Is Weight Loss and/or Diet the Cause of Sudden Hair Loss?

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Is Weight Loss and/or Diet the Cause of Sudden Hair Loss?

by Kathy
(Las Vegas, NV)

I am a 45 year old female. I was feeling a bit "off" in September 2007. I began treatment with a Chinese herbalist sometime in October 2007. I suffered from severe job related stress and had developed eczema over the summer of 2007 and just felt "crappy" in general. I felt much better after 6 weeks of treatment with the herbalist, but he had restricted my diet. I was so freaked out about my skin, that I more or less kept the restrictions on my diet (no dairy, sweets, etc.).

Due to the dietary restrictions I never should have continued to follow, over the months of January and February 2008, I lost 20 pounds. Since I only weighed 140 to start with, that was pretty significant weight loss. I wasn't eating much meat either. In late March, I noticed a lot of extra hairs everywhere--on my shoulders, around the house, etc. By mid June, I noticed a significant loss of hair volume. I started compulsively counting hairs (lost approximately 200 to 225 per day) and surfing the internet for information.

Since my sister was constantly remarking how pale I was, I was dizzy sometimes just sitting at the dining room table talking to her, and I felt like I was going to pass out in yoga class, I figured I was probably pretty deficient in iron. I immediately started taking an iron supplement around the first week of July, and within 3 days, I felt better and my colour came back. I saw a family physician who said that the weight loss was, in her opinion, most definitely the cause of the hair loss.

I have since gone back to my normal diet, take iron, a multi vitamin, evening primrose oil, MSM, and a collagen supplement every day. It's now late August 2008, and I'm unfortunately still experiencing hair loss. It's not 200 per day, but has decreased to about 160 to 180 per day. Not significant progress, but I think progress would be pretty slow anyway.

Maybe in terms of this disorder, it is progress. I am thinking that it may take at least 6 months to get back to normal. I can see short hairs growing everywhere, but what is most disturbing is when some of them fall out; however, most of the hairs lost are long hairs.

Can anyone shed some light on this? If your body is in preservation mode, can it discern between a hair that has been there for 3 years versus one that has been there for 3 months?

To date, I have not seen a dermatologist for this condition, but plan to in the near future. Most interesting is that the physician I saw did not offer any advice with respect to reversing this problem. The herbalist helped me out, but I took the dietary restrictions too far, so I don't blame him in any way. I would love to hear from others who have similar stories.

Further, I would like to know what to expect in terms of recovery such as what is the average decrease over a given period of time.
Thank you.

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Is Weight Loss and/or Diet the Cause of Sudden Hair Loss?

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Aug 23, 2008
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Thanks Calvin.
by: Kathy

Dear Calvin:

Thanks for your feedback and support. I know there are so many people out there who are suffering the stress of hair loss. I do, however, feel fortunate that mine will grow back. I visited my hairstylist today, and he said that he could see "lots" of hair growing back in, which made me feel a lot better.

Thanks, again, for your advice and support.

Kathy

Aug 22, 2008
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Understanding Your Condition
by: Calvin

Dear Kathy,
It seems that your hair loss are caused by physical induced stress. Based on your story, you have been undergoing a crash diet course and considering your significant weight loss, your body is really under a lot of stress. As your diet and stress to your body occurs in the February, it’s an obvious sign to see large amount of hair loss in June as it takes 3 – 4 months for your hairs to shed. This condition is called Telogen Effluvium.

As for the hair you are losing, your body cannot distinguish between long or short hairs, just hairs that are growing (ANAGEN) and hairs that are resting (TELOGEN). So when you overstress your body, it stops a lot of growing hairs into the resting phase. Eventually after a few months you will notice that all those hairs that are shocked into rest will eventually fall off. If you notice that most of the hairs are long is because shorter hairs are less noticeable and finer. (Psychological Issue)
As for recovery, you are correct. It does take some time to recover from Telogen Effluvium. In a case by case basis, you should be able to control your hair loss back to the normal 50-100 hairs a day within a few months. Right now all you need to do is really stop crash dieting and take more supplements to help with your hair growth. Try

Vitamin B Complex

Drink plenty of water

Sleep Early

Reduce Stress (Don’t worry too much!!)

Normalize your life back

This should be able to help you Kathy. It’s a sad period to go through but everything should be fine in a couple of months. Hope this helps.

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Aug 22, 2008
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Submitted by: Calvin

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Dear Kathy, It seems that your hair loss are caused by physical induced stress. Based on your story, you have been undergoing a crash diet course and considering your significant weight loss, your body is really under a lot of stress. As your diet and stress to your body occurs in the February, it’s an obvious sign to see large amount of hair loss in June as it takes 3 – 4 months for your hairs to shed. This condition is called Telogen Effluvium. As for the hair you are losing, your body cannot distinguish between long or short hairs, just hairs that are growing (ANAGEN) and hairs that are resting (TELOGEN). So when you overstress your body, it stops a lot of growing hairs into the resting phase. Eventually after a few months you will notice that all those hairs that are shocked into rest will eventually fall off. If you notice that most of the hairs are long is because shorter hairs are less noticeable and finer. (Psychological Issue) As for recovery, you are correct. It does take some time to recover from Telogen Effluvium. In a case by case basis, you should be able to control your hair loss back to the normal 50-100 hairs a day within a few months. Right now all you need to do is really stop crash dieting and take more supplements to help with your hair growth. Try <ul> <li class="custom">Vitamin B Complex</li> <li class="custom">Drink plenty of water</li> <li class="custom">Sleep Early</li> <li class="custom">Reduce Stress (Don’t worry too much!!)</li> <li class="custom">Normalize your life back</li> </ul> This should be able to help you Kathy. It’s a sad period to go through but everything should be fine in a couple of months. Hope this helps.

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