I've had a lot of hairloss. (I'm female - checked your profile and saw that you are too.) I know how worrying it is but don't despair. Unless you've had physical damage to your scalp, then it can and will grow back when you're able to give your body the right conditions. I lost almost half of mine over the last two years and it's growing back now. :)
I think most of the time hair loss relates to hormones. Stress will affect the adrenals and other hormones. Nutrition is also important, especially keeping blood sugar stable - that comes back round to hormones because excess blood sugar can trigger too much male hormone production in women (we all produce a small amount of male hormones normally) and that can then cause loss of hair.
I'd suggest:
a) If you haven't already, talk to your GP and get all the blood tests you can, including iron, blood sugar, thyroid function and vitamin D. Even if blood sugar comes back OK, you still need to think about your blood sugar levels, because the test is done fasting so it won't pick up on what your blood sugar is like after coffee, fruit juice, cereal etc.
b) Eat to stabilise your blood sugar. Try not to have junk food, coffee, alcohol, white bread/pasta/rice, processed foods like microwave rice, sugary stuff, fruit juice and very sweet or starchy fruit (banana, mango etc). Instead - moderate amount of wholegrains/brown rice/new potatoes (try not to have too much of any carbohydrate), lots of non-starchy vegetables, not too much fruit and plenty of protein. Eating protein with things helps slow down the release of sugar into the blood.
c) Take a good quality vitamin and mineral supplement - not a cheapo one - and especially have a zinc supplement (I take zinc picolinate) and chelated ("easy") iron.
d) If you highlight or dye your hair, don't! Or, only use pure henna and plant dyes - watch out because the ones sold generally as 100% plant ingredients are often not pure and can contain hidden mineral salts (which can cause hair loss). Can explain more if needed.
e) If you take thyroxine for an underactive thyroid, you'll need to look into that. Too longwinded to explain if it doesn't apply, but it was actually the main cause of my own hair loss, and not something the NHS will pick up on.
As you can see, I've done a lot of research and experimenting. It was horrible losing so much hair and I hope you're able to at least stabilise yours very soon. But it does grow back - lots of people like to tell you it won't but, interestingly, those seem to be people who haven't had hair loss. Everyone I talked to who'd experienced it (from stress, pregnancy or whatever) confirmed that it grows back.
