Did your hair texture/thickness change when you started taking thyroid medication?

[infinity_girl]

I am going to ask my Dr to test my thyroid as I have all the symptoms of hypothyroidism and both my mother and sister are on thyroid meds. My hair is typical of low thyroid - dry, thinning, prone to breakage.

What I wondered is whether those who started taking thyroid medication saw any change, dramatic or not, in their hair, be it texture, colour, thickness, growth rate etc?

[Rainbow2911]

My thickness doubled! I changed brands and the new one wasn't so good for me and I shed about half my thickness again. Its growing back in now I'm on the right meds again. I hope you get some answers. I know for me that getting on the right medication felt like the sun coming out from behind the clouds! The hair was an unexpected bonus.

[heidi w.]

Once having the right medication for your thyroid condition, give it around 9 months or so to show improvements. It takes around 3 months for it to get used to the medication, but once you've got it all drilled right, you'll be on your way. I had a seamstress who had a major thyroid condition, and after battling the meds, she thought her hair looked like crap, but it really looked super pretty. So help is the best, and don't take your thyroid condition lightly. Do everything you can, including juicing once a day or so, to get better. Thyroid affects the whole body.
heidi w.

[panffle]

Surprisingly, I didn't see much difference, but that's mostly due to the fact that I'd dye my hair (this was pre-LHC for me, I didn't take very good care of my hair before). I didn't notice any increase in thickness, and my hair wasn't thinning either. However, I do have some strands that feel really coarse to the touch now... and the majority of my hair is fine.
Oh! My growth rate seems to have improved as well, but I'd say it's because I eat better now too.
(Just for the record, I've been taking medication for a hypothyroid for a bit over 2 years)
I noticed improvement of other health aspects more than my hair.

[vindo]

My hair worsened.
It did not thin, but I did not really have any problems with my hair before that are typical for Hashis and after starting meds they appeared. My hair got sort of rough, dry, more prone to damage, less shiny. I took meds from Sept. 2010 to about January 2012. Since stopping, my hair is regrowing normal again.
I was without meds for a while since my levels were okay after switching to a Paleo diet (but bordering not okay TSH of 3.5 I think). My thyroid flared up again last year fall (TSH 5), so I started a detox with herbal supplements. My TSH dropped, I then added raw thyroid supplements and now my TSH is completely normal (2.2), as well as all labs (T3, T4 etc.) and ultrasound.

My most recent hair loss just ended.

[Wanderlust]

I've been on 100mg Levothyroxine for nine months and have recently noticed a HUGE difference in my hair. My hair has always been coarse, dry, and wavy, but the growth I've had since starting on meds (about 4") is completely different: it is super shiny, and silky, and, weirdest of all, straight. My hair has never been any of those things, not even when I was little, and I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the change is due to the meds.

[MsBubbles]

I started taking the thyroid meds back before I cared about my hair and certainly before I became obsessed with my ponytail circumference here. So I didn't notice a change back then. However, I did notice an increase in ponytail circumference (more strands, not thicker individual ones) when I quit eating wheat/gluten, and soy/legumes. Apparently those things were really bad for my thyroid the whole time and I didn't know it. Even with the meds. My thyroid function increased when I changed my diet thus.

I have been making an attempt at lowering my fluoride intake too, to see if that'll also help. Too soon to tell.

Next stop in trying to heal my underactive thyroid...trying to quit coffee. :coffee: Not sure that'll ever happen.

(I don't believe the meds completely fix the problem, which is why I'm trying other things to try to get it working again. I originally gave up gluten/grains due to other health problems, and the thyroid improvements were a happy surprise).

[jeanniet]

Once you start taking medication, make sure you do the followup blood work so you know the dosage is correct. My son was diagnosed just before he turned 13, and there were some dosage changes over the next year. He didn't have any hair or skin issues, though. It takes about six weeks for your blood levels to stabilize, but it will take quite a bit longer than that to make a difference to your hair.

[AnqeIicDemise]

Yeah, my hair got thick again. And it would stay thick if I wasn't so dumb and kept forgetting to take my medication. -.- I start feeling so good I forget to take it and next thing I know its almost three weeks without the little pills.

Thankfully I have so much hair that the loss of thickness isn't very obvious. When I'm good and stay on it, I can see growth all over the place. The dry patches of skin clears up pretty well too.

[AnqeIicDemise]

I started taking the thyroid meds back before I cared about my hair and certainly before I became obsessed with my ponytail circumference here. So I didn't notice a change back then. However, I did notice an increase in ponytail circumference (more strands, not thicker individual ones) when I quit eating wheat/gluten, and soy/legumes. Apparently those things were really bad for my thyroid the whole time and I didn't know it. Even with the meds. My thyroid function increased when I changed my diet thus.

I have been making an attempt at lowering my fluoride intake too, to see if that'll also help. Too soon to tell.

Next stop in trying to heal my underactive thyroid...trying to quit coffee. :coffee: Not sure that'll ever happen.

(I don't believe the meds completely fix the problem, which is why I'm trying other things to try to get it working again. I originally gave up gluten/grains due to other health problems, and the thyroid improvements were a happy surprise).

I gave up soy. I can't give up wheat/gluten. I.. just.. ..I .. mean.. bread!! :( At least dominos has gluten free pizza crust!

I have a hard time with the coffee too. I've gone from 10 cups to 1 when I'm on my meds. When I'm off them I hover around 3 or four. I try to keep it low but its hard. OH SO HARD!

[AnqeIicDemise]

I started taking the thyroid meds back before I cared about my hair and certainly before I became obsessed with my ponytail circumference here. So I didn't notice a change back then. However, I did notice an increase in ponytail circumference (more strands, not thicker individual ones) when I quit eating wheat/gluten, and soy/legumes. Apparently those things were really bad for my thyroid the whole time and I didn't know it. Even with the meds. My thyroid function increased when I changed my diet thus.

I have been making an attempt at lowering my fluoride intake too, to see if that'll also help. Too soon to tell.

Next stop in trying to heal my underactive thyroid...trying to quit coffee. :coffee: Not sure that'll ever happen.

(I don't believe the meds completely fix the problem, which is why I'm trying other things to try to get it working again. I originally gave up gluten/grains due to other health problems, and the thyroid improvements were a happy surprise).

I gave up soy. I can't give up wheat/gluten. I.. just.. ..I .. mean.. bread!! :( At least dominos has gluten free pizza crust!

I have a hard time with the coffee too. I've gone from 10 cups to 1 when I'm on my meds. When I'm off them I hover around 3 or four. I try to keep it low but its hard. OH SO HARD!

[MsBubbles]

LOL AnqeIicDemise. I do understand. It was really hard to give up wheat but once I had decided how bad it was for me, it was relatively easy. I think I tried it a few times but failed, and then I read the Wheat Belly book review comments on Amazon, which finally made it easy for me. So many people had similar health problem symptoms to me that simply went away when they took out wheat & grains.

After my post last night, I went off and researched coffee + hypothyroidism, and read some interesting stuff, so I'm going to try to ditch coffee from today onwards (for the umpteenth time). There is so much wrong with my entire thyroid treatment via conventional medicine. It's hard to find a 'good' doctor.