Thyroid UK

Hair loss and Hypothyroidsim

Lemur20094 years ago11 Replies

Hi. I had a full thyroidectomy 12 years ago. Doctors not great and Levo levels were misdiagnosed for years (not enough). This has now been sorted and my levels are generally stable. I have started to lose weight now but am finding that I am starting to lose hair in the centre parting. Also find that losing more hairs than usual when i brush. Its making me really upset and just wondered of this was normal.

Feel like I am always at the Doctors but want to stop this problem before it becomes obvious.

Any advice appreciated?

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Peacefullbliss

in reply to helvella

4 years ago

I am actually taking 200mcg of selenium. Just checked the bottle.

In terms of recommended dose, according to this article, scientists readily admit that there is no consensus on the dose of selenium required to optimize any person’s thyroid function. The only thing they do agree on is that optimizing selenium intake “not only aids preservation of general health but also contributes substantially to the prevention of thyroid disease.

Quote:

"Public health officials now think that 55 mcg of selenium will raise a selenium marker in the blood, selenoprotein P, and they consider that a dose of 100 mcg is the most this particular marker needs. Taking additional selenium does not boost it further. That’s very nice, except selenoprotein P has nothing to do with thyroid function or optimal selenium status in your body.

For example, a detailed study of immunity testing doses of 50 mcg and 100 mcg found that both doses helped, especially the higher dose, but neither dose was able to optimize immune function in healthy people. The researchers suggested that higher doses of selenium would need to be tested to determine the optimal dose. Another human study showed that 200 mcg of selenium produced a better immune response than 50 mcg or 100 mcg.

A recent human study with doses of 100 mcg, 200 mcg, and 300 mcg of selenium found that as the dose increased there was a better ratio of total cholesterol to HDL cholesterol.

A study of high dose selenium, 1,000 mcg per day and 1,500 mcg per day, in sepsis patients found that the dose was highly effective at boosting antioxidant enzymes that clear toxins. Of course, sepsis is a condition of high toxicity requiring, in theory, higher antioxidant intake, including selenium. And this dose was only for several weeks.

A cancer prevention study showed that 200 mcg of selenium reduced cancer by 25 percent, whereas 400 mcg of selenium did not, even though blood levels of selenium were higher.

Collectively, this data tends to indicate that a dose of selenium ranging from 200 mcg to 300 mcg per day may be best for optimizing immune function. However, even the data supporting this does not take into account an individual’s pre-existing health issues that may be decreasing selenium.

Even though public health officials like the idea of a range of 50 mcg – 100 mcg per day, with a safe upper limit of 400 mcg per day, they freely admit in their data that human studies with 1,600 mcg or 3,200 mcg per day did not have adverse or toxic side effects. One study in men with prostate cancer found that a dose of 800 mcg seemed to have adverse effects on PSA dynamics.

None of this safety data is trying to figure out a dose that optimizes thyroid function. This is quite unfortunate when you consider the millions of people with the problem and the potential dire health consequences for not optimizing selenium status. In the previously mentioned study showing selenium helped lower thyroid autoantibodies the dose was 80 mcg over a 12 month period.

In my clinical experience with thousands of people I find that selenium in the 200 mcg to 300 mcg range is adequate for most to improve thyroid function in a noticeable way, although some respond very well to double that dose"

wellnessresources.com/healt...

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4 years ago

Hi there, this is a cut and paste of long post that I wrote for another TT patient which I've edited a bit for you. Here goes:

Sorry you got your throat cut, I'm in the TT club too. I felt like hell on wheels on T4+T3 combined and now doing well finally on NDT - natural bioidentical hormones. You don't say why you've had a TT but if you've had autoimmune disease then your brain and body is sensitised to high levels of thyroid hormone. Also natural hormones just work better in my opinion in TT patients. I'm a member of the yahoo! group Thyroidless - they have helped me so much, I suggest you join there.

Also if you've had autoimmune thyroid disease then you'll be gluten sensitive: stopthethyroidmadness.com/c... If you find you are craving carbs and yeasty or sugary things you also need to look into candida.

