is just a condition where your body attacks tissues or organs, we have to remind ourselves that this is not what your immune system was designed to do. It needs treating without medication but through lifestyle changes otherwise one autoimmune condition will lead to another.

In any case get yourself a thorough check up and try and at least find out what is causing this problem. If it were alopecia then you would notice some round bald spots.

ps let’s also remember that autoimmune conditions are prevalent in ‘first world countries’ and the number is rising. In the so called ‘poorer’ parts of the world, it is very rare. This in itself can give us a general feeling that Western lifestyle has become too frenetic and it’s time to look after ourselves.

pps don’t think I’m a fitness or vegan freak. I went through the same thing as you last year and cried everytime I was in front of the mirror. I can only share my positive experience with you as to what I did.

[Lilley44]

morning

Any form of crash dieting will have huge effect on your hair, it’s very important to make sure your hair folliclle receives hydration and nutrients daily.

There are several other factors are you studying ?

Your genetic pattern ie. looking at your mother/father,s and grandparents hair?

My advise would be to see a hair and scalp specialist preferably who practices microscopy

Like myself to see why the follicle is deteriorating

And diagnosis can be made immediately.

Cheryl@Regen Hair and Scalp