Very Interesting observation from my workmates... - Thyroid UK

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Very Interesting observation from my workmates Doctor regarding her husbands thyroid condition ..please read.

ThyroidHell profile image
30 Replies

Hi all

My workmate's husband has a thyroid condition and is on medication. She told me that when he first went to see the doctor he looked him and was particularily interested about his grey patch of hair on top of his head ( he is dark haidred man otherwise). The doctor arranged a bloodtests and sure enough he needed to go on medication immediately as it was so bad. The doctor said that he has been observing patients for few years and they have one thing in common ..an odd patch/tuff of grey hair otherwise in normal coloured hair and he could tell they have a thyroid condition !!!! Let e know if you know anything about this or anyone who has this hair bit thing! Have a nice day :o)

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ThyroidHell profile image
ThyroidHell
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30 Replies
sandi profile image
sandi

I had this from age sixteen - people used to comment that I had rubbed against the chalkboard or ask if I'd been painting. OMG, could the thyroid problem have been discovered decades earlier?!

ThyroidHell profile image
ThyroidHell

Hi Sandi

Looks like it :o( it really is strange and to think that simple side effect like grey patch of hair could indicate life time of not feeling well and to discover it early and with right medication things could have been put right.

Griselda profile image
Griselda

That's interesting. I had a grey patch on one side for many years, but it's less noticeable now as I'm going grey all over through normal ageing. Another reason to make me think I've had underactive thyroid for longer than I realised.

But it is good to hear of a GP who is interested and curious enough to make these kinds of observations, and to tell his patients about them. That is truly practising medicine.

ThyroidHell profile image
ThyroidHell

Its funny actually , I spotted a man walking in town centre and had this ..was dying to ask ' excuse me but do you have a thyroid problem' don't know if I would have been told to 'mind my own business' he he hee

in reply toThyroidHell

Thyroidhell, i get that inclination often and am convinced folk think I am a weird cause I take an extra bit of interest in them. Sometimes it has come into conversation and they are on thyroxine.

Another bit of trivia being a Graham Norton fan have watched him over the years and believe he had a distinct grey patch. He shows no sign of brain fog though!

wyn

ThyroidHell profile image
ThyroidHell in reply to

Oh I have to see that ! Next time I'll keep my eyes peeled ( and any other celebrity spotting )

in reply toThyroidHell

ThyroidHell, I saw this way back before he turned 50 and now only use iplayer and picture quality not so good as tv...off to put him on pause and check out the eye bags..could it be am getting a tad obsessive?

RoloHibbs profile image
RoloHibbs

Oh. I had a grey streak from about 21 - people called it my 'Mallen Streak' (from a Catherine Cookson book, I think!). So, it's been going on for years (I'm 55!).

greygoose profile image
greygoose in reply toRoloHibbs

Please see my post below. lol

ThyroidHell profile image
ThyroidHell

How damn odd this is !!!!

greygoose profile image
greygoose

Well, sorry to disappoint you all, but I didn't have a grey patch at any time. However, I did start going grey at a very early age - about 27, I think - and that is a hypo symptom too.

Thank you, RoloHibbs, for explaining the Mallen Streak! A friend of mine told me she had one when she was in ther thirties, I think. I had no idea what it was! But, I've suspected for many years that she has a thyroid problem. But if I mentioned it to her, she reacted as if I'd suggested she had an STD!!! There's intelligence for you!

rosetrees profile image
rosetrees in reply togreygoose

Fancy that - I started going grey at about 27 too. I wonder.

I never had grey bits either, neither my mum who also has hypothyroidism. In fact neither of us is even very grey!

beth48 profile image
beth48

I read about this in a library book about 16 yrs ago when first diagnosed as hypo, sorry cant remember title of book.I noticed a patch of very light hair on top which had been there for years and used to get whispered comments about having dyed it and missed a bit !!! Have never dyed it ,lot of ignorance out there but then I didn't know until I read the book,I was tested because of voice changes!!

