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Loveletters
August 24th, 2019, 04:11 PM
Hello there! First of all, if anyone remembers a post of mine a few months back about my ED and my hair thinning because of horrible breakage, I知 doing much better now! I知 eating more healthy foods and I try not to skip meals anymore. Anyways, a week or 4 ago I had a blood test and the results said I have really bad iron deficiency. I知 on meds for that now, but I was wondering if this could also be the reason my hair is breaking off. I知 going to try to keep eating enough foods that are rich in iron and vitamins after I stop taking the meds, but I知 just scared the breakage will get worse and worse. Thanks in advance. <3

lapushka
August 24th, 2019, 04:18 PM
Hello there! First of all, if anyone remembers a post of mine a few months back about my ED and my hair thinning because of horrible breakage, I’m doing much better now! I’m eating more healthy foods and I try not to skip meals anymore. Anyways, a week or 4 ago I had a blood test and the results said I have really bad iron deficiency. I’m on meds for that now, but I was wondering if this could also be the reason my hair is breaking off. I’m going to try to keep eating enough foods that are rich in iron and vitamins after I stop taking the meds, but I’m just scared the breakage will get worse and worse. Thanks in advance. <3

EDs take about a year to sort themselves out, even if you started eating right again, it takes its time - I know! I was on the brink of an ED once and it took 6 months to a year for my hair to start to grow back thicker again. So then it takes more time for you to notice the changes.

But keep going, girl, you're on the right track! :)

It is all related, unfortunately, the iron deficiency can do harm, and the ED for sure. Just keep on top of the iron supplementation and get tested regularly, especially with the ED history it is important!

Good luck! :D

milosmomma
August 24th, 2019, 07:25 PM
I dont have any good advice I just wanted to say I'm glad you're doing better and I'm proud of you for getting your health on track :)

MamaLou
August 25th, 2019, 05:06 AM
I'm also very glad you're doing better :) And well done for taking care of yourself! It is not easy to recover from an eating disorder and you can be very proud of yourself for the progress you've made. I'm sure your hair will regain it's thickness when you continue to eat a sufficient diet. I always thought that mainly low calorie diets caused hair thinning, but I'm not sure if I'm correct about that. I don't know if iron deficiency has anything to deal with hair thinning, but for your overall well-being you should definitely treat that iron deficiency (I would definitely continue using de prescribed meds, it might also help to have something with vitamin C - like orange juice - with your main meals)!

lapushka
August 25th, 2019, 11:03 AM
Yes I am also proud (I so forget that sometimes). An ED is difficult. Not that I had one, but I was on the very brink of one, and even that was hard to get past, so I can imagine what it must be like. :flower:

:grouphug:

PillowBook
August 25th, 2019, 02:13 PM
EDs take about a year to sort themselves out, even if you started eating right again, it takes its time - I know! I was on the brink of an ED once and it took 6 months to a year for my hair to start to grow back thicker again.

Eating disorders can cause permanent damage. Anyone with an eating disorder needs medical care because ED are a medical issue. Even if the ED is "cured" there can be lasting effects.. time does not heal all wounds.

And unless you have actually had an ED, then you don't know. I'm not invalidating your experience Lapushka, but I am asking you to respect mine. I have an ED and I'm in treatment right now.

lapushka
August 25th, 2019, 03:14 PM
Eating disorders can cause permanent damage. Anyone with an eating disorder needs medical care because ED are a medical issue. Even if the ED is "cured" there can be lasting effects.. time does not heal all wounds.

And unless you have actually had an ED, then you don't know. I'm not invalidating your experience Lapushka, but I am asking you to respect mine. I have an ED and I'm in treatment right now.

I'm sorry you feel that way. In fact you *are* invalidating my experience, practically telling me to be quiet about what I went through just because you imagine you went through worse issues. I rather think that all of our experiences are different, that doesn't make anyone's experience "better" or "worse" than anyone else's. You don't know what "on the brink" was for me, what difficulties I had and such. So you can't just judge on the matter.

