GOING BALD

Hello my name is Vicki, I am 30 years old, and I am going bald. There. I said it.

I am curious though, when does the hair quit falling out and is it possible to get bald spots?  ( I am 4 months out) I mean, I am pulling out handfulls and finding it everywhere. My husband is constantly cleaning it out of the shower stall because it keeps plugging the drain. The hair on the front top is the worst. I can see my scalp and if I dont wa**** daily it looks like a grease mop. Luckily I am blond, I think that helps hide my scalp. But I am very close to buying a wig. (My hair is straight and fine with NO body what-so-ever) Instead I decided to hack it all off first, so I traded my long locks for a cute little bob. It DOES look better, but it still looks like I am undergoing chemo or something in the front top, so I am curious what everyone else did to cope with the hair loss? I dont really want to try biotin ( I heard that it can make you grow hair in unwanted places and I prefer to be mustache free, yes-siree).

Mine fell out from about month three to month six.  I had a small bald spot in the back.  I got my hair cut short which seemed to make it less noticable.

I am so sorry!  I am feel your pain.  One morning I pulled out so much hair I almost started to cry.  I had it up in a ponytail the day before and when I do that it holds it all in then it all comes out at once.  It is bad.  I usually have to wear my hair up now cause it falls out so bad all day long, if I don't I am picking it off me all day and it drives me nuts.  

My fiancee said he is pulling less hair out of the shower then before, so maybe it is slowing down, but I don't seem to see if.  I honestly wonder how I have any hair left with all that falls out.  Nothing works.  But I stay sane by telling myself it is only temporary and many people have posted that when they get regrowth it comes in even thicker then before.  That would be nice.  I just have really long  hair and I love it and I really don't want to cut it but I am staring to wonder if it would look better shorter until it grows back.  We'll have to wait and see. 

I heard the top 3 bad things that affect your hair.. in this order are: anesthesia, thyroid medicine and blood pressure medicine. My hair started falling out after 3 months..... but I"m off my blood pressure medicines (yea!) and I do have new hair growing. So I have new hair coming in but still losing hair at the same time. It will eventually stop but I am lucky that I have thick hair. I want to keep it long and I hope I don't have to cut it short. I'm like you.. I don't want to take the biotin either because I have way to much facial hair!

It is funny that you say thyroid medication, because I have been on thyroid medication for almost 6 years now to correct my hypothyroidism,and you are right.... the meds DO make your hair fall out, so before the surgery I was already starting with a thin head of hair. Now it's way worse though.

If your thyroid levels are in the proper ranges, your thyroid should NOT be causing hair loss. If your levela are too high OR too low, though, you can experience hair loss. The meds themselves do NOT cause hair loss.

Lora

When I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism, almost 6 years ago now, the reason I went into the doctor was because my hair was falling out in gobs and I was sleeping all day (I thought I had cancer). I thought taking the synthroid ( I take the generic levoxyl ) would remedy the hair loss. It did slightly, but come to find out, on my medication side effects, it lists hair loss (WHAT!!!). My endocrinologist pointed this out when I went in complaining that my hair was STILL falling out despite my numbers being normal. I was pretty disappointed at the time because I was under the assumption that when my numbers were normal everything would go back to being the way it was before I was diagnosed. So my hair before WLS was half the amount it used to be when I was younger and now since WLS my I have lost about another 1/4 of the hair I had left.

I do notice that when my numbers are off I do lose more hair than when they are on, and right now they are trying to get my numbers regulated again because I keep losing weight, thus I am needing less synthroid (levoxyl), so I AM hoping that when my numbers get back to normal the hair loss will be less. With the surgery, though who knows. I am only 4 months, so I have a feeling my hair loss from the surgery has just begun.

I have always had very thin hair and didnt' lose much after my surgery.  Most of my adult life, doctors always commented and tested constantly to try to figure out why I had such thin hair - could see my scalp but never found a reason.  Then came my gastric bypass and amazingly it didnt' get any worse. I was thrilled.  Well, then 2 years post op and I developed severe complications requiring 4 major operations.  Then the major hair loss set in.  They said from the stress of all the surgeries, all the anestesia and the rapid weight loss - lost an additional 45 pounds in 3 months when I was already at goal.  People would stare at me - open doors for me.  I was at a passover seder in the spring and strangers were waiting on me - pouring drinks, getting food for me.  The only thing that I could think of is that they thought I was a cancer patient since my hair was so bad.  It was so thin and stringy - you could see right through  it.  In June, I went to my nieces high school graduation and when I got the pictures back I wanted to cry.  They looked gorgeous with there long, beautiful thick blond hair and then there was me in the middle of the 2 of them.  I hadn't realized how bad it was until that day. I had always worn it up in a ponytail, so it wasn't as noticeable but wearing it down - it was mortifying.

I had  a long talk with my sister-in-law about it and she offered to buy me a wig.  I was leary about it but I really couldn't go on that way.  I had a bar mitzvah a month later and thought of being in family pictures like that, I just couldn't bear the thought - so I agreed.  I did some research and found a reputable wig center that not only measures your head but they also style and cut the wig on site.  The owner is a licensed wig stylist and had both real hair and synthetic. I had tons to choose from.  I tried on about 25 different ones and it turned out, I got the 1st one that I had tried on.  They know what looks good on you.

I wore it for about a month and then got sick.  It was very comfortable but I also couldn't bear it in the heat - very hot. So, it was tough to wear in the summer. I hope to start wearing it again in the fall. I wore ponytails all summer.  I will say though that my hair is growing back pretty well though - underneath I have alot of hair that is 3 inches long all the way across and on top, you can also see lots of hairs that are about  2 inches long.  So, I really think that by next summer, my hair will actually be thicker than it was before - or atleast my fingers are crossed that it is the case.

What's wrong with bald? Bald men make better lovers.

I`m bald too and very sad about it. There is nothing you can do except let it happen and pray it will end soon. I`m almost 7 months post op and the hair loss has not slowed down yet. Be strong, I think this will all end eventually.