Mouse profile image
Mouse

The hairdresser has comment on the fact that my hair is only grey on the very top and still dark brown underneath and at the back. I did wonder if it was thyroid related but thought I can't put everything down to my thyroid.

What I want to know is can it return to it's original colour if you get the medication right?

Stourie profile image
Stourie in reply toMouse

My hair is the same, very grey on top and sides but normal colour at the back. In fact I have more grey hair than my mother and she is 85 and thyroid problem free as far as I know. I have three brothers 1 older and two younger and I am the greyest of them all.

Jo xx

beth48 profile image
beth48

Mine never has :( my patch is on top in middle !!

marram profile image
marram

So, is Cruella Deville hypothyroid? <(")

ThyroidHell profile image
ThyroidHell

Marram I bet she is more than hypothyroid lol

blackqueen65 profile image
blackqueen65

My sister had this since about 18 and she's now hypothyroid. Very interesting.

Zephyrbear profile image
Zephyrbear

I started going grey in my mid-20s and was completely grey by the time I was 30! If I had known then that this and the ridiculously heavy, painful periods I was having all related to the thyroid I would have been able to do something about it then... As it was I just started dying my hair, stocked up on the painkillers and made sure I had no reason to go out for the first 2 days of my period. Funny how it turns out we've had this far longer than we thought, eh? :/

halifaxlass profile image
halifaxlass

I had one grey patch at the side from my early 20's, as Zephyrbear terrible monthlys & then thyroid came to light a couple of years after the change. My hair's been dyed for years so haven't a clue what my 'natural' colour is now !! Odd coincidene :-/

xx

Willowluv profile image
Willowluv

I hadnthis too from a young age and became hypothyroid in my 20's!!

belwom profile image
belwom

I had my first greys from my early 20s but still only have a scattering and am now 56. Seems to be going slowly. At least one thing that couldn't be going slowly enough as opposed to everything else that could do with a lot of speeding up! :)

missdove profile image
missdove

As an 80's chick, I had a shock of white hair that I dyed because I loved the vampire/Adams family look, and now I have a patch which I have noticed more and more because now I colour my hair auburn and keep wondering why I keep getting this vivid patch of red on the left side of my head, and realise that the hair is white/silver underneath. This could be the answer, how very strange indeed...:-/

ThyroidHell profile image
ThyroidHell in reply tomissdove

I take it that you do have a thyroid problem ?

missdove profile image
missdove in reply toThyroidHell

I most certainly do!!!!

carolpartyqueen profile image
carolpartyqueen

A grey streak was pointed out to me by a hairdresser when I was in my early twenties. :)

CathyT profile image
CathyT

I had a bold grey streak that started mid-20s. Hashi's hit full force around 40 and was very ill but wasn't diagnosed til mid-40s, just before all hair fell out with Alopecia.

When I saw Dr P, he figured I'd been hypo since at least early twenties, which would tie in with the streak.

It seems to be common in my mum's side of family so didn't think anything of it, but with benefit of hindsight.. they're all hypo! Dad didn't have it though and he was severely hypo.

I wonder if there could be some kind of autoimmune connection as I know that Alopecia (autoimmune) attacks hair with pigment before hair with no pigment. If the autoimmune process can detect the presence of pigment, perhaps it can also switch it on/off.

Taffhamster profile image
Taffhamster

Now that is interesting! (And I immediately thought Graham Norton too!) I've never had any grey patches of head hair (not that I'm aware of anyway) although I did find my first grey hair a week before my 27th birthday. I'm now 45 and not particularly grey apart from at my temples and a sprinkling of "salt", but, weirdly, I have a patch of unpigmented hair under one arm. I only noticed when I got lax about shaving it – the hair is completely colourless and the skin beneath it (an area about the size of a penny) also seems to be paler than the rest of my skin (not a huge amount of contrast as I'm a pasty Celt but visible to the naked eye).

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