PillowBook
August 25th, 2019, 03:40 PM
I'm sorry you feel that way.

This is non apology is not helpful.


In fact you *are* invalidating my experience, practically telling me to be quiet about what I went through just because you imagine you went through worse issues. I rather think that all of our experiences are different, that doesn't make anyone's experience "better" or "worse" than anyone else's. You don't know what "on the brink" was for me, what difficulties I had and such. So you can't just judge on the matter.

First of all the advice saying "EDs take about a year to sort themselves out" is incorrect and dangerous. You tried to lend some authority to that comment by saying "I know! I was on the brink of an ED once" but that has no baring at all on the matter.

Secondly, you yourself said that you did not have an ED. Therefore you don't know what it's like to have an ED. That's not an invalidation of your experience, it's a fact.

lapushka
August 25th, 2019, 03:44 PM
This is non apology is not helpful.



First of all the advice saying "EDs take about a year to sort themselves out" is incorrect and dangerous. You tried to lend some authority to that comment by saying "I know! I was on the brink of an ED once" but that has no baring at all on the matter.

Secondly, you yourself said that you did not have an ED. Therefore you don't know what it's like to have an ED. That's not an invalidation of your experience, it's a fact.

EDs after you're "cured" take physically (for hair) a year to sort themselves out, yes, that is true. Please don't pull my words out of context.

On the brink, you don't know what that all entails (and I am not prepared to go into it in detail). Just know it was bad enough.

PillowBook
August 25th, 2019, 03:56 PM
EDs after you're "cured" take physically (for hair) a year to sort themselves out, yes, that is true. Please don't pull my words out of context.

I'm going to need a citation for that claim.


On the brink, you don't know what that all entails (and I am not prepared to go into it in detail). Just know it was bad enough.

I know it wasn't an actual ED.

So I guess that's why I found your comment "An ED is difficult." so hurtful and offensive. It feels minimizing, flippant and presumptuous.

lapushka
August 25th, 2019, 04:22 PM
I'm going to need a citation for that claim.

It's not a claim; it's what happened to a few of my friends (who did have a full-blown ED, yeah... I had an odd circle of friends at the time). It took about 6 months for me to get on my feet, but I noticed it took a year for them.




I know it wasn't an actual ED.

So I guess that's why I found your comment "An ED is difficult." so hurtful and offensive. It feels minimizing, flippant and presumptuous.

Still you don't know what "on the brink" means either. I lost my period for 3 months, but like I said, I am not going to get into it further (I don't want to talk about it).

Let's just agree to disagree, because I feel we're never going to see eye to eye on this issue here.

I have my history, you have yours. Both situations are equally important. I want to stress that. Stressing one is not discounting the other!

cjk
August 25th, 2019, 04:24 PM
Nutritional issues, particularly long-term issues, can be bad enough. I'm not even going to pretend that I understand, fully, but I'd expect all the worst aspects of crash dieting, persistent illness, maybe even hormonal issues, and probably even more that I'm not considering.

I'm just glad you're on the road to recovery!

I know nutrition affects hair growth. So my instinct is to say you're right. But I'm not certain whether iron, specifically, is causing the brittleness.

Putting aside the ED for a moment, my own breakage was caused by dryness and mechanical damage. Since going curly-girl, which focuses largely on moisturizing the hair strands, my own breakage has nearly stopped.

PillowBook
August 25th, 2019, 08:22 PM
It's not a claim; it's what happened to a few of my friends (who did have a full-blown ED, yeah... I had an odd circle of friends at the time). It took about 6 months for me to get on my feet, but I noticed it took a year for them.

Even if I took you at your word, that would only be anecdotal evidence from a stranger on the internet. You have no idea how long it takes hair to recover from ED.

