Hair Loss and Hypothyroid
Posted on: February 27, 2006 | Posted in: Hypothyroid Supplements, My Story
Yet another hypothyroid symptom that I am seeing relief from: hair loss. According to my doctor (who hasn’t been wrong about *everything*), it can take months for hypothyroid-caused hair loss and breakage to start showing improvement. This makes sense, since even a normal person’s hair only grows so fast… Even if your hair becomes perfectly healthy the day after you start thyroid medication, it’s going to take a while for the new, healthy hair to grow out far enough to make a difference.
I used to think, every time I took a shower, “Man, if my hair keeps falling out at this rate, I’ll be bald soon!” I mean, really… a handful of hair every time I washed it. Not funny. I had pretty thin, straight hair to begin with. Now that I was trying to grow it out, it was falling out in handfuls, and every time I had the split ends trimmed off, it seemed like they’d all split again by the next day.
There are a bazillion haircare products out there that claim to “repair” split ends… personally, I won’t buy anything that makes that claim. Whether it’s a nice product otherwise or not, it’s still a fraud, because I don’t know of any hair care product on earth that can glue a split end back together. Sorry folks. Sounds nice, but just ain’t happening.
For hair falling out though, there seem to be loads of products available… Rogaine shampoo, Propecia pills, Nioxin shampoo & hair care products. Who knows where to start? Well, personally, if you’re hypothyroid, I’d say start with taking your thyroid medication and wait 6 months. I haven’t started using any hyper-expensive shampoos, or scary pills that warn against letting pregnant women touch them, and my hair isn’t falling out at HALF the rate it was only four months ago. But if you’re impatient or your hair has stopped falling out but isn’t growing back the way it used to be, it might be worthwhile to consider something extra.
Rogaine is probably the most well-known hair growth stimulating product on the market. Shampoo in, rinse out. Simple. But I’ve heard it’s not so effective for women. Don’t know. Anyone out there have any experience with Rogaine? I’d love to hear from you here…
Propecia is just scary, to me. You take a pill, and it’s supposed to stop hair loss. It also purportedly has a safety warning saying pregnant women should not even touch the pills. (Can anyone verify that?) Are pregnant women supposed to touch men who take Propecia? Can non-pregnant women take Propecia? God. Who cares? I’m sorry, but if pregnant women aren’t supposed to touch it, I don’t want to eat it. I mean, pregnant women aren’t supposed to touch cat shit either. And I don’t care if cat shit made my hair thicker, my breasts bigger and my sex partner’s penis harder… I wouldn’t eat it, thanks. 
I’d rather go bald.
So that brings us to Nioxin, which is an inexplicably scary-chemical-sounding line of ‘botanical’ hair care products that will supposedly create “optimum scalp conditions” for hair regrowth. Which, needless to say, I also have not tried. I have not heard anything scary or toxic about it, but if all it does is keep your scalp really clean, I have to wonder if it’s not equally as effective as “split end repair” products. If anyone has experience to the contrary though, by all means feel free to leave a comment!
At any rate. I haven’t changed my hair care regimen one bit, and I’m about halfway through my third 30-day .15mg levothyroxin prescription, and my hair isn’t falling out by the handfuls anymore. So my advice is, if you’ve experienced hypothyroid related hair loss and your hair isn’t growing back within a few months of starting medication, you may want to discuss adjusting your medication dose, or trying a new medication with your doctor.
technorati tags: hypothyroidism, hypothyroid, thyroid, hairloss, health, medical, mivox