fmd36

Oh, and I forgot. Nails(if that is what you could call them) split and peel. I have had thyroid turmors and still have a growth there. To remove it would leave my entire blood chemistry off. It is also probably an auto-immune problem with me. Have had 3 miscarriages which is also an indicator. But I have the promise of a restored body in eternity...but wouldn't it be funny if then we were all bald? I am going to call my MD and check about the biotin. Thanks to all.

Annaquilts

[/quote]
I've had fine thin hair all my life and recently started taking biotin. Not sure I see a difference but I'm hoping. I do the best I can to get a good hair cut & staying healthy. I also have thyroid meds so found it interesting that it is a side effect of the meds?[/quote]

No, it is not a side effect of the thyroid medication but a side effect of low or high thyroid. So when your thyroid levels are not where they should be you might have hair loss. Even if you take medication your levels might not be where they are a number of 3 or less for TSH is most desirable. I am at .8 and am trying to go even lower because I still had symptoms. If you have both hairloss and other symptoms of low thyroid like feeling cold, weight gain and sluggish definitely discuss that with your doctor. It is amazing how much thyroid levels, too high or low, can affect your whole body.

ganny

Ditto that!! :D

bbeyes

I can relate. My hair is so thin these days but I was told there is a medication for high blood pressure that helps hair to grow but my doctor wouldn't give it to me. Also I went to a wig store and got one of those hair pieces that goes on the tope of my head has little clips and I where that when I need to be dressed up. It really makes a difference. I also use volumizing shampoo.
Its the pits to get old eh?

Pzazz

This has also been a problem for me. I have always had thin, fine hair. After having 1/2 of my thyroid removed due a goiter growing on it, I was having all the symptoms one looks for for thyroid issues. My doc was testing my thyroid regularly, but because my levels were within the "accepted levels", she didn't think that was my problem....even tho' I only have 1/2 a thyroid now. When I asked to see my numbers from the previous years' testing, I was amazed...yes, I was still in the accepted range, but my numbers had jumped from extreme bottom end of the spectrum, to the upper extreme. Because I was still in that range, she thought I was ok. I asked if she would still think it was ok if my numbers had jumped that far from just inside the range to way outside. After checking with a thyroid specialist, she started me on thyroid meds, biotin, and women's Rogaine. My hair will never be thick flowing locks, but I am happy with how much I have now. I use Walmart generic rogaine, so reasonably priced...and I only use it 3 times a week now...just enough to keep the new growth from falling out.

So out of this long ramble, I guess what I am suggesting to anyone having their thyroid checked....ASK for your numbers!!!! And don't give up until you have answers and a solution that is right for YOU.

Patti

Sugarfoot

Hi, I found help with my thinning hair with a fiber product. You sprinkle it on thin patches and it attaches to your hair and helps hide the scalp.You can find it at www.toppik.com.

Judie

I know all doctors are different.. and M.D.'s interpret tests in a different way (no from a different perspective)than a D.O. does. I am not a doctor so take this for what's it worth. All it is is my experience.

I have fought weight all my life.. had crappy (sorry, no other word works as well) peeling nails that were paper thin.. I began to lose my hair also.. Went from plucking my eybrows to only having a few..I Had beautiful long eyelashes at one time, then the bottom lid had hardly any. I had migraine headaches, and horrible allergies. I took 15 years worth of allergy shots trying to cope with that! I caught every bug that passed bye. I was so tired that I felt like I could just sit and do nothing.. not read, not watch tv.. nothing.

I had had my thyroid checked a number of times over the years.. it always came back low, but within normal.. I accepted that, I mean doctors know, don't they?? Besides thyroid is nothing to mess with. I got very low emotionally, could hardly drag myself to the couch, looked awful, felt awful and seriously didn't want to live like that anymore (which is differnt than being suicidal, I think).

One of my friends talked me into going to see her doctor... I went in thinking if one more doctor told me "that if I just wouldn't eat as much and perhaps count some calories, and get up off the couch and do something" I was going to just get up and walk out! I had heard that a million times and I wasn't going to get bawled out again. Well this doctor took my blood, did the tests, ask a million questions and actually listened to what my answer was. He told me that sometimes those tests do not tell the complete story. Sort of like "one size fits all", we all know that's not true and everyone knows people who are too big or little for the one size thing.. He said he was going to try me on a bit of thyroid and see if it made a difference. I was afraid to take it as I had heard all these 'stories' about what happens when you take it if you don't need it.. They are probably true.. but the thing is I did need it. I began feeling better within a week... I felt no kick from the medication, just better.. when I went back, he upped it a bit more..

Well to cut to the chase, I take thyroid every day.. I feel good, my nails don't peel back in layers, my allergies are gone,(my allergist said thryoid had nothing to do with allergies, it was just coincidental, but they have been gone for over ten years now), my migraines are almost non-existant.. my migraines were apparently allergy related. If you don't have enough thyroid, nothing works well. Before thryoid I caught everything.. every cold, every flu, anything and everything. Now I haven't been sick in years. My hair still isn't like it was when I was young, but I do have eye lashes again.

MY point is, for what's it worth, if you are showing all the signs of low thyroid, and your tests show you at the very bottom of the scale of normal.. then perhaps you might need to ask your doctor if it would hurt to try some. If he refuses that's fine.. He has to do what he thinks is best, but knowing what I know now, I'd see someone else and try again. My life is completely different.

oh.. I'm not thin as a rail and my eyes don't bug out! But I feel great! They continue to do tests to make sure you don't get too much, so don't worry.

Sorry this is long.. It is a subject near and dear to me.

misseva

see - when i first started taking thyroid meds my dr then wanted me to go to a shrink b/c i was having memory problems, etc. changed doctors - he tested my uptake and sure enough - i needed thyroid meds (the kind i have is inherited - my mom took'em too) i would even forget where i parked my car at work and on the way home i'd forget where i was going. then approx 8 yrs ago my thyroid went wild - producing too much!!! had to have my thyroid radiated and it's been a long uphill battle to get the right dosage. my reading were in the low acceptable range or hi acceptable - just had my blood drawn again & am waiting to see if i need to go up or down. btw my hair had gotten thin as well as eye brows & lashes.

beberle

Hi, I'm new to the board. I've been fighting this problem 5 yrs. Started after a d&c at age 58. Had all kinds of tests done, lupus, thyroid, ra, hormones, diabetes and also a biospy. The conclusion was alopecia areata. Yhey don't know what caused it! Stress can cause it, tho I've had less stress then than I had 5 yrs before when my mom died and my job was relocated to a city away from family and husband. Thought maybe it was interaction w/meds or using wireless headphones or even anesthia (sp), but they dismissed that. I got my hair back in places, but when I had a second operation 2 yrs later lost everything, everywhere. Its just part of life now, tho the first time it was devastating. Sorry this is so long, but hope this helps. Get tests and see if its medical. It could be worst, but you'll have people think you have cancer and give you hugs. Thats a big plus. Sometimes you explain, sometimes say thank you.

Theresa

Thank you all for your "stories". This hair thinning thing is the pits, and I've seen some valuable information here. Am on 125 mcg. thyroid meds. Will wait to see if my hair starts to thicken. It would be nice (as well as my nails).