OMG after 14 years it FINALLY STOPPED!!

[ireland90]

Happy to hear you finally got it sorted. You must be really relieved.

When it comes to iron and ferratin deficiency related hair loss what areas does it affect? Was it all of your hair? I'm just wondering, I probably have male pattern baldness but it seems like nearly half the hair on my head falls out before it even reaches a few inches. Probably just DHT induced miniaturization but for years I've been trying to find out what causes my constant fatigue and all my thyroid and iron tests come back negative. I've always wondered if there was a connection between that and my hair.

EDIT - nevermind, didn't realise this thread was so old.

 

[helpmyhairplease]

If only more of us were so lucky... unfortunately for many shedding will stop when theres no hair left.

spot on

 

[2bald2young]

maybe hair loss is also duo some type of hormone problem in the body, who knows...

Hello! I'm 21 years old and I am experiencing a lot of hair loss! I am desperate for it to stop! I started noticing more hair loss in May 2014, and it is still continuing. They took my blood and found my ferritin level to be 8!! A few weeks ago it rose to 32. What level will the shedding slow down? Also, I believe this is telogen effluvium due to low iron, and if so, how will telogen effluvium end...is it normal for it to end slowly? Some days I see hair loss about 90 others I see 200! Help!!!!!!!

do the same as the original poster and wait till your level are "normal again", also Telogen Effluvium let all of your hair fall out and then it will just grow normal again.

 

[deeric]

@ Ellisabeth I too have been loosing hair for over 14 years. Noticed when I was 24 and I am 38 right now. I have been searching and tried and am still trying to find something to for hair to stop falling out an for new hair growth to sprout where the areas hair thin. I used to have curly thick hair. I bought cabooki to cover the thin areas for a till I find something to regrow my har.I am so happy for you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am going to try this. I just bought another hair skin and nails bottle , shampoo, and grow spray for my head. LIke you I have wasted so much money and cried so many times over this. I even tried iron, vitamin c and lysine. But reading what you said with the ferritin is so worth a try. I was going to try Lysine next because of a search someone said it stopped their hair fall and new hair started growing. So I searched for my reviews about lysine and hair loss and your article on this hair loss blog came up. I am so happy I found your review. Do you see any new hair growth? Looking forward to your reply!!!!

 

[Fena2000]

my bloodtest also revealed low iron levels, my GP didn't tell me how much, just told me my iron storage was almost depleted. If this is causing my hairloss , that would be great, it's reversible. My question is does iron deficiency also miniaturize hair, since I have quite a few of those.

 

[chemicalbrother]

my bloodtest also revealed low iron levels, my GP didn't tell me how much, just told me my iron storage was almost depleted. If this is causing my hairloss , that would be great, it's reversible. My question is does iron deficiency also miniaturize hair, since I have quite a few of those.

Hey fellow Belgian

My bloodwork revealed a low zinc level and high-ish iron level ... Dr advised taking zinc supplements.
I'm not expecting to regrow a single hair on zinc supplements tho , even if I had a shortage.

 

[Fena2000]

Hey fellow Belgian

My bloodwork revealed a low zinc level and high-ish iron level ... Dr advised taking zinc supplements.
I'm not expecting to regrow a single hair on zinc supplements tho , even if I had a shortage.

oh hey, nice to see another Belgian.
Elisabeth, if you're still around, you said your hair got thicker 5 weeks after taking iron supplements if I'm right. But woudnt it take about 3-6 months to notice your hair got thicker?
Are you sure it wasn't Telogen Effluvium from pregnancy, since you mentioned 6 weeks postpartum?

 

[Greengrocer]

oh hey, nice to see another Belgian.
Elisabeth, if you're still around, you said your hair got thicker 5 weeks after taking iron supplements if I'm right. But woudnt it take about 3-6 months to notice your hair got thicker?
Are you sure it wasn't Telogen Effluvium from pregnancy, since you mentioned 6 weeks postpartum?

If you read the story from the beginning it was Elizabeth's 4th child and she was practised in observing her hair.

Can you notice improved ferritin levels in 5 weeks? Some people can while others can't. The figures for noticing changes in 3 -6 months are averages. I noticed my hair bad stopped shredding so much within 2 months of taking iron supplements.

- - - Updated - - -

Wait what...? Are you saying your hair loss became worse after you took vitamin D?

No it stopped.

Vitamin D deficiency is another cause of hair loss that is commonly over looked.

In short you need to get a full nutritional blood test and go over the results with a trichologist or a dermatologist who specialises in trichology.

Even levels in the normal range can be too low for hair growth. Unless you are a practitioner who specialises in hair you won't know this.

However if you have more than one deficiency other medical practitioners will treat that and ignore the other low levels.

