Let's Talk About Hair Loss

[derbygirl 0]

What are the Vitamins and/or products that help with Hair loss when losing weight?

[Jachut 487]

People say Biotin helps. Many people believe getting lots of Protein will prevent it. Zinc is another important nutrient for hair and yet other people believe Omega 3's such as flaxseed oil help

I think its generally a more widespread nutritional deficiency and that the only way to really avoid it is to accept that you have to eat more, eat more wide a variety and therefore accept that you will lose weight more slowly. If you're eating 800,900 calories a day you are NOT eating as much as you need to to be well nourished.

There's also no real proof that anaesthesia causes Hair loss as a general rule. It might for some, but many never experience it.

[Alexandra 55]

It's funny this should come up again tonight. I swear, I am losing a little bit of hair now! (I am almost three years post-banding, so this has nothing whatsoever to do with my surgery or weight loss.)

All I can think is that it's related to the anaesthesia I had in March. I'm not doing anything differently--if anything I'm eating more and greater variety since my unfill, so nutritionally speaking I'm better than ever.

The weird thing is that this happened after both my children were born and after my banding surgery. (It's come back each time, no worries.) But childbirth didn't involve general anaesthesia--can epidurals do the same thing?

Maybe I'm just the sort of person whose hair falls out at every opportunity. But I'm not worrying about it--someone said once that by the time you notice it, it's growing back. And that has so far seemed to be the case with me.

[Jachut 487]

You lose hair after your babies are born because during pregnancy the normal hair cycle is disrupted and you dont lose as much. That's why you have such glorious hair during pregnancy. Then due to hormonal levels after the birth, within a couple of months your hair growth/loss cycle returns to normal and all that wonderful hair you held onto for 9 months comes out. YOu dont generally lose any more than what you had on your head prior to conception.

[GeezerSue 7]

I told my hairdresser that I wanted to go back to my natural color(s)--mostly grey--because post-op from my DS I'd lose hair. She disagreed...said it's an urban legend. I went for my DS..and SHE went for a revision on breast reconstruction (cancer survivor). We BOTH lost hair and now she's a believer. (I also had hair fallout with my band and my abdominoplasty and the breast reduction. But way more with the DS because of the malabsorption post-op.)

(I've just started taking Biotin and folic acid because the only time in my life I had decent nails was when I was on prenatal Vitamins. I asked my DS surgeon--a new daddy, so he's up on these things--what was in them that wasn't in the regular Vitamins and he said Biotin and folate. I'll let you know if it works.)

[Alexandra 55]

So Jacqui, do you think the anaesthesia I had for an endoscopy could be the reason for my recently receding hairline? It wasn't exactly "general" anaesthesia, but I was knocked out for a short time.

[Jachut 487]

I dont know, Alexandra. Lol, just because I have something to say on nearly every topic doesnt mean I know anything about it, tee hee.

I just meant really that till I came on this board I'd never ever heard of anaesthaesia causing hair loss, I've never experienced it and nobody of my immediate acquaintance had ever experienced it, when I asked my doctor, he kind of made a dismissive snort and said that there's no proof that as a general rule people lose hair after anaesthaesia.

Perhaps some do and some dont? But I think you could generalise pretty heavily and say that after a couple of weeks of pre op Optifast and up to two months of a very low calorie liquid/mushy diet, many people would be pretty nutritionally depleted therefore Hair loss is not surprising and probably more attributable to that than to the actual anaesthetic.

[Alexandra 55]

Perhaps some do and some dont? But I think you could generalise pretty heavily and say that after a couple of weeks of pre op Optifast and up to two months of a very low calorie liquid/mushy diet, many people would be pretty nutritionally depleted therefore hair loss is not surprising and probably more attributable to that than to the actual anaesthetic.

I must be one of the reasons for the rumor, then. I didn't have a preop diet of any kind, and was only on liquids for a week. One thing's for sure, anyway, it's not lack of calories that's causing it now!

[derbygirl 0]

So is taking prenatal Vitamins okay? Because we have to take a multi- anyway. Or would they be too big to swallow? I've always wanted better nails.

[Jachut 487]

I thought prenatal Vitamins just had more folate, less Vitamin A, so you dont actually have to be pregnant, they wont hurt you.

[cmt49829 1]

I treid Biotin and it didnt do much.....

the evening primrose oil caps helped alot tho. they are gel caps and cheap.