We all know the desperation when it comes to hairloss. I have been dealing with this stressful syndrome on-off for 12 years. This year I´ll turn 50. So, to make a really long story shorter I´ll start with the beginning. Being in my late thirties, always coloring and keeping my hair in good shape, once at the hairdressers while washing off the color, my hairdresser was sarting to scream in panic.
I think 50% of my hair came off. I was panicking, really panicking…
Went home, called my doctor to run a million tests, putting the rest of my hair in a wiggly ponytail. Even with a lot lost, I still had some left. My hair
has always been really fine, but I had a lot.
Anyway after trying anything, just anything with no obvous reason found
to solve my hairloss, it slowly starting growing out. I had gone to a different
hairdresser as it would have been too traumatic to return to the old place.
15 months later, I could let my hair down again. We put some fine highlights
to give a fresher look. My own color is rat, I mean ugly rat color!
In 2002 I moved back to my country, Sweden, and went on with my life.
Somehow in 2005 my coloring session went wrong at the hairdresser, and
here I go again, at this point I can say all in all I had 1/3 left from the very
beginning. This hair has never returned, I have been ill, celiacic disease, depression some neurological symptoms etc. Anyway, I think I must have spent a fortune on vitamin pills, oils, spiro, progesterone, scalp lotion this and that. The time, money and worry are in monstruos proportion.
I have spent so much time worrying about my hair – I still do. But, dear
friends, yesterday I went to a wig store – and bought two wigs, one real hair and the other synthetic. There are some new routines to get used to, but
this is my final solution, I do not think my own hair will ever look decent to show it. The wigs are a real help, and my point with all this is; stop worrying if you can – if possible buy a nice wig and come to terms with that. My husband is really pleased to a smile on my face after a long break. Every time I saw my scalp, the thinning hair coming from a follicle just taking its last breaths. Feeling so worthless, not wanting to go anywhere and have fun as it is impossible when you are suffering from hairloss. If I don´t stop worrying about this I would probably lose my husband, all the good things. I cannot
go any longer or deeper with this. The wig has helped me immediately, dear friends, many people wear extensions etc a wig is nothing different, but it
gives your own hair a chance to be forgotten about and choose a look that
you feel comfortable with. Do not buy a wig online, it is paramount to try the styles, get the right fit and cut and last but not least; the color that really fits you. That can be real finetuning:-) Dear friends, be proactive and try to get back to your life! Love you all, this is a great site!

I have since quit all birth control which is probably part of the problem. I was on a high androgen BC until March 2007 when I switched to a progesterone only pill. (I had melasma on my upper lip which I thought was estrogen related but now I wonder). I have since stopped the progesterone only pills when I was dx as hypothyroid. I had no idea I was on a high androgen BC until I started losing my hair in August and was researching hair loss and BC. They sure don’t tell you that when you are sitting in your university health clinic thinking you are making smart choices.

I am given my hair shedding until Christmas then I will search for a new doctor or a new medication regime. I appreciated this site so much and all the stories that are shared. I am headed to the dermatologist and endocrinologist next week. Maybe they will be helpful but it will make for a fun week (I have never had so much blood taking for me in all my life!!).

Thanks again!

Marianne – I read that for some people there is “temporary” shedding that is caused when you first begin synthroid. I think it is too early to tell what is causing the shedding since you’ve just been diagnosed and started taking the medication. I think it is important to give the medications a fair chance before changing anything. I can also confirm again that it is definitely slowing down because today I lost 42 hairs in the comb, I also didn’t wash my hair yesterday and kept it tied in a ponytail, so 42 hairs is awesome! Regarding my bloodwork levels and synthroid dosage. It reads like chinese to me but here it is anyways. It is also important to note for people reading this that I realize that according to the “chart” my thyroid level was within the normal range at my last blood test so that would indicate my prescribed dosage of synthroid was appropriate, but regardless of what the numbers said I felt it was too high for me. I’ll have to do a post about my thyroid phone consultation I had and what the physician said about everything. Okay here is my bloodwork results all the way back from 2003.

Date: 7/10/03 FT4 – 1.0; FT3 – 2.6; TSH 3.3 Synthroid first prescribed at the dosage of 88mcg.

Date: 8/27/03 (one month recheck) FT4 -1.2; FT3 – 2.2; TSH 1.0 (Come Back In 6 Months)

Date: 2/12/04 FT4 -1.3; FT3 – 2.1; TSH 1.6 (Told Everything Is Good, Keep Same Dosage of 88mcg, come back 6 months)

Date: 10/13/04 FT4 – 1.4; FT3 – 2.5; TSH 0.47 (Told Everything Is Good, Keep Same Dosage, come back 6 months)

Date: 5/14/05 FT4 – 1.3; FT3 – 2.3; TSH 1.6 ( Told Everything is Good, Keep same dosage of 88mcg, come back 1 year)

Date: 2/2/06 FT4 – 1.1 FT3 – 2.1; TSH 2.2 (Told my dosage need to be raised to 100mcg, come 1 month)

Date: 3/1/06 FT4 – 1.2; FT3 – 2.0; TSH – 1.5 (Told Everything is good at 100mcg, come back one year)

Date: 5/15/07 FT4 – 1.6; FT3 – 2.2; TSH 2.0 (Told my dosage need to be Raised AGAIN to 112mcg, come back in about a month)

Date: 7/16/07 FT4 – 2.0; FT3 – 2.2; TSH 0.96 (Told everything is good at 112mcg)

So that is my thyroid bloodwork history, I had given my test results to the doctor I did a phone consult with and he said according to the results I could either take more or less there is a lot of room there for what would be considered normal, so my doctor didn’t do anything wrong. But he agreed that lowering the dosage back down to where it was prior to experiencing the unusual extremely increased shedding was a good idea. So now I am back on 88mcg.

HI Gretchen – Thanks so much for your support, and I’m so happy that the blog has become a positive thing for the women who read it. It is what I had hoped it would be, women with hair loss supporting one another, offering words of comfort, knowledge or just listening. My fingers are crossed that my slowed down shedding continues. I feel pretty good about and am very optimistic that things are definitely getting better. Of course I’ll keep everyone updated, good, bad or indifferent 🙂

I was dx with hypothyroidism 7 weeks ago. My only major symptom had been hair loss. I knew I had been losing my hair steadily for about a month or more prior to my diagnosis. Once the doctors put me on synthroid (100 mcg) my hair loss sped up significantly (I know this because I make daily hair piles!!) My thyroid levels have been normal since Oct 5. I don’t know if the increase in hair loss is because my thyroid levels are improving and my hair follicles are going back into the growth phase or if it is the synthroid. It is all very confusing and the endocrinologist won’t even consider synthroid being the culprit and told me to go back to the dermatologist.

What are you thryoid levels like and what is you dosage of synthroid? If my hair loss doesn’t improve I am going to consider a new doctor and new meds.

Again, that is great that it is slowing down!! I keep saying to myself if it just stops I can handle having thin hair but it doesn’t seem to slow down…but now I have a little hope!!