Hair Help: Hi, I've accepted that on a... - Pernicious Anaemi...

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Hair Help

Sleepybunny profile image
7 Replies

Hi,

I've accepted that on a bad day I can look 20 years older than I really am but one thing that does upset me is my hair. It's always been very fine but before I became ill I had lots of it. Now it seems much sparser and fragile.

Thyroid problems have more or less been ruled out, I take plenty of b12 and in general eat healthily. I am not menopausal although in right age range. Have some grey hair.

Any suggestions at to what I can do nutritionally or otherwise to help my hair?

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Sleepybunny
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7 Replies
Gambit62 profile image
Gambit62Administrator

my hair thickened up and got stronger when my B12 levels got to where they needed to be but before that I was using hair serum and hair gel to give it a bit more body. I also resorted to dying it for a while but stopped a few years ago - too much faff and really did it under pressure from other relatives.

Premature greying runs in my father's side of the family - who was grey by the age of 35 - as was my brother - though I held out a little longer.

Cherylclaire profile image
CherylclaireForum Support in reply toGambit62

Hi Sleepybunny and Gambit,

My hair still occasionally looks like spider-webs and then falls out even though I am having 2 injections a week now. That, and splits and sore skin at the corners of my mouth were, I now realise, my first warning signs (possibly 9 years ago?) that something was amiss (signs which I ignored). Also the first symptoms to improve when B12 "getting through". Even Dr and nurses now seem to recognise these as indicators.

Have no control over this and can change from Good hair day to Bad hair day (and back again) very quickly. My heart still sinks when washing my hair and it starts to come out in my hands- I still never know when this is going to happen. Never in patches, though, like alopecia, luckily.

No answers yet, but like Gambit, believe an optimum level may help.

Always a very bad sign for me when face colour matches hair: kind of greyish yellow, like the lemon that got left behind on the tree at the end of summer!

Sleepybunny profile image
Sleepybunny in reply toCherylclaire

Interested about what you said about face colour. Does anyone have a link to a picture of typical B12 deficiency lemon skin colour.

Fortunately I don't have this yellow colour although i did use to be very pale.

Marz profile image
Marz in reply toSleepybunny

Am wondering if your VitD levels are optimal ?

My hair improved a few years back and I have a feeling it was the large dose of D. Could have been due to switching to T3 only and starting B12.

Sometimes our thyroids can be producing adequate T4 but that doesn't mean it is converting into the active T3. Result of FT3 needs to be in the upper part of the range. T3 is needed in every cell of the body - that's an awful lot if T3 😊

Sallybones profile image
Sallybones

Hi Sleepybunny I've found that some body hair has returned since I started self injecting particularly under armpits! At one time I would have been quick to shave them but at the moment treasuring the fact that changes are happening. Also my head hair which had gone completely grey about 10 years ago (though a nice steel grey) and was beginning to thin a little, now seems much healthier again and some of my original dark brown colour is showing!!

Also now take Biocare zinc with vit c drops which has helped my nails and skin. Plus 2 cubes of jelly a day, an old fashioned remedy, contains gelatin. Unless you're a vegetarian.

Hope that may be of some help to you xx

Sleepybunny profile image
Sleepybunny

Hi Sallybones,

I also found amount of hair in all body areas increased once I started taking B12.

Frodo profile image
Frodo

I have read that biotin can aid hair growth and that ferritin levels need to be optimum (rather than just within the low 'normal' range). But do your own research before taking anything, and get the nutrients via diet if you can.

The hair on my head has stopped thinning and is growing better since starting B12, but the body hair I lost has not come back.

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