SummertimeHigh5

My hair has always been fairly thick and as I get older, of course, it gets thinner.
However, it is now not falling out or getting thin naturally. This is not normal. The past month my hair is all over my bathroom and kitchen floor (they are both light colored so I can see it better on those since my hair is dark). I have no unearthly idea what could be causing this and it has never happened before. I think maybe my body is lacking something but I do not know what since I have not had a problem like this before. Also, this is not my imagination either. I can even feel it when I run my fingers through it. My Doctor has me on water pills and potassium. I have quit taking one of the water pills to see if this may be the cause but I do not think it is. Here is my question. Has this ever happened to anyone else going through sobriety and if so, what do you do to solve the problem? I have always had a nice full, thick, healthy and shiny head of hair and it is just so dull and course and thin now. It is short too which makes matters a bit worse in my opinion. Any suggestions would be great. Thank you so much.

Dee74

I really think you need to go back to yr Dr summertime...get a professional opinion

D

sugarbear1

Mine did that in early recovery, too. Yesterday I had 14 months of sobriety and I realized how thick my hair was again. My hair changed a lot in recovery. Today, it's mostly "normal old" now! (I'm 51)

See a doctor for a medical opinion. Eat well. Talk with doctor about solutions. Be honest with your history, this will help doctor make an informed diagnosis.

I wish you well!

MetalChick

I found this article on alcoholism and hair loss

Alcoholism and Hair Loss.

I would talk to your doctor though

MetalChick

The article also says that stress can cause hair loss

tomsteve

[QUOTE=sugarbear1;3491996 Today, it's mostly "normal old" now! (I'm 51)[/QUOTE]

normal old...i like that!!! i think i have to concede that that is how my body is,too!:rotfxko

Fandy

I lost 50% of my hair too, noticing it when i stopped drinking about a month. my hairdresser noticed it too.

i attribute it to poor diet and stress along with heavy binge drinking for over 4 months....it was coming out by the handfuls in the shower. i started by paying attention to my diet, taking supplements a good multi with biotin, zinc and iron...i applied a topical thickener too...(Ojon).

it took about 18 months to grow back, but thankfully it did. Your doctor can tell you if it's diet related or perhaps you have alopechia and the best way to treat it.

SummertimeHigh5

Thank you all so much. I had a feeling it had to do with sobriety/medication since it has never happened to me and that is the only thing that I have changed. How awful though. I hope that it doesn't all fall out before it starts thickening up again. I called my Doctor today. They haven't gotten back with me yet though. Also, my Doctor does know my entire alcoholic history since I had a failing liver that landed me in the hospital back in April. As much as I wanted to hide it, I couldn't which is now a very good thing.

babycat

I saw this thread and almost immediately began to notice my hair falling out. So, I am not sure if it has to do with me being paranoid after reading this and just noticing how much I lose or if I really am losing more. It is really freaking me out tho which I am trying not to let it do cuz I know stress can make it worse. And I don't think it has gotten any thinner in the last couple weeks, but its only been that, a couple weeks.
I am curious to you Summertimehigh, if your condition has improved at all?

SummertimeHigh5

Mine "seems" like it is not falling out as much as it was. It has gotten so thin it is scary if you have never been through this before which obviously you and I haven't as well as many others, I am sure... I have not been to my Doctor yet BUT my sister who was going through some issues a year or two ago (nothing to do with alcohol but divorce/abuse stress stuff) said that her Doctor and hairstylist told her to take biotin and she said that she did and it DOES work. It takes a while (about a year to start looking normal again) though and a lot of her hair (her hair is medium length and not even as thick as mine was) is like 5 inches long in a lot of places where it has new growth. It is not obvious to others but she notices it of course. I would start out with that if I were you. This is what I am going to do. It is about $10.00 for a larger bottle and they come in 1,000, 5,000 and even 10,000 mg gel capsules (they are small). I just got the regular 1,000 mg but the directions say to take up to 5 capsules a day with food. I only take two since I am not familiar with them. They do not seem to be harmful from what I have read and what I have learned but you never know. Check into it first. Good luck and please keep me updated and also let me know if you find a better concoction or some kind of magic potion.

Happier

I fully support the idea of discussing this with your Doctor. Maybe it is related to drinking (or not drinking) but then again it could be something new and totally unrelated. In my wife's case it was a thyroid condition that was easily resolved. Bottom line is that there are lots of potential causes and it is better to get it diagnosed by a professional rather than making guesses. Just my opinion. Wishing you all the best.

laurie6781

As women, as we get older, our folic acid decreases. This also affects how fast finger nails grow.

On the next time y'all have blood work done, ask your Dr about your folic acid levels and discuss the hair issue and your nails also if they are not growing as fast.

I know I take it and I am 67 now, but it made a big difference after I first notice the hair loss, and the finger nails not growing and I was only 36 then.

So please, please check with your individual doctors, before taking any OTC vitamins including the folic acid I mentioned.

Love and hugs,

myjourney4me

I have been dealing with a thyroid issue and have had hair loss due to it. It can be very upsetting but hoping to get the medication tweaked a bit to get it under control.
Myjourney4me

babycat

Thanks for the tip! I was also researching and I found some connection between anemia and hair loss. I was in the hospital getting a blood transfusion for severe anemia less than 2 months ago, so it may have something to do with that. I was taking pre natal vitamins, first cuz that is what my doc told me to do. Then I stopped when I felt better. But after reading the connection between alcohol abuse and lower levels of zinc and iron and hair loss, I started them again. They have biotin in them so I wonder if I should stop the pre natal and just do biotin.
Or maybe I should just stfu and go ask my damn doctor, lol!

laurie6781

Yep check with your doctor about any and all vitamin supplements, please. Some may interfere with medications you are on, some may be in a limited dose only (as too much of some vitamins our body absorbs rather than passing on through and could become dangerous, etc) and just see what Dr says.

That is the 'safe' way of doing things in sobriety. And Lord knows many of us alkies come into recovery with the generic idea of "if one is good two or three are better and will work faster", lol

Find a doctor you trust and then 'listen' to that doctor and follow that doctor's directions.

J M H O

Love and hugs,

babycat

"That is the 'safe' way of doing things in sobriety. And Lord knows many of us alkies come into recovery with the generic idea of "if one is good two or three are better and will work faster", lol"

haha, that is so true!

SummertimeHigh5

You are correct. I am going to be seeing my Doctor here in about a week and I am going to look into it. My sister does not have health issues and does not have any kind of problems with alcohol or anything like that either. I have read up that the main causes are anemia, thyroid problems, lack of iron and something else. None of them sounded too serious but like you said... You never know... I have had thyroid problems in the past too but without the hair loss. i actually did not even know that I had anything wrong until they did blood work. I did not have any symptoms from my thyroid being low. I had to take medication for it which put it back to the normal level it needed to be in. However, this was a few years ago.