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I'm losing my eyebrows!

Thinktank

Senior Member
Messages
1,640
Location
Europe
Ever since starting treatment for lyme disease with longterm and high dose antibiotics i've seen my eyebrows getting ever thinner. My eyebrows have always been very full and well shaped, now they're really thinned out and losing shape! The outer quadrant already has been lost and now it's the center that's getting really thin.
I'm also losing hair around my neckline, how strange is that!

I know that thyroid disease can cause eyebrows to fall out, but i'm thinking it might be nutrient related. My thyroid labs have always being pretty normal.
My hair is not only falling out but also turning grey rapidly and the structure of the hair is becoming very different, very coarse beardlike. The fact that i suffer from inflammatory bowel disease might also contribute to nutritional deficiency.

Does anyone know which nutrients might be playing a role?
 

Invisible Woman

Senior Member
Messages
1,267
Apart from the thyroid, the immediate things that come to my mind:

Iron deficiency which could be due to:
  • low iron/poor absorption
  • low levels of B12
  • Low levels of folate
Low levels of zinc

My thyroid labs have always being pretty normal.

Well...that's a whole can of worms right there:
what test did they actually run?
The "range" for normal is pretty wide and of course you won't know what was normal for you pre-symptoms.

Might be worth a look here for an idea of the complexities:
http://thyroiduk.org.uk/
 

Thinktank

Senior Member
Messages
1,640
Location
Europe
Apart from the thyroid, the immediate things that come to my mind:

Iron deficiency which could be due to:
  • low iron/poor absorption
  • low levels of B12
  • Low levels of folate
Low levels of zinc



Well...that's a whole can of worms right there:
what test did they actually run?
The "range" for normal is pretty wide and of course you won't know what was normal for you pre-symptoms.

Might be worth a look here for an idea of the complexities:
http://thyroiduk.org.uk/

My iron metabolism is normal, on labtest that is.
I've been doing monthly testing for the basic stuff like CBC, CRP , ESR etc., iron twice year or so. I have all records dating to 4 years ago before my eyebrows were falling out.

Folate in RBC and serum have both tested low for years. I've tried to supplement different forms of it but they all increase my brain fog or inflammation, even the very low doses!

B12 is very high because i've been injecting high doses of hydroxocobalamin the past few years.

Zinc might indeed be low, i will test for that soon.
 

Helen

Senior Member
Messages
2,243
Folate in RBC and serum have both tested low for years. I've tried to supplement different forms of it but they all increase my brain fog or inflammation, even the very low doses!
Did you try to get more folate from food? Liver has the highest folate content, higher than greens.
 
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Learner1

Senior Member
Messages
6,305
Location
Pacific Northwest
My iron metabolism is normal, on labtest that is.
I've been doing monthly testing for the basic stuff like CBC, CRP , ESR etc., iron twice year or so. I have all records dating to 4 years ago before my eyebrows were falling out.

Folate in RBC and serum have both tested low for years. I've tried to supplement different forms of it but they all increase my brain fog or inflammation, even the very low doses!

B12 is very high because i've been injecting high doses of hydroxocobalamin the past few years.

Zinc might indeed be low, i will test for that soon.
Things that come to mind are biotin, oxidative stress, methylation, amino acids, and cell membrane health. And thyroid antibodies.

The folate and methionine cycles in methylation encompass far more than folate and methyl B12, and result in the production of glutathione, your body's most powerful antioxidant. Glutathione depletion can lead to many problems.

So, taking folate, without adequate methylB12, B6, B2, magnesium, and potassium can lead to unwanted symptoms. Taking hydroxoB12 won't help this problem. Inadequate folate and B12 can, in some people, lead to excessive peroxynitrite production, damaging cell membranes (as can infections).

Aminos and biotin are needed for healthy hair.

A Genova Diagnostics NutrEval test can help you sort out the sboce and figure out what to do. You can contact them to find a doctor who can do it.

