Medical induced shedding/balding

[pogo0685]

I am really hoping someone here can help me, my husbands hair is falling out. It started about 2 weeks ago. Its bad enough that you can actually get small clumps when he showers. The front of his head has been slightly thinner for the past few years but all of a sudden his whole head is getting this way. Back at the end of June he had to have his appendix removed. Should have been in the hospital overnight but instead the Dr. cut his intestine and sewed him back up without knowing. 5 days later he was still in the hospital, had not eaten in 4 days and was going back under to see what was wrong. He had gone septic from the intestines leaking. So they had to clean him out and repair the holes. 6 days later he was still bad so they went in and opened him up again and he once again was leaking bile and such into his abdomen because the tear they fixed did not take, so then they had to actually cut a portion of his intestines out. So for about 3 weeks in July he did not have anything to eat or drink. He was fully on just the fluids they would give him through his iv and PICC line. After this and once he got sent home his Gallbladder stopped working so for another week he was not able to eat because once he went back to the hospital they kept him and again would not let him eat. In this time he lost about 35-40 pounds. So this has been resolved now for 2 months and now his hair is falling out. At his last dr visit they took blood, did all the tests they wanted to do considering what he went through and everything looked good. He says he feels better than he has in a long time, he has gained back 20 or so pounds and he is eating good now, not great but for the most part he eats well and we take lots of vitamins. So I think his hair is finally catching up to the trauma his body went through and is shedding all the hair but it will stop soon and start growing back. What would you all think? We racked up about $300,000 in hospital bills in 2 months so he is not very excited to go back to a Dr anytime soon for more blood work.

[Kaelee]

The timeline is about right for it to be a major stress shed, and I'd bet on it being related (after all, that was a LOT of stress, malnutrition, etc.) Stress shed usually happens about 3 months after the event, so you're right on target there.

[Wildcat Diva]

Isn't it often experienced post surgery? Due to the drugs to knock you out? I think I heard that somewhere that it can be a side effect.

[Gladtobemom]

I think you need to be finding a lawyer. The doctor made a life threatening error . . . you should not have to pay for it. With the new caps on awards, you'll probably only get actual costs, so be able to prove exactly how much you are "out of pocket."

I also think that sometimes, taking "a lot of vitamins" will cause your hair to fall out. I know it did for my second son. He got on a whole supplements kick and after a couple of months, started losing hair in clumps. He dialed it back to just a multivitamin every other day and after a month or so, his hair grew back.

Of course, it could be other things, so the doctor should check it out.

[Kaelee]

I agree about finding a lawyer! Yikes! Your poor hubby. :(

[TiaKitty]

Anesthesia and malnutrition and stress will all cause hair loss. The only way to tell if it will come back is to wait and see, unfortunately.

I'm glad he's feeling better and is finally on the mend.

[Firefox7275]

I agree don't "take a lot of vitamins" since you can do more harm than good by setting up or worsening imbalances, or taking an unhealthily high dose. By all means eat a balanced varied nutrient dense diet including lots of smaller oily fish, organ meats like liver, seafood like molluscs, nuts and seeds, beans and lentils, plain/ natural dairy, bright and dark coloured fruit and veggies; if your husband is eating enough of these types of food to gain weight he is likely getting plenty of vitamins and minerals.

Any supplement regime should be targeted and tailored to the individual's health issues, medication, diet, physical activity levels, age, gender, etc. That would generally mean you and your husband would not be taking the same nutrients.

[pogo0685]

On the subject of vitamins - we have been taking them for a few years, we tailor them to meet our needs. The hospital would not let him take them and he felt the effects one by one of them. Thank you for the worries though, vitamins are of those things you need to be careful with!

We did talk to a lawyer. He said its an expected outcome of getting your appendix out. (lovely isnt it!)

Thank you though for all the thoughts. I thought I read here that it would take a few months to show up. I hope it ends in a few weeks. If not I will have to drag him to the Dr. and thats not going to be easy!

[breezefaerie]

So glad he is on the mend!

I also think this is a stress-related shed due to the extreme trauma he expereinced. Hopefully with a good diet and medical issues resolved, his hair will come back.

[vindo]

Like others have said, everything that happened to him can cause sudden hair loss.

He should be seeing some regrowth at least after three months of shedding if it is just telogen effluvium. It can stop anywhere between 3-6 months, 3 would be ideal but some people take longer.

[MandyBeth]

I'm so sorry about the crappy care! How is he now?

Flat out - no, leaking post intestinal surgery is not an acceptable risk, nor was the hospital ignoring symptoms to protect the inept monster.

My mom died from colon cancer. She had 4 intestinal surgeries - including removal of her appendix and removal of sections - with that. Another surgery (unrelated) was her entire abdomen being full of the "chocolate syrup" leaking of blood and chunks from her uterus which required scraping things clean. She, despite being very sick, never had leaking. My scraping hell was worse and I didn't leak.

Anecdotal history, but I refuse to find it just bad luck. Bad luck is doctor cutting their gloves. This is medical malpractice.

Report the doctor, any other doctors, nurses and other hospital staff to their respective licensing boards. Even if they do nothing, keep records of all contacts. File a police report. Because, if this is allowed, it'll happen again and eventually it will be fatal. Your reports will help the victim. Because, if the boards know there's a very serious violation of patient care and did nothing, they need to face the legal system and explain why they put such little concern on those they're supposed to protect.

[Hele]

We did talk to a lawyer. He said its an expected outcome of getting your appendix out. (lovely isnt it!)

wait, what?! Sewing someone up with an unnoticed leaking intestine is NOT an expected outcome for a fairly common surgery. You should not be going into massive debt over their error. Completely agree with mandybeth's post above. I'm really glad your husband's doing better other than the hair loss.