I think I have TE.

by Karen
(Portland, OR)

Hello, my name is Karen and I have never written about my hair loss before. I am 43 years old, but started noticing my hair loss when I was 39 when I saw a few pictures of myself with this horrible, scraggly looking hair and was completely shocked. At one point, I clogged up the shower drain with hair and backup up the bathtub!

I made the decision to cut it all off, wondering if perhaps improper use of styling aids were the cause.

A little history about me: When I was 37, I went on a diet that wasn't a "crash" diet, but in retrospect, I was not taking a supplement and was obviously not eating enough protein. I stopped dieting when I was 40, just shortly after realizing I was losing my hair - but did not put two-and-two together.

After patiently waiting 9 months, as my hair length began to come back, I realized many hairs on my head would no longer grow past a certain point: maybe only 3 or 4 inches on the crown of my head, while the rest of my hair seemed to be getting long again. Also, I was still losing a ton of hair with each shampoo. My answer? Shampoo every other day and lay off the styling aids.

Still not realizing there might be something medically wrong, I continued to wait for my hair to grow back. It continued to get thinner all over, but there were no bald patches so I tried to be patient.

When I was 41, my hair STILL wasn't growing back on the crown and continued to fall out. At this time, I went to my doctor of 15 years who didn't even examine my scalp or ask me anything about my lifestyle or recent history (such as "was I dieting") - only told me to start using Rogaine (which I didn't). However, I did go see a dermatologist who was also unsympathetic and handed me a brochure on alopecia. She never called me back with the results of my lab test and when I called her, she only said everything looked fine "although I was low in a few areas." Silly me! I didn't even ask what areas they were!

Last summer in June (age of 42), I found a wonderful new doctor at Kaiser who examined my scalp, confirmed how thin my hair was (of course I already knew that), and found my ferrous sulfate level was at a 3! I was put on iron pills 3x/day and was told to retest in October. I was also told to go ahead and start Rogaine and this time, I did.

Amazing! In August, my hair stopped falling out! I was so grateful to have the answer of low ferritin levels (that I was working on fixing) that I stopped using my Rogaine. The change in how I saw myself was like night and day - I was so happy! I knew that by August of next year, I would have my hair back!


Then came this past October. My blood work showed my ferritin was up to a 35 now. Yay! But then, my hair started falling out again. I contacted my doctor via email and was written back with the advice to wait until my ferritin levels were retested in January. I started using Rogaine again which of course, means another major shed before the new hairs start growing in from the Rogaine.

It has been 3 years now from when I first noticed my hair loss. I am wishful that once my ferritin levels get up to around 70 things will change, however, I have searched the Internet for an "iron success story" and have yet to find one. Do I have reason to hope? Am I being impatient? I don't understand why my hair stopped falling out in August and then started again in October - was it the Rogaine?

Would love to hear if anyone has a story very similar to mine and what successes they have experienced.

Editor’s Comments,

Thanks for your extraordinary story on hair loss. Iron deficiency related hair loss is very common among women and many find it difficult to grow back their hairs to their former state.

Changes in iron are often related to hormonal or blood disorders that can take its toll on the hair follicles causing very poor growth. Most cases, it would require quite some time to get the levels back normal and also will require a long term maintenance to keep it within normal.

Rogaine is usually the most common treatment for hair disorders caused by low iron and it’s also quite effective as it help boosts hair growth rate. However, you will need to continue to use Rogaine in order to keep your hair growing strong because hair grown by Rogaine will fall off once you stop using it.

It will definitely take some time for your hair to recover and there is now way to guarantee that it will return to its former glory but under the right health management, you should able to see decent regrowth.

In most hair loss cases that are related to low iron levels, the best hope is to be patient and to keep a healthy lifestyle. Have a specially prepared diet by a professional dietitian that fits your condition and also do plenty of exercises. You might want to try Viviscal as it has been reported to help with women suffering with hair loss.