Here's a good doc that explains why your thyroid meds might not be working properly tpauk.com/main/?page_id=1599

Also as you are thyroidless you REALLY need to stay on top of your B12, Vit D, iron (ferrtin, folate, serum iron, transferrin, TIBC and saturation % - all need to optimal, not just 'normal' by stingy NHS standards) and electrolyte levels esp potassium and sodium. It's also worth investing in a saliva cortisol test from Genova which is discounted through this site. Starting NDT with low iron or low or dysfunctional cortisol will just make you worse (I know, I tried it!).

Are you losing hair on your arms and legs as well as your head - this can be a cortisol issue? Low iron can also really contribute to hair loss, as can being hypO. Do you have copy of your blood results? Stable does not mean optimal, are you low, middling or high in the reference range for your FREE T3 and FREE T4?

It's very important that you find an endo who is listening to your symptoms and dosing you according to your free T4 and T3 levels (with no meds 16 - 18 hrs prior to the blood draw) and not your TSH. Assuming you've had Graves the TSH can remain suppressed for several years after surgery (it's a useless test anyway, as anyone who is being held hostage to it can tell you!) because of your antibodies. Thyroid removal does not cure Graves, you just have Graves and no thyroid If you are a cancer survivor then your TSH needs to be totally suppressed anyway, the T4 and T3 is the measure of how your levels are doing.

Gut issues are very prevalent with thyroid illness - a good probiotic like symprove is a good idea. I also had parasite infections, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth, leaky gut, candida - you name it. Food allergies for me were a cortisol issue - cortisol is your body's own anti-inflammatory so once I got my adrenal support sorted they all went away. Genova do a digestive analysis, admittedly its £400 but if you have going gut problems after you've changed your diet (the Paleo diet would be ideal) and cut out gluten, and ideally most grains, then it's worth investing in.

Finally, if like me, you struggle to find a doctor who will listen, you can do it yourself. Blue Horizon medicals have a great blood service which does not require a doctor - they do a comprehensive blood test plus X which tests the lot, thyroid, iron, vit b12, vit D, glucose, cholestrol, electrolytes, etc. You'd need a free T3 test on top. All in about £300. You order and pay and then book your test at your local Spire or Nuffield hospital (and there's more choices for places in London on top).

Final piece of the puzzle might be your sex hormones. Mine went beserk after TT - as a woman my progesterone sank into my boots, my oestrogen went off the scale and my testosterone tanked. On NDT prog and oest are now normal, but still no testosterone so just starting very low dose bioidentical testosterone gel.

Final word to the wise, your thyroid is crucial to the correct working to all the other hormones in your body. My good (german) endo surgeon admitted that they barely understand what it does, let alone what it's removal really does, it probably has far more functions than they presently understand and it probably makes other yet to be identified hormones. What I do know is once it's gone, things don't always go to plan in your body and hormones can cascade the wrong way. So it's best to just only replace the hormones that are missing, take the bare minimum of supplements that your body needs to survive and don't take any herbs or anything else (e.g. DHEA or Pregnenolone) that relies on something converting to something else. Keep it really simple.

A good supplement regime would look like this:

- Bioidentical thyroid hormones to the ELIMINATION OF SYMPTOMS

- Vitamin B complex - good one like lamberts, thorne or solaray

- Mineral complex - delivering at least 99mg Potassium, zinc and copper, and at least 100mcg selenium

- unprocessed (I like Light Gray) celtic sea salt liberally on food or sipped in water, say half a teaspoon a day to start

- CoQ10 - 100mg is good, 200 is better

- Extra Vitamin B5

- Magnesium - chloride or citrate to bowel tolerance and epsom salt baths

- Vitamin C to bowel tolerance but at least 2g a day

- iron if you need it I like Bluebonnet chelated iron 27mg up to 8 caps a day

- Vitamin D3

- Vitamin B12 - METHYL lozenges, I'd start on 5,000mcg a day

- A good fish oil - posh brand like Nordic Naturals or Green pasture

- Good fats in your diet - grass fed butter, coconut oil, extra virgin olive oil, good cholesterol is at the top of hormone cascade, you need good fat.

I hope that helps you, if you do nothing else, join the thyroidless group on Yahoo!

Best of luck

Rebecca

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Hair loss and Hypothyroidsim

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