I'm Losing My Hair

[Lady of Longbourn]

My lithium was increased recently to 1,200mg and lamictal is at 400mg. Both of which my doctor says can cause hair lose. She says she will decrease the lithium when my other medication is more stable. I'm hoping that is soon and my hair actually starts growing back but that will probably take weeks. My mental health is more important and I know that but....

I've started keeping it in a coil in the back of my neck, I know that wont keep it 'in' but.... Clumps come out when I wash it, after I wash it. Little mini handfuls. Randomly during the day. I'm starting to see my scalp...surprised me how white it is.

My hair is long too so I'm already aware how long it will take to regrow. My hair is longer then mid-back. I guess....4 years? My husband actually suggested cutting it all off. It doesn't look that bad yet and he was trying to be helpful even if it did hurt. My therapist tried to be helpful too, sharing his own medication hair lose story but...he is a guy with short hair, so it must have taken him 2 months to grow his hair back.

I'm worried my hair is just damaged and it wont grow back at all. I heard zinc can help, as anyone heard of that?

 

[KwanYingirl]

Yes, I have heard zinc helps grow hair. Once you eliminate or at least significantly lower the offending drug, your hair follicles will regenerate. The body wants to have hair, as mammals, it's our defining trait! I'm an Electrologist and see this problem ALOT. All the endocrine glands play a role in hair growth, texture and color. These psych meds can cause head hair to fall out and facial hairs to increase. It's not fair!!
Sorry to say that your new hairs have a long way to grow before they fill in your scalp. A great hairdresser can help you find a style to minimize the thinning. I think, but don't quote me on this, tying it into a bun or even braids can weaken the hair shaft too.
There are doctors that specialize in helping women with hair loss maybe you can google it for your area.
I'm so sorry you have to deal with this. I know how frustrating it is. Do you know if the hairs that fall out have bulbs on them or is is breaking off mid-length?
If you live in a populated area you can find a hair loss clinic. They could lead you to a great hairdresser and maybe there are some vitamins and other minerals that can strengthen what you have.

 

[Changing4Best]

Loss of hair is also a sign of stress. My first therapist told me this and I'll never forget it. Also, I read somewhere that loss of hair is something that comes and goes in some kind of cycle throughout our lives. The hair falls out and replenishes itself in 6 month intervals. We have a lot of hair. I know that, because even though I am losing hair like mad right now (I am going to a social club and meeting new friends and this is very stressful, but also very good for me!) that it will grow in again and not be a problem in the long run.

Be sure to take note of any areas of stress in your life. Talk about them with your therapist or a close friend if you don't have a therapist. Also, try not to stress about losing your hair, it will replace itself soon. So relax, enjoy whatever holidays you celebrate, focus on other things, and do brush your hair each day. Brushing it stimulates the scalp and helps more hair growth to occur. It will be OK, don't be worried about it, OK?

 

[Friday]

About once every 10 years.... I all but shave my head.

It's not liberating. It's demoralizing, ego checking, and quite frankly... Looks bad on me. (Like you take a q-tip and savage it). I don't have the facial structure to be all sexy cute with capped hair.

I did it twice for work. Once out of grief.

What's fun about being hair-free are wigs. Especially if you like makeup... Because different colors/textures/styles scream for different palettes of makeup. Even more, color contacts are dirt cheap these days ($20 or thereabouts, often even less). Last time I decided to play dress up they ran about $80 a pair. I went kinda wild with the whole concept at one point. Hair / eyes / skintone even bone structure. I made myself younger, older, different ethnicities, club wild, soccer-mom casual. Exactly like "me" exactly opposite. All kinds of things. It was a super fun side effect of "Well. I look awful. Might as well play."

 

[Suzetig]

I would echo what @SheilaKathy has said about stress, one of the signs I'm really stressed is that my hair starts to fall out. I've found that taking a good iron supplement helps it to grow back - extreme stress can contribute to lower iron levels and har loss is linked to low iron, amongst other things. While medication is causing your hair loss, it may be worth just getting your iron levels checked - just a small deficiency in mine really affects my hair growth.

 

[Karen12]

Some other things that might help are using a natural shampoo specific for fine/thin hair, not brushing or styling wet hair, not sleeping with wet hair, sleeping on a silk pillowcase (which pulls less on hair than cotton or poly), don't always pull it back in the same spot, don't wash with hot water, and check your tap water for chlorine and chlorides - if either of these are high you might benefit from a filter on your shower head.

Most of my hair fell out after the accident and it never grew back. If you need more tips let me know.

 

[Deleted member 28845]

Well, on the upside you don't have male pattern baldness, and no matter what, most if not all of your hair follicles are still alive. It's just falling out. Probably like you say, from the medication.

 

[shell]

My hair falls out when I am really stressed, but it always grows back. I can always start to see it regrowing because all the new growth shows up underneath at the front. At first I was really panicked about it, but it seems to reoccur every time I am really stressed, and now even though it goes through stages of losing lots all at once multiple times a year to the point where my hands are covered in hair when I am washing it, my hair is actually getting thicker, because it seems to grow even more than what I lost each time.

As learn to control my stress levels, the length of time I lose hair has improved considerably, and instead of losing it for months I only lose it for weeks.

I now have more hair now at 50 than I did in my twenty's. Last time I had my hair cut, the hairdresser commented on how thick my hair was, and that I wouldn't need to worry about losing my hair as I age, I nearly cracked up laughing, given that a couple of years when I was extremely stressed, it was so thin I could no longer tie it up. It does help me stop worrying about it.



The worst thing is constantly cleaning up all the hair everywhere, my husband complains about my hair being everywhere, the hardest thing is keeping it out of my cooking.

 

[Lady of Longbourn]

My doctor is having my tyroid tested again. Getting bald spots.

 

[Deleted member 28845]

You can always just embrace your disease, let it ride honey! At least you'll be having flashbacks with your beautiful hair!

 

[Nam]

I hope you get answers soon and that your meds stabilize.

Do you like hats? I think they are adorable on everyone else, but I look terrible in hats. Especially cowboy hats.

 

[Lady of Longbourn]

I went to my GP who asked me what happened around 6 months ago that may have been stressful. At first I couldn't think of anything. She also mentioned it could be one of my medications. But when I was driving home I remember all the things that happened around 6 months ago; problems with my therapist and my mentor, finals, moving and a mixed episode.

She wanted me to start taking biotin so I am. Smells awful. Also mention the medication to my other doctor.

I noticed I lost less hair today when I washed it. Not really counting that yet and I know the biotin wouldn't help that quickly. But I couldn't help feeling a little hopeful.

It's also really long now. I should probably go to the hairdresser and have her cut and style it. I was actually embarrassed to go because so much was coming out and I knew she would wash and comb it. She might have ideas to help how thin it looks.