Vitamin D Deficient Is That Why Hair Is Falling Out???

Hi - I was treated for hyperthyroidism for several years after the birth of my first child. One of the symptoms that I first noticed was my hair thinning out, mainly in two patches. Once I started taking medication to regulate my thyroid, my hair stopped falling out, but these two patches remain thinner than the rest of my hair. The other symptoms that were very noticeable were rapid heartbeat, my fingernails were breaking off, my hands had a noticeable tremble, and I was very stressed (like a really, really bad PMS - always feeling on edge). The thyroid medication was wonderful and regulated all these symptoms. After about 8 years of treatment, my thyroid levels are now only slightly elevated and I don't require medication any more.

Hope this helps.

I am a hairdresser also for about the same amount of time as Susan and I completely agree with her. I was going to say the same exact thing. My husband has alopecia,but it is his eyebrow. It falls out when he is stressed. We have three kids so, he is stressed. He goes to a dermatologist and he gives him a shot of cortizone (in his eyebrow)and it starts to grow back. It will get better and it will grow back!

I have found the most common reasons for hair falling out in women is stress and nutrient deficiencies (i.e. Vit-D).

Stress: "Eats" up our B-vitamins and plays havoc on our bodies with the release of cortisol into our bloodstream. If stressed in daily life is common, practice deep breathing (from the belly, not chest). Take short walks, read, exercise or do what relaxes you. Recognize your stress triggers. Take a good B-Complex every day. I suggest women keep B-vitamins in their purse to take them when they have sugar, processed flours such as pasta or feel the tension mounting at home or even in traffic.

Nutrients: Review your diet. Raw veggies, fruits, nuts and whole grains followed by theses foods in a cooked state and limit your meats to chicken, fish and lean red.

If you are not on a whole food multi-vitamin and mineral, start there. I recommend most women take a calcium/magnesium supplement with vitamin D(3). Soda's are acidic and leach out our calcium which could be the reason for Osteoporosis numbers rising; Magnesium is excellent for hundreds of functions and 80% of us run short of it in our diet and 60% of Americans do not have enough vitamin D because when in the sun, we wear sunscreen.

You get the nutrients you need for your body and your hair will be lush and thick!!

The thyroid needs zinc. You can safely take up to 100mg per day. Diet and nutrition has repeatedly improved the thyroid function.

Keep in mind that research proves that even with a diet of 3000 calories per day, we are malnourished. The majority of our American foods are not nutrient dense. As early as 2003 Harvard Medical School published a Food Pyramid which recommends a daily multi-vitamin for most. -M.

After decades vitamin personal vitamin use with various brands but continued health decline and then much research, I highly recommend the company Shaklee for supplements and other natural products. You can find a rep at www.Shaklee.com or contact me. If you like to visit a nutritionist, I can recommend one. Blessings!

As someone who has battled hypothyroidism for 10 years, I sympathize. Is soon as they got my thyroid meds regulated, my hair started filling back. I also could make it more than 4 hours without a nap and began to feel like a human again! I started out with an enlarged thyroid that my OB/GYN found at a yearly visit. After going through testing to make sure it wasn't cancer, they began meds and my thyroid actually shrunk back to normal size. I'm surprised they aren't putting you on thyroid meds or at least testing your levels (from what I could tell from you post). I have several people at my church who see an amazing Endocronologist who keeps their levels amazingly accurate with meds. As soon as I have my baby, I'll go see her as well. It's not easy for me to switch doctors, but I'm convinced she is great! Her info is..

Dr. Evangelina Castaneda

4100 W. 15th Street

Suite 118

Plano, TX 75093

Phone ###-###-####

Hi K.. I do believe that Vitamin D does a lot for hair because I drink a 16 ounce milk every single day and I've drank milk for almost every day of my life. I don't eat very healthy, and it's rare that I eat vegetables. And when I get my hair cut they always say something like "You must have a very very healthy diet because this is the most healthy hair I have ever seen." I don't say anything to them but the only thing I could think was "well, the only healthy thing I do eat or drink is milk, so that's gotta be it." I hope this helps but to kinda answer your question, I think that vitamin d does a lot of good for hair.

