A Secret Not Shared Here Before

[Lifezbeautiful]

Did you know Intra Uterine devices cause shedding.

Well...it does..If you are frustrated by heavy shedding and about to shave your hair off after doing everything else you can........WAIT. It may be that little metal in your body.Medicated or not....

[MonaMayfair]

Yes, I've certainly heard this. I don't know anything about these devices, I've only been on the pill, but I've heard the Mirena Coil mentioned as being responsible for hair loss.
Of course, the contraceptive pill can also cause hair loss, as can most medications.

[Amber_Maiden]

Yes, I've certainly heard this. I don't know anything about these devices, I've only been on the pill, but I've heard the Mirena Coil mentioned as being responsible for hair loss.
Of course, the contraceptive pill can also cause hair loss, as can most medications.

Exactly. Basically anything the body isn't used to can cause shedding- extra hormones/hormonal changes, drinking too much alcohol, changing diet, etc.

When I had my IUD I didn't shed more than I do now, but I did shed more for a time when I had it removed.

[Naiadryade]

Hmm. I can imagine that this would make sense if you have a hormonal IUD. Extra hormones can mess with our bodies in all sorts of ways. But a plain old copper one? Why would having a tiny spiral of copper in your uterus cause hair shedding?

[Lifezbeautiful]

Well....Its a secret cause I havent read about it on LHC I guess....



I joined in 2010 coz i was having heavy shedding. Did everything...heavy oiling,overnight caps,aloevera soaks,no heat,dermatology consults,biotin,vitamins,no-cone,conditioners,egg on head....healthy eating.....EVERYTHING I COULD DO.
So now after realising this secret myself recently, I JUST WANT TO SHOUT from the top of my lungs....lol:eek:

[ravenreed]

I shed often. I get major sheds from stress, illness, and certain medications. It is often difficult to pin down the cause of a shed.

[torrilin]

You haven't looked at the IUD thread have you...

[Lifezbeautiful]

You haven't looked at the IUD thread have you...
No where is it. I tried searching.

[woolyleprechaun]

You haven't looked at the IUD thread have you...
:D
My favourite hang out by far...

[Carrie Ingalls]

No where is it. I tried searching.

The IUD thread can be found here. (http://forums.longhaircommunity.com/showthread.php?t=70)

[cooklaezo13]

I have had a copper IUD, no hormones, for a year now and noticed no increase in shedding at all. There are a lot of factors that cause shedding and it can be hard to pin down the cause. I'm sorry that the IUD caused shedding for you.

[Anje]

I've got a copper IUD. No shedding from that -- in fact, I've got some massive new growth that's looking about a year old now.

If you're coming off hormones, make sure you don't confuse what the IUD might cause with the shedding that many people go through when they stop using hormonal birth control.

[Amethyste]

Copper IUD instered over 20 years ago... No shedding induced by it.

[WaterMusic]

Another copper IUD. I had a huge shed a year ago, but that was over two years after it was inserted, and I think can be traced to other factors.

[LaurelSpring]

You know, I started using Progest, a hormone cream for menopause and I had a big shed. I never attributed it to that. I thought maybe it was other things but now that you mention it this could probably be the cause. Thanks for posting this!

[sycamoreboutiqu]

>>>Copper IUD instered over 20 years ago<<<

Amethyste - Really, 20 years ?? You aren't really expecting it to work after all that time are you ?

I had the CU-7 (copper coiled around a plastic "7" shape) back in the late 70's - took it out - had a baby and another similar one in the early 80's. The second one part-way came OUT . That was a weird experience - happened after hours and the doc, when he returned my call said, Well if it isn't causing bleeding or anything see me in the morning. Seriously.
Had the thing removed and went to the pill.

[Amethyste]

>>>Copper IUD instered over 20 years ago<<<

Amethyste - Really, 20 years ?? You aren't really expecting it to work after all that time are you ?

I had the CU-7 (copper coiled around a plastic "7" shape) back in the late 70's - took it out - had a baby and another similar one in the early 80's. The second one part-way came OUT . That was a weird experience - happened after hours and the doc, when he returned my call said, Well if it isn't causing bleeding or anything see me in the morning. Seriously.
Had the thing removed and went to the pill.

well, yes! i do expect it to work. It's mechanical. Plastic and Copper. why would it stop working? The copper does'nt run out, just changes the Uterus PH. Unlike a hormonal IUD which becomes less effective over time, the CU-7 (which I have) can last a lifetime. I am having intercourse (many many times a month) and seriously, and to this day, it still works. My doctor in Canada said that if I don't have pain, extra heavy periods, I don't have to change it.

[Scarlett brooke]

Four months after I had my second daughter I had the implanon inserted in my arm. I lost so much hair after like there is a visible line where the hair is all growing back and the ends look thin. I thought it was pregnancy hormones but maybe it was the implant.

[Lifezbeautiful]

Four months after I had my second daughter I had the implanon inserted in my arm. I lost so much hair after like there is a visible line where the hair is all growing back and the ends look thin. I thought it was pregnancy hormones but maybe it was the implant.


You know, I started using Progest, a hormone cream for menopause and I had a big shed. I never attributed it to that. I thought maybe it was other things but now that you mention it this could probably be the cause. Thanks for posting this!


