Wow Ulla. This is a very helpful story for me. Wish I discovered it before my daughter’s wedding. However, like you said, better late than ever. I am really hoping the Feosol my dermatologist helps this problem. I was so desperate I was about to take injections in my scalp. As it turned out, the two women in my Doctors office were not able to take my blood after many many many tries. Maybe it was not meant to be because the Feosol will cure the problem. I truly hope so.

Oh no Megha. I am so sorry. That is my fear as well. Do not give up.

Hi all, so glad I found this website. I am been on the computer looking for help forever. Just found it when I looked up Feosol. Just recently my dermatologist discovered that my ferritin level was 27 and she said it should be 70. I started Feosol about 3 weeks ago and am hoping this is my answer. I am a vegetarian like others on here. I will be so amazed if this is my answer. Thanks all for the stories you have contributed here.

I have been on 210mg of ferrous fumerates 3x a day for well over a year. (I used to be on 200mg a day of ferrous sulfates then had them on and off over 10yrs.) I’ve had a few months gap between these fumerates as I keep trying to find a dr that will help.
I still feel they are not doing anything yet no one will look into it just keep giving me more pills when I complain of the symptoms and pain.
Hair loss is big for me too, i don’t have bold patches but I malt a lot and a few 5yr old girls have double the thickness of my ponytail size let alone comparing mine to other adults.
I have constant fatigue and dizzyness, sleep issues, every viral infection going, white skin beyond belief, I breakout in painful lumps under the skin on my face too,
I couldn’t get anyone to take my complaints seriously they just kept trying to give me anti depressants.
Clearly they just made matters worse as that was not what was needed but actually gave me depression itself.
Wasn’t untill my 5th dr who finally took me seriously and done a blood test and found my iron was only on 4.
Tabs eventually made it rise to 27 but month or two later it was back down to level 7..
Told I’m anemic, then I’m not, now told I have depleted all iron stores and still just kept on these tabs…no other treatments or investigations, they assume it’s my heavy painful periods as they are 8 days long with 2 lighter days and arrive every 2weeks so you can imagine how dead I feel daily.

I’m sick of being sick and just left to suffer. Anyone else getting nowhere, I feel I’m just being fobbed off?! I work f/t and never let myself take a sick day as I know I won’t get back up again if I stop.
I collapse on the couch every evening and weekends.. any ideas of where to go next?

My hair loss started when i was 25, blood test showed Ferritin level – 9 and Vitamin D deficiency. I started taking pills and in 3 months my ferritin level went up to 96, but still my hair continues to shed. i shed nearly 250 strands on the day i wash my hair and around 150 strands other day (yup, i am among those who count the number of strands i loose) So i went and met another derm, who said i have AGA and there is nothing we can do about it. 🙁

I just want to share my story and urge anyone who is experiencing diffuse hair loss to PLEASE CHECK YOUR HB & IRON STORES (S-Ferritin) – if you haven’t already from reading all of the posts above.

I started to thin out all over my head (at a fairly slow pace) back in 2008- 2009, did all blood tests and got an all clear from the doctor. Nothing wrong w me I was told, no deficiencies or thyroid probs. I proceeded to spend thousands on ll laser salons already back then in an attempt to combat the process, but with no noticeable result.
I got pregnant late 2010 and had my first child in Aug 2011. The pregnancy did magic to my hair, it halted or ‘masked’ my hair loss – I was told to take iron supps throughout the pregnancy as my HB at the onset was low, and I suppose all the excess hormones also made my hair grow back, almost in full I’d say.
I enjoyed a full head of hair till my son was about 2 yrs, then BAM! the hairloss reverted with a vengeance late 2013 (approx 6 months after Id stopped nursing) and in the space of about 6 months Id lost pretty much 2/3 of my hair, plus my eyebrows and lashes thinned out. I used to be able to just sit and pluck my eyebrows/ lashes out with my fingers, thats how loose they were connected to the roots.
Again, I went to the docs who took tests (all came back fine of course) I was reassured that the hair loss was due to the stress I was experiencing at the time (separating from the father of my child) and nothing else. ‘Take it easy, your hair will grow back within 6 months when your stress levels have gone back to normal. If not, you’re probably experiencing genetic hair loss and theres not much you can do’, I was told. ‘As a woman you’ll never lose all of your hair’.
OK, anyone with a substantial shedding experience knows this is not much of a comfort.
I took up laser again in pure desperation (bought an expensive lamp for home use) and ordered ANY supplement I came across that held a vague promise of hair regrowth. All this without much result, and I started googling wigs, hairpieces – spring 2014 it was getting to That stage and I felt awful.
Then, I got pregnant again in Aug 2014 and I knew I was up for a hair loss break.
The first nurse I met asked if I was feeling OK due to my low iron count…
For some unknown reason I didn’t put two and two together. I tried taking the strong iron tabs she prescribed to me but wasn’t able to, as they made me feel extremely sick, so I had to take the lighter kind to improve my blood count.
Even though I didn’t regrow all of my lost hair this time, the hair loss halted and my psyche got a short break from constantly worrying about this.
3 months post partum (June 2015) I had a massive shed that carried on for a couple of weeks (which is what to expect after a delivery).
At this time though, I thought about what the nurse at the onset of my 2nd pregnancy had told me. I found the strong iron tabs I should’ve taken and started eating them around June 2015.

(As a side note I should add that I am almost vegan and have had eating disorders on and off all of my life – as a non-menopausal woman I would naturally be at risk of having low iron stores.)

