Ashah
05-22-2009, 09:39 PM
Hi everyone,
I'm new to this forum, and have found such great information here. You all are such an inspiration to me. I really had no idea that so many women were going through the same or similar issues as me. Anyway, just thought I would share my story. My hair loss began in my early 20's when I started on Triphasil bcp. My obgyn did not agree that the bcp was causing any problems for my hair but finally agreed to switch me to Ortho TriCyclen after about 8 months of nonstop shedding. The shedding decreased slightly on Ortho but didn't stop, so I made an appt. with a dermatologist who basically made me feel stupid for even coming in and told me there was nothing wrong with me. At that time, I had so much hair that you really couldn't tell I had lost any, but the shedding was just really not normal. After 2 years on Ortho, I asked my new obgyn (who also didn't believe that bcp's caused hair loss - absolutely amazing how they can think this) to switch to Yasmin. I was on Yasmin for a total of 8 years, and though the shedding did decrease slightly, my hair continued to get thinner. Before my hair loss started, I had a ton of thick curly hair, so much that I could barely clip it back. As my hair thinned, even the individual hairs became thin, and fine, and became lighter in color. I have never, ever, had fine hair in my life (until now). My family and husband kept telling me that they didn't notice it (and still tell me this today) but I would lose anywhere from 60 to 100 hairs in the shower almost every morning, plus throughout the day on my clothes. My primary care physician ran numerous tests on me, my iron, thyroid, and everything else was normal. I went to another Derm., this time was told that I had hereditary hair loss, and that I should start on Rogaine. So I pretty much gave up on Doctors at that point and decided the only thing I could do was to try to help myself. After agonizing for many months, I finally took the plunge and quit Yasmin in March of 2007. At first, my hair all but stopped falling out in the shower and I was so happy, although I was expecting large fallout after quitting the pill. It took a little over one month for the heavy shedding to begin, and honestly it wasn't any worse than it was during some of my worse days on Yasmin. This lasted for about 2 or 3 weeks, then the shedding leveled off. I had big hopes that about 6 months after the dread shed my hair would start to go back to normal. Unfortunately it never did, and has not as of yet. Although I'm still hoping and praying :rolleyes: I was under immense pressure and stress at work, and also lost a family member in 2008 so those things I'm sure didn't help at all. Then in Jan. of this year I went back to school (online) to get my Master's degree (still wondering why did I decide to do this!?), so this, along with the work load at my day job has had me super stressed.
Anyway, I have explored (and continue to explore) many herbal supplements, but since I've tried so many unfortunately they all run together and I didn't take notes on when I began taking them, or how much hair was falling out at that time. I can't really say if any of them have helped, but so far I can say that none have hurt. I have a lot of new growth, I do see baby hairs all over the place, however occasionally I see the baby hairs falling out too, and it breaks my heart :( So I know my hair loss has not stopped, but it has at least slowed down, some days I only lose about 20 hairs in the shower, then others I have 50 or 60. My shedding seems to be cyclical, I seem to shed worse the first week after my period, and less close to and during my period. I'm trying to hard to stay positive, and my husband is so supportive. When I get really down, he tells me that he loves me no matter what, and reminds me of all the wonderful things we have to be thankful for, and that some people have lost their hair for much worse reasons than mine, such as cancer patients. So when I think of it that way, it kinda puts things in perspective. I do have my health, a loving family, a job, food, clothing, and a roof over my head... but its so hard to not wish that I could keep my hair too! ;)
After all the reading I've done and doctor visits, I'm sure that my problem is hormonal, and/or the bcp triggered androgenic alopecia. For me, there's still the question of whether or not my hormones are balanced. So today I went to see an endocrinologist for the first time. She checked me over really well, asked lots of questions, and listened to what I had to say. She couldn't believe that I had never had a hormone test, so they drew blood today and she's going to check my testosterone, Iron, thyroid, cartilage connectivity(Didn't know there was such a thing!), and several other things, about 10 things in all. I have another appointment next Wed. to get the results so I'm hoping maybe it will show something. Although right before I left she told me if everything was normal then Rogaine was my last option which kind of burst my bubble.
