mavi
08-05-2011, 08:22 PM
Since puberty i've had consistent hair shedding. It's not dramatic, it seems to throughout the years shed and grow back but with miniaturization. Now in my 30's and seeing a bigger difference (guess old age, nothing grows as fast anymore). Worst is, now I have scalp pain most of the times I awaken from my sleep. I find a few hairs on the pillow (1-10) and my scalp would be tingly with pain. Just touching it makes me :eek: I don't believe it's normal to have scalp pain or even to lose hair when you're sleeping! There will also be times when I lose more hair in the shower and times when I shed very little. It didn't seem to have any logic to the whole madness.
I've gone to the doctors and finalized that I do not have hypothyroid, but I do have anemia.
Two weeks ago, I recall what a Chinese doctor once diagnosed me in my teenage years, the doc had told me I had poor "blood circulation". This poor blood circulation has actually been brought up several times in my life but I had disregarded it and it's only now that I believe it's the link to the condition of scalp pain.
So I decided to do a test for few weeks.
Have you heard of Tom Haggerty's scalp exercises? Basically you 1) lift your eyebrows 2) while eyebrows still lifted, pull your ears back...do this for 10 mins. This exercise was meant to help with scalp tightening; but I think it also helps . It's said guys have an easier time doing this exercise than women, but I found it no problem.
So here's my regimen: every morning I usually have a shower; while driving to work, I do my scalp exercise for 10 min. During the week, I may do some exercises and have a hot bath twice before bed time to stimulate circulation; just before sleeping, I'll just massage my neck and do the scalp exercise again. Sometimes I'll even lay down for 15 min and lift my legs up against the wall so I'm at 90º angle. This is said to help blood flow back to the heart.
So after few days of this, I began waking up without scalp pain. And barely any hairs on my pillow! My scalp actually feels "relaxed and comfy"...not tense like it use to be. Now, I even go as far as to not using a pillow anymore (this is just my preference). Just because when you prop your head up, it's harder for blood to travel to your head; the head is the farthest from the heart (gravity naturally pulls all your blood downwards). Some even suggest lifting knees up during sleep too.
I also posted as a comment to someone else's thread that Vitamin C also has been said to help with blood circulation. It also helps absorption of Iron in the body. All I can say is, if any of you experience same symptoms...scalp pain and hair loss, to evaluate your condition. I also suspect having Candida-like symptoms (indigestion, rashes, etc.) may also play a part in all of this. I was bit overweight, I exercised and lost weight. Recently when I exercise I haven't even shed a pound! So I began suspecting something's wrong. And after following the Candida diet for 2 weeks, I ended up shedding 15 pounds. Candida is overgrown yeast infection which can hit your immune system and result in hair loss also.
There are definitely many factors that affect hair loss. What is one's solution may not be another's. But I do believe now (after all my years of eating processed and junk food) that what you eat will affect your hair, skin, etc.
PS. I've also tried Rogaine 5% foam...this is obviously meant for men only. It ended up giving me heart palpitations; I realized I didn't feel so well after a year of this stuff and searched online and some people have mentioned similar side effects.
I've gone to the doctors and finalized that I do not have hypothyroid, but I do have anemia.
Two weeks ago, I recall what a Chinese doctor once diagnosed me in my teenage years, the doc had told me I had poor "blood circulation". This poor blood circulation has actually been brought up several times in my life but I had disregarded it and it's only now that I believe it's the link to the condition of scalp pain.
So I decided to do a test for few weeks.
Have you heard of Tom Haggerty's scalp exercises? Basically you 1) lift your eyebrows 2) while eyebrows still lifted, pull your ears back...do this for 10 mins. This exercise was meant to help with scalp tightening; but I think it also helps . It's said guys have an easier time doing this exercise than women, but I found it no problem.
So here's my regimen: every morning I usually have a shower; while driving to work, I do my scalp exercise for 10 min. During the week, I may do some exercises and have a hot bath twice before bed time to stimulate circulation; just before sleeping, I'll just massage my neck and do the scalp exercise again. Sometimes I'll even lay down for 15 min and lift my legs up against the wall so I'm at 90º angle. This is said to help blood flow back to the heart.
So after few days of this, I began waking up without scalp pain. And barely any hairs on my pillow! My scalp actually feels "relaxed and comfy"...not tense like it use to be. Now, I even go as far as to not using a pillow anymore (this is just my preference). Just because when you prop your head up, it's harder for blood to travel to your head; the head is the farthest from the heart (gravity naturally pulls all your blood downwards). Some even suggest lifting knees up during sleep too.
I also posted as a comment to someone else's thread that Vitamin C also has been said to help with blood circulation. It also helps absorption of Iron in the body. All I can say is, if any of you experience same symptoms...scalp pain and hair loss, to evaluate your condition. I also suspect having Candida-like symptoms (indigestion, rashes, etc.) may also play a part in all of this. I was bit overweight, I exercised and lost weight. Recently when I exercise I haven't even shed a pound! So I began suspecting something's wrong. And after following the Candida diet for 2 weeks, I ended up shedding 15 pounds. Candida is overgrown yeast infection which can hit your immune system and result in hair loss also.
There are definitely many factors that affect hair loss. What is one's solution may not be another's. But I do believe now (after all my years of eating processed and junk food) that what you eat will affect your hair, skin, etc.
PS. I've also tried Rogaine 5% foam...this is obviously meant for men only. It ended up giving me heart palpitations; I realized I didn't feel so well after a year of this stuff and searched online and some people have mentioned similar side effects.