Hi guys,
My hair is tangling all the time even right after I comb them. It is the major reason that effects the quality of my hair. I have tried oils and conditioners but nothing works well.
Could you please share your experience If you had a similar problem and somehow found out how to deal with it successfully.
Thanks
G.
Gal Ka,
Have you had your iron and ferritin checked?
Mine was very low and I spent a fortune on haircuts trying to keep my very thin hair in decent condition!
I was supplementing with iron, but the doctor told me to double the amount that I took once I had the blood test that showed how low my iron and ferritin were.
I used to have very short hair but am now able to grow it! It still damages a bit more than it used to when I was in my teens, but looks much thicker, and certainly takes much longer to dry!
I bought a wonderful thing in Boots last week - it's called a Tangle Teaser. It works on wet and dry hair and is absolutely amazing. It would be worth giving it a try. I also use Kerastase shampoo which although expensive, lasts quite a long time and is kind to my hair and scalp.
Hey...thanks a lot. I will try it for sure. I like Kerastase as well. Which one do you use btw?
Hi, I use Dermo calm, it comes in a blue bottle. It is designed to help the scalp.
Tangled hair is a symptom of low thyroid. Are you on an optimal dose of thyroid hormone replacement?
Wow yet something else to learn greygoose. I was loosing my hair but back on track after supplementing Iron. However if I tried to comb my hair when it was wet the hair that came out looked like candy floss (if that makes sense), and tangling. What exactly causes it? Yet another low thyroid symptom I see.
I'm afraid I have no idea what causes it. And I can't remember exactly where I read it - I read so much. But I think it was on here...
Yes, I know.
I am on levothyroxine 50mcg plus 1tablet of nutri thyroid daily. I think it works all right for me.
To be honest I am a bit afraid to increase levothyroxine.
Once when my TSH dropped to 1.67 (after being on 50 mcg levothyroxine and 2 tablets of nutri thyroid daily) I reduced levothyroxine to 25 mcg. The result was awful. My worst symptoms like anxiety and dizziness and panic attack etc came back. I got back to 50 mcg and my symptoms gradually got back to a certain normal point.
I am afraid to become dependent on a higher dose of levothyroxine. I am thinking if it worth to increase the dose. They say levothyroxine has its own side effects including hair loss.
Sorry, I Don't understand your reasoning here. Whatever dose you're on, you are dependant on thyroid hormone replacement for the rest of your life, be it levo or something else. What difference does it make how high that dose it? You need what you need. And if you Don't get enough, you're going to feel bad. Personnally, I would have thought it was most definately Worth increasing if it gets rid of symptoms!
50 is only a starter dose, and staying on that for too long can cause other problems. Nutri thyroid has not hormone in it. When did you last do labs? Do you have any results to share with us? Do you have Hashi's?
I think my reasoning is psychological.
I feel all right on 50 mcg - the worst symptoms are gone. What is left? There are tangling hair, a bit raised cholesterol, lower back pain (which can be caused by helicobacter pylori bacteria I have in my body).
Who knows I may have my auto immune hypothyroid due to this bacteria and as long as auto immune conditions are not properly researched so levothyroxine is the only medication prescribed so far on a daily basis.
So I am thinking if I am more or less fine on 50 mcg then better stick to it. I would not like to find out later that it was not a good drug for me (like it is now happening with statins which were widely prescribed before but not in favour now - though I have never taken them). Plus, there are many publications now that right diets may improve autoimmune disorderes. Also another fact - many people on higher doses of levothyroxine still feel bad.
Hopefully I am not dramatically wrong with my reasoning 
.
If I feel worse I will be forced to raise my dose anyways.
As to my blood tests I have them regularly.
My last ones are
TSH 2.69 (0.4 -4.0)
T3 free 4.2 (2.6 -5.7)
T4 free 14.4 (9.0 - 22.0)
thyroid peroxidase antibody level 221.3 (<5.6)
thyroglobulin antibodies 9.2 (<18.0)
serum cholesterol 6.23 (4.45 -7.77)
serum LDL cholesterol 4.01 (2.31 -5.44)
serum HDL cholesterol 1.87 (0.96 - 2.35)
serum cholesterol/HDL ratio 2.3 (2.0 - 3.0)
serum triglycerides 0.76 (0.62 -2.96)
selenium 0.120 (0.07 -0.12)
zink 1.01 (0.75 - 1.5)
Well, taking Levo certainly isn't going to have an effect on your antibodies, it's true, unless your take enough to suppress your TSH. Yours is far from suppressed, and way too high for someone on thyroid hormone replacement.
A TSH of over 2.0 means that your gland is still struggling to work. And when it is working, it stumulates the antibodies to attack. They therefore continue to destroy the gland. As your gland continues to diminish Under the antibody attacks, it is going to be able to produce less and less hormone, therefore the TSH rises and so do the antibody attacks until you have no gland left.
Suppressing the TSH means that the gland stops working, so the antibodies stop attacking. And therefor you Don't have to increase the dose exponentially. And don't forget that some of your symptoms can be caused by the antibodies themselves.
I would agree that Levo is not the ideal form of replacement. Even if it works for you now, there's no guarantee that it will forever. But the fact that you need it now means that there has already been damage done to your gland, so the odds of you ever being able to do without thyroid hormone replacement, even if you do get rid or your antibodies, are pretty slim.