I use Henna on my hair for conditioning purposes, and color (gives a slight red tint on dark hair, but not really noticeable except if your in the sun) and it makes my hair feel thicker, heavier, and great. It also covers gray really well, and doesn't fade out like dye, plus its from a plant so is all natural - love it!
Anyway, as for the herbs and vitamins.... In January I began taking Shen-Min Advanced for Women. Some reviews said it was a gimic while others actually had results so I decided to give it a try. Now, I can't swear by it, but about a month after I started on it was when I started seeing the new growth appearing. And a lot of the new growth is actually thick black hairs, but some of them are still the wispy thin ones. So I'm continuing on the Shen Min. I also take Saw Palmetto, and can't say that I've seen any change since I started on this in Feb. Although I'm wondering if I'm taking enough of it to matter. I take Vitex to help with my periods, and supposedly it helps the estrogen/progesterone balance as well. Then I take the regular stuff, B, D, Fish Oil, Multivitamin. Also take evening primrose oil, and L-Lysine. I started yesterday spraying my head with organic ACV when I get out of the shower as someone suggested here on this website. And strangely enough I haven't seen any hairs all over my clothes yesterday and today (but still had shedding in the shower). So I'll stay with the vinegar to see if it continues to help. I'll try anything at this point! I also ordered some MSM, and Krill Oil supplements. I gave my whole big list of supplements to the Endo today, and she read through them, told me they wouldn't hurt me and if I felt like they were helping to keep taking them. Some days I just want to call up my obgyn and ask for another bcp prescription. But then I think, what if it makes it worse? And I tell myself that being without the synthetic hormones is healthier, but then I read where some women say that certain bcp's have helped, so its really confusing and so hard to know what to do. When you get to a certain point, its really scary to try new treatments because there's not much hair left to lose!
Sorry for the long post, if you're still reading, thanks so much for reading my story. I really and truly appreciate this website, and am so thankful to have found it. If I do ever see any success with any of my 10,000 supplements I'll be sure to report back to you all!
I'm new to this forum, and have found such great information here. You all are such an inspiration to me. I really had no idea that so many women were going through the same or similar issues as me. Anyway, just thought I would share my story. My hair loss began in my early 20's when I started on Triphasil bcp. My obgyn did not agree that the bcp was causing any problems for my hair but finally agreed to switch me to Ortho TriCyclen after about 8 months of nonstop shedding. The shedding decreased slightly on Ortho but didn't stop, so I made an appt. with a dermatologist who basically made me feel stupid for even coming in and told me there was nothing wrong with me. At that time, I had so much hair that you really couldn't tell I had lost any, but the shedding was just really not normal. After 2 years on Ortho, I asked my new obgyn (who also didn't believe that bcp's caused hair loss - absolutely amazing how they can think this) to switch to Yasmin. I was on Yasmin for a total of 8 years, and though the shedding did decrease slightly, my hair continued to get thinner. Before my hair loss started, I had a ton of thick curly hair, so much that I could barely clip it back. As my hair thinned, even the individual hairs became thin, and fine, and became lighter in color. I have never, ever, had fine hair in my life (until now). My family and husband kept telling me that they didn't notice it (and still tell me this today) but I would lose anywhere from 60 to 100 hairs in the shower almost every morning, plus throughout the day on my clothes. My primary care physician ran numerous tests on me, my iron, thyroid, and everything else was normal. I went to another Derm., this time was told that I had hereditary hair loss, and that I should start on Rogaine. So I pretty much gave up on Doctors at that point and decided the only thing I could do was to try to help myself. After agonizing for many months, I finally took the plunge and quit Yasmin in March of 2007. At first, my hair all but stopped falling out in the shower and I was so happy, although I was expecting large fallout after quitting the pill. It took a little over one month for the heavy shedding to begin, and honestly it wasn't any worse than it was during some of my worse days on Yasmin. This lasted for about 2 or 3 weeks, then the shedding leveled off. I had big hopes that about 6 months after the dread shed my hair would start to go back to normal. Unfortunately it never did, and has not as of yet. Although I'm still hoping and praying :rolleyes: I was under immense pressure and stress at work, and also lost a family member in 2008 so those things I'm sure didn't help at all. Then in Jan. of this year I went back to school (online) to get my Master's degree (still wondering why did I decide to do this!?), so this, along with the work load at my day job has had me super stressed.
