Of course I don't mind you joining in worried sick I am still going through this dreadful shed. I'm not sure what is going on myself. I too find hairs on the refrigerator and on the walls. Mine is also coming out globbed together, but only a few hairs. For me this has been going on since around September. I think it might be telogen effluvium, but I'm not positive. I NEVER had this problem before. I went to my doctor twice and had a complete blood workup and both times it came back normal. I think he was disappointed with me because I was making such a big deal of the hair loss. He looked through my hair and scalp and didn't find any bald spots. He seemed to be not as concerned about it as I was. He just went on about the resting phase of the hair. I went home and cried.

I think the average person loses between 80 - 100 strands of hair a day. Now this is not average for me - I used to normally lose maybe 20 strands the most when I'd comb my hair - now it's like 80 - 90 - 100!! and thats only one combing! Hair washing days are horrible! I dread washing days!

I too have thick hair, but it's not as thick as it used to be - I mean not since I've been losing hair.

Have you went to a doctor and had a CBC (complete blood count) yet? How old are you? I'm 44.

If you want feel free to email me
bmw.girl.61@gmail.com

If you need someone to talk to

Thank you. I called today and made an appointment for January 5 and they said he'd also order blood work then. I really hate this. My hair also isn't as thick as it was but so far nobody else seems to notice. I can definitely tell. Just what was in the very front is very noticably thinner to me, especially the way it feels. I used to pull it all back in a ponytail and a lot of the hair in the front would fall out because it wasn't quite as long. Now I do it and hardly anything falls out and I'm sure that's because the very, very front as fallen out.

I'm praying this is just stress. I've had a horribly stressful year and know it's possible but I also have a great aunt who lost all of her hair by the time she was 50 years old. My dad is bald and, of course, my daugher has alopecia totalis.

I'm 31 by the way. I can't go bald. I just don't think I'm one of those people that can pull off that look.

Hi worriedsick,

I'm happy that you made the appointment. I am going to make an appointment with a Derm right after the holidays. Hopefully he won't send me home crying. My doctor all he said was he shrugged his shoulders and said "I can't stop the hair from falling out". I too can notice how much thinner my front is. Also no one else notices that I have a hair loss problem, but I do. I told a friend of mine about it (we talked on the phone) and I haven't seen her for about 2 years. So we set a date to see eachother. When she seen me she said that my hair looked fine and still looks as thick as it did before. It did make me feel better, BUT I'm still losing A LOT of hair! She also talked me into getting a hair cut by her hairdresser about 2 weeks ago. She went with me of course. I got my hair cut short and it does look great, but I'm still losing a lot. Maybe it looks thick now, but if this excessive hair loss keeps up I won't have thick hair anymore. I've always had beautiful thick wavy blonde hair and always got compliments.

How are your hair washing days? I mean do you lose a lot of hair in the drain and after combing? I do and I keep losing a lot the next day as well! and the days after that! I used to wash my hair every other day because I could get away with it. Now I only wash my hair twice a week because I can't take the stress of losing so much after I wash it. I cannot take this much longer, I just cannot!! I too can't pull off the bald headed look. My husband and daughter are sick and tired of hearing about it. They both just roll their eyes and change the subject.

What happened with me was I went on a low-carb diet and lost 50 pounds. I was only on the diet from May until the beginning of September and this is why my doctor seems to think my hair loss is nothing to worry about. He thinks it was the diet. But I also was under a lot of stress as well as you were - who knows it could be the combination of both. There is no baldness in either sides of my family, but I'm still worried. I never went through this before.

A friend of mine told me to look on the bright side - she said men can't wear wigs, but women can and to just buy a wig and maybe the hair loss will stop. Yeah, that's easy to do! NOT!! Men are socially accepted when bald, but women are not. It should change though. If this does keep up I think I will buy a wig before my scalp starts showing through. I have no idea on how to cover things up if the scalp starts showing. I don't think a baseball cap will cut it.

How is your daughter handling the alopecia? It has got to be tough for her. Well, its got to be tough for you as well, seeing her go through something like this.

Please let me know how things get on with you.

Take care and if I don't hear from you before the holidays, try to have a good one.

