hypothyroid help

[Jessica Trapp]

My hair is shedding like crazy and it's depressing to comb it... especially since I recently (finally!) hit classic. It's also drier than usual and tangly. I think I may be experiencing some hypothyroidism. (These aren't my only symptoms.)

Does anyone have any experience with this? Any natural therapies or vitamins to explore? I have an appointment with my doctor early next month.

Thanks in advance.

[Shepherdess]

Aw, it is never fun to lose hair! :(

It would probably be a good idea to have a check up with a doctor so you know for sure what is going on if you can afford it.

A few years ago I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. I didn't want to take the medicines which are normally prescribed for it so I tried the natural way and it did get back to normal. I started taking kelp which is a sea plant high in iodine, a mineral that is necessary for healthy thyroid function. I also started eating as healthy as possible.
Currently I am taking one average sized capsule of powdered kelp each day and that has been keeping my thyroid level normal. Many people have thyroid issues since most soils are very deplete in the mineral iodine, so that very well could be what you have.

[DinaAG]

please go and make a blood test to be sure because if so then by taking your medicine you will fix it easier and faster, do not risk your health

[UP Lisa]

Check out the website stopthethyroidmadness.com.

[dulce]

Another alternative to kelp tabs is ''thyrosense'' a herbal and iodine supplement tablet sold through the health foods stores.It can help normalize borderline low thyroid.

[embee]

I have been hyper and hypo, and hairloss or hair damage seems to be part of the game.

The doctor meds worked well for me (although I developed a problem with one) and now my hair is ... well, my hair.

Put your hair up and be very gentle. Just hang in there. If it's getting thin it will still be getting thin if you chop it all off, so may as well leave it and see what happens next. Thin and long vs. thin and short.

It's not likely to be a permanent thing, I don't think.

[Miss Catrina]

Really, you just need to wait and see what the doc says. Since hairloss can come with both hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism, I'd be cautious about taking supplements before then. The good news is that from what I understand, this symptom should stop once your hormone levels are under control - which, obviously, is a process/constant struggle, but you're not doomed to shedding hair forever till you go bald. :p

I would just manipulate it as little as humanly possible at the moment.

If you are diagnosed, there's a Hypothyroidism support thread in Health and Body Beautiful. :blossom:

[Chimom79]

Def see a doc to check your thyroid and see what is suggested. I have had hypothyroidism for years and take a prescription for it. I just got updated bloodwork and they might up my meds cause my bloodwork showed it is still slightly low. I have had a lot of shedding hairs and it may be due to it. My hair sheds so easily, it went through a really bad stage about 8 months ago that had me very worried. Hopefully you can see if thyroid is off and that might help a ton.

[MsBubbles]

Mine has been 'treated' with conventional meds now for 18 years. In recent years my dosage needed to be steadily increased. I gave up wheat and soy products in February of this year (not for thyroid reasons). 6 months later my thyroid tests came back much better and I need a lower dosage again. I think personally that the wheat and soy products were not good for my particular body. I also have lost a lot of allergies and other autoimmune type symptoms. I think they are all tied in together.

My latest self-experiment while staying on the conventional meds, is reducing the amount of fluoride I get via water, drinks, food etc. If you think you are hypothyroid, google fluoride with thyroid and see what you think.

Supposedly, raw cruciferous veggies are also not good if you're hypothyroid. But I love 'em cooked and still eat them.

Good luck figuring all of this out for yourself, and I also recommend going to a doctor, if only to treat the T4 part of it.

If you do get some synthetic thyroid meds, be sure not to take them within 4 hours of iron supplements, and a handful of others (can't think right now).

[UP Lisa]

Soy products are known to cause problems with the thyroid.



Mine has been 'treated' with conventional meds now for 18 years. In recent years my dosage needed to be steadily increased. I gave up wheat and soy products in February of this year (not for thyroid reasons). 6 months later my thyroid tests came back much better and I need a lower dosage again. I think personally that the wheat and soy products were not good for my particular body. I also have lost a lot of allergies and other autoimmune type symptoms. I think they are all tied in together.

My latest self-experiment while staying on the conventional meds, is reducing the amount of fluoride I get via water, drinks, food etc. If you think you are hypothyroid, google fluoride with thyroid and see what you think.

Supposedly, raw cruciferous veggies are also not good if you're hypothyroid. But I love 'em cooked and still eat them.

