low ferritin hair loss, chronic telogen effluvium

[ikke1978]

I have hair loss for 4 years now. I am trying to grow my hair, but it just won't grow. Also, I lost a lot of hair on my temples, hairline, sides, nape, just everywhere. 50%-60% of my hair is GONE!! (in 4 years time). I had biopsies done by my dermatologist who concluded: chronic telogen effluvium.

Now, my ferritin is only 7 (iron level still fine), so my dermatologist thinks this can be a cause of my regrowth not growing longer than 1 inch. Has anyone else experienced hair loss with low ferritin and then regrow their hair? I have a lot of thick regrowth (about 30% of my hair is regrowth, is same thickness as other hair, but only 1 inch (so doesn't help with the volume loss), also 20% is not growing back.

I wonder if anyone else has a story about ferritin on hair loss!

Hope to hear from you...

[lapushka]

Disregard my questions in the other thread - it's clearer to me now why there's so much hair loss. Yes iron shortage is a well known problem for hair loss.

[Illryeth]

Hello my dear, I am so sorry to hear you are going through this :( *hugs*!!!
I made a fast google search for you and found this person here: http://www.hairlosstalk.com/interact/showthread.php/71466-OMG-after-14-years-it-FINALLY-STOPPED!!
The last paragraph is where she explains what she did:

"I ran home & googled “low ferritin levels” and there it was; the most common reason for losing hair is a ferritin level below 70................. I eat red meat at least 3x a week so it was pretty shocking that my iron is low but for some reason my body wasn’t able to store it. I started on 325mg of FERROUS SULPHATE 2X A DAY…after 1 month my blood was tested & my ferritin level went to 41. Did I notice any hair improvement? A tiny bit – maybe instead of losing 1,000 hairs a day it went down to 950! Then I decided to search for a better way to raise my levels & thank the lord for the internet because I found out that the best iron with the greatest level of absorption is FERROUS FUMARATE…so I started myself on 325mg twice a day AND with each pill I take 500mg of L-Lysine & take it with a big glass of orange juice – if I have to take it with water then I add 500mg of vitamin C….then I waited, but not for long because within 2 weeks my dream came true. The shedding really slowed down….but I thought it was my imagination /maybe I was going insane because I was at my breaking point with my damn hair….i saw my best friend who said, “holy **** your hair looks so thick on top, I think its working”! she asked me to take it down from the clip but I wouldn’t. Not yet. Another week passed and it wasn’t just a dream or wishful thinking but I could tell my curls were longer & when I showered it wasn’t ALL over my body. It’s been about 5 weeks since I began taking my ferrous fumarate cocktail and I am wearing my hair down. I can hardly believe it. I just took a shower and hardly anything came out. A lady at Target came up & asked me if I permed my hair or if my curls were all natural, and I had such pretty hair….TOTAL SHOCK!! I COULDN’T EVEN THANK HER BECAUSE I WAS SPEECHLESS. I haven’t had a compliment on my hair in about 14 years….14 LONG years!"


Hopefully this information helps you dear!!! :blossom:

And please dont forget to check this with a doctor before doing it to make sure that it wont make any damage!!!

[ikke1978]

WoW, that makes me happy

[lapushka]

WoW, that makes me happy

Discuss it with your doctor though and don't do this on your own. Taking too much iron is not without risk.

[ikke1978]

thanks, I am taking the supplements on doctors advice.... hope it will work soon. Just started them last week.