Hair loss

[hose1975]

So my hair is coming out at a somewhat more noticeable rate than before and at times I wouldn't expect to see it. I know I'm not optimally medicated but my current fT3 level is 4.0 (3.5-5.5) vs 3.8 about five weeks ago and the hair loss is much worse than then.

I'm pretty sure my ferritin is at a healthy level: it was about 150 (sorry, can't remember the reference range or the units but I think top end was about 200) when last checked a month or two ago, up from 4 last summer; I am now taking a maintenance dose of one ferrous fumarate capsule every other day as it doesn't need to go up any more. I take 1000 mcg sublingual vitamin B12 daily, together with 10 mcg zinc, 1000 mg vitamin C and a general vitamin B complex tablet.

I stopped taking a vitamin D supplement about three weeks ago as I would like to get another blood test done to see what my unsupplemented levels are like. When I was tested privately in France last summer the level was in the 'insufficient' range at 43 nmol/l but testing on the NHS a week later gave a result of 103 nmol/l and I really don't understand that! By the time the second test result had come through I'd been prescribed D3 anyway at 1000IU / day so I decided to keep taking them. As an aside, how long would I need to lay off the supplements at that dose before they'd all cleared my system?

Any ideas as to the most likely cause of this hair loss? It's not noticeable on my head yet and it's not like it's coming out in great big clumps but I am losing more than usual (sort of post-partum quantities) and I'd quite like it to stop!

Many thanks

Jo

[vgam]

Hi

it is really frustrating when this happens. Have you changed your dose recently?

[hose1975 in reply to vgam]

Yes, I dropped from 150mcg T4 only to 125mcg T4 and 12.5mcg T3 about three weeks ago. Last bloods showed a decrease in fT4 levels (18.9 to 14.8) but only a 0.2 increase in fT3 levels (3.8 to 4.0).

[vgam in reply to hose1975]

I know changes in dose can result in increased shedding. I'm sorry I'm not sure what else it could be. I too and experience increase shedding which suddenly came on 2 weeks ago. I know my ferritin is only 17 so have only just started suppleMentIng

[vgam]

Hi

Has there been any improvement?

[hose1975 in reply to vgam]

Not as yet, but I only started back on 150mcg T4 with 6.25mcg T3 just over a week ago. Have had saliva tests done to see if a faulty gene or out-of-whack cortisol levels might be responsible for poor conversion. I'm also considering getting a folate test done too, so that I can see where I am with that.

I've not doubt I'll get there, but I'd prefer not to have lost all my hair by that point

[vgam in reply to hose1975]

I really hope things settle down for you. I'm hoping the dose change has caused this in which case it should settle down once you stabilise.