Good luck figuring all of this out for yourself, and I also recommend going to a doctor, if only to treat the T4 part of it.

If you do get some synthetic thyroid meds, be sure not to take them within 4 hours of iron supplements, and a handful of others (can't think right now).

[embee]

At present I'm hypothyroid and here's my rule: thyroid meds in the AM, calcium at night. Avoid soy protein.

So far things are going well.

[UP Lisa]

I switched to the natural stuff a few months ago. I take it twice a day, letting it dissolve under the tongue. A pain, but it seems to be working. I still had symptoms on the synthetic stuff.



At present I'm hypothyroid and here's my rule: thyroid meds in the AM, calcium at night. Avoid soy protein.

So far things are going well.

[ladyshep]

Shampoo with biotin and vitamin E helps in the meantime.

It helps me, but my thyroid medicine helps better.

[arelrios]

Hello,
I don't have issues with my thyroid; but my mom was misdiagnosed and stayed misdiagnosed for way too many years (hashimoto syndrome). We thought all her health problems were related to the thyroid and she took prescription drugs for those years (always increasing the dosis). Her hair was always dry and fragile, but coarse at the same time (don't know how to explain) and her skin was also very dry.

It was only 5 months ago that they run more tests than usual (including creatinine) and there it was... her problems were the kidneys and not her thyroid. The kidneys were causing the thyroid to not work properly and so on.

Since she stopped completely the prescription meds and changed her diet to strictly veggies, fruits, juices and a few times a week fish (no chicken or meat due to the creatinine) her thyroid is now normal and she is doing much better.

Now, she even lost almost 40 pounds in those 5 months (thing that never happened before, despite the fact she doesn't eat much and tried to loose it). It seems that all the weight was liquid that she just couldn't get off her body

Good luck with your doctor's appt. and I really hope and I will pray it has nothing to do with your thyroid.

Cheers :)

[itdontmatter48]

Once treated, it will all go back to normal. I have been there and know it can be difficult to deal with. It will get better.

[Tea Lady]

Mine has been 'treated' with conventional meds now for 18 years. In recent years my dosage needed to be steadily increased. I gave up wheat and soy products in February of this year (not for thyroid reasons). 6 months later my thyroid tests came back much better and I need a lower dosage again. I think personally that the wheat and soy products were not good for my particular body. I also have lost a lot of allergies and other autoimmune type symptoms. I think they are all tied in together.

My latest self-experiment while staying on the conventional meds, is reducing the amount of fluoride I get via water, drinks, food etc. If you think you are hypothyroid, google fluoride with thyroid and see what you think.


We ended up getting a reverse osmosis filter to go along with our original system (Multi-Pure) once I read about the connection between thyroid problems and fluoride. I stopped gluten this past summer for other reasons - it's good to know it can help the thyroid. I also have been on medication for a long time, would love it if I didn't need to take it, but that's the way it is. In the meantime though, doing what I can to make my body work its best with hypothyroidism is the goal (I don't always succeed!!).

Tea Lady

[Velvettt]

Please do NOT take kelp or anything similar until you've been tested for Hashimoto's antibodies. Kelp is the worst thing to take if you have Hashimoto's.

[jojo]

I have been hving the very same issues. I was on levothyroxine for 2 years and felt ill off them, tests showed i had an allergy to the synthetic thyroxine, it was building up in my pituitary gland causing huge headches, i gained a lot of weight which wouldnt shift, my joints ached and i felt exhasted all the time. Then it hit my hair, i developed a inverted V in the centre of my hair and my ends thinned out to nothing. I was also found to be anaemic which just added to the problem, my hair was shedding in huge amounts.
I am not on naturethyroid which is porcine derived and i am just starting to feel like my old self, my hair still sheds but not in the handfuls. I now take zinc, vitamin B complex and seleum at my doctors advice as he explained for a healthy thyroid these vitamins are essential, i also take hema plex 3 times a day for the anaemia, fingers crossed its working.
Please dont self diagnose and use online medications, the thyroid is a very important gland which shouldnt be messed with, get your bloods done for TSH, T3, T4 and FBC and take it from there. The meds do take a while to kick in but once they do, you and your hair will feel better, just baby it for now lots of moiturising treatment. I do totally understand what you are going through, dry, falling hair is so allien to me. I just feel like crying at how this has affected my hair but im hopeful for us both that this can be rectified.