I am a hair stylist and balding in spots is called areta alopecia.
IF you have a thyroid inbalance that for SURE could be it, or a hormonal inbalance.
Have you lost alot of weight lately? Or are you on a low fat diet. A lack of fat can also cause this.
Your hair lives off your blood supply and this is a huge indicator something is going on with your physical well being.
Biotin is a suplement that wil increase hair growth you can buy this at any place that sells herbs, vitamins, supplements. I reccommend 1000 mg a day to my clients. Be sure and eat something with it though because it can upset your tummy if you have not eaten.
One more thing does your scalp feel tight. A lack of circulation could cause this also. If your scalp does feel tight maasage it with your finger tips.
GOOD LUCK!!!!

hi K.,
I have 2 kids and started losing my hair by the fistfuls after my second. I ended up having other issues, as well and started seeing a Functional Medicine Practitioner (medical degrees doctor who treats by dietary restrictions and vitmin supplementation). Part of my problem was my thyroid, my hormones, and intestinal issues. But for hairloss I think the thyroid medication helped a lot. But maybe ask (if not already done) if you could have your hormone levels checked. I think more often than not a woman's system does not reach normal balance after pregnancies and just keeps depleating with each, if not normalized. I also heard that GLA (gamma linolenic acid, which is found in borage oil) is good for hair growth and skin health.

I wish you great health!

L. G

The bigger problem is your para thyroid. My husband last year went thru this. When your para thyroid goes wrong it produces too much calcium and can really harm you. You have 5-6 para thyroids in the neck area. If any of the of the para thyroid goes bad the remaining stops working. It also affects your hormones. Depending how high your calcium level is usually you have to have it operated on and remove the bad one and instantly the balance of the para thyoids will start working. Its a very easy operation. Only takes 15 minutes but the important thing about this is the surgeon. He has to be very, very experienced in removing this problem. My husband had his done at UT Southwestern after a lot of research. This is something you can not ignore. Good Luck.

Have you continued with the maternity vitamins? My OB-Gyn says all menstrating women should be taking them. They could be what helped the situation during pregnancy.

I had mild hyperthyroid (slightly elevated TSH) and my hair started falling out. though not in patches, just more to clog the drain.I went on Tapazole for about a year, and have just gotten off because my levels seem to be normal again. No experieience with the vitamin D though.

I highly recommend you go see Dr Feferman in Irving...he is an excellent Endocronologist. I was losing hair...not patches but he still helped. Also with your thyroid problem that could be the cause. I was deficient in Omega 3 and Zinc. I also recommend you take a pharmaceutical grade supplement to replace any minerals you are lacking! Good luck and if you need recommendations on supplements let me know.

I haven't had that specific problem but I have read that can be the problem. You should go to SparkPeople.com it is a great sight for nutrition information. It will actually let you log what you eat and track the actual nutrition you are getting. You will probably be surprised with the outcome. I was having blood pressure issues and tracked mine for one month. It was very enlightening. I also have heard that it is hard to retain Vitamin D in our system and you need to be getting enough magnesium at the same time for the body to make the Vitamin D useful. I learned this while studying how to increase magnesium that also helps lower blood pressure. Good luck.

K.,

Hi. I experienced hair loss when my daughter was 17 months old. I had dieted (healthy-Weight Watchers) while breast feeding, so it may have been that. I was diagnosed with scalp psoriasis 4 months after that, but the doctor said it probably didn't cause hair loss. I disagree. I lost about 1/3 of my hair, but it was diffuse and not patches. I would explore something I came across when researching my problem. I forget the name of it, but there is a type of alopecia that it autoimmune. Many autoimmune diseases are suppressed during pregnancy. Many autoimmune diseases crop after pregnancy too. I have been diagnosed with three different autoimmune diseases in 6 years, after having children. Good luck!

D.

