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Hair loss and CFS? Help

Messages
27
Location
Wilmington, North Carolina
My hair loss started right as my CFS symptoms started last October. I was found to be hypothyroid and anemic. Both are now perfectly in range and I don't feel any better....

Does hairloss exclude CFS? (i'm 23 btw)

Thoughs and Ideas?
 

Jon_Tradicionali

Alone & Wandering
Messages
291
Location
Zogor-Ndreaj, Shkodër, Albania
My hair loss started right as my CFS symptoms started last October. I was found to be hypothyroid and anemic. Both are now perfectly in range and I don't feel any better....

Does hairloss exclude CFS? (i'm 23 btw)

Thoughs and Ideas?


Hair loss I've found occurs LESS in people with CFS from the people that I know personally.

Although for a few years now I've been obsessed with my hair thinking it's falling off too. ( I'm 23 as well) . Something that helped me since a month ago is showering with water only, no shampoos or anything.

Another option is to lather your head with olive oil. Will help.

You'll see the difference...
 
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Martial

Senior Member
Messages
1,409
Location
Ventura, CA
Have you gotten your other vitamin and mineral levels checked? Low b12 can cause hair loss most predominantly. There are also multiple underlying infections that can cause it too..

Lyme caused my hair to come out in clumps, though not in a male pattern baldness way.. I am 24 and still have a good head of hair, it eventually grew back but you need to treat the underlying issues.

Anemia can definitely cause hairloss too, as well as telogen effluvium from the stress on the body. THis is when roughly 70% of hairs fall out of the telogen cycle phase of growth pre maturely, usually due to severe illness or other stress on the body. I know a women who contracted lymphoma cancer and the chemo stress made her blonde hair and eyebrows grow back grey. Its treatable unless there is a genetic pre disposition of balding though. Male pattern baldness is a very slow and drawn out process for the most part though. If that was an issue for you then you would be developing a deep v taper to the forehead, and gradual thinning in the crown.

Have you checked for underlying infections yet? The fact that you went anemic and hypo thyroid shows your body was reacting to some kind of pathogen to trigger it. The body will actually make us anemic to starve off infections from iron supply, hypo thyroid with chronic illness though I don't really know the full mechanism behind it.

I wouldn't worry about it it will grow back, do get your vitamin and mineral levels tested though, especially b12 and follow up with looking for any infections that could be causing you to be sick in the first place.
 

justy

Donate Advocate Demonstrate
Messages
5,524
Location
U.K
I would suggest the most likely answer is that your thyroid is being undertreated, or treated with the wrong sort of medication. Do you feel well now that your thyroid bloods are in range? are your symptoms of hypothyroid all gone?

Many people are told their bloods are 'normal' when they still have symptoms, which means your bloods are not 'optimal'.

Just an idea, and the most simple one to come to mind. This under dosing or lack of optimum health in people being treated for Hypo is very common and well documented. Have a look here:

http://www.stopthethyroidmadness.com/

All the best,
Justy
 

saint

Senior Member
Messages
218
My hair loss started right as my CFS symptoms started last October. I was found to be hypothyroid and anemic. Both are now perfectly in range and I don't feel any better....

Does hairloss exclude CFS? (i'm 23 btw)

Thoughs and Ideas?

I am much older but experienced hair loss, and I had a beautiful head of hair. I went to dermatologist who gave me ketacozanole cream *antifungal" which I couldn't even get into my scalp. Researched & found there are fungi which live on scalp, which tea tree oil is supposed to help. Been using that, along with hair loss shampoo & vitamins. Found hair loss associated with systemic candida (convinced dr. to give flucozanole) as well as leaky gut (taking culterelle, BioKult, vit. A, zinc, Kolorex to help heal. Don't know if any of that will help, but I know I've learned from others. Vinegar rinse supposed to help...
 

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,824
You'd want to find out the exact cause of the hair loss. Androgenetic alopecia and alopecia areata should be considered:

Treatments for androgenetic alopecia and alopecia areata: current options and future prospects.
Meidan VM1, Touitou E.