In my case my vitamin D deficiency was treated but my hair loss wasn't stopped until my ferritin levels were also treated. Only by addressing both has enabled me to be in full health with healthy hair after 5 years of suffering which has included chronic pain.

 

[qerqrqwrqwr]

Solve low iron levels by taking

vitamin c
lysine
ferrasorb by thorne (b12, b9, iron all in one)

many people have a gene that keeps them low in vitamin b9, and this creates a knock on effect of making low iron, low b12 too.

 

[bree]

Help

Today is a day I have fantasized about for 14 years. I took a shower and my hair did not fall out. I AM SO HAPPY – it feels almost unreal. I am going to include a lot of details in this post because as I scoured the internet since 1999, I needed other people’s stories to provide as much info as possible so I could somehow figure out what the hell was wrong with me…so I apologize in advance for possibly boring you to sleep!


I noticed around age 29 that my head of curls and waves was shedding…getting worse every year….i always had regrowth but it always shed so much that I went from all one length to what looked like lots of layers which ended up just being pieces everywhere & looked awful – it seemed to fall out at around 3 inches so I looked like one of those troll dolls…because I had curls I was able to hide it better than if I had straight hair…I got pregnant with baby #2 at age 30 & the shedding completely stopped around month 4 and I had tons of long thick gorgeous hair again…all fell out around 6 months post partum…got pregnant at age 36 & my hair was even more gorgeous than my last pregnancy….prayed to G-d that it would stay in but around month 5 post partum the shedding began….had our 4[SUP]th[/SUP] & final baby 8 months ago at age 42 and I couldn’t wait for my beautiful hair but it never happen this time, it shed throughout the entire pregnancy. For the last 10 years I have never worn my hair down, I always had cute little tiny clips in it so I could disguise the thinning…every single morning before I stood up I put a clip in it otherwise once I stood I would feel the hair hitting my arms and I just refused to begin my new day feeling that awful so in went the clip.


Over the past 14 years I went to many different doctors (dermatologists ,internists & holistic), pleading with each of them to please find out what was wrong with me. They tested my thyroid, my hormones, my iron, anemia, my everything…all came up fine. No smoking gun. Some of these doctors put me on all kinds of treatments: ROGAINE, VITAMINS, NIOXIN, PROGESTERONE CREAM, TESTOSTERONE CREAM…on my own, out of sheer desperation I decided to try PROPECIA & about 7 years ago I ordered dog shedding pills; I told my best friend who then screamed that I was not a canine so I cancelled.
I don’t want to think about all the money I spent on doctors visits, hormonal testing ($750) and all the medications because it has to be around $8,000. I don’t want to think about all the tears I shed because that would fill up an ocean. I am a very happy and otherwise blessed person…this was the one thing that was just killing me emotionally. My best friends felt awful for me & tried so hard to help me but nothing could console me; I just want my hair to stop falling out. I was determined to never give up, every day almost I googled “excessive hair shedding†& just re-read the same stuff over & over again for a really long time. But when I became pregnant this last time I became really disappointed..and even more determined. When I was 6 weeks post partum I went to an excellent and brilliant doctor who my best friend uses. He practices Oriental medicine & uses a different approach than other doctors; he doesn’t want to treat the problem but find out the cause, then fix that. He ordered a full blood work up like all the other doctors do but this time he added something no other doctor ever did and that was my ferritin levels & my iron saturation. My iron came back totally normal, as it always had BUT my iron saturation was 14% and my ferritin level was a 34. There it was, MY SMOKING GUN.


I ran home & googled “low ferritin levels†and there it was; the most common reason for losing hair is a ferritin level below 70. Why the hell this never came up before when I searched I don’t know but whatever….nothing was going to get me down now because I found out what is wrong with me so now I can fix it. I did ask the Dr why I have low ferritin & he said it’s not important why or how, let’s just get my iron stores up. I eat red meat at least 3x a week so it was pretty shocking that my iron is low but for some reason my body wasn’t able to store it. I started on 325mg of FERROUS SULPHATE 2X A DAY…after 1 month my blood was tested & my ferritin level went to 41. Did I notice any hair improvement? A tiny bit – maybe instead of losing 1,000 hairs a day it went down to 950! Then I decided to search for a better way to raise my levels & thank the lord for the internet because I found out that the best iron with the greatest level of absorption is FERROUS FUMARATE…so I started myself on 325mg twice a day AND with each pill I take 500mg of L-Lysine & take it with a big glass of orange juice – if I have to take it with water then I add 500mg of vitamin C….then I waited, but not for long because within 2 weeks my dream came true. The shedding really slowed down….but I thought it was my imagination /maybe I was going insane because I was at my breaking point with my damn hair….i saw my best friend who said, “holy **** your hair looks so thick on top, I think its workingâ€! she asked me to take it down from the clip but I wouldn’t. Not yet. Another week passed and it wasn’t just a dream or wishful thinking but I could tell my curls were longer & when I showered it wasn’t ALL over my body. It’s been about 5 weeks since I began taking my ferrous fumarate cocktail and I am wearing my hair down. I can hardly believe it. I just took a shower and hardly anything came out. A lady at Target came up & asked me if I permed my hair or if my curls were all natural, and I had such pretty hair….TOTAL SHOCK!! I COULDN’T EVEN THANK HER BECAUSE I WAS SPEECHLESS. I haven’t had a compliment on my hair in about 14 years….14 LONG years!

