Thinning hair ...help!

[spaceycat7]

Ive been recently told by my GYN that my blood works states I have PCOS. It explained many of the symptoms that were causing me great distress. (lack of a period, thinning hair, weight gain, swollen ankles, depression, mood swings and more) Im going to my family doctor the first of next week to verify it and then discuss with him my options like does he treat it or will he send me to a specialist. I feel very confindent after sitting for 6hrs reviewing all the information I could find on this web site it gave me a better understanding of what it is I actually have and how its treated. But one question remains...HAIR LOSS!!! Im 38 and was the proud owner of a beautiful, lush, thick head of auburn hair that spilled out down to the middle of my back. Its now reduced to its former beauty and cut so much shorter in hopes of hidding the striking thinness. Its so thin my scalp shines through on the top. Every day my sink needs a good shave and my hair brush looks like a stuffed toy. I cry when I spy myself in the mirror I feel so alone and hopeless. Could anyone tell me what to take to regain my former locks back. Are there supplements or shampoos that will speed things up and how long after treatment of PCOS do you see your hair returning.?! I want nothing to do with Rogaine for Ive met those who say the shedding was worse and the side effects were a nightmare. Has anyone had success with another path.?!

[krysten]

Welcome to Soulcysters....

Thought this would be a better thread for this forum...you may get more responses...

[hopeless]

Do you have copies of your blood work? It would be helpful for you to know what was abnormal with your blood work and go from there. There are anti-androgens, BCPs, and other meds that some of us have tried for hair loss. If you can, post your test results (and "normal" ranges) and maybe someone here can help you out.

[StarMaiden]

Well, Spaceycat,

I have thinning hair, too, and I started out with really thin, fine hair anyway. I haven't tried anything yet, but I've been reading all the threads here, and I've been following the links in these threads to other web sites, and other sources of info...

And I'm dismayed. It looks like there are a lot of possible solutions out there, but only a couple of things that may work. Rogaine being one of them, for only some ladies. I suggest you reads the threads, and find some things that you might be willing to try, and that might help you some.

Maybe it's because I'm in a pessimisstic mood, or maybe I'm realistic, but honestly, it looks like this to me...wigs work. Hair transplants work. Some hair integration systems that "bond" hairs to you own give the illusion that there's no hair loss. But does anything else work? It doesn't look like it to me.

Let's face it. If there were a really good solution for hair loss out there besides wigs and hair transplantation (neither of which costs only a reasonable amount), why would we see so many guys who are still thinning and balding?

I don't think there's a good solution. For myself right now, I'm trying to tell myself it's just not one of the important things in life, and I can deal with it if I have to and hold my shiny head up. And I am very close to researching wigs. My own hair, even if I got some thickness back, is almost grey now (unrelated to PCOS) and I color it anyway, so a wig would solve that problem for me too.

But I kid you not, it hurts, it is humiliating, and I'm scared of the future. It's amazing that I am more upset about this than I am worried about what the world thinks of me for my obesity.

I challenge anyone who has found an easy, relatively inexpensive, solution to restore thinning hair and prevent future loss, to come forward and tell us what worked for you.

[Tammys madness]

hi everyone! i'm new here and this is my first post (pats self on the back...lol)

anyways, i wanted to relate my story to you all. my whole life i've been blessed with lots of hair. thick, lush and just lovely. but the family joke has always been "who will find mom's hair in dinner tonight?" lol

this past year my hair loss has escaladed to the point that i have to part my hair on the side to hide my widening center part. i'd run my hand through my hair and pull out clumps. it'd plug the shower drain and it was all over my clothes like i was shedding dog.

last year in march my hubby and i decided to have another baby. i went to my ob for a check up, physical and prenatal vitamins. that's when it was discovered that i have PCOS and IR. i was prescribed metformin and regardless of what studies and other people who take met say...it made my hair loss incredibly worse. i refused to stop taking it though as it makes me feel pretty good and i have a history of diabetes in my family and i don't want to get it!!! i figured i'd deal with no hair by making it fashionable to be an overweight, bald SAHM. lol

well, of course i was also taking my prenatal vitamins while TTC and after about 7-8 months i noticed that my hair wasn't falling out as fast and hard as it was previously. it might have been sooner than that but i was dealing with a miscarriage and family business issues that were killing me on the inside. as fate would have it, my prenatal vitamin prescription expired and i needed to call my doc for a new one. they called in a miscellaneous prenatal vitamin and it was different than the one i was taking. well, wouldn't you know it....i started shedding a little bit more. i said screw this and made my doc call in the same exact prenatal vit i was taking before.

my hair isn't growing back in that i can notice...although there are a few very short hairs on the front and top of my head that could be new ones. but i'll swear on a stack of bible that taking prenatal vitamins have saved my hair from falling completely out!! i'm not saying it'll work for everyone but i know it worked for me. i think my body was lacking in some vitamin or mineral that prenatal vitamins have provided.

FYI the vitamins i'm taking are ULTRA NATAL CARE by ETHEX but i'm sure you could buy OTC ones too.

i sure hope that helps someone out!

[Jillybean04]

Hi,
I also am suffering from serious hair loss! It started after my son was born and I figured it was "normal" after a birth and stopping the prenatal vitamins. But the problem was that it never stopped. I also used to have very thick and curly hair down to the middle of my back and have noticed within the past year that the speed in which I am losing it is rapid!!!!
I was diagnosed with IR last Nov. and was put on Met. In reading the post by Tammy's Madness, I didn't realize that it's possible the Met. is making it worse because I've noticed within the past few months that the hair is coming out even faster than before. I am scared to death I am gonna be bald! In January, the doctor prescribed me prenatal vitamins(to go with Xenical that I never took cuz that is scary stuff!) and I haven't noticed any improvement with them regarding my hair. I am hoping what I just read that within a few months I may see an improvement, although, I am not taking the one mentioned. Geez...THIS SUCKS!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for all the info! I am gonna write down the name of that prenatal and ask my Dr. about it!

Jill