Hair loss in women

[Lyubov]

Have any women here experienced hair loss? What were the causes and what cured it? 

My girlfriend is having issues. She is seeing a doctor and they think it is hormonal and related to her birth control. 
 

anyone have any advice in such a situation?

 

[mandyjw]

Stress, illness, hormonal changes all trigger hair loss with a time delay. If you have long hair it is very noticeable because you see hair everywhere, but you might not actually be losing much. If it lasts a very long time, like over 6 months it might be something chronic. Hypothyroidism is one possibility, but the doctor should have checked that. Like dogs shed twice a year with season changes, people do that too just not regularly. 

[Michael569]

6 hours ago, Lyubov said:

they think it is hormonal and related to her birth control

Get her off that shit. It is absolutely pointless for a healthy woman to take these things. Condoms are more reliable offering nearly 100% bulletproof protection. Whether this is the cause or not, she should let them go and rely on you to provide the protection. 

Stress is a huge factor here. Could it have anything to do with the incoming change of country & your separation (which you mentioned in the journal). My gf frequently experiences hair loss in durations of high stress. 

Common nutritional deficiencies especially iron. And then hypothyroidism as Mandy advocated. 

 

[undeather]

23 hours ago, Lyubov said:

Have any women here experienced hair loss? What were the causes and what cured it? 

My girlfriend is having issues. She is seeing a doctor and they think it is hormonal and related to her birth control. 
 

anyone have any advice in such a situation?

 

The birth control pill is a well known risk factor for alopecia in women. There are 2 ways to respond to this issue:
a) Get off the pill
b) Try a lower dose or different kind of agent

In most cases this completely reverses the issue. I am sure you are aware of the potential risks that come with the pill, e.g thromboses and psychological swings. The absolute risk of suffering from one of these side effects is still very, very low - but there are other effective methods to contracept. Here is a comparison of the methods and their absolute contraceptive strength. 
 

 

If the pill wasnt the cause of the hair loss, we need to look for further abnormalities. Previous posters mentioned stress & thyroid-issues. Stress is a big one, thyroid issues could also play into it (both hypo & hyperthyroidism). In my clinical experience, hair loss in thyroid patients is usually pretty rare though. Anyway, getting your thyroid hormones checked from time to time is a smart move anyway, so definitely do that (TSH, t3 & t4). You dont need to do any lab testing for the stress (cortisol has a very low predictive value in that case) if there is a clear case for it in your girlfreinds life. 

Nutritional definicies are also very important in hair loss - in this case especially B-Vitamins and basically all the trace minerals. Try supplementing for at least 3 months and notice any improvements. 

Super rare causes are adrenogenital Syndrome , androgen -producing tumors  or other drugs with androgenic effects.

Iam 99% sure its the pill in her case.

Take care
 

[Raptorsin7]

On 11/21/2021 at 4:25 AM, Lyubov said:

Have any women here experienced hair loss? What were the causes and what cured it? 

My girlfriend is having issues. She is seeing a doctor and they think it is hormonal and related to her birth control. 
 

anyone have any advice in such a situation?

 

I think hair loss can be caused by disrupted hormones so it would make sense that her birth control could have an impact.

What is her personality like? Neurotic, uptight people etc will have more stress hormones and their adrenal system will be fucked from constant fight or flight stimulation. 

Happy, peaceful, etc people will age better because our hormones will reflect our disposition and well being in the world.

[Lyubov]

On 11/22/2021 at 3:28 PM, undeather said:

The birth control pill is a well known risk factor for alopecia in women. There are 2 ways to respond to this issue:
a) Get off the pill
b) Try a lower dose or different kind of agent

In most cases this completely reverses the issue. I am sure you are aware of the potential risks that come with the pill, e.g thromboses and psychological swings. The absolute risk of suffering from one of these side effects is still very, very low - but there are other effective methods to contracept. Here is a comparison of the methods and their absolute contraceptive strength. 
 

 

If the pill wasnt the cause of the hair loss, we need to look for further abnormalities. Previous posters mentioned stress & thyroid-issues. Stress is a big one, thyroid issues could also play into it (both hypo & hyperthyroidism). In my clinical experience, hair loss in thyroid patients is usually pretty rare though. Anyway, getting your thyroid hormones checked from time to time is a smart move anyway, so definitely do that (TSH, t3 & t4). You dont need to do any lab testing for the stress (cortisol has a very low predictive value in that case) if there is a clear case for it in your girlfreinds life. 

Nutritional definicies are also very important in hair loss - in this case especially B-Vitamins and basically all the trace minerals. Try supplementing for at least 3 months and notice any improvements. 

Super rare causes are adrenogenital Syndrome , androgen -producing tumors  or other drugs with androgenic effects.

Iam 99% sure its the pill in her case.

Take care
 

Hello, thank you for this advice. 

So I have an update and am looking for some further advice. She had her thyroid checked by an endocrinologist and it's perfectly healthy, that doctor recommended she see a therapist and a psychiatrist. She can be an incredibly stressed woman at times and has her own psychological/trauma stuff she is just beginning to work on. She says she feels stressed a lot. She will get triggered and become very upset so I know she could use some healing here. So the factors at play here I see are her overall mental health and her current ability to handle/release the stress of life, triggers, and traumatic reactions. 

Secondly her birth control pill could play a role IE the psychological swings as added stress to her life or maybe some hormonal imbalance from the pill could be playing a role, not entirely sure. We haven't totally ruled out the pill as the primary cause or a contributing factor cause however I do think stress is play a role, pill could be adding or intertwining with that. She has seen another doctor that has switched her birth control pill and is still in contact with her for support with this factor. The last pill she was on she would experience some pretty strong mood swings and when this pill was changed recently to a new one it got so bad that she had to go to the doctor to have them switch her again to another one. I'm hoping this new one is more gentle and is the right one for her.

Thirdly, general lifestyle improvement like less partying, better sleep and not skipping regular healthy meals (she does this sometimes) will aid her during this. It hurts her tummy and makes her stressed when she skips meals. She has a decent diet but does miss meals sometimes and she takes all the usual supplements so I think nutritional deficiency can be either ruled out or considered not a top primary cause/contributor but of course it can be improved with her not missing meals.

Fourthly, COVID and the vaccine I think could have also played a BIGGGG role here. She had covid in 2020 and then she got the vaccine. I don't know the entire history of events but she says her hair loss coincides with the vaccine several months prior, her dermatologist also asked about this as well if she had COVID or had the vaccine. This started a few months after she got the vaccine. I can't remember if she went through a faze before this after COVID but I will ask her. I wonder if the vaccine as a main stress put her into a sort of shedding cycle. I'm hoping it slows down soon so she can get her hair back as thick as it used to be. She has beautiful hair so it hurts to see it thinning. I know it's painful for her cause this is a slow process and it can take several months for something like this to stop and then the new hairs to grow in again 

Any other follow up advice with more info on her situation?

 

 

 

 

 

Edited December 21, 2021 by Lyubov

[Raptorsin7]

@Lyubov Hey I'd say look into rose mary oil as well for re growth. I've heard it can have great results at growing back hair.

Also, as for the trauma. I'd say really try to understand the root of any neurosis and learn the truth about it. I strongly believe if you can help her heal and overcome the neurosis she will no longer have an issue with hair 

[Raptorsin7]

@Lyubov

Hey this is a great post that another user posted in another thread. I think it could give more insight into situation. I think there's a lot of truth here.