Thyroid and hair loss

[CatsDogs2]

Need help ! I’ve been on Synthroid for many many years and never really feeling tons better . Just a little better. My hair started falling out and I continued to gain weight year after year , never losing a pound no matter how hard I tried. I decided to add 5 mg T3 Liothyronine. I feel like a new person . I can’t believe how much better I feel even after just 3days , however I feel like my hair is really falling out now .. what to do !? any help /advice would be appreciate

[WestysWifey]

Hi, thanks for the follow, I hope you don't mind me adding you also? I have just seen your above post as was slightly confused but more so concerned when you mentioned that you have decided to add 5mg T3 Liothyronine & now feel like a new person. Have you added that extra medication to your Synthroid medication yourself or did your GP do this?

Hair loss has always been a problem with myself but I'm still unsure if having an underactive thyroid (which I have) is solely the reason I am losing hair as there are so many other reasons that could be contributing to it.

For example; Stress can cause hair loss, old age, other medications you may be on that include hair loss as a side effect of the drug, vitamin deficiencies- Vitamin D for example is prudent to hair growth as it stimulates the hair follicles which makes them grow , it helps maintain the thickness of existing hair strands so when the body does not have enough, your hair may be affected.

A vitamin D deficiency may also be linked to alopecia areata, an autoimmune condition that causes patchy hairloss. Vitamin D deficiency can also play a role in hair loss in people without alopecia but it is most definitely the most well-known, common culprit for hair loss.

B12 or iron deficiency, are both known to contribute to hair loss, some illnesses, a variety of medical health conditions, cancer treatments, excessive weightloss usually contributing to Anorexia/ bulimia (eating disorders) & female pattern baldness, although, hair loss caused by female pattern baldnes usually runs in the family.

It's normal for us to lose hair throughout our lives & we can lose between 50 and 100 hairs a day, often without even noticing.

See a GP if:

you have sudden hair loss, you develop bald patches, you're losing hair in clumps, your head also itches and burns & if you are worried about the amount of hair you are losing.

Treatments for hair loss

Most hair loss doesn't need treatment and is either:

Temporary and it'll grow back

A normal part of getting older

Hair loss caused by a medical condition usually stops or grows back once you have recovered.

There are things you can try if your hair loss is causing you distress but most treatments aren't available on the NHS if you are a uk resident, so you'll have to pay for them & no treatment is 100% effective.

Finasteride and minoxidil

Finasteride and minoxidil are the main treatments for male pattern baldness.

Minoxidil can also be used to treat female pattern baldness. Women shouldn't use finasteride.

These treatments:

don't work for everyone, only work for as long as they're used, aren't available on the NHS, can be expensive

Wigs

Some wigs are available on the NHS, but you may have to pay unless you qualify for financial help.

Synthetic wigs:

last 6 to 9 months, are easier to look after than real-hair wigs, can be itchy and hot, cost less than real-hair wigs but tend to usually look fake as opposed to real human hair, nor feel like real human hair

Real-hair wigs:

last 3 to 4 years, are harder to look after than synthetic wigs, look more natural than synthetic wigs, cost quite a lot more than synthetic hair wigs cost, can be treated in exactly the same way as you would do if it had grown out of your own scalp, ie dying the hair with hair colours, blow drying, curling, straightening- as long as a good heat protective product has been applied to all the hair prior to using any kind of heat source on these wigs.

Other hair loss treatments

Treatment Description;

Steroid injections (injections given into the bald patches),

Steroid cream (scream applied to the bald patches)

Lmmunotherapy (a chemical applied to the bald patches)

Light treatment (this involves shining an ultraviolet light on bald patches)

Tattooing (tattooing is used to look like short hair and eyebrow hair)

Hair Transplants (a smallish area of skin that is usually taken from the bottom of your nape above the hairline, is extracted out of your head using a scalpel while you are awake but would have been given local anesthetic injections into your scalp to numb the area they will remove and also a little around it so that no pain is felt during this procedure. After that, the area that now has no skin over the top will be closed with some stitches & a dressing placed over the top.

From then on the hair follicles that have just been taken from your scalp will have hundreds of little hair follicles on (depending on the size of the skin but in the areas most needed with clearly visible signs of thinning hair and/or baldness patches.

Scalp reduction surgery (sections of scalp with hair are stretched and stitched back together)

Artificial hair transplant surgery (to implant artificial hairs into your scalp because for whatever reason you are unable to use your own.)

For my own hair loss, I have increased my added vitamins to my daily medication schedule and also giving yourself a vigorous head massage every time you lather up that shampoo on to your head, while in the shower, this is increasing the blood flow to the brain & with increased blood flow comes more oxygen in your bloodstream which also helps hair quality & growth but if you often have oily hair then I don't recommend really vigorous scrubbing as this will stimulate your scalps natural oil production so just a gentle massage in this case will still help with the quality just not so much of the hair growth.

I hope I have been able to help you in some sort of way & I wish you all the best.

Take care

[Lora7again]

Your hair could be falling out because your thyroid levels are moving once they have stabilized yours will stop falling out and it will grow back .. this can take several months and even years until your hair cycle becomes normal and sometimes your hair won't be a thick as it once was I'm afraid. My hair has stopped falling out now but I think it will take about 6 months to grown back. My hair has been falling out for 3 years so was very thin and I had some hair extension put in which helped me feel more confident.

[sarosent]

Check iron especially ferritin levels

[yesendi]

Isn't 5 mg of T3 a bit much? maybe you meant to say 5 mcg? My hair stop falling off after my T3 reached the upper levels(3.8) with the help of 5 mcg of T3. I've been on thyroid hormone replacement just over a year and it's been three months since my hair is no longer falling.

hopefully it'll be the case for you too.