In May 2010, using myself as the usual experiment-test-dummy, I took DHEA to see if it would help with my thyroid and adrenal issues. Within three weeks I lost over half my hair volume, and what hair I had left broke almost to the root. Devastating? Yes!
At the time I had been taking Natural Desiccated Thyroid medicine, Hydrocortisone for adrenal fatigue which was going pretty well. But then added DHEA. The combination was a hair disaster.
Until it was gone, I had no idea how much I loved and identified with my long hair. For a year now I’ve been sulking and depressed, enviously watching women with long hair.
For a while I wore hair extensions which was great and helped me through the early trauma of losing almost 8 inches of hair. Finally I’ve recovered, and now embracing the short hair while it grows out.
That’s the backstory, now the goods news! I’ve done tons of research on how to grow and maintain healthy hair, which I am excited to share. Even if you have strong hair, you might know someone who has gone through a similar tragedy. If you have hair care tips, please share! In my research, it seems that growing strong and healthy hair has four key parts:
Hair Growth: Iron Supplements
My first concern was speed of hair growth. Every morning in the mirror, I desperately willed my hair to grow. Apparently healthy hair grows about 1/2 inch a month. So 6 inches a year! But for us hypothyroid people, I read we often have low iron which means hair grows slower! My iron was very low, so I made sure to take my iron (25 mg/day). From what I’ve read it takes about 3-4 months to get iron levels up so it was important for me to be diligent.
Hair Strength: Zinc
My hair had inches of terrible split ends. So I had to work on strengthening my hair. I read that Zinc was good for hair strength (also supposedly good for thyroid) so I added Zinc 10mg a day. My hair is no longer splitting, and the new growth is getting stronger. Thumbs up for the zinc. Plus I noticed an added bonus of less acne, woot!
Hair Shine: Omega 6
I read that Evening Primrose Oil Omega-6 was good for strength and shine, so I’ve been taking Evening Primrose Oil 1350mg 2/day for a year. It’s a little hard to tell if this made a difference with my hair, but it seems like it hasn’t hurt. And the Evening Primrose Oil definitely helped with PMS and mood swings! That was a huge bonus.
Stress: Vitamin C
When the body is in stress it draws from nutrients from the hair, skin and nails first. My hair tragedy was a clue that my body was not happy with me last year, and very stressed. In Adrenal Fatigue, James Wilson writes about the importance of Vitamin C to help the adrenals deal with stress.
Recently on Janie’s Blog on Stop the Thyroid Madness, she feels she never had adrenal fatigue because she has always taken lots of Vitamin C. This was great info! For the past year, I upped my dose of Vitamin C to 2k units a day with 1k units of bioflavinoid (for absorption). Spread into four doses a day of 500mg. When I take my Vitamin C, I feel really solid all around. The bonus for taking higher doses of Vitamin C, I wasn’t sick at all this year.
PS – Thanks to the ladies at the Yahoo Grow Hair Forum who saved me many times.
2 comments
Join the conversationAnita - July 15, 2011
I'm struggling to find a doctor that actually will treat me properly. I live in the St. Louis area, would any of your readers know of someone?
Lizzy - July 16, 2011
Hi Anita, I only found one doctor in Missouri who is on the "good doctor" list from the yahoo group. Not sure if this is close to you…
Dr. Tipu Sultan 11585 W Florissant Ave Florissant, MO 63033 (314) 921-5600
But it's worth joining the yahoo groups and asking for more recommendations for your area, the list might need to be updated. They are usually quick to reply. xxoo
Thyroid Group
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/NaturalThyroidHormones/?yguid=353484161
Adrenal Group
http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/NaturalThyroidHormonesADRENALS/?yguid=343900017