hair loss

[rhiOrion]

Okay, this is getting ridiculous. I figured the hair loss thing was just for a few weeks immediately after the baby is born. But for me it didn't start for a couple of months and I'm still losing a ton.

I have no idea how I have any hair left, but you can't visibly tell that I've lost any at all. Unless you look at my hair brush, in the trashcan, or at the drain of my shower.

So, how long did your hair fall out after you gave birth?

Please tell me you didn't go bald.

(I have no symptoms of thyroid issues that I am aware of)

[Tattooed Hand]

I remember that feeling. My hair started falling out in what felt like clumps at about 3 months pp - it was gross, all over the place. But around 5 months PP it began to slow down and I am back to normal hair loss when I brush or shower. It did stop! and I didn't go bald!

[Ruby2]

Mine didn't start until about 3 months later, and now at almost 8 months I have little tiny new hairs coming in! I was really worried at about 4 months when I could literally pull it out in tiny clumps in the shower, but it does stop, I promise! I am pretty heartened by the new growth too; I was starting to wonder if the loss would be cumulative as I had more children and kept losing more and more hair!

[BtotheG]

I was just going to post a thread about this!

I had serious hair loss starting around 3 months post partum. By 5 months, I had bald spots by my temples. At 6 months, the shedding stopped and the hair started to grow back. Now at almost 10 months pp it's started back up again! It's as bad as it was inititally.

Anyone else have a second period of major hair loss?

[texaspeach]

around 3 month it got bad then stopped a while later and picked up again at 9 months. I'm 11 months pp now and it is really bad.

[Norasmomma]

With DD it started at 3 months PP, and continued until she was 1 or so, my hair literally fell out in clumps. I had 2 bald spots on my hairline. The hair did grow back.

This time I again am still losing hair, I shed so much, but I've always been a shed-machine. It's amazing I have hair, but DS is 10 months and I have fuzzy little hairs that are regrowth.

I clog the drains often, it's pretty embarrassing

[BathrobeGoddess]

moved to health and healing...

[Abraisme]

Mine also started around 3-4mo pp, it tapered off in a few months and was quickly back to normal hair-loss. It's all very normal as you don't lose any hair during pregnancy, then your body has to catch up by dropping all the hairs you would have normally lost.

[T-man's Mama]

I started losing hair big time around 3 mo. postpartum, and it seemed to go on forever. It finally slowed but my hair is so much thinner. And the regrowth, at 17 months postpartum, is killing me. It's all like 4 inches long and sticks out all over my head when I try to pull my hair back! There is literally no way I could possibly style my hair now to look at all appealing. I wish I could just wear a wig and be done with it. This bothers me every single day, and so all I can do is sympathize. Sorry!

[mellowjello]

Same here. For me I finally figured out that it was oxalates. Oxalate "dumping" can cause hair loss. I also had other symptoms of an oxalate problem, such as vulvadynia. The Vulvar Pain Foundation website has lots of oxalate info. After 3 years of dealing with this, I now believe that people develop problems with oxalates when they have gut flora imbalances and do not have enough of the species of bacteria that degrade oxalates and make them harmless to us.

[T-man's Mama]

Originally Posted by mellowjello

Same here. For me I finally figured out that it was oxalates. Oxalate "dumping" can cause hair loss. I also had other symptoms of an oxalate problem, such as vulvadynia. The Vulvar Pain Foundation website has lots of oxalate info. After 3 years of dealing with this, I now believe that people develop problems with oxalates when they have gut flora imbalances and do not have enough of the species of bacteria that degrade oxalates and make them harmless to us.

Not to hijack this thread, but could you elaborate on how you rebalanced your oxalates? I've never heard of that. I did experience (still do, to a much lesser degree) extreme, unbearable vaginal pain during postpartum intercourse (well over a year pp). I was a c/s, which rules out the obvious. I always attributed the pain to mega-breastfeeding/low estrogen. Don't know if it's related to your condition as it was internal, not external...

[mellowjello]

Yes, that sounds like it could be oxalate related. What I did is reduce my oxalate intake gradually until I was on a low oxalate food diet (there is a yahoo group called Trying Low Oxalates and you can find lists of oxalate values in foods there as well as other places. I've been told the most accurate list is through the Vulvar Pain Foundation.) You definitely want to reduce oxalates SLOWLY... did I mention you also want to do it very slowly?

I also added food based probiotics. I make my own yogurt (fermented 24 hours as per Specific Carbohydrate Diet, instrux at Pecanbread.com) with VSL probiotic. VSL is supposedly very good for handling oxalates. For many people, it is best to go slowly adding probiotics, too.

Then I started adding in medium oxalate foods and trying to notice how I felt. I have a particular arm pain that I realized was a good indicator. I started adding some high oxalate foods, etc. I still go through blips of not being able to handle oxalates but I don't have stabbing vaginal pain ever anymore and I only get hair falling out when I eat almonds (very high oxalate). The more probiotics I eat the better. I am also on the GAPS diet. I am not on the Low Oxalate diet anymore.

[Mom2M]

I lost a ton of hair a few months after she was born, then at about 6 months I noticed I wasn't seeing a ton in the shower! I started taking a biotin supplement at 4 months post partum, as suggested by someone here, and I don't know if that's what helped but my hair looks is thick and looks great!