I started feeling a lot better already after a few weeks (less tired, more awake and generally, happier). I read up on this blog again, and realized that all the tests I have taken in the past, had not included S-Ferritin, or the docs here (Sweden) are not aware (or care?) this could be a risk factor in diffuse hairloss. My HB – blood count had always been on the low side of the ref end, but obviously not alarmingly low to investigate further.

I took another blood test in Aug, now insisting on checking S Ferritin and Vit D.
My Ferritin count was 30 (2 months into taking the strong tabs) and I was also low on vit D.
I realize now, that during all of these years, my iron stores must have been very very low, even long before my first pregnancy .
At the time of writing, I am no longer losing the same amount of hair and this feels surreal! (maybe- approx 20 a day – near nothing).
My scalp also feels healthier (I used to ‘feel’ a shed coming on, an itch, almost painful feeling – I think you all know what I mean – for the past few months this is no longer happening).
As I mentioned, I also noticed better stamina, Im not as pale, no blue lips and Im not feeling as cold any longer. In the past, I put all of these symptoms down to malnutrition (probably part true) but I realize now that iron has played a vital part. I should mention my eyebrows have also filled out slightly too, so I am pretty sure that depleted iron stores must have played a vital part in my hair loss. Maybe other factors too, but the lack of iron certainly didn’t help.

I wish I had thought about this sooner. But better late than never, and I really, really want to thank all you girls/ women who have posted on this topic as if I hadn’t paid attention to this aspect, I probably would have carried on thinking something else was wrong with me and believed the doctors who kept telling me nothing could be done.

Maybe I have seen the end of my HL story, maybe not. I try to remain positive and grateful – I have 2 beautiful children and lots of things in life going for me. But the HL nearly managed to crush my self confidence and at times made me so depressed to the point of not wanting to venture out being social. It has really affected me over the years, and what bothers me are the practitioners I came across really downsized my ‘diffuse’ problem, I felt it was not considered ‘acute’, connected to vanity and as such considered a cosmetic and insignificant. From that respect it was a relief to talk to the laser clinic staff cause at least they took my problem seriously! (As well as my money :))
The psychological factor that comes with this tedious ailment is certainly substantial and shouldn’t be overlooked.

I wish you all the best and good luck to all of you reading this, and to Admin for taking the step to share thoughts and experiences on this topic.

Peace and Love, Over and Out.

XXX

I went to my Dr. who prescribed the trazodone in the first place and he said he didn’t think my hair loss was due to trazodone. Um, what?! I am 35 years old, and I have never in my life had hair loss like this! Not even after having my son 2 years ago! He then referred me to a dermatologist who told me “The doctor doesn’t think your hair loss is due to trazodone….” Sure, okay buddy! He then told me to google “Telogen effluvium, get 5% rogaine.” I started using the 2% then started the 5% that day. The next day was awful! I had tons more hair shed than normal! I completely stopped using the rogaine out of fear that I’d have bald spots on top of my head! I’m estimating I’ve had over 30% hair loss since that time. What is crazy is that I was only taking 25mg over the course of almost a month and slowly increasing to 50mg but I never quite got there.

I read that hair loss on a tricyclic antidepressant is rare, but it happens and when it does it’s severe. Lucky me!

I went to my holistic Doctor who had run blood tests on me 2 weeks prior while I was on trazodone. My iron levels came back good, but my ferritin is 24, and my Vitamin D is low as well. She told me this can cause hairless as well and told me to take an iron supplement once a day along with 2,000mg of Vitamin C. She also told me this can happen another couple of months, and to be patient for the levels to come back up to normal.

It’s hard to be patient and calm when I’m loosing anywhere from 150 or more a day. I’m already using a keratin powder to hide my wider part on top of my head…since this is where I seem to be loosing the most hair. 🙁

I have some hair growth under my bangs, and a few small hairs on top that I noticed yesterday. Which I’m trying to be positive about. But loosing so much hair daily is worrying me. I’m constantly online researching to find someone that was in my situation, grasping for hope. I’ve read 2 studies that are done with two patients that used tricyclic antidepressants like me and 1 person stopped loosing hair after 1 month, the other 6 weeks. It will be 1 month on Wednesday with no hair loss tapering off. I never counted my hair loss when it initially happened. All I did was cry. I can’t imagine it’s any worse, but now I don’t even know! I counted 117 this AM but a few are still falling randomly.

I’m so upset with myself for even starting the trazodone, since I was so hesitant that the beginning to even take it. I even took 15mg the 1st few days. I wish I could go back and throw the prescription away…If I would’ve known this would’ve triggered the hair loss!

I’m glad I know about my low ferritin and Vit. D but when will this stop? How long does this sort of hair loss take before it tapers and resolves? Is there anyone else that has gone through drug induced hair loss like this?

Thanks for letting me vent!

I am 46 years old and recently have been noticing hair thinning/loss, a change in my menstral cycle (heavier clotting), nails etc. I went to an Endocrinologist (I also have Hashinotos) to get vitamin levels checked and Thyroid . he said all my levels were “normal”. I started to ask him what he considered normal. and what the levels were at. my Ferritin. Level was 32. (He even sounded annoyed with the questions. ) All he said was he offers in office treatments for hair loss if I was interested.

Reading all of these stories just reinforces this change in my body is not in my imagination. I just have to be my own advocate. I am going to get a copy of my results and take them elsewhere. At 46, I am probably going through changes and see my iron level could stand to be a bit higher to help with the hair loss. Thank you ladies for sharing your treatments.

Maybe you fixed your iron deficiency and stopped the shedding, but then gave yourself an iron induced hair loss (maybe male pattern?). I would consider bringing it down to about 60-70 to see what happens.