Androgenetic alopecia and alopecia areata are common disorders of the hair follicle which may heavily influence self esteem and self image.

Androgenetic alopecia is caused by the heightened sensitivity of scalp follicles to dihydrotestosterone whereas alopecia areata is induced by an autoimmune reaction. Current drug treatment approaches include the use of regrowth stimulators such as topical minoxidil and oral finasteride for androgenetic alopecia, as well as topical minoxidil, dithranol (anthralin), corticosteroids, contact sensitisers, and psoralen plus ultraviolet A irradiation (PUVA) therapy for alopecia areata. Combination regimens are also proposed. However, extreme cases of either type of alopecia do not generally respond well to these existing treatments. For this reason, new therapeutic strategies are directed towards both improving the targeting of existing agents, as well as the development of novel hypertrichotic modalities.

If high levels of the hormone dihydrotestosterone (DHT) are causing your hair loss, then the following supplements are very effective in reducing DHT levels: saw palmetto herb extract, beta sitosterol, astaxanthin, gamma linolenic acid.

Topical minoxidil works very well for many people.

You might want to use minoxidil alongside the DHT reducing supplements. If they work for you, you should see new hair regrowth after around 6 weeks.

I would stay clear of finasteride. It can cause permanent loss of libido.


HIgh levels of TNF-alpha have been linked to alopecia areata type hair loss. A very potent inhibitor of TNF-alpha is the herb cat's claw.
 
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Messages
27
Location
Wilmington, North Carolina
Hey guys, thanks a lot for your replies. To be honest, the purpose of this post was to hope that hypothyroidism and anemia are causing my symptoms... and NOT the dreaded CFS.. tbh I could care less about hair loss.. I just wanted to wake up with energy, mental clarity and happiness again....

I started T3 only about 4 weeks ago in order to clear my untreated RT3. The muscle soreness left after about two weeks.
This is where it gets crazy... about 2.5 weeks into it I felt a little better but not great... got my 23andme results and saw that I might have ammonia problems... took activated charcoal to clear ammonia and I felt almost completely normal for 5-6 days!!!! It was amazing.. but its been a week since I have felt that way.. for some reason I have come back down to my original state.... no matter what ammonia clearing supplements I take... frustrating... ;(

@Hip @saint @justy @Martial @minkeygirl @Jon_Tradicionali
 
Messages
18
Location
London, England
Hey!

So I'm 19 and I've always had the thickest head of hair, but over the last few months it has been falling out from the root and snapping at the ends. Honestly, it scares me so much how much I loose daily. I straighten my hair to keep it manageable but when I noticed it was falling out I stopped (getting used to my natural hair after having it lovely and sleek for over ten years was a challenge!) I switched shampoos and conditioners to all natural brands and went to the doctor but was told it was 'just stress' :/

I don't really know wtf to do from this point onward really. I am going to be keeping an eye on this post to stalk out all the advice!

Hannah xo
 

Hip

Senior Member
Messages
17,824
I should add that
Hey guys, thanks a lot for your replies. To be honest, the purpose of this post was to hope that hypothyroidism and anemia are causing my symptoms... and NOT the dreaded CFS.. tbh I could care less about hair loss.. I just wanted to wake up with energy, mental clarity and happiness again....

You might want to check through these lists of diseases that can cause symptoms very similar to ME/CFS:
Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Diagnosis
Diseases similar to ME/CFS

Check on Google to see if hair loss is a symptom of each of these diseases. Then if you find a disease similar to ME/CFS in which hair loss tends to occur, then that might be what you have.
 

TigerLilea

Senior Member
Messages
1,147
Location
Vancouver, British Columbia
My hair loss started right as my CFS symptoms started last October. I was found to be hypothyroid and anemic. Both are now perfectly in range and I don't feel any better....

Does hairloss exclude CFS? (i'm 23 btw)

Thoughs and Ideas?

Anemia and hair loss go hand-in-hand. Make sure that your ferritin levels are optimal, not just slightly above the range for anemia.