I take Vitamin D (Cholecalciferol) for bone loss. I also take Calcium for bone deficiency. I don't know about the hair loss. Doctors may prescribe vitamin D for many reasons. A good source to check is www.webmd.com. You can input your symptoms and check to see what information the site gives. It is a very good site for medical problems.

I would sure chck out the Thyroid with your M.D. cause that's nothing to fool with. But I had the hair problem a couple yrs. ago. I ead use Zinc. It worked! Now I don't let a day go by w/o it. It's cheap and you can get it in the grocery store.

K.,

Hair loss symptom is linked to several things, as your doctor knows best. However, if you research the symptoms you will see it's not only linked to Vit D deficiency but also linked to being low in deficiencies in zinc and copper. I dont know how you are replacing this, but if I can tell you a way to help with replacing your vitimans and minerals with a liquid 2 ounces every day, just email me. Also you can look at my website at the mineral and vitiman content by clicking on product information and view the product label. You can try the product for 30 days with a empty bottle money back gaureentee. www.myvemma.com/tonistrathman
Good luck!

im not sure why its falling out but i went though the same bald spots as you are but my was due to the depo shots . my mother n law advised me to put olive oil on the spots and a swear by it.may she rest in peace ,she had given me so much good advice from my marriage to raising my kids to me going bald. you try it it will grow back fast.

Being vitamin D deficient could very well play a role in your hair falling out, many health problems are caused by that. The best source of vit. D is the sun. Spending 10 to 15 minutes everyday if possible outside (without sunblock of course) even on cloudy days will give you the vit. D you need. If your still having problems after a few months I know of a mineral supplement that may help. My Aunt's hair was becoming very thin. After taking these minerals for about a year her hair started growing back. Your welcome to conact me if your interested. I hope the sun works for you, it would sure be the easiest cure!!
Have a great day!!

Your thyroid problems can definatly cause your hair to fall out. Has your doctor put you on thyroid supplements? If not, ask why not.

Hi K.,

I am a chiropractor and at my office we use applied kinesiology to determine nutritional deficiencies. Then we prescribe the correct nutritional supplements to get you better. It sounds like your have several issues going on. It is common for your hormones to get out of balance after having a child. All of those organs function together, so when there is a deficiency in one, it can cause a deficiency in another. The parathyroid suggests calcium deficiencies so it was correct for her to suggest that you take calcium. The vitamin D will help the calcium to be absorbed correctly. You also need to address your thyroid issues. If you are interested in coming in for nutritional testing, please give me a call at ###-###-####. Thanks! Dr. Sandra S.

I know of a lot of women who loose their hair after having a baby. One thing that may help is to continue to take your prenatal vitamins up to a year or as needed.

I'm not a doctor, so you'll need to keep up a dialog with yours. You'll probably want to get everything re-tested in 3 to 6 months to see if there are any changes.

An enlarged thyroid may mean that you have an auto immune disease that attacks your thyroid. At first it presents with a kind of hyper thyroid condition (high levels), eventually as the thyroid is attacked, the thyroid function slows and eventually stops all together. The condition when you have no more thyroid function is called Hashimoto's Thyroiditis. This means the thyroid has to be replaced with a sythetic hormone for life. There are a bunch of symptoms you can look up online. A lot of these symptoms can be tough to spot as they happen because they seem so common like fatique, constipation, hair loss (including eyelashes), dry skin, sensitive to cold, edema (swelling) and slow metabolism.

Auto immune diseases are usually inherited, especially thyroid conditions (through the maternal side). I have Hashimoto's as does my Mom & my sister, my two grandmothers have hypo-thyroid, a double whammy.

If this is what you have, you're lucky to catch it early. I ignored my symptons for a long time attributing them to stress at work. It wasn't until I had gained a bunch of weight that I finally was checked & found that my thyroid was completely gone. It's been 8 years since my diagnosis & I still haven't dropped the weight. I've even packed on more pounds since having my kids. This disease makes it very hard to lose weight. You will also want to keep in mind that you'll need to have your girls checked for any thyroid problems when they become teenagers & continue to get them checked throughout adulthood.

