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.