I am a Nurse Anesthetist with Soo...many Doctor and Nurse Practioner friends. They all heard about me cry over my heavy shedding. I did everything I could that they recommended plus joined LHC, ..............read almost every hair care things,started Biotin,Vitamis,heavy oiling ,night caps,BBB,TLC on combing,eating healthy,protein treatments,shampoo......I dont know what all I did for 2 years..
It never crossed my mind about this Copper IUD i put in on Nov 2009.The shedding started in Jan 2010. But I thought it was stress of my Masters Program,lack of vitamins etc...

BUT THE DAY I TOOK IT OFF LAST MONTH I NOTICED LESS SHEDDING. I have completly stopped shedding now I should say/OR I feel from what was going bon from before. :)

[Freija]

Mmm... if it's the copper IUD we're talking about, as opposed to the hormonal IUS (Mirena), I don't buy this.

I mean, theoretically the IUD could cause shedding. This would be because your body happens to be very, very sensitive to any sort of change and the stress of insertion, or of having a lump of plastic in your womb (maybe if the IUD you have isn't a good fit?), caused some general malaise. But in this case, your body would almost certainly adjust in time. The other possible way for the IUD to be linked with hairloss would be as a result of low blood iron (since the IUD is known to cause heavier menstrual flow, and this sometimes leads to anaemia).

But the IUD doesn't just cause you to spontaneously shed purely by being there. It's not an evil 'secret' that the medical community are trying to hide from you, and there's no conspiracy. :) It's a wonderful option for many, many women who can't or do not want hormonal birth control and for whom other methods are undesireable or even unsafe. The IUD is still the most effective method of preventing pregnancy, and with new, tiny and even frameless forms being developed, it is symptomless and very safe in most cases. The only thing that it is adding to you is copper, and studies*1 have proven that this doesn't leave your womb in the first place: it is not found in higher than normal amounts in the blood or tissue of IUD-wearing women. A tiny amount of copper wouldn't hurt you, anyway. It's a mineral that, in very small amounts, the body actually uses*2.

So as I said, the only things about the IUD that can affect you are the possible physical stress of it being there, if you are nulliparous or have a smaller-than-average uterus (but newer versions like the frameless GyneFix or the small Flexi-T have proven amazingly successful in these cases: the GyneFix is especially well-tolerated), or the possible anaemia from increased blood-loss during menstruation (again, this is less of an issue with the GyneFix and can easily be counteracted by increasing dietary iron or taking a supplement). Meanwhile, there are many, many other factors that can all speed up or slow down the shed rate, including the weather and the time of year, and it's almost impossible to isolate a single factor.

Ultimately, your own shedding may not really be the problem you think it is. Shedding is highly subjective, and it always seems as though you are losing more hair than you are. I lose what feels like a palmful each washday, and I could panic about it. But I shed very little the rest of the time (no brushing between washes!) and I still have a full head of thick, curly hair with no bald spots, so I'm not going to worry. We spend so much time caring for our hair that to lose any feels wrong, but it's important to realise that shedding is as much a desirable and natural process as growing. Growth gets the hair long, shedding lets it renew and stay healthy. This might sound callous, but as long as you aren't actually going bald, you're probably fine. :D

*1 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8122497 (and, in layman's terms: http://drjengunter.wordpress.com/2011/11/15/myth-busters-gyno-style-does-the-copper-iud-affect-copper-levels-in-the-blood/)
*2 http://lpi.oregonstate.edu/infocenter/minerals/copper/

[Krentje]

I think every hormonal change can cause a shed, but I don't really believe you keep on shedding once hormones have settled down/ your body adjustices to the new balance. Eg. stress causes much more hormones to fluctuate (and keep on fluctuating, if the stress remains) than a mirena!

ETA: There will of course be some people who may be sensitive to IUD, I am sorry if you are one of those, but i am soooo fed up with IUD bashing, sorry

[Freija]

Four months after I had my second daughter I had the implanon inserted in my arm. I lost so much hair after like there is a visible line where the hair is all growing back and the ends look thin. I thought it was pregnancy hormones but maybe it was the implant.

This could be - but the implant is deliberately designed to release hormones into your bloodstream. As such, it is one of the more invasive forms of contraception. The Mirena IUS releases hormones too, but these are generally thought to stay mostly in your uterus (it is disputed, but there's no definitive evidence either way). The IUD that the OP was discussing, though, is the copper coil, which does not contain hormones at all, just a bit of copper (it raises the PH of your womb while it's there, which prevents fertilisation). But post-partum shedding is also a hugely common and well-documented phenomenon in women who have no contraceptive hormones, IUDs, or anything else in them, so it could just have been that. Or the stress of giving birth and the exhaustion of looking after a newborn. You might even have been a bit anaemic. This is what I'm trying to say - it's nearly impossible to identify a single cause for this sort of thing, when there is just so much that could be a contributing factor.

[PixxieStix]

Thankfully I can report that having had my copper IUD for nearly seven years now, I'm happy to say I've never had an increase in shedding due to it. :D I can see how it would indirectly cause some other potential problems (heavier bleeding for periods for the first 6 months or so) which could lead to some increased shedding though. It's good information to be aware of, and I'm so sorry you had trouble with it.

[Kristen121]

I've heard this too. I have a Paragard IUD. I did notice some increased shedding after getting it, but I had also just had a baby, so I don't know if it's from the IUD, normal postpartum hair loss, or both. It seems to have leveled off now, so I'm inclined to think it is just normal postpartum hair loss.