BariatricEating.com Health & Nutrition
Rant - Hair Trauma
This was part of a thread on a Sunday morning Bariatric message board...
‘I’ve been losing my hair for the past 6 months. How long does this last?’
‘I am in the same boat and some days I think it’s never gonna end. It’s been a month now, and I hear it goes on for a few months.'
‘That my dear is a million dollar question as I've been losing mine since June, and I thought it was going to stop, but then all of a sudden, more started falling out.’
‘I wish I knew, too. I have been losing mine for about a month and I don't have much to lose! My hair had fallen out some from being fat and having crazy hormones, or so my doc says. I am waiting impatiently for it to stop shedding and start growing back. It will grow back won’t it?’
‘I have been losing mine since February.’
‘Mine was thinning out, too, and it seems to have slowed down. I am nine months post-op, and this is around the time everyone told me it would start and then slow down.’
‘I've been losing hair for about 3 months and it was thin to begin with! Unfortunately, the most obvious hair loss is (of course) right in front, around my face. Soooo, lately I have been wearing a wig and have gotten lots of complements, Friday I went to the bank and a complete stranger told me, "Your hair is beautiful!" I wanted to blurt out, "It's a wig!" But I just said "Thank you."’
’HOPEFULLY it'll all come back.’
I am NOT picking on these ladies as I feel sorry for them and losing one’s hair is traumatic. For all I know these ladies may be taking their vitamins and drinking their protein… but I doubt it.
’Have all of you been taking your vitamins as if your life depends on it?’ I mean EVERY day... not just occasionally or when you happen to think of it? There’s a good probability that you don’t; many of us don’t. I really feel for women who suffer from hair loss as I understand and can personally relate.
When I give talks at events and I'm standing with a high podium vantage point I often see a sea of shining scalps and it seems like I am speaking to a chemo group rather than a bariatric group. It is terrible and truly gives me a sick feeling. If I later have the opportunity, I will ask those with the most severe hair loss about vitamins to see if I can help them. With few exceptions these are the women who take the subject the most lightly. “I tried to take them but just couldn’t tolerate them.” “NO… I can’t seem to remember to take them.” “I had lap-band, I don’t malabsorb” “Oh… I don’t need them, I eat food!” They just don’t seem to connect the hair loss to their lackadaisical vitamin habit.
I have a 4 year post op girlfriend who has way more scalp showing at the crown than she should and when I question her about the vitamins that I know she doesn’t take, she lightly tosses ‘I have always had thin hair’ back at me. There is a woman who comes into my new store who has shocking hair loss and terrible dark circles under her eyes. When I try and steer her to the vitamin display, she tells me she takes a drugstore brand. The last time she came in, my less diplomatic husband told her “‘Darlin’, I think you need to try these vitamins over here!” She just doesn’t see it for some reason. Does that same mechanism that blinded us to the reality of our morbid obesity kick in and allow us to turn our heads to our hair loss? Why do so many of us let things happen to us rather than be proactive and preventative or at least quickly recognize and correct these problems. Are we just so damn glad we aren’t fat that we settle for bald and sickly looking? It is getting to the point where people expect those of us who have had weight loss surgery to have that ‘look’ and are surprised if we look healthy!
Please don’t kid yourself because you take kids chewables either! If you see scalp they probably aren't working; if you don't see scalp they probably aren't working. Fred, Barney, Wilma, Betty, and Dino may be good for children but are NOT good for a 243 pound adult. (Look in the mirror and note that you don’t resemble a 40 pound child... additionally a 40 pound child absorbs their vitamins and isn't going bald). There is no excuse anymore for taking Flintstones; if your nutritionist doesn’t know better you should. We have to be our own health advocate as it is ultimately our responsibility.
If you are taking a one a day type adult vitamin... maybe you aren’t absorbing them and you need to try a vitamin designed for gastric bypass patients. You may be one of the folks who needs the added delivery boost of a liquid or chelated form. ‘It’s not which vitamin we take… it’s what we absorb’… is a very true statement and not just a sales plug.
Some hair shedding is definitely from the shock of surgery and is normal in almost all surgeries... but it should be a short term occurrence if you maintain proper nutrient levels.
I am 4 1/2 years post op and back then almost all the docs said children’s chewable vitamins were fine. Times were also different in terms of information that was out there. I lost a tremendous amount of hair in my first year; I used to cry in the shower when I would see copious amounts of my long black hair tangled in my fingers with the shampoo suds. It was more hair than I could ever justify as being normal. Initially, it was from the shock of surgery but it continued longer than it had to because of my own vitamin habits. I took Flintstones vitamins quasi-regularly. I dinked around for a very long time and didn’t bother with good vitamins; then for a while actually buying good vitamins but leaving them on the kitchen counter. I finally realized that they didn’t work unless I actually swallowed them. It wasn’t until I figured it out, got serious and took the vitamins every day that all my hair grew back. After 2 years of being meticulous about taking vitamins I can finally say that my hair is thicker than it has been in years.
I can only imagine what my surgically induced malnutrition was doing
to my organs and muscles. I guess it takes the vanity of hair loss to
catch our attention rather than common sense. If you are reading this
take a quick peek in a mirror; if you have less hair on your head than
your husband has on his back, you have a problem! Then let’s figure
out where your vitamin regimen is lacking. I promise you there’s
a connection and once you experience how good you feel and healthy you
look when your vitamins are getting into your system, you will be yelling
it from the rooftops!
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© BE, Inc. 2011 - Susan Maria Leach. All rights reserved.