[QUOTE=lapushka;3712948]Still you don't know what "on the brink" means either. I lost my period for 3 months, but like I said, I am not going to get into it further (I don't want to talk about it).
/QUOTE]

You said you don't have an eating disorder.

I do.

Being "on the brink" is not the same as actually having one. And I can assure you having an ED is a lot more than just "difficult".

But you're so caught up in the need to be an authority and the need to be right that you can't see how offensive you're being.

This is like the Silk Press thread where AutoBots said that heat was damaging and you kept arguing with her that... heat was damaging. Did you ever apologize to her or acknowledge that you were wrong?

I would really like to resolve this, but it doesn't look like that's going to happen. Still, my mailbox is open.

To everyone else especially Loveletters, sorry for the derail.

Nox_Inber
August 25th, 2019, 09:25 PM
I think we can all take a step back and appreciate that every single one of us has all struggled in life one way or another. Maybe the struggle itself, severity, length of time, emotional and physical impact, or extent of recovery isn't the same experience but I think one of the best parts of a community is that we each bring our own unique perspective. We share personal knowledge and experience and it's okay that the information can be conflicting. Isn't that the beauty of the community experience? We hear from a different perspective and as long as respect and care is being given then the pool of knowledge grows larger as does the opportunity to learn from one another. I hope we can all continue this conversation by sharing "Hey, this is what I went through and this is how it was different" and keep respect for all experiences, even if they differ from our own.

Loveletters First of all, congratulations on being on the road to recovery :) I wish I knew more about breakage from iron specifically but I'll share what general knowledge I can. Hair grows from within and dietary deficiencies can have a large part to play in hair breakage and shedding. I believe diet can cause hormonal changes too, another thing that can affect hair! Physical and even intense emotional stress can cause huge sheds. Hair can take a while to sort itself out and recover, it's normal for it to take months to see improvement hair-wise unfortunately. I've noticed from my own health issues that the hair that grew during poor health is much drier and more porous compared to my coarse, healthy hair which has finally started growing in months later. I know how disheartening it is to have hair break off like no tomorrow. I lost half of my hair because it was so brittle and thought I'd never have long hair again :cry: It will probably seem like the breakage is never going to stop but it will! Moisture has helped me a lot, the more porous parts love it! Keep up the good work and hopefully your hair will soon follow :)

PillowBook
August 26th, 2019, 08:44 AM
I think we can all take a step back and appreciate that every single one of us has all struggled in life one way or another. Maybe the struggle itself, severity, length of time, emotional and physical impact, or extent of recovery isn't the same experience but I think one of the best parts of a community is that we each bring our own unique perspective. We share personal knowledge and experience and it's okay that the information can be conflicting. Isn't that the beauty of the community experience? We hear from a different perspective and as long as respect and care is being given then the pool of knowledge grows larger as does the opportunity to learn from one another. I hope we can all continue this conversation by sharing "Hey, this is what I went through and this is how it was different" and keep respect for all experiences, even if they differ from our own.



I want to thank you for posting this Nox. It's not my intent to shut down discussion or imply that the only people allowed to talk about ED are people who have been through it. I'm in treatment and not recovery and it's a really scary place to be. I'm not sure why I feel so hurt by some posts.. all I know is that I'm going through so much pain right now and I would do anything not to have my ED.

lapushka
August 26th, 2019, 09:18 AM
I want to thank you for posting this Nox. It's not my intent to shut down discussion or imply that the only people allowed to talk about ED are people who have been through it. I'm in treatment and not recovery and it's a really scary place to be. I'm not sure why I feel so hurt by some posts.. all I know is that I'm going through so much pain right now and I would do anything not to have my ED.

I fully understand that. I will take responsibility for what I said and brought to the discussion. It is often very hard to talk about something we are going through and I get that. :flower:

AutobotsAttack
August 26th, 2019, 01:25 PM
Its important to understand that the breakage towards the ends of your hair, and mid shaft has nothing to do with what is going on internally in your body. Iron deficiency can effect the future hairs that will grow out. I think a lot of people still visualize that the hair as a unit is sill somewhat alive in some way. As soon as your hair grows from your hair, and completely hardens it is no longer alive, and your scalp/body is not supplying it with nutrients any longer.