So this is my story with a very happy ending. All it took was a simple blood test followed by 4 weeks of supplements and the nightmare has ended. Every 30 days I will get my blood tested to make sure I don’t go into iron overload but my goal is to get my ferritin levels over 100 and keep them at about 120sih. If I had read a post like this 10 years ago I would have avoided a decade of hair despair. And if your ferritin levels are fine, keep searching for your smoking gun because it is out there

Hello. I really have no idea what I am doing on this site so I guess bear with me. (This is just my little story so if you want to pass it over and get to the point.. my question is at the bottom) I am a 19 year old girl and I have been struggling with hair loss. I used to have really thick hair and around 3 years ago things started going downhill. No one notices besides my immediate family and my boyfriend of 3 years can't tell because he has been with me through it all. Well I have the same shower getting clogged story as we all know. Hairbrush full. Growing slow. Split ends. I have never been one to straighten my hair or blow dry or anything. I would shower and air dry. I know a hair stylist and she tells me she is sure it's not an external problem. It's most definitely an internal. Well 2 years ago I chopped off my hair and donated it. Thinking well maybe I can start fresh. This does not work. You have to start from the inside. (Sorry for rambling) anyway. It wasn't until a couple months ago that I decided hey lets crack down and figure this out. I have never been one for sweets or fast food, so cutting those out wasn't a huge problem and I can already say I feel a difference health wise. I started taking vitamins everyday (natural vitality organic life vitamins-a liquid plant based vitamin) along with that I started taking vitamin b12 and iron. My circulation has been very bad for quite some time my dad also has the same problem, our feet were always cold. I started with the iron and my mom got me wheatgrass which has kind of the effects of iron. Anyway my feet started getting tingly and a lot warmer than they ever have in awhile it was kind of painful because my feet were so used to being cold, but I was not complaining. Also I stress a lot. So all these things tie up with hair loss I am sure you all know. I have been told by many people they think I have low Iron and they thought I awas anemic, but I always brushed that off only now I regret it. I tried giving blood once in my veins only collapsed. Fast forward I went to the doctor a couple months ago and got some blood work done. They called me back a couple days later and said my iron is low and they think that's why my hair is falling out. They told me to keep taking iron and they hung up. That was disappointing. So as the days went on I got more depressed. I decided to call them and ask what all my levels looked like and they said everything looked fine only my ferritin was on the low side. (Um ok so what is it they tell me I am low and then tell me I'm fine?) So I just had them send my results. Mom and my first question was...what is ferritin and this is when I found your post. 3 years and I found this post. I was crying reading it to my mom. I just wanted to know how everything is going for you. If I should try this "cocktail"....I really hope to get a reply. I want to start asap. Thank you very much and sorry for the rambling.

 

[JDW]

Hello. I really have no idea what I am doing on this site so I guess bear with me. (This is just my little story so if you want to pass it over and get to the point.. my question is at the bottom) I am a 19 year old girl and I have been struggling with hair loss. I used to have really thick hair and around 3 years ago things started going downhill. No one notices besides my immediate family and my boyfriend of 3 years can't tell because he has been with me through it all. Well I have the same shower getting clogged story as we all know. Hairbrush full. Growing slow. Split ends. I have never been one to straighten my hair or blow dry or anything. I would shower and air dry. I know a hair stylist and she tells me she is sure it's not an external problem. It's most definitely an internal. Well 2 years ago I chopped off my hair and donated it. Thinking well maybe I can start fresh. This does not work. You have to start from the inside. (Sorry for rambling) anyway. It wasn't until a couple months ago that I decided hey lets crack down and figure this out. I have never been one for sweets or fast food, so cutting those out wasn't a huge problem and I can already say I feel a difference health wise. I started taking vitamins everyday (natural vitality organic life vitamins-a liquid plant based vitamin) along with that I started taking vitamin b12 and iron. My circulation has been very bad for quite some time my dad also has the same problem, our feet were always cold. I started with the iron and my mom got me wheatgrass which has kind of the effects of iron. Anyway my feet started getting tingly and a lot warmer than they ever have in awhile it was kind of painful because my feet were so used to being cold, but I was not complaining. Also I stress a lot. So all these things tie up with hair loss I am sure you all know. I have been told by many people they think I have low Iron and they thought I awas anemic, but I always brushed that off only now I regret it. I tried giving blood once in my veins only collapsed. Fast forward I went to the doctor a couple months ago and got some blood work done. They called me back a couple days later and said my iron is low and they think that's why my hair is falling out. They told me to keep taking iron and they hung up. That was disappointing. So as the days went on I got more depressed. I decided to call them and ask what all my levels looked like and they said everything looked fine only my ferritin was on the low side. (Um ok so what is it they tell me I am low and then tell me I'm fine?) So I just had them send my results. Mom and my first question was...what is ferritin and this is when I found your post. 3 years and I found this post. I was crying reading it to my mom. I just wanted to know how everything is going for you. If I should try this "cocktail"....I really hope to get a reply. I want to start asap. Thank you very much and sorry for the rambling.

