# Dry lifeless hair and still hair shed



## ladynay (May 14, 2014)

Doc started me out on Levothyroxine 25 when I was first diagnosed with hypothyroid and then 3 months later my TSH FREE T3 and FREE T4 was still off so he increased me to 50. After just a few weeks I felt like I was alive again. I've felt pretty great since I've been on Levothyroxine for 3 years now but....my hair shed never stopped. Everyone tells me it would get better after getting my levels in order but it hasn't. 3 months ago he said I was Vitamin D deficient and b12 so I've been on supplements. I talked to him about me still having hair shed and so he checked my ferritin and said it was normal. So what could be still going on? Why is my hair still lifeless brittle and shedding? My nail beds are white almost with a little pink near the tips. Which if you look on the internet it says Terry's nails which can be from liver disease etc. We tested my liver etc... and that's fine. I'm wondering if I am low in iron even if he thinks my ferritin is normal. He never told me what the number was. Any advice you can give please give it. Thanks so much!


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## ladynay (May 14, 2014)

Oh and I have heart palpitations but they are few and far between. They are nothing like I used to have.


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## jenny v (May 6, 2012)

Do you have copies of all of those labs you mentioned that you could share?


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## ladynay (May 14, 2014)

No I'm sorry I don't


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## jenny v (May 6, 2012)

Definitely get copies of everything every time you do labs (it's your right as a patient)--something that may be "normal" to the doctor's eyes might not be your body's normal.

I've found that my hair starts falling out any time there's movement in my thyroid labs, hyper or hypo. I tried evening primrose oil, biotin, Maxi Hair, you name it. I take Viviscal extra strength--that's the only stuff that made my hair stop falling out.


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## ladynay (May 14, 2014)

Thanks I'll make sure to do that! I'm on evening primrose oil now which has slowed it down some but still it's a lot of hair still coming out. I also did biotin for a year and even though it did wonders for my nails strength it did nothing for my hair. I've looked into viviscal but on our budget it's a bit pricey for me. Thanks for the suggestions though. I really do appreciate it


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## Sadface (May 12, 2014)

I feel for you, I know how aweful hair loss is. I've had hair loss several times throughout my life but it always stabilize and grows out after a year or so.
My last bout was last hear, it started already in march sometime, but not as bad that I got worried. My hair also suddenly got really dry and had a crunchy feel to it. And in June-July sometime it started to fall out massively and rapidly. I had whole clumps coming out in the shower. Then in the fall my scalp became very itchy, got tons of pimples (folliculitis) and became red, tender and flaky. 
In December I started to eat Vitamin D supplements, 2000 iu daily. And the massive shed stopped. It growing back in again, slowly. I don't have that much scalp showing anymore. 
A little over a month ago I started washing with Nioxin 1%, 2 times a week and that have helped with the flakes and redness. The itch is all gone. I still get pimples but not at all as much. 
I tried T-gel, Tee Tree Oil, everything, but nothing helped. Until now. 
I also take a hair/skin vitamin daily with 2500 mcg Biotin. And Omega 3s. I also started to take Magnesium Citrate and Zink.

I hope your hair will grow back in strong again. This is the most devastating symptom of it all.


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## ladynay (May 14, 2014)

Sadface said:


> I feel for you, I know how aweful hair loss is. I've had hair loss several times throughout my life but it always stabilize and grows out after a year or so.
> My last bout was last hear, it started already in march sometime, but not as bad that I got worried. My hair also suddenly got really dry and had a crunchy feel to it. And in June-July sometime it started to fall out massively and rapidly. I had whole clumps coming out in the shower. Then in the fall my scalp became very itchy, got tons of pimples (folliculitis) and became red, tender and flaky.
> In December I started to eat Vitamin D supplements, 2000 iu daily. And the massive shed stopped. It growing back in again, slowly. I don't have that much scalp showing anymore.
> A little over a month ago I started washing with Nioxin 1%, 2 times a week and that have helped with the flakes and redness. The itch is all gone. I still get pimples but not at all as much.
> ...


I too have itchy dry scalp. I just put it off as the shampoo I was using. I decided to just wash my hair twice a week with baby shampoo but I condition it everyday with Organix conditioner with argon oil (Idk if I spelled that right lol). He did say I was vitamin d deficient and has me on Vitamin D3 5,000 iu daily and b12 5,000. When you started your vitamin d how long did it take for you to notice the less fall out? I've been on mine for 3 months now and I assume I would be seeing less fall out by now but that's not so. Someone told me to try zinc but Idk how many milligrams is safe to take. I really do miss my beautiful thick curly hair and back then I would complain how thick it was. Now it's very dry,flat, and I've lost my curl.


