Kristen3b
06-09-2010, 09:11 PM
First, I would like to thank all the women who have come together on this website to share their stories and provide encouragement to those suffering with hair loss. Dealing with thinning hair can damage self esteem and cause us to lose sight of our "overall wonderfulness." I have a lot of respect for the woman here who are trying to help others by sharing their journey with the world.
I'm new to the Women's Hair Loss Project and wanted to publish my story with hopes that it will help others (like so many before me have done.) Some basic facts before I start - I'm currently 34 years old and there is no history of female hair loss in my family. I'm a generally healthy person, no major allergies, illnesses, or anything else known that might contribute to the hair loss. I started taking Ortho Tri-Cyclen birth control pills when I was about 19 years old in 1994.
My story begins in 2004, when my OBGYN advised me to try the new Ortho Tri-Cyclen Lo instead of the regular Ortho Tri-Cyclen I had been on (with no hair loss issues) for years. She claimed this lower dose of hormones would be better for me, with even less side effects and risk factors. So, as most people would do, I followed the advice of my doctor and switched to the "Lo" version of the pill and thought nothing of it. WELL... after about 4 months of being on the Lo, my hair started to fall out in "clumps" while washing it in the shower. I could run my hands through and grab what I would describe as tiny pony tails out of my scalp. If I were to hold on to all the hair that shed it seemed like it would have amounted to at least half the hair on my head in total, leaving about 1/2 to 2/3 of the hair left on my scalp. Luckily, it wasn't coming out in patches, but over my whole scalp so it didn't appear obvious from looking at me that I lost all the hair. Of course, this still freaked me out right away but I never gave any thought that it might be the new birth control pills causing the problem. Interestingly enough, a friend of mine also switched to Ortho Tri-Cyclen Lo at the same time as me -AND- the same exact thing happened to her too! We were both about 27 or 28 years old at the time and we experienced the same "mass shedding" when swapping to the lower dose pills. Once we actually mentioned this to each other, the common denominator clicked and we started to research the hormonal factors.
At that time, Ortho Tri-Cyclen Lo was new to the market, so the internet was lacking in the horror stories and information I was desperately looking for to figure out why my hair was shedding so much. I found a couple of blogs where women mentioned similar symptoms of shedding when going off the pill, or after giving birth, so I decided to go to a dermatologist before switching back to another form of birth control. The dermatologist told me that some pills have higher levels of androgens and also something called "SHBG" or Sex-hormone Binding Globulin which can essentially block the necessary hormones in your body, rendering them inert so to speak. She recommended I go back to the OBGYN and start taking the regular Ortho Tri-Cyclen again. By the time I had done all of this, my hair was at least half what it used to be, pony tails were very thin, and I could actually feel the cold air on my scalp in the winter if I didn't wear a hat. I had never experienced anything so damaging to my self esteem as this. To look at my hair, people wouldn't think I was balding, but I knew the difference and just wanted my old hair back.
So, after talking with my OBGYN (who by the way, told me "there were no reports of women losing their hair on the Lo version") I changed back over to regular Ortho Tri-Cyclen and started looking at hair growth products. I tried vitamins like NuHair and Viviscal, I even asked my dermatologist if NuHair might work - to which she said "it does contain the essential vitamins and biotin needed to make hair." Of course, nothing got the complete seal of approval from the doctors, but I kept taking it anyway. After a few months of being back on regular Ortho Tri-Cyclen and taking the NuHair, I did see a whole bunch of "baby hairs" sprouting all over my head. Asking whether or not I had any "alfalfas" was a complete joke since these little 2 to 3 inch hairs were sticking up everywhere. I was pleased as punch to see them though, because I knew that meant my hair was on the road to recovery.
