I have recently lost 40 lbs with low carbing and I have found that I seem to be getting balder!!! The weight loss has helped with all my other symptoms except this one! I'm not on any medication, why is this happening? I can deal with the excess body hair, but I can't deal without hair on my head!!! I am soooooooooooooo depressed! What am I gonna do? I do not want to stop low carbing, as I still have quite a bit to lose and it's helping my other symptoms.....what do I do? I been thinking about looking into hair transplant stuff, has anyone done this? If so, does it hurt? How much is it? How many sessions? I don't want that "doll hair" look while going through it, did you have it? God!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why us? This sucks majorly! My husband left me about 7 months ago and I want to get in the routine of dating again....but not like this! I'm changing the way my body looks but why do I have to be bald!? I was fat....now I'm a lot thinner.....and....bald! I want to cry!
I really have no answers for you and I am so sorry it's happening to you. But I was wondering if perhaps you are missing out on Vvitamins etc? Maybe that's the cause of it if it hasn't been a problem before ... just a thought.
Hair loss is not uncommon when losing weight, from any kind of diet, but tends to happen more often after losing weight fast. One theory is that fat cells contain estrogen, and when you lose weight rapidly you drop your estrogen levels rapidly When you are overweight your estrogen is very high. As estrogen drops your TOM can become irregular with spotting ect. and hair loss can occur. The hormone changes weaken the hair follicles. The hair loss slows down and eventually stops as your estrogen levels out
Since the hair loss happens in both women and men, estrogen isn't the only factor going on. Any kind of stress on the body can result in hair loss, but it is usually a temporary thing. Here is some info about that:
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"Growing hair follicles are the most sensitive group of cells in your body. Anything that adversely affects your body affects your hair." says Dr. Wilma Bergfeld, director of clinical research in the Department of Dermatology at the Cleveland Clinic.
Once any underlying physical or pharmacological causes are ruled out, look at the calendar and see what was happening in your life a few months ago.
"We're not talking about everyday stress," Bergfeld says. "This is the stress that sort of wipes you out."
Dr. Oscar Klein, an internist and psychiatrist in New York City, says stress-related hair loss is similar to what happens with chemotherapy.
"That's a chemical, but it's the same process," he says. "It's a shock to the process. A psychological shock isn't just in the mind -- it's a mind-body duality."
The good news is that unless someone has a genetic predisposition to disease or baldness, telogenic effluvium should correct itself within six months to a year.
"You must reassure them their hair won't keep falling out," says Klein, who is medical director of Physicians Hair Growth. "They may lose half their hair; it can be very scary."
Hair loss may also occur due to dieting. Franchised diet programs which are designed or administered under the direction of a physician with prescribed meals, dietary supplements and vitamin ingestion have become popular. Sometimes the client is told that vitamins are a necessary part of the program to prevent hair loss associated with dieting. From a dermatologists's standpoint, however, the vitamins cannot prevent hair loss associated with rapid, significant weight loss. Furthermore, many of these supplements are high in vitamin A which can magnify the hair loss.
The Atkins site addresses this problem, saying that any type of diet can lower the metabolic rate (I've read that weight loss can exasperate an underlying thyroid problem, btw, so be sure to have a complete thyroid work up to rule this out):
I've noticed some hair loss while I've been doing Atkins. Is this a result of my new eating habits? What can I do?
It is natural to go through periodic phases of shedding hair. But if this is an ongoing problem, make sure you're not restricting calories or skipping meals. Any weight-loss regimen may lower your metabolic rate, which can result in hair loss. Unlike calorie-restricted diets, Atkins is the least likely of any weight-loss program to contribute to hair loss because the higher caloric content keeps the body from behaving as though it is in a starvation mode. When that happens, your metabolism is lowered as a survival mechanism.
Alternatively, you might be low in some specific nutrients that could affect your hair loss. You might try adding biotin, N-acetyl-cysteine (NAC), glutathione and lecithin to your diet. If excessive hair loss occurs, see your doctor
I'm sorry you are experiencing this, and I hope this info helps.
Linda
__________________ dx pcos 1984, type II diabetes 2001, also hypertension
Met 2000mg since 2001, started Glucophage XR 4/22/04, then switched to Met ER 6/04; also: multi, Vit. C, Vit. E, B12/folic acid combo, fish oil & borage oil combo, garlic capsules, cinnamon, Vitex, calcium with magnesium/zinc, biotin, CoQ10, selenium,iron
Other meds: Verapamil and Altace(for blood pressure)
Started laser hair removal 7/29/03, completed 3/04 (it works!)
UAE for fibroid 3/24/03 and 3/16/04
I just wanted to let you know that the same thing happened to me after I lost over 50 pounds and I asked my doctor about it because I was freaking out! He said that the stress of weight loss was probably to blame and that once my body got used to the new weight the hairloss should slow down. My weight has been stable for a few months now and the hairloss has dropped off dramatically, to the point that I would consider it "normal" for the first time in years. Just give it time and it should calm down for you too!