I hope this information helps.

K.

"My doctor told me I had hyperparathyroidism. What does that mean?

This means that you have high calcium in your blood and it is associated with an overactive parathyroid gland. Typically this is not due to too much calcium intake but due to your parathyroid producing too much parathyroid hormone. This excess hormone causes your bones to breakdown calcium faster, leading to early osteoporosis."

- Weil Cornell Medical College website

Alopecia info:
http://curezone.com/dis/1.asp?C0=1835

I am a wellness consultant. I assist people in changing their lives by giving them their health back through natural and organic nutrition and/or cleansing. I would love to assist you in any way I can. :)

P.

K.,
You are on the right path of finding out what the source of your hair loss is. I really believe in partnering up with your provider to solve, augment your symptoms.
Also, information is good to seek on your own so when you go to your return appointment you are armed with the right questions to ask. Be aware of where your information is coming from. Get several input from sources. Here are a few:

http://thyroid.about.com/cs/symptomsproblems/a/hairloss.htm

http://www.dermatology.org/skincare/hair/aa.html

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/show/409044

Read with care - always confer with a trained professional like your MD.
Good luck!

Hello,Iam S.. Iam a Hairdresser. I have seen these patches before. How much stress you are under and how you handle it;your body does strange things. This could be a sign of stress. I had a client that the opposite happened to her when she was pregnant;hers fell out and left patches. after about a year it all came back. I have always heard that thyroid(you ahve to check all 4 levels though);stress and nutrition(sp). Your body will take from your hair what ever it needs. You might try a dermatologist though;iam not a doctor;just a hair stylist for 22yrs. Good luck!

Could be Vitamin D, could be protein deficiency, could be biotin deficiency, could be thyroid issues.

S.

It could absolutely be your thyroid, as well as vitamin D(these things often are not just a single issue/cause). Did she run tests for your thyroid and do you have the results? It sounds like Hashimoto's which is an autoimmune thyroid disease that is quite often triggered by pregnancy/childbirth. If she tests your thyroid, she should test for TSH, Free T3 and Free T4 and antibodies (the latter will confirm whether or not it's autoimmune). Also, as a point of reference, most endocrinologists are not good doctors if you have an autoimmune thyroid disorder because they often only treat based on the TSH value rather than treating a patient based on symptoms and the values of the Free T3 and Free T4. And, many of them will not allow your TSH to be suppressed, which is what is often required for symptoms to resolve. You might want to check out this yahoo group for further info:
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/Texas_Thyroid_Groups/

I highly recommend the book "It's Your Hormomes" by Dr. Geoffrey Redmond, MD. He is an endocrinologist who has studied women's hormones for many years. Chapter 16 of his book is "If you're starting to lose your hair." Here are the warning signs of hormonal hair loss that he lists: Losing more than 100 hairs a day; thining at the temples, crown, and vertex; widening of your part or thinning of your ponytail; scalp becomming visible on top; itchiness, burning, or sores on your scalp; irregular periods; difficulty controlling weight; presence of other hormonal skin changes: persistent acne, increased facial and body hair. The author also mentions alopecia areata, which is not really due to hormones but thyroid problems. However, the meds to treat this do not help stop hair loss. Hormonal hair loss is usually called androgenic alopecia (p. 242). This doctor believes that low estrogen levels and high testosterone levels are a factor in hair loss. If I remember correctly, your estrogen levels fall after childbirth, which in some women leads to certain side-effects. Perhaps you should ask your doctor if your estogen levels are low and if that is contributing to your hair loss. Also this doctor has a web site if you want to do more research. According to him there are many women with the probelm of hair loss. He mentions several different reasons for hair loss besides hormone levels, so I would recommend getting your thyroid checked out too. There is hope!!

Could be, but it could also be hormone related. Mine did that when I had low levels of estrogen and higher levels of Testosterone and they werent balances.
I would suggest to your endocrinologist to do a full hormonal blood test check.