If any hypothyroid sisters with hair loss are taking synthroid (or it's generic form) of thyroid supplement alone, they may find it is not helping with hair loss from that, any!
Many docs, even well-meaning ones, will always tell you that T4 (synthroid, et al) is the best choice for you because they have been taught to believe that by the companies who make it.
HOWEVER, I have found that many, many, many people benefit from a t4 and t3 combination ...and in some cases t3 alone!
I am not an expert, just a person who is hypothyroid ......and ever member of my family is hypothyroid too! So I've researched this a lot.
My hair loss was much more severe when I took synthroid. Great doctors argued with me, telling me that synthroid is "bioidentical" (exactly the same chemical as is in the body).
This may be true, but it did not help me feel better at ALL.
When I began taking a combination thyroid supplement, which is the active form of thyroid (T3), ALL of my hypothyroid symptoms improved.
Some docs have been taught that T3 is dangerous to your heart, especially if you're overweight,, but if you read up on it, that is actually not proven and very controversial, but many doctors don't realize that. In fact, it's MORE dangerous to your heart to have hypothyroid conditions that are not responding to medical treatment.
I have found low-dose T3 to make a gigantic difference in my life. One doctor I met had me on sustained-release t3 for awhile (
www.drrind.com) which was fabulous, but that's hard to find.
Armour thyroid is made from animals which turned me off at first, but it's potential benefit is that it contains complete thyroid substance. There are actually SEVERAL thyroid hormones T1, T2, T3, and T4. They don't even know what 1 and 2 do yet! Armours contains small amounts of those as well as T3 and T4.
Another option might by Thyrolar, which is basically a combo of T3 and T4. If I took that, I'd probably supplement it with a low dose over-the-counter thyroid glandular supplement.
Hope this helps,
X
p.s. VERY low doses of T3 helped me a hundred times more than HIGH doses of T4! T4 actually made me feel terrible and doctors actually said "It CAN'T be making you feel bad; it's just like the natural hormone in your body." Well, they were wrong. =)