Anyway, I have explored (and continue to explore) many herbal supplements, but since I've tried so many unfortunately they all run together and I didn't take notes on when I began taking them, or how much hair was falling out at that time. I can't really say if any of them have helped, but so far I can say that none have hurt. I have a lot of new growth, I do see baby hairs all over the place, however occasionally I see the baby hairs falling out too, and it breaks my heart :( So I know my hair loss has not stopped, but it has at least slowed down, some days I only lose about 20 hairs in the shower, then others I have 50 or 60. My shedding seems to be cyclical, I seem to shed worse the first week after my period, and less close to and during my period. I'm trying to hard to stay positive, and my husband is so supportive. When I get really down, he tells me that he loves me no matter what, and reminds me of all the wonderful things we have to be thankful for, and that some people have lost their hair for much worse reasons than mine, such as cancer patients. So when I think of it that way, it kinda puts things in perspective. I do have my health, a loving family, a job, food, clothing, and a roof over my head... but its so hard to not wish that I could keep my hair too! ;)
After all the reading I've done and doctor visits, I'm sure that my problem is hormonal, and/or the bcp triggered androgenic alopecia. For me, there's still the question of whether or not my hormones are balanced. So today I went to see an endocrinologist for the first time. She checked me over really well, asked lots of questions, and listened to what I had to say. She couldn't believe that I had never had a hormone test, so they drew blood today and she's going to check my testosterone, Iron, thyroid, cartilage connectivity(Didn't know there was such a thing!), and several other things, about 10 things in all. I have another appointment next Wed. to get the results so I'm hoping maybe it will show something. Although right before I left she told me if everything was normal then Rogaine was my last option which kind of burst my bubble.
I use Henna on my hair for conditioning purposes, and color (gives a slight red tint on dark hair, but not really noticeable except if your in the sun) and it makes my hair feel thicker, heavier, and great. It also covers gray really well, and doesn't fade out like dye, plus its from a plant so is all natural - love it!
Anyway, as for the herbs and vitamins.... In January I began taking Shen-Min Advanced for Women. Some reviews said it was a gimic while others actually had results so I decided to give it a try. Now, I can't swear by it, but about a month after I started on it was when I started seeing the new growth appearing. And a lot of the new growth is actually thick black hairs, but some of them are still the wispy thin ones. So I'm continuing on the Shen Min. I also take Saw Palmetto, and can't say that I've seen any change since I started on this in Feb. Although I'm wondering if I'm taking enough of it to matter. I take Vitex to help with my periods, and supposedly it helps the estrogen/progesterone balance as well. Then I take the regular stuff, B, D, Fish Oil, Multivitamin. Also take evening primrose oil, and L-Lysine. I started yesterday spraying my head with organic ACV when I get out of the shower as someone suggested here on this website. And strangely enough I haven't seen any hairs all over my clothes yesterday and today (but still had shedding in the shower). So I'll stay with the vinegar to see if it continues to help. I'll try anything at this point! I also ordered some MSM, and Krill Oil supplements. I gave my whole big list of supplements to the Endo today, and she read through them, told me they wouldn't hurt me and if I felt like they were helping to keep taking them. Some days I just want to call up my obgyn and ask for another bcp prescription. But then I think, what if it makes it worse? And I tell myself that being without the synthetic hormones is healthier, but then I read where some women say that certain bcp's have helped, so its really confusing and so hard to know what to do. When you get to a certain point, its really scary to try new treatments because there's not much hair left to lose!
Sorry for the long post, if you're still reading, thanks so much for reading my story. I really and truly appreciate this website, and am so thankful to have found it. If I do ever see any success with any of my 10,000 supplements I'll be sure to report back to you all!