However, deliberately undermedicating yourself, is shooting yourself in the foot because it just means that you most definately are going to need more and more in the future. My personal opinion is that you would be better off adding T3 to your Levo so that your TSH becomes suppressed and then sticking at that dose as long as you feel well on it. But it isn't all just about symptoms.
I hope that's clear enough to understand. lol It's rather complicated to explain.
Anyway, you can hardly compare Levo to statins, they aren't at all the same thing. And if anyone had bothered to do the science, it would have been obvious from the start that they were a bad idea. Whereas thyroid hormone replacement of some sort is absolutely essential if you want to stay alive. It's just that Levo, T4 only, isn't the ideal. But it's a hormone, not a drug like statins.
Yes, I know that TSH over2.0 is not good for me however, my last elevated TSH is a result of my experimenting with tablets and
now I am waiting for it to go down.
During last 4 years since I was prescribed Levothyroxine I have done lots of blood tests. Based on my results I can say that antibodies hardly go down when TSH goes down. I would say the nature of antibodies is quite chaotic - at least in my case. Most likely there are other factors that influence their numbers to go up or down.
As to TSH I found something that works for me.
First time my TSH went down from 3 something numbers to 0.55 when I added 1 tablet of non-hormonal Nutri Thyroid to my 50mcg of Levothyroxine. I thought this low TSH was mistake but decided to stop taking Nutri Thyroid. Then my TSH went up again to 3 something number. So I ended up on 50 mcg Levothyroxine and 1 tablet of Nutri Thyroid and my TSH was below 2.0 while on them.
Another experiment was not successful - I decided to try 25 mcg Levothyroxine and 2 tablets of Nutri Thyroid. TSH was more than 2.0 and I got my bad symptoms back. Now I am again on 50 mcg of Levothyroxine plus 1 tablet Nutri Thyroid and I will do another blood tests soon.
As long as I can achieve TSH below 2.0 I do not mind if Nutri Thyroid is not a hormone.
I compared Levothyroxine with statins only to say that often some drugs/foods/diets etc are considered as good ones one day and not good another day. With time many concepts change as new information from scientific researches arrives.
Rainbow brush works well with de-tangling and also thickens the appearance of hair
I use a tangle teaser too. They are brilliant. I also put coconut oil in my hair once a week, cover it with foil, thereby multitasking as a baked potato. Sleep in it. Makes my hair nice and soft.
I have not been diagnosed with a thyroid disorder yet but I am convinced I have the disorder as showing so many symptoms but my bloods are ok. One of my main symptons is my hair. Previously long healthy and thick it changed over a period of months to a straw like texture going out continuously!!! The only thing that has helped me a bit it not wearing my hair up so much therefore reducing damage and also using T-gel shampoo every now and again. I use Aussie on a regular basis. This and a good hair cut has helped. I empathise with you completely? Do you suffer from dry skin as well?
Who says your bloods are ok? Your doctor? Did you actually see the results? Can you post them on here? Very often by 'ok', you doctor means just in range, which very often isn't 'ok' at all!
Gal Ka
I too have had the same problem so much so, my hair no longer grows and the entire texture has changed, it is an underactive thyroid issue. When I first started noticing was that I was shedding hair from ever phorise of my body, my head, legs, arms and even private area. The hair began to tangle and fuse together, I am a black woman and just like Marmaris stated Candyfloss like, very wiry.
My hair hasn't gone back however I am many years in, I supposed it will only sort itself out with medication, but diagnosis is hard.
Iron is a good supplement though to aid as well as meds.
Hi Ya Gal Ka,
Wow, Grey is right. I have the same problem. My hair just intertwines around each other and it's pretty amazing how it tangles like that. And when it tangles like that I have loose hair in it, too. I have hair that will have these teenie little tiny knots, too, and I never had this either. And also it seems to be on my right side more than my left side (why that is, I don't know). My hair used to not tangle at all and it is a symptom of low thyroid. When you get your levels rightm, it will stop. It is frustating, though, I have to tell you. I have had times when my hair was just one ball lol I literally spent a couple of hours trying to get it out. And when I sleep, I don't move a lot so I couldn't understand it and it would just tangle after an hour later lol My hair is curly too so that makes it even worse with tangling.
Do you have a curly hair? If you wear it up, pull it up in a way that it is real loose and not pulled back so tight. Also what i found to help me, too, is Mane & Tail (Inexpensive) but it does leave your hair a bit frizzy at first but it has keratin in it. There is also a spray that you can use of Mane and Tail and it gives it strength. I want to try the Keratase also. I read on here that that was good, so I'm going to try that too.
But yeah, stay patient with it and when you work on the knots take your time and don't rip through it. You will get leveled out and it will stop. I'm in the same boat right now.
Keep us posted.
Thanks...no my hair is not curly...luckily...to get them as a ball is really frustrating I guess...Are you sure that tangling may go on the right dose of levothyroxine? have you had it yourself?
Me too Grey until I was on Armour and then my hair had gotten better. I hope my hair comes back like that again. It truly is frustrating. I'm still having fallage and the tangling after three months. I go doc on 10th.
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