Hi Worriedsick
Your hair loss does sound like telogen effluvium - finding hair in the weirdest places was one of the first things I noticed. Once I even found one of my hairs hanging off a light shade in a room where I'd never been before! But the several hairs at once does sound unusual, although I do remember reading about a woman whose hair came out in strands at a time when she was pregnant. Have you been to a doctor?
If this is TE, it will probably resolve in a few months. My hair loss has now slowed down a lot and is also regrowing. I had 4 months altogether of excessive hair loss (200-400 a day). My hair is thinner (very much so to me) but not a single person has commented on it.
Ironically I've just been prescribed some tablets for reflux, which I started to suffer from while my hair was falling out, probably exacerbated by stress. I noticed that one of the potential side effects was hair loss! Great!
Good luck with it. The best thing you can do is ignore it as much as possible, hard though that is. I made the mistake of paying more attention to what was in the plughole rather than how much hair was left on my head and started to believe I was really bald, which wasn't true. Drink loads of camomile tea to relax and immerse yourself in other things. Just look at this as a period you've got to get through and look forward to something on the other side of it.
How's yours, BMWgirl?
Annahelen

Thank you, both. My stress this year has been horrible. In April I noticed some decay on my 2-year-old son's front teeth. I felt guilty for nursing him at night for so long and cried for weeks. We had the damage repaired in June but from April to June it was constant stress because I knew it could progress rapidly and he could end up in pain. Thank God he didn't but it was very stressfully. At the end of April our dog got really sick and eventually had to be put to sleep two weeks later. I cried buckets of tears for probably two months because I felt so guilty and I know that was probably the most stressful thing I have been through. Then in May my daughter noticed a bald spot on her head and throughout the summer progressed to alopecia totalis. Talk about stressful. In the summer my main account for my job was lost which meant I had to take on a second job in order to compensate. I've been working six days a week virtually all day on top of homeschooling my daughter and caring for my other four children (five in total) when they're not in school. If it has anything to do with the second job, which I have no way of knowing, then I'm quitting that in two weeks so maybe things will start looking up. On top of everything, I'm stressing about my hair, which only makes it worse.

My daugher is handling her alopecia okay. She hasn't cried about it in almost two months and does socialize a bit. She's homeschooled now because she was too afraid to go to school and I can't say that I blame her.

Speaking of finding hair in odd places, can you believe I actually found a very, very small clump haning from my bathroom ceiling a month ago? That was so weird. I have no idea how it got there unless it was on a towel and someone flung it around and it caught on the ceiling. I also found a nice little glob stuck to the wall. We have a red blanket on the couch and every night I see my hair (reddish too) reflecting off the light. It's ridiculous and annoying and completely depressing.

Does anyone take any specific vitamins for hair growth? I think I read biotin is a good one for hair but I really don't know. I don't want to spend $100 a bottle for special vitamins if I don't have to.

Oh, I also recently lost almost 20 pounds but I don't think that has anything to do with it. The weight has slowly come off over the past three months or so, so I'm thinking the timing doesn't add up.

Thanks again!

Hi Annahelen - I haven't seen you in a while. My hair loss is still going strong. If I figured it out right, about the time this started, by the end of December will be 4 months. It's strange because yesterday morning after I combed my hair I lost about 30 strands. I washed my hair last night and this morning I lost 125 strands! This is so unbelievable - I can't believe I count my strands of hair! I am trying my best to stay calm and trying not to stress out about it, but it's awfully hard not to, especially when I just touch my hair and get several strands that come out at once. Then what gets me is my sisters in law (which they are several years older than me) keep telling me that it's because I'm getting older! I'm 44 not 84!!! and I am not going through menopause, so I don't think it has to do with age!

I heard it takes about 6 - 9 months to notice if the hair is thickening back up. Well, that would be no problem with me - I just want this excessive hair loss to stop!

I too have been through a lot of stress over the summer. At the end of August I was suffering from diarrhea for over 2 weeks. Went to the doctor and had several tests done over the month. Then one day he tells me in his office that this is one of the symptoms of pancreatic cancer! I went home and stressed over that for over 2 weeks! Went back to the doctor 2 weeks later and told him I quit drinking alcohol completely. He looks at me with a grin on his face and says "What do I have to do to convince you that you don't have cancer?" I thought "WOW! why the heck did he tell me that was one of the symptoms of pancreatic cancer in the first place?" After that I went to a different doctor. Then I've been looking for a tech job for a long time and came up with nothing available in my area. This is stressful for me. The only available tech jobs are 100 miles away from where I live! aargh!

