Hair loss

[tarasue]

I have been doing the le diet for a few months now, but am loosing handfuls of hair every day. Should I add a multi vitamin?

[Mamato3?]

I would do some blood tests for iron insufficiency if this happened to me ( I know because i have anemia and when this happens it usually is due to drop of my iron levels). Do you take folic acid or folate?

[tarasue]

I am taking folic acid and fiber pills. I have been on a low carb /high protein diet since last summer. I plan on cutting back my protein & upping my carbs in the next couple of weeks, ttc in October. Is there something OTC that I could take that would help with hair loss and not hurt my pink sway? Blood tests are probably a good idea.

[atomic sagebrush]

Most of the time when people have blamed LE Diet for hair loss (and I mean 99 times out of 100), it's turned out to be for some other reason entirely. Have you recently stopped or started BCP or any hormonal supplements?

I know several people both IRL and from stories online, who have had hair loss from low carb diets so my suspicion is that being the cause of this. so much so that there's even a livestrong article about it specifically Can a Low Carb Diet Cause Hair Loss? | LIVESTRONG.COM High protein, low carb diet is not LE Diet.

The thing is that if you're on a high protein diet, you are already getting everything I'd have you add. So I am EXTREMELY wary for the sake of your sway, to have you add in a multivitamin when that is probably not what the issue is here.

If you MUST add in a nutrient, what I have people do is after 3-6 months on LE Diet, if not eating much dairy, eggs, and meat cheats, add zinc 8-15 mg 3x a week and B12 lowest dose you can find, 1x a week. Some people may need iron 18-30 mg 3x a week. But it largely depends on where you're getting this protein from - if it's mainly dairy, you do probably need iron and be sure you're taking it with something containing Vit. C

I usually also have people add in iodine; however I do not want you to do that in case the high protein, low carb diet has messed with your thyroid. People who are having thyroid issues may not always be advised to take iodine and I'd like you to get cleared with a doctor before you start that. (dose is 150 iu daily)

[tarasue]

Thanks atomic! I will probably give the dr a call next week .

I am going to switch over to a more le diet in the next week. Right now most of my protein comes from egg whites or protein shake. I may have red meat once a week and chicken a couple of times a week.

Funny I just read that live strong article on low carb diet and hair loss last night.

I would say I am more staying in the calorie & fat range of the le diet, just high on the protein.

I haven't messed with my bc, I will stop that the end of September & start ttc in October.

[atomic sagebrush]

The protein is significantly more important than the cal intake.

OH so you are on BCP then??? or Mirena? Those can also cause hair loss - usually when stopping or starting them but some people have it just start up out of the blue.

[tarasue]

It got considerably better after I got pregnant. Sadly we lost the baby, but I have continued my prenatals (I was not taking them before) every other day and also gained a little weight and it's night and day better than before. I was getting handfuls of probably 40 hairs 6 to 8 times a day coming out, not counting what I was loosing in the shower and just by brushing. I had been suffering from an eating disorder before that pregnancy and just think my body was so depleted of the nutrients it needed. Probably why I lost the baby

[essnce629]

Tara, did you go vegetarian for your sway? Get to the doctor and get your ferritin (iron stores) level checked. You have to ask for it specifically as it's not tested in a normal blood panel. Optimal is 70-90 and under 70 can cause hair loss (most common reason) and under 50 can cause infertility. I had mine checked in October after my miscarriage and my number was 8, EIGHT!! I was taking 65mg of iron 3 times a week at the time, but because I was taking it with my daily cappuccino it probably wasn't getting absorbed. 11 years of heavy periods and then the miscarriage is most likely the cause of my extremely low level, plus I had stopped eating red meat for my sway which didn't help. My doctor now has me on 300mg of iron a day! My best friend who also swayed, had a 12 week miscarriage, and is a vegetarian got tested as well and her level was 35 (she doesn't have heavy periods). She's taking iron daily as well now. Other symptoms of low ferritin are feeling cold all the time, joint and body pain, memory issues, and extreme fatigue. Basically, low ferritin symptoms are the same as low thyroid symptoms.

[tarasue]

very interesting! I need to bring that up to my doctor. They have checked my thyroid several times and it always comes back normal. Thank you for the heads up!!

[Adia]

tara, have to jump in here.

I saw a fertility doctor in summer 2013. She said my thyroid was low for TTC so she gave me Synthroid.

Synthroid didn't work for me and I stopped seeing fertility doc because no insurance coverage beyond 'testing'. I stopped the Synthroid after 8 months because of some bad side effects.

I started losing handfuls of hair so I went to my family doctor. He took my thyroid levels and said they were fine.

However, after losing handfuls of hair daily for months and having a host of other common low thyroid symptoms I found another doctor who looked at thyroid levels differently, T3 and T4 and sure enough, I have Hashimoto's disease, aka low thyroid.

I started taking a natural thyroid support supplement and got prego a couple weeks later after 2 years of TTC and 2 miscarriages.

Here's an article: 5 Thyroid Patterns That Won't Show Up On Standard Lab Tests

If nothing else hopefully you can get another opinion or someone who will approach the thyroid testing from a different angle to rule it out if it really isn't an issue.