Iron deficiency has a bigger role on the follicle, and the quality of hair it produces. Which then, yes, you can say that breakage is a much higher concern for hair that is growing in an already compromised state. Iron deficiency eludes to more hair shedding. However hair breakage is solely caused by whatever manipulation that has been put upon the hair. You can do external protein treatments to provide a bit of strengthening to the hair. Moderate strength treatments done in intervals does a good job of doing that.


I'm under the assumption your post is hinting at shedding more so than breakage. If not, then what I mentioned above would be fairly accurate in giving my opinion on the matter. I struggled with bulimia for 14 years, so I wish you all the best in your recovery as well.

Nox_Inber
August 26th, 2019, 02:02 PM
I'm so glad I could be of some help :o I truly empathize for your situation PillowBook, I can only imagine the pain and anguish you must be going through. My best wishes are with you and I hope that you will soon find the peace and light you're working so hard for :blossom: We also have a support thread under the H&BB restricted section of the forum where you can vent and share your story if you ever need a place to express those feelings :) I don't know if we have a thread specific to ED's but you can also create your own if you want :)

MusicalSpoons
August 26th, 2019, 02:06 PM
I went back to see your previous threads and it sounds like both shedding and breakage might be at play here? In which case Autobots' explanation covers both elements; you've struggled with nutrition for a few years so most of your hair probably grew in a compromised state which would account for it being fragile. One of the known symptoms of iron deficiency, however, is shedding - but I don't know the mechanism for that as to whether it might continue over a long period of time, perhaps by causing your hairs to have a shorter growing cycle and thus shed sooner, or whether extra shedding happens when your body goes through the initial shock of deficiency and then slows down at all. I don't know. Either way it won't be the sole cause of any excessive shedding for you, as inadequate nutrition from any form of ED will give your body less to spare to make hair than if you had sufficient nutrition. As you are in recovery and making progress, you will see the physical effects of it in your body's own time, including in your hair. I know that's not the 'measure' of recovery but it is still one positive sign of heading in the right direction. I hope you have all the support you need in this journey :flowers:

[PillowBook not wishing to derail this thread but I'm sorry to hear you're also suffering and hope you are able to make headway with treatment :flowers:
And a :grouphug: for everyone reading this affected by EDs, past or present.]

PillowBook
August 29th, 2019, 08:18 PM
Sorry it's taken me so long to reply... I've been at a loss for words.


I fully understand that. I will take responsibility for what I said and brought to the discussion. It is often very hard to talk about something we are going through and I get that. :flower:

Thank you for that. :flower:


I'm so glad I could be of some help :o I truly empathize for your situation PillowBook, I can only imagine the pain and anguish you must be going through. My best wishes are with you and I hope that you will soon find the peace and light you're working so hard for :blossom: We also have a support thread under the H&BB restricted section of the forum where you can vent and share your story if you ever need a place to express those feelings :) I don't know if we have a thread specific to ED's but you can also create your own if you want :)

Your post actually made me cry. I have a hard time accepting help and being understood like this is intensely emotional. It means a lot to me. Thank you Nox.




[PillowBook not wishing to derail this thread but I'm sorry to hear you're also suffering and hope you are able to make headway with treatment :flowers:
And a :grouphug: for everyone reading this affected by EDs, past or present.]

I am in a safe place and getting help so I have a lot to be grateful for. Thank your for being supportive, it makes me feel better.

cactuses
August 30th, 2019, 12:41 PM
So an iron deficiency could affect the blood flow to your scalp. If your hair is breaking off close to the beginning of your hair growth, yes you can contribute it to iron anemia. General length breakage could be related to a myriad of factors.