Ok, trying to post for the third time....hopefully it will work this time, gettin sick of typing! LOL!
Thank you all sooooooooooooooooooo much! It never dawned on me, I'm so dense sometimes! I'm not a pill popper, only remember to take them like 2 weeks and then forget, so no, I'm not taking any vitamins. My bad! Also, DH left about 7 months ago, major stress there! I think I slept two days straight from all the damn crying! Enough about that, anyways....I'm starten them Vitamin B12 shots on the 6th of Jan. Hoping they help! I'm not done losing weight, hope it doesn't get worse! I think I'm still gonna look into hair transplants though, as my Mom just turned 51 and she is quite bald, so it does run in the family, UGH! Anyhow, thank you all sooooooooooooooooooo much! It is nice to know that it "should" level out, but I'm still losing...whaaa! Want to lose at least another 70lbs. Hmmm....
I dealt with the same problem when I was low carbing.
There were many posts and threads floating around the boards for a while that dealt with cysters experiencing hair loss while low carbing. Here are a couple threads I found:
Last year we addressed the question of hair-loss in those starting a low-carb (or other) diet. In the past few weeks we've received many new inquiries about this unwelcome phenomenon and decided to once again share our answer with you.
Hello,
I have been eating low carb for about 3 months. For the last month or so, I have been noticing extreme hair loss. Have you ever heard of hair loss being associated with a low-carb lifestyle? I am really getting quite worried because I can't figure out what's causing this.
Thank you,
Donna
Dear Donna,
What you describe is called "Telogen Effluvium". The good news is, it's normal in about 10-15% of dieters. The better news is, it's temporary.
Telogen effluvium is when a stress (such as dieting/weight change) causes noticeable shedding of hair after the stressful event. The hair loss is always delayed, usually 3–4 months after the "stressful event".
The event can be a physical stress such as an illness (especially with a fever), sudden weight changes (the most common), or a major surgical procedure. Sudden severe emotional stress can also trigger telogen effluvium, including the death of a loved one, a divorce, or a job termination.
It's all about something called "Transition to Resting Phase". In telogen effluvium, the stressful event causes a high proportion of hair follicles to halt their growth phase prematurely, and to begin a transition to the resting phase at the same time. 3–4 months after the stressful event, a high proportion of follicles shed their hairs all at about the same time, as they prepare for a new cycle of growth.
The confusion comes in here –– What triggers the hair loss begins 3–4 months before the loss of the hair actually occurs. Usually, the person losing hair has recovered from the event (or stabilized from the weight change or dietary change), and then they start shedding their hair in clumps! The condition is almost always temporary, and new hairs soon grow back in. Within a few more months the normal random cycle of hair follicle growth and rest resumes.
Usually telogen effluvium results in random hair loss from all over the scalp. Often the effect is not noticeable to others, although seeing the increased quantities of shed hairs is disturbing to their owner. Treatment for telogen effluvium includes waiting for the new hairs to grow in, and styling to give a fuller look in the meantime.
Rest assured this phenomenon is not restricted to low-carbing, and in fact because our diet is high in protein, we often recover more quickly. Make sure your diet is TRULY TOTALLY sugar free. Sugar greatly exacerbates the condition. It also helps to do the following:
Up your protein by 15% each day over whatever levels you've been eating.
Make SURE you are taking in at least 1500 calories per day.
Drink LOTS of water. 64 ounces is a minimum per day.
Take your supplements! At a minimum, you should be taking:
A good multivitamin with NO iron
CoEnzyme Q10 – 75-150 mg per day.
Acetyl L-Carnitine – 1000 mg per day
A good Essential Fatty Acids supplement if you don't
eat some form of salmon, tuna, or olive oil every day.
Hope all of this is of some help, Donna. I know it feels scary, but it's not as abnormal as it may seem. I've seen people go off their diets because of it and then attest that after going off and eating "normally" their hair came back. Of course it would have come back anyway, but because these cycles are delayed, they draw the wrong conclusion. You'll find posts all over the web about how this or that diet caused their hair to fall out so the diet is DANGEROUS. They scare a lot of people with misinformation. I appreciate that you took the time to come to me and ask.
__________________ dx pcos 1984, type II diabetes 2001, also hypertension
Met 2000mg since 2001, started Glucophage XR 4/22/04, then switched to Met ER 6/04; also: multi, Vit. C, Vit. E, B12/folic acid combo, fish oil & borage oil combo, garlic capsules, cinnamon, Vitex, calcium with magnesium/zinc, biotin, CoQ10, selenium,iron
Other meds: Verapamil and Altace(for blood pressure)
Started laser hair removal 7/29/03, completed 3/04 (it works!)
UAE for fibroid 3/24/03 and 3/16/04
Severe carb restrictions are not beneficial for hair!
If it is indeed TE from losing a lot of weight in a short amount of time, eat well, and in about 3 - 6 months, you should have regrowth and decreased shedding.
WTF!? Losing hair faster after losing weight!? 