Since hair grows so very slow, it took a couple of years for those baby hairs to grow out and will take even longer for them to catch up with my other hair (as I tend to like to wear it long - as long as I can grow it anyway.) Just as my hair seemed to be getting back to normal again, I decided to go off the Ortho Tri-Cyclen pills all together for another reason - it seemed to completely obliterate my sex drive. I felt like I could go for years without ever wanting or needing any lovin' which was just not fair to me or my fiance (now husband.) I did more research and found many women experiencing the same side effect - these pills are a great birth control method, especially if you never feel like having sex. So with much hesitation, knowing what happened to my hair before, I took a deep breath and stopped taking the pill in August 2009. Since I expected my hair to start shedding again, I wasn't surprised to see that it did. Luckily, it seems to not have shed as much as or bad as the last time while I was on the lower hormones - and the funny thing is the shorter hairs (same ones that fell out last time) were the exact same hairs that seemed to be falling out this time too. I'm no doctor or scientist, but I find it amazing that my body would lose the same hair follicles as it did before in this situation. Of course, some longer hair shed too, but that could just be natural shedding since we supposedly lose about 100 hairs or so a day normally.
To date, I have not gone back on any other birth control pills. I realize that it will take about 1 year for my body to get back to normal hormonally (from what I read) and unfortunately, I may never get my original sex drive back due to those pesky SHBGs - new studies are saying the birth control pills might actually permanently change the liver function so even if you stop taking it, your liver is now "imprinted" to make these SHBGs - OH JOY! If I had known this back when I first started to take the pill I would have NEVER EVER done it! I am giving it at least a year without the pill before I go forward to see an endocrinologist to ensure my hormone levels are back to normal. I will say that despite the lack of lust, my hair seems to have stopped its shedding cycle and new baby hairs are now sprouting to replace the others. In a couple of years I'm hoping all of it will be back to normal again, only time will tell.
I know this isn't a ground breaking story, and I'm sure there are quite a few women in this network who have suffered a similar or worse fate. If anything, I'd just like to offer some "you are not alone" comfort to anyone reading this. If there are questions, definitely see a doctor - whether it be a dermatologist, OBGYN, or endocrinologist. I've been reading about some women who experienced the scalp inflammation, and am interested to see if that might be part of my problem too. Even though my hair appears to be growing back to some degree, it can't hurt to check into other issues which might be contributing. Thank you for listening to my story and best wishes to all the ladies out there who are struggling with their hair! :> - Kristen B.
I'm new to the Women's Hair Loss Project and wanted to publish my story with hopes that it will help others (like so many before me have done.) Some basic facts before I start - I'm currently 34 years old and there is no history of female hair loss in my family. I'm a generally healthy person, no major allergies, illnesses, or anything else known that might contribute to the hair loss. I started taking Ortho Tri-Cyclen birth control pills when I was about 19 years old in 1994.
My story begins in 2004, when my OBGYN advised me to try the new Ortho Tri-Cyclen Lo instead of the regular Ortho Tri-Cyclen I had been on (with no hair loss issues) for years. She claimed this lower dose of hormones would be better for me, with even less side effects and risk factors. So, as most people would do, I followed the advice of my doctor and switched to the "Lo" version of the pill and thought nothing of it. WELL... after about 4 months of being on the Lo, my hair started to fall out in "clumps" while washing it in the shower. I could run my hands through and grab what I would describe as tiny pony tails out of my scalp. If I were to hold on to all the hair that shed it seemed like it would have amounted to at least half the hair on my head in total, leaving about 1/2 to 2/3 of the hair left on my scalp. Luckily, it wasn't coming out in patches, but over my whole scalp so it didn't appear obvious from looking at me that I lost all the hair. Of course, this still freaked me out right away but I never gave any thought that it might be the new birth control pills causing the problem. Interestingly enough, a friend of mine also switched to Ortho Tri-Cyclen Lo at the same time as me -AND- the same exact thing happened to her too! We were both about 27 or 28 years old at the time and we experienced the same "mass shedding" when swapping to the lower dose pills. Once we actually mentioned this to each other, the common denominator clicked and we started to research the hormonal factors.