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## Sadface (May 12, 2014)

I'm still not sure if it was the vitamin D that stopped my hairloss. But it was fairly quick, just a couple of weeks. I noticed a huge difference. I used to have to unclog the shower drain two to three times during rinsing with huge clumps of hair. And then suddenly nothing. At the most two strands caught in the drain. And it's still the same.

If I don't wash my hair every day I get more pimples in the scalp. It's not like I'm overly oily, I don't know what it is. There's some sort of follicle clogging buildup. Ever since last year I'm getting pimples on my chin and upper lip too. Last November it was ridiculous. I looked gross. Now I'm only getting them on my chin and not as much.

I react on baby shampoo too, my scalp breaks out and gets red and irritated. Baby shampoo has a very high pH value which the scalp don't like. It wants a more acidic cleanser.

My hair is also very flat but not so "crunchy" as it was last year. But it's still thin. I have a lot of regrowth but I'm not sure it makes up for all that I've lost. 
My skin is severly dry too. Wrinkly and my legs have a snakeskin appearance. And my heels hurt they're so dry. All in all, having something wrong with the thyroid ain't gonna help anyone win any beauty competitions, that's for sure. I sometimes scare myself when I'm looking in the mirror, that's how ugly I have become. And then they wonder why I am depressed....


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## ladynay (May 14, 2014)

I'm glad you have no fall out now. I think if the strands of my hair wasn't so thin my hair would look fuller. They are so thin now they are easily knotted.The argon oil is the only thing that helps my fly away dry hair. I did the baby shampoo because that's the only thing that seem to not strip my hair so much. As for dry skin I find that Eucerin eczema relief helps me out all over. I had dry flaky legs and that's the only thing that helps. As for my face I love Neutrogena rapid wrinkle repair. At first it made me a little red but I guess I got used to it and now my face feels wonderful. I can understand being depressed. I'm not as depressed as I used to be but there are times I do cry about my hair. I hate to sound so vain!


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## Sadface (May 12, 2014)

Your not vain, the hair is important. Sometimes I don't want to get out of bed because I look so ugly. My hair is so thin and my cows lick have gotten so big that it's impossible to style. I can't have it out I have to put it up.
Many, many times did I cry when it fell out in such massive rate. It felt as if I got robbed of myself. And I hated that feeling of hairs falling on my shoulders and everywhere, like spider legs. And having to clean the back of my shirts all the time.

I hope your hair loss slows down, soon. Do you see little hairs coming in, close to the scalp? I did buy a lasercomb last summer and use it 3 times a week, still. I'm not sure if it's working or not but I don't dare to quit and hair follicles loves light, much like plants love sunlight. I hope it at least keeps them alive until I'm getting all of this figured out. 
Also I massage my scalp with my fingertips, a few minutes a day is enough.


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## ladynay (May 14, 2014)

How long has your hair shed stop? I'd give it at least a year to see fullness again. Ok I just went to the mirror and I definitely see little hairs sticking up. Idk if it's regrowth or if it's where some hair has broke off. Then again I got major rootage going on so my grey hairs is poking out and showing majorly. I'm sure the dryness of my hair doesn't help by dying it but I got a lot of grey. My friend told me the comb thing didn't work for her but then again she doesn't try things long enough to see if anything works. I bought some zinc 50mcg today and I'm hoping that works after a couple of months but at this point I won't hold my breath.


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## Sadface (May 12, 2014)

My hair stopped falling out in December sometime. But the scalp was still red, burning and flakey. 
My kids even told me last year that "mom, you have bald spots!!" My part got really wide. And when I had to get out to do chores, which I hated, I wore hats or spent a looong time in front of the mirror trying to put it so it didn't show too much scalp. 
I have rosacea, diagnosed over ten years ago that also flared up really bad last fall and I thought my scalp had rosacea too. But my itchy, red flakiness didn't get better until I started to use Nioxin shampoo that I bought at Walgreens. I hesitated for the longest time because I read that it can cause shedding but so far so good. Really good acctually. The active ingrediense in Nioxin is said to thicken the hairs and it's a must for every balding man that fights back. They usually use Nioxin, Rogain and Finasteride together.. But I refuse to use Rogain but this lasercomb is said to be just as effective. I still can't say if it's doing anything for my hair but I'm just too scared to quit. 
I only use Nioxin twice a week. 
Zinc is good. I just started that again, 50 mg a day. And I bought Magnesium Citrate, 500 mg. The citrate part is important because it absorbs the best in the body. And get Biotin! I use a hair multivitamin with 2500 mcg biotin but some swears by using 5000 mcg biotin/day. It's sort of a kickstart for hair growth.

It could be that your suffering Telogen Effluvuim (temporary hair loss) because your body is out of whack. But in almost all cases it will stop and grow out again, the hair follicles doesn't die. And it can last for a long time, even past 6 months. 
Do you have horizontal ridges on your fingernails? That's a sign that you might have TE. I had those, really deep lines on my thumbnails and more faint ones on the rest of the nails. I even had deep ones on my toenails. 
Next time I'm cutting my nails I'm cutting off the last remains of those lines (Beaus lines) and my nails are smooth again.
Nails and hairs grow in a very similar pattern and those lines is a sign that something disturbed their growth, much like hairloss is a sign for the hair.