I need to do what you just mentioned "Drink loads of camomile tea to relax and immerse yourself in other things. Just look at this as a period you've got to get through and look forward to something on the other side of it." - its a wonderful idea

Hi worriedsick - You sure have your hands full with stress! That may have a lot to do with the excessive hair loss. I know stress can trigger TE. I think thats what we both have is TE. You mentioned the white stuff on the tips of the hair after it comes out - I have that too. I think they are telogen hairs.

What I take for a multi- vitamin is one pill of "One Source" advanced formula. Two tablets of 1500 mcgs. of Biotin and I also take 45 mgs. of Zinc. But I take the Zinc much later on during the day because Zinc can take the Iron right out of your body and we need our Iron. These vitamins are cheap as well. I usually get mine at Wal-Mart.

Hope this helps - take care

Hello annahelen, bmw girl and worried sick.

I haven't been to this site for a while so sorry I haven't posted.

I'm so pleased annahelen that your hairloss has slowed down. I hope that soon you will make a full recovery. I noticed that it was coming off dianette that caused your hairloss.. Something I never mentioned was the fact that I have been on dianette for the last couple of years of my hairloss/ hairloss break. I have just stopped taking it today because I am fed up with it. I am not looking forward to the reprocussions (sp?)!! I too have just purchased some saw palmetto! I'm worried about major break-outs. My hairloss will probably go crazy!!

As for my hairloss right now, it's still falling out lots. I'm still not feeling too bad about it though, I've spent enough time being really down about it, and I have just totally resigned myself to the fact that my hair is different now. Even though it is shedding, and thin, it still looks to other people like i've got normal hair. Only when the day comes that I actually do look bald will I worry. I don't believe that day will come. My hair will stop falling out!

bmw girl- I'm so sorry you are going through this. Your hairloss sounds just like mine. It is hopeful that it has only been going on for around 4 months. I know you know this already but try to simply forget about it. At least give it a few more months. I'm sure the shedding will subside.

worried sick- I'm sorry about your hairloss too. The fact that you have blobs on the end of your hairs is a good sign, bmw girl is right, they are telogen hairs. The reason telogen hairs fall out is because there is a brand new hair underneath it wanting to grow in its place, that has pushed it out. It's highly unlikely that you will go bald.

Happy Christmas guys

Ally

Strangely enough the past few days my loss has slowed down dramatically. I haven't had to pick a single hair off my sweater in two days and not much is coming out when I brush. Is there any chance this could be over? How long do TE sheds usually last? I've been shedding for probably a few months since the first time I noticed something weird was late summer when a clump of five or six hairs came out on my comb all neatly lined up together so obviously coming from the same spot.

I just did invest in some Rogaine just in case. It would make sense that the shed slow down now that I spent the money. I pray that it's over and I can get my old forehead back eventually.

Hi worriedsick - Great news for you! I'm really happy for you! I heard that you have to give it a month before you know for sure that the hairloss has stopped completely. But 2 whole days is really a good sign! About how long was the hairloss going on with you? Did it just stop over night or was it gradual? If I figured mine out correctly around the time I noticed something weird was going on with my hair, I'm predicting this coming week (give a week or maybe 2 more) that it will be 4 months for me. Three different women told me that theirs lasted 4 months, so I'm hoping it will be only 4 months for me as well. A friend of mine told me that if it lasts more than 6 months that I need to see a specialist to run some tests. Hopefully, it won't last that long for me.

I hope everyone had a nice Christmas. I had a nice one - didn't worry too much about my hair. I talked to my parents on the phone Christmas eve and my Stepmom sort of raised her voice at me for worrying about my hair. She said "You won't go bald!" and "You are making it worse by worrying!". She kept telling me that it will stop. She told me she went through this when she was around my age. I guess I needed that extra boost from her because I'm not worrying too awfully much about it like I was.

Hi Ally - You are right about the worrying. I think I will start worrying when it starts to look bad. Hopefully it won't get that far. I am just worried about if it gets really bad that I won't know how to cover it up, which I know I wouldn't know what to do. Do you think yours is caused from dianette?

Worriedsick- that's great news! TE sheds can last for up to a year or more, although 4-6 months is more common (at least, that is what I think from various things I have read!). Let's hope that this is the end for you!!

BMW girl- I don't think my hairloss has anything to do with dianette- as it started a year or so before I started the pill.. and it didn't stop when I started taking it. My hairloss did stop randomly for a year though.. I'm still trying to work out why that was.. but I'm off the pill now and back on the iron pills. Waiting to see what will happen..