Thyroid antibodies can be wreaking havoc even if your other thyroid numbers are normal.
 

lilpink

Senior Member
Messages
988
Location
UK
seen my eyebrows getting ever thinner.

Ditto. I had iron deficiency due to an idiosyncratic diet which is essential to reduce very severe and ongoing pain. Might be a good idea to get your ferritin level measured. I see others have suggested this.

Apols I see you have been assessed for this....
 

Silence

Senior Member
Messages
102
Location
Northern CA
I have the same thing happening to me along with a bunch of other stuff along with chronic diarrhea/maldigestion, but I won't go into the other stuff. I was tested for a bunch of vitamins and minerals and the ones that were the most deficient were b1, b2, and vitamin D, coq10 all tested very low. My folate levels are extremely high I think from all the greens I eat. But one of my specialist said I have protein deficiency malnutrition, so it could be protein deficiency... for me anyways.

Like Learner and others have mentioned, I think biotin, zinc, essential fattyacids, selnium, iron, and amino acids are known to cause hair to fallout.

Here is an article ----- Diet and hair loss: effects of nutrient deficiency and supplement use https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5315033/ that talks about this stuff.
 

Timaca

Senior Member
Messages
792
Iodine deficiency can cause eyebrows to lose hair from the ends and thus shorten. It happened to me! I have been eating sea salt, and while I was taking some iodine, I apparently wasn't taking enough. When I upped the dose to what is recommended for each day, my eyebrows grew back nicely. I was so glad! This video is helpful!

http://www.doctoroz.com/episode/mega-metabolism-boosters?video_id=3516440992001
 

Mithriel

Senior Member
Messages
690
Location
Scotland
I have frontal fibrosing alopecia, an autoimmune disease (I am now accumulating autoimmune disease which I think are related to my decades of ME). It involves the hair from the front and often the eyebrows as well. You get a little white (collar) round the base of the hair follicle - I thought I had nits (whisper..)

I hate it, but I wear a hat or a scarf and people just think it is style.

Mithriel
 

Rlman

Senior Member
Messages
389
Location
Toronto, Canada
@Mithriel riel

I remember reading on another forum that a lady with autoimmune alopeia that resulted in hair loss (i think) said she believes it was caused by mercury toxicity. just want to share in case it may be of help. there can probably be many causes or unknown ones of course.
 

Ema

Senior Member
Messages
4,729
Location
Midwest USA
Losing the outer third is almost always functional hypothyroidism, no matter what the labs say. They only tell you what is in the blood, not how well the cells are actually using it anyway.

I’ve gotten my outer thirds to regrow using lash serum. The price is eye watering, sorry couldn’t help myself, but it is actually working!
 

Stretched

Senior Member
Messages
705
Location
U.S. Atlanta
Biotin is reported to also help stimulate hair growth. Check herbal ref for therapeutic dose, not supplemental. ...’hair loss and brittle nails may have multiple causes and taking biotin supplements may actually halt this process and even help to reverse it. ‘... one supplemental daily dosage of biotin is 2.5 mg (or 2,500 mcg)... .’
 
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Seven7

Seven
Messages
3,444
Location
USA
I've tested TSH, T3, T4, FT3, and FT4 many times. The only thing i've not been able to test is RT3.
What country are you at? And what are the ranges? The reason I ask is because on my native country the range is 5 to whatever for t3 in USA the range was 3 and I was said I was ok but when I digged into it, I was not ok even thgouh the ranges were told ok by the labs.
 

Thinktank

Senior Member
Messages
1,640
Location
Europe
November 2017:

TSH 3.41 uIU/ml range = 0.35 - 4.94
FT3 2.07 pg/ml range = 1.71 - 3.71
FT4 1.17 ng% range = 0.7 - 1.48
 

virtual

Traveller
Messages
26
Location
Germany
I am losing my eyebrows, too. I have no explanation for it. Deficits of B1, B6, B12, D, Mg, Zn were measured and filled up. Thyroid hormones are within the ranges, some near max, some low. The loss continues...