You should also check your ferritin. It needs to be between 50 and 100 for hair to grow. A "normal" low won't cut it. It seems like a lot of doctors don't know about that. For them it's like as long everything is within it's range it's fine. But it doesn't work like that. So ask for your numbers.


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## ladynay (May 14, 2014)

Bless your heart hun. I have no bald spots yet. I might try the Nioxin since you make the 3rd person who has said great things about it. I have ridges on pretty much all my nails but they are from my cuticle to the tip of my nail. My nail beds are also pale and pink near the tips. I did have my ferritin checked and he said it was normal but never gave me my number. In the past 2 days I've been having a choking sensation but I felt my neck and I can't even feel my thyroid so it's not swollen. I don't see a doc again for another 3 months. I wish I had a specialist on thyroid but that would be a 2 hour drive. I will ask about my ferritin again when I do go to the doc and find out what my number actually is.


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## Sadface (May 12, 2014)

I'm being referred to an endo doc. I've had pretty much every hypo symptom there is for a very long time now. But only lately have I started to get hyper symptoms. Palpating heart, jittery feeling all over and so on. And my sweats are picking up again. The night between Friday and Saturday I woke up all drenched in sweat, even my shins were sweaty, disgusting!

My ENT doc thought I might have a "hot nodule" and an endo will sort it all out, hopefully. There might be a chance I have Hashimotos and that would explain a lot. I need a few more antibody checks to rule that out.

Right now I feel sick, almost "fluish", all I want to do is lay down but then my annoying palpitations start. But I'm ok with all the other symptoms, it's the hair loss that's the most devastating one of all. There's simply nothing worse than that. And I'm so grateful mine has stopped but I'm living in fear it will start up again, anytime. And then it doesn't take much before I'm totally bald.


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## ladynay (May 14, 2014)

You can have palpitations with hypo too because I have them. I used to have them everyday but they are few and far between since I've been on levothyroxine. They have never went away fully. They are quite scary at times. Mine feels like my heart is skipping beats and then it catches up. Sometimes it will do it when I'm trying to go to sleep. I never was shaky or anything til I went hyper on selenium. I lost 10lbs in a month being on that but that's only because I went hyper. I think selenium is great to take for hair also but my body doesn't handle more than 100mcg every other day. If I take 200 every other day I go back to hyper again. I also think primrose oil does do good but it didn't stop my hair shed completely. I added you as a friend on here so we can message each other than keep this topic going.


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## jenny v (May 6, 2012)

Ugh, I don't think there are two worse side effects of thyroid problems than heart palpitations and hair loss (IMO). The heart issues are terrifying because that is one organ that is totally keeping us alive and anything going off with it (no matter how benign) is so scary. And the hair loss is so devastating emotionally, esp. to women (I imagine it's difficult for men too, but it's so much more common with them). I get palpitations and hair loss with both hypo and hyper, so it's such a pain. The hair does come back, although it can take many, many months and it never hurts to have a cardiologist check things out. I've had almost every heart test under the sun and my cardiologist and I have basically decided I have a healthy heart with an attitude problem, lol, but it's still darn scary when it acts up.


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## Sadface (May 12, 2014)

Ladynay, thank you, yes, I saw you added me as friend. I'm new here and I didn't see a respond feature and I'm not sure if I did this right. But yes, you can message me anytime!


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## ladynay (May 14, 2014)

Yep Jenny V the heart palps are quite scary. I've had my heart tested before I found out I was hypo. I always just assumed it was a hyper symptom but now I know it can happen with both. It does scare the crap out of me at times. Hair loss is definitely scary and depressing. One of my friends is completely bald now but she doesn't have thyroid problems. She was so depressed she wouldn't leave the house. She has bought her 3 wigs now and they are beautiful. She doesn't stay at home anymore.


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## ladynay (May 14, 2014)

Sadface, I didn't know if it went through or not when I added you cause I did it from my phone. Thanks


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## Andros (Aug 26, 2009)

What was the result of your ferritin? It should be between 50 to 100 and the closer to 100 the better.

Try taking Omega III. I like that Carlson's; cold water source, no after taste.


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## ladynay (May 14, 2014)

I don't know the number of my ferritin..he just said it was normal. I'm gonna ask when I go back. I'm gonna do fish oil again when I find one that doesn't give me those fishy burps..yuck! That's what turned me against fish oil to begin with. I take vitamin d3 5,000, super b complex, b12 5,000, evening primrose oil 1300mg, and zinc 50 mcg and selenium every other day. That's my vitamin cocktail when I have dinner lol.


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