I want to know if EVERYONE experiences hair loss. And if so what percentage of people have major/minor hair loss.

i bet if i had collected all the hair i lost it would weigh a half a pound. do you think i should revise my ticker ????

There is an article on MSN today that has answers to the hair loss. Below I quote it:

:hungry:

<TABLE style="WIDTH: 1912pt; BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=2549 border=0><COLGROUP><COL style="WIDTH: 140pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 6802" width=186><COL style="WIDTH: 140pt; mso-width-source: userset; mso-width-alt: 6838" width=187><COL style="WIDTH: 48pt" span=34 width=64><TBODY><TR style="HEIGHT: 15pt" height=20><TD class=xl63 style="BORDER-RIGHT: #f0f0f0; BORDER-TOP: #f0f0f0; BORDER-LEFT: #f0f0f0; WIDTH: 1912pt; BORDER-BOTTOM: #f0f0f0; HEIGHT: 15pt; BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent; mso-ignore: colspan" width=2549 colSpan=36 height=20>If you have iron or protein deficiency—common with the caloric deprivation

of anyone suffering from an eating disorder—it is not unusual to experience

severe hair loss. That’s because the malnutrition forces the body to conserve

protein (the building block of all the body’s cells, including the hair) by shutting

down hair growth. And since more hair may also be shed—without being

replaced—the result can be a noticeable thinning over several months.

Thyroid disease (both an overactive thyroid and an underactive one)

can also show up as increased hair loss. Once the disease is controlled, hair growth

can usually be restored.

</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>

I had all my blood work done when the hair loss began, and everything come back normal. I attributed it to the change in diet, and the shock to the body. I know for a fact I was getting more than enough protein.

When the loss finally stopped, I breathed a massive sigh of relief....I was probably a bit premature in doing so! Just a few weeks ago I was diagnosed with a thyroid tumor, actually several of them, and had the center (the isthmus) and the entire right lobe removed. Now I get to see if the hair loss begins again...with more anesthetic, and more hormonal changes!

Boy will the fun never end???

Kat

The though of losing my hair scares me ,but I still want the surgery. Besides a woman I work with had LBS over a year ago and lost alittle over 100 lbs and she said she didn't have any hair loss at all . So I'm keeping my fingers crossed that I won't lose my hair .

(((Kat))) I am sorry to hear about that. I hope everything is okay!

I am an African American female and got my hair highlighted and boy did it come out!! Has anyone else experienced this?

Wow, I did not know that so may people lost hair, thats kind of disheartening, good that it comes back though...

Yikes! I have thin hair to begin with, I hope I dont have hair loss. I can deal with it though. Does anyone know why it doesn't seem to start falling out until several months after surgery? I think I'll start on the folic acid now!

Nothing yet....only about 6 weeks post op though!

Sounds like our Drs aren't being up front about hair loss. Maybe it would discourage people from having the surgery. It will be a drag, but not worth being fat. I'm a hat person anyway!

Kat, I'm sorry for your new problems. It sucks getting old, I'm finding out!

Blund - when I asked my doctor about it he made a fast comment and said, "if you take your protein and vitamins you won't have hair loss; its the people who don't do this that have it"... which I believe is a complete lie because I know people on here who have done all that and still had hairloss. So yeah, the docs aren't telling us everything.

I polled 25% but it seems a bit less than that. Pro-Diet. lady said proteins and fats are usually cut so low that hair is weak, dry, brittle, and falls out easy... keep up good fats, and tons of proteins. Now that seems to be working for me. Good luck to all.

I read an article on a bariatric web site that said that hair loss was farily common, but after the weight stablizes, it comes back to normal.

Seems like a RNY patient would REALLY lose their hair because of the malnutrition. I knew someone who was in Africa in the Peace Corps who lost almost all of her hair due to malnutrition. She has tons again now.

Oh well, I'm a hat person anyway!!!

my hair loss has curbed for now. my nurse freaked when i told her though. i dont think she had heard of people losing their hair. but thank you for making this thread, it makes me feel better about it :-)

I lost a lot of hair years ago when I was on Redux and lost weight quickly. I'm losing a lot again now. Strangely enough, I didn't lose any when I did Atkins and lost 65 lb fairly quickly a few years ago. Protein and fat intake makes the difference? I don't know.