I hope you get a reply as the topic is a few years old, if not try PMing the topic starter…if you PM them then it will send them an email saying they have a message and they will hopefully check it

 

[bree]

I hope you get a reply as the topic is a few years old, if not try PMing the topic starter…if you PM them then it will send them an email saying they have a message and they will hopefully check it

Thank you very much JDW I had know idea you could message anyone on here. (How do you pm someone?)

 

[rkwilliams]

Awesome

Yeah!!! Good for you!!

 

[hamish.baroube]

Congrats!

 

[jdham]

Thank you very much JDW I had know idea you could message anyone on here. (How do you pm someone?)

Hi, I am 18 and my hair has been falling out ever since I was 17 years old. I found out that my hair was falling out due to low iron. I had been taking iron supplements, eating healthy/high iron foods, vitamin C, and multivitamins and still saw no results. Then I got a test done and the doctor told me I had celiac. Because I had celiac I could not absorb any nutrients including iron. So make sure you all get tested for allergies if you are low in anything because that can cause it. Also, my period is REALLY heavy so I have started to take birth control to reduce the amount of blood I lose and that has helped. My iron went from 12 to 20 so that is a good thing since I cut gluten/wheat out. I feel your pain though. I have to get my iron up to 70 according to my doctor. I have been using LUSH hair products which have also helped. The BIG shampoo is my favourite. I only wash my hair two to three times a week since it makes your hair fall out more so keep that in mind! Another thing I have done to boost my self esteem for the time being is to wear clip on hair extensions whenever I go out with my friends. They are pricey but oh well. I had to cut my hair short to help it fall out less. I wish you the best of luck. It sucks being young especially and having your hair fall out.

 

[sacrophax]

Thanks for returning And congrats, hope I somehow luck out of this damn situation...

 

[bree]

Hi, I am 18 and my hair has been falling out ever since I was 17 years old. I found out that my hair was falling out due to low iron. I had been taking iron supplements, eating healthy/high iron foods, vitamin C, and multivitamins and still saw no results. Then I got a test done and the doctor told me I had celiac. Because I had celiac I could not absorb any nutrients including iron. So make sure you all get tested for allergies if you are low in anything because that can cause it. Also, my period is REALLY heavy so I have started to take birth control to reduce the amount of blood I lose and that has helped. My iron went from 12 to 20 so that is a good thing since I cut gluten/wheat out. I feel your pain though. I have to get my iron up to 70 according to my doctor. I have been using LUSH hair products which have also helped. The BIG shampoo is my favourite. I only wash my hair two to three times a week since it makes your hair fall out more so keep that in mind! Another thing I have done to boost my self esteem for the time being is to wear clip on hair extensions whenever I go out with my friends. They are pricey but oh well. I had to cut my hair short to help it fall out less. I wish you the best of luck. It sucks being young especially and having your hair fall out.

Gosh so many people struggle with this it seems... I wish you and everyone else luck. I don't wash my hair often I wash two to three times as well my great news right now is that when I first got my blood checked my ferritin was 32 and I just got it checked again after two months and I am now at 46! I am jumping for joy....no signs of regrowth yet obviously because it takes time, but I am going to keep going strong. And hey jdham if that's what makes you feel confident and happy then that's all that matters. Keep on going and trying. Don't stress it either it makes it worse. Take your vitamins then do something crazy and fun keep busy! I have been really busy this last month and I wasn't thinking about my hair and I felt so at ease! Thank you for the reply and the new advice! (and remember calcium blocks out iron so take them a couple hours apart from eachother.)

 

[Fields25]

Congrats! That was awesome to read

 

[XoTiC]

Loved every bit of it!!!

 

[Eliza1990]

I wish there were more stories like this...I can't thank you enough for sharing your success story!! I was diagnosed with low ferritin in Feb (came back 11) and it has given me a lot of hope over the past few months during some pretty distressing times.