Hairloss question?? - ThinnerTimes

Haveaball · 01-08-2007, 07:58 AM

Is there anyone out there that has NOTlost any hair? I do have fairly thick hair and I like my hair.

I am about 10 weeks post op and see a bit of hair loss, but I am afraid of what is to come. I have started, about 4 weeks ago, taking Zinc. Anyone have any thoughts on Zinc and hairloss?

MiladyB · 01-08-2007, 09:05 AM

Here are the supplemental recommendations my doctor has:

" Due to the changing levels of protein and vitamin levels that occur during the weight loss surgery process, some patients may notice thinning or loss of hair.
This is usually a temporary condition which improves after the active weight loss period is complete or approximately 12 to 18 months after surgery.
It is important to be sure you are getting the recommended amount of protein and vitamins daily. The following combination, in addition to your daily multivitamins, has been recommended to help slow the rate of hair loss:

Zinc chelate: 15 mg daily
Copper chelate: 1 mg daily
Silica: 20 mg daily
Vitamin C: 2,000 mg daily
Flaxseed oil: 5,000 mg (1 tbsp) daily (most important one)
Vitamin A: 5,000 IU daily

Supplements should only be taken for 30 consecutive days."

I spoke to my PCP about why only 30 days of these things and it was only a few of the supplements that are concerning if you take for over 30 days. The big one is the Vitamin A. You can get Vitamin A toxicity if you take it for too long. The ones he said were okay to take longer were the flaxseed oil, Vitamin C and if I remeber right, the Zinc and maybe the Silica.

Now I did take all of these for 30 days and some of them for longer. I can't say it did much for my hairloss. I started losing at 3 months and now at almost a year it seems to be more sporadic. Some days there is pretty much nothing and other days it is a little more.

Now another thing my PCP said to me is that it will always take at least a couple months before you see a change in your hair. That doesn't mean you have to take these things for a couple months to see a change, just that whatever you are doing now? It won't affect your hair follicles for 2-3 months down the line. So, don't expect to see any instant improvement.

Now for encouragement to anyone who is overly worried about this. I started out with very fine thin hair before surgery. Even though I felt I was losing a lot other people really didn't notice. It wasn't like I was getting bald even with the hair loss I had.

momto4 · 01-08-2007, 09:10 AM

I am 11 weeks out tomorrow have very thick hair that sheds on a normal basis ~ I do feel it has thinned ~ and have been wondering what I could take to help too...thanks for the post ~ hope to read something that will help!

Rachel · 01-08-2007, 09:28 AM

For those of you who have kids, is the hair loss worse than it is after you have a baby?

ladyjane · 01-08-2007, 11:17 AM

I had the same problem about 2-3 months post op. My hair started coming out in clumps and was really dry. I had read on this site to try taking flaxseed oil and fish oil. I alternated them each day becuase taking a big pill and swallowing the water filled me up. I dont know if that was it or not, but about a month later the hair clumps stopped.

JJ Girl · 01-08-2007, 11:42 AM

I did not have any hair loss. I had read that hair loss is more due to not enough fat in your diet so I did not worry about cutting the fat content in my protein. I am almost 2 years out.

exit88 · 01-08-2007, 04:15 PM

I perhaps had a little more hair in the shower than normal for a bit but never had any noticeable loss when looking at my head. Recently my hair has become increasingly wavy.

rainrain · 01-08-2007, 06:33 PM

I lost hair twice. Once after GBS and once after the Plastic surgery.
Different schools of thought on that.
Always confirmed that rapid weight loss can contribute to hair loss. Because of the re-routing of the bypass, non absorption of nutrients can also contribute to the loss.
Others say the anesthisia, which could be why after a 7 hour hernia repair and tummy tuck surgery, it started falling out again.

The good new is that now, at 2 years post GBS and 9 months post P.S., my hair pretty back to the way it was, with the exception of a bit curlyer and a little thinner, but the new growth is rapidly coming in and feeling healthy and strong!!

Samll price to pay, in my opinion!

Thats my story!

Rain

WantToRun · 01-08-2007, 06:46 PM

My hair started falling out by the fist-fulls at 3 months on the nose basically. Its maintained about the same amount of loss per day since then until about 2 weeks ago i started noticing a HUGE slowdown. Oh its still coming out but only about a third or so of what it has been. I havent changed anything in my diet or habits so im not sure whats happened to my body other than it deciding to slow down on that. I had really thick hair to begin with and its definitly thinner now but i kinda like it.... its got more flip and wave than it used to! The other day i even found a downright Curly hair! My hairs been straight as a board since birth so this is new and different

And i must say.. put on balancing scales (as it were) id MUCH rather have lost 146 lbs (probably 4-5 of that hair

) than be where i was! As she said "small price to pay!"