At that time, Ortho Tri-Cyclen Lo was new to the market, so the internet was lacking in the horror stories and information I was desperately looking for to figure out why my hair was shedding so much. I found a couple of blogs where women mentioned similar symptoms of shedding when going off the pill, or after giving birth, so I decided to go to a dermatologist before switching back to another form of birth control. The dermatologist told me that some pills have higher levels of androgens and also something called "SHBG" or Sex-hormone Binding Globulin which can essentially block the necessary hormones in your body, rendering them inert so to speak. She recommended I go back to the OBGYN and start taking the regular Ortho Tri-Cyclen again. By the time I had done all of this, my hair was at least half what it used to be, pony tails were very thin, and I could actually feel the cold air on my scalp in the winter if I didn't wear a hat. I had never experienced anything so damaging to my self esteem as this. To look at my hair, people wouldn't think I was balding, but I knew the difference and just wanted my old hair back.
So, after talking with my OBGYN (who by the way, told me "there were no reports of women losing their hair on the Lo version") I changed back over to regular Ortho Tri-Cyclen and started looking at hair growth products. I tried vitamins like NuHair and Viviscal, I even asked my dermatologist if NuHair might work - to which she said "it does contain the essential vitamins and biotin needed to make hair." Of course, nothing got the complete seal of approval from the doctors, but I kept taking it anyway. After a few months of being back on regular Ortho Tri-Cyclen and taking the NuHair, I did see a whole bunch of "baby hairs" sprouting all over my head. Asking whether or not I had any "alfalfas" was a complete joke since these little 2 to 3 inch hairs were sticking up everywhere. I was pleased as punch to see them though, because I knew that meant my hair was on the road to recovery.
Since hair grows so very slow, it took a couple of years for those baby hairs to grow out and will take even longer for them to catch up with my other hair (as I tend to like to wear it long - as long as I can grow it anyway.) Just as my hair seemed to be getting back to normal again, I decided to go off the Ortho Tri-Cyclen pills all together for another reason - it seemed to completely obliterate my sex drive. I felt like I could go for years without ever wanting or needing any lovin' which was just not fair to me or my fiance (now husband.) I did more research and found many women experiencing the same side effect - these pills are a great birth control method, especially if you never feel like having sex. So with much hesitation, knowing what happened to my hair before, I took a deep breath and stopped taking the pill in August 2009. Since I expected my hair to start shedding again, I wasn't surprised to see that it did. Luckily, it seems to not have shed as much as or bad as the last time while I was on the lower hormones - and the funny thing is the shorter hairs (same ones that fell out last time) were the exact same hairs that seemed to be falling out this time too. I'm no doctor or scientist, but I find it amazing that my body would lose the same hair follicles as it did before in this situation. Of course, some longer hair shed too, but that could just be natural shedding since we supposedly lose about 100 hairs or so a day normally.
To date, I have not gone back on any other birth control pills. I realize that it will take about 1 year for my body to get back to normal hormonally (from what I read) and unfortunately, I may never get my original sex drive back due to those pesky SHBGs - new studies are saying the birth control pills might actually permanently change the liver function so even if you stop taking it, your liver is now "imprinted" to make these SHBGs - OH JOY! If I had known this back when I first started to take the pill I would have NEVER EVER done it! I am giving it at least a year without the pill before I go forward to see an endocrinologist to ensure my hormone levels are back to normal. I will say that despite the lack of lust, my hair seems to have stopped its shedding cycle and new baby hairs are now sprouting to replace the others. In a couple of years I'm hoping all of it will be back to normal again, only time will tell.
I know this isn't a ground breaking story, and I'm sure there are quite a few women in this network who have suffered a similar or worse fate. If anything, I'd just like to offer some "you are not alone" comfort to anyone reading this. If there are questions, definitely see a doctor - whether it be a dermatologist, OBGYN, or endocrinologist. I've been reading about some women who experienced the scalp inflammation, and am interested to see if that might be part of my problem too. Even though my hair appears to be growing back to some degree, it can't hurt to check into other issues which might be contributing. Thank you for listening to my story and best wishes to all the ladies out there who are struggling with their hair! :> - Kristen B.