Help!!! My hair is falling out.

PeakXV

Hair is protein! For me too much veg diet & hot India temps will cause minor hair loss. You might want to supplement your diet with a whey protein based drink with Vitamin B6, B12, egg, brewer's yeast, biotin etc. concoction a couple of times a day starting right now - this may arrest your hair fall more quickly.

__________________
We shall not cease from exploration and at the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started ...and know the place for the first time.
T.S. Eliot

Don't go to India ~ Pre-trip Warnings & Misconceptions?

edwardseco

At the risk of waking sleeping dogs, could you specify.?

Nick-H

Woof!

__________________
.


Just one member of the IndiaMike Mod Team

machadinha

A possible side-effect of certain anti-malarials was my first thought too yes.

Make sure your doctor understands you've been to the tropics, what medication you took, and what the implications are. Not all family doctors in the west will be equally aware of the issues involved.

If you're uncertain of this, try consulting with the doctor who prescribed you the antimalarials (or other medication) if any, if this was a different person. Or you could consult a tropical health clinic, or doctor specialized in the same, to get a second opinion if nothing else.

Best of luck with it, must be worrying yes. Reading around some I get the impression the good news is the condition is not normally chronic, but I'm no medic.

__________________
Reading tips, all picked up at IndiaMike : INDAX's A Comprehensive Guide To India / Dinoj Surendran's Desi Humor / ITHVC on Culture Shock & Travel Health / JetLag Travel Guides For the Undiscerning Traveller / India Travel Links

Nick-H

The internet is often a better source of raw information on drugs than a doctor! Either the manufacturer's site, and/or an independent drug reference site.

I always look up my prescriptions before taking them!

Sama

have you ever had your thyroid hormone levels checked? TSH, T4, and T3? it is not a blood test that a dr. would normally do unless he/she suspects a thyroid problem.

I have Hashimoto's Disease (an autoimmune disease where my body attacks my thyroid basically) so have been on thyroid meds for a very long time. a symptom of hypothyroidism (which is very often misdiagnosed) is hair thinning/loss. I take evening primrose oil in capsules for my hair.

never hurts to get your thyroid checked out, it's only a blood test -- thyroid disease is more common that one might think.

__________________
My India, 2005-2008
BE THE REVOLUTION

federica

Any hormonal change can cause hairloss.

A thyroid check is not a bad idea, every 7th woman in the world has the genetic defect and can develop Hashimoto.

But even every other change in your hormons can cause hairloss. Goiong through strong emotions (even without realizing it) leads also to a change in your hormons. So does sunshine, not sufficient sleep etc.

Nick-H

It may sound strange, but yes, absolutely. I had no idea how strongly I was reacting to my leaving the job that was more like family --- but quite a lot of my hair fell out in a short time. For a man who's got it coming anyway, it just hastens the process; no growing back, I'm afraid, but I've seen women who have had the same reaction to surgery recover their lovely locks.

amarama

What sort of doctor did you visit? There are actually special doctors that treat this disorder. The doctor and the problem have a funny sounding name. I would start by have a medical doctor check for an underlieing condition. My first thought was you are having a reaction to some chemical.

luv2go

I am a hair dresser, and occasionally one of my clients will have this problem. Your hair is either breaking off or falling out from the root. When you lose hair look on both ends and see if one of them has a white looking tip, if it does it means it is falling out from the root. Generally speaking this is the result of something going on internallly, not a result of something going on outside such as water, shampoo, or conditioner. Medications, stress, vitamin defiency, or not enough protein would be factors. I once began a diet that limited meat (main source of my protein) and lost a major amount of hair. Now, if there is no white tip it is probably breaking off. Probable causes are tight pony-tails (snapping the hair off), over-processing (to much chemical enhancement), no conditioning, chlorine or other chemicals in the water, these are the most common cause of breakage. Also, the advice about massage is great. It increases circulation and delivers nutrients to the scalp. Anyway, I hope I did not bore you to tears. I am no doctor, but I hope it helped.

70s-80s overlander

Generally hair-loss relates to iron, zinc, or thyroid deficiency -- all of which I see in patients all the time. Checking around, it appears that chloroquine [similar to hydroxychloroquine] is the most likely culprit among the antimalarials. Apparently it can cause, hair thinning, bleaching, and loss -- with full recovery after the medicine is stopped. Apparently hair changes with chloroquine also signal that there may be some associated kidney issues -- which revert to their baseline when the medicine is stopped; analogously, a baseline kidney issue could make the chloroquine-induced hair loss more likely.

It turns out that chloroquine makes the kidney produce more nitric oxide, which is what causes the antimalarial action. Oral arginine, which makes nitric oxide, currently is under investigation as an antimalarial [tested as safe up to doses of around 10 grams/day] -- and as a remedy for hair-loss. It makes one wonder whether arginine should be added to the regimen if one is taking chloroquine. Most meats are high in arginine, but vegetarians could use spinach, peanuts, and sesame seed.

callie

I love this site!!! Everyone always has an answer or at least something to say.

The diet comments make a lot of sense as I went from a very heavy meat diet whilst in Aust (which is normal for me) to none in India. I am now eating very little meat and almost no red meat. But my doc tested for that. I may just start taking some iron / zinc tablets just in case. I will be booking into a hairdresser for some scalp tlc and I will clarify with her that my hair is falling out from the roots (thanks to luv2go for that clarification.

For further clarification, I did not start taking doxy until about 2 weeks into my trip when I was getting close to Kerala and the hair loss started almost immediately upon arrival in Chennai.

Gotta love India - it is truly the country that keeps on giving.

Thanks everyone, I really appreciate the time and effort of your responses. I will let you know if I wind up bald or if my hair returns.

machadinha

I really know nothing of this, please don't listen to me.

However reading around some for you earlier I came across an affliction where due to stress (this can apparently be as simple as a couple of repeated fevers) the hair goes "dormant." It will then be pushed out by the new hair that develops. This apparently results in symptoms like you describe, with uneven and unnatural hair loss, and the hairs being uprooted indeed, i.e., you'll be able to see those white tips or follicles or what are they called.

There appears to be a chronic variant of the same, but it seems to be rather rare.

Keep in mind that reading up on any medical condition as a layman one is bound to stumble across stuff that one identifies with, it's a common problem in medical students. It's also one major reason why I'm not big on self-medication through the web, and professionals do complain about this phenomenon. Again: Don't listen to me, I really wouldn't know.

btw As a non-meat eater I've never been aware of any hair loss issues with me or anyone I know no, but that doesn't mean it can't be an issue with some. In a setting in the modern developed world it's really quite hard to develop serious nutritional deficiencies as long as you eat in a naturally varied way (and you still have to do your best if you don't); the more common problem is one of a highly one-sided diet of whatever nature. Which I guess many people are prone to, so of course there's a correlation there. In general it hardly compares to issues of serious malnutrition though.

karuna

I too had hair loss after coming back from 3 month Asia trip. Thought it was all kinds of things- stress of having to find a new job and surviving on no money, some rare disease, change in the climate....

Then I stopped using the cheap, pungent tea tree oil shampoo I had bought at the supermarket, and my hair stopped falling out.

ETA: vegetarian my entire adult life and vegan for 5 years- always had a full head of hair.

__________________
Indiamike mod squad's odd bod.
Arre yaar, kya bat hai?

[Indian Mona Lisa by Dinesh; can't find original uploader to credit in full.]

mousourik

protein deficiency is one of the reasons for falling hair. taking a high quality protein supplement might help improve the situation.