Hello All..I am almost four months out since my banding and have done great so far, besides some occasional pain in my side...I had really thick long beautiful hair...I mean really thick...now it is really thin and way more then normal hair is falling out...like handfuls...Im taking the protein shakes and vitamins and was also suggestion Biotin Shampoo or vitamins...is there any other suggestions and will it grow back again? Im really depressed about this..I mean it went from 2 full ponytails to equaling one small pontail...Your suggestions are appreciated!

My hairloss was also extreme, leaving me cleaning the shower drain every other day, and almost burning up the vaccum cleaner! It lasted several months, but the good news is, it is not permanent. It will stop eventually. Mine is regrowing---although much slower than it fell out! I lost 12-18" strands, and the new ones are now, maybe 2" and tend to stick up all over my head! The days of wash & wear hair are gone for now, it takes some attention!!!

Hang in there----and try not to stress, I think that makes it worse.

I did not have an issue at any time before or after surgery with low Protein, that did not affect it, neither did the Biotin shampoo, or nioxin, or swallowing bioten or zinc.....time is all that made a difference. I too went from thick and managable to thin and wispy, with a wide part, and a visible scalp! When I finally gave up worrying about it----it quit! So do try not to stress!!!!!

Sorry you too are experiencing this---it was by far the worst part of my banding, everything else was good!

Kat

I too am just shy of four months out and my hair is falling out by the handfulls. I dread taking a shower because I lose so much hair. I have to clean the drain every morning and clean out my brush. The bathroom floor is covered. I have a referral to get blood work done to see if I have any issues there. I can't wait for this to stop. I had thin hair to begin with and this is getting ridiculous. I can't stand it...

Wish I could reach out and give you a hug, I know how traumatic it is....I can only say, it will....eventually stop. My blood work up showed nothing that would result in hair loss, but I am really glad I did it, it was already showing me my drop in triglycerides, among other things, it showed me my band was working for my health.

Keep in mind, if you get super thin, and have no hair, you can always buy a cool wig. On the other hand, back when you had a full head of hair, you could not go buy a thin suit to slide on....keep it in perspective, and it WILL quit!!!

So sorry you too had this happen!

Kat

Kat's experience seems to be the same as mine. I started losing weight in Feburary and about three weeks ago it started falling out like crazy. I have red hair past my waist, and I'm DEVASTATED. I did everything I could think of for prevention, I take two chewable MVI's a day, I take biotin, I eat no less than an average of 80 grams of protein a day, I use a breakage defense shampoo, I massage my scalp gently to stimulate blood flow to the area, I do everything we're supposed to do and it is dropping as fast as I can pick it up. I've always been a shedder, but this is CRAZY. My labs are fine. I think some people have more of a tendency to lose it than others. I haven't majorly cut my hair in probably ten years, I'm sooooo sad but I'll probably have to after this. I know everyone says it will grow back, so I'm hopeful, but I dont think I want waistlength wisps of hair with short stubbies on my head when it grows back in. I just hope when I finally make the decision to cut it there is enough left to donate to locks of love.

faithmd, cut off 10 centimeters, just chop off the dead tips. That should give your hair a break. My hair stopped falling out after I cut the tips off.

Thanks, Croatica! I'll do that tomorrow.

Do not worry, dear. It will stop falling off. I have red hair too. :biggrin1:

I noticed an increase but not as much as I expected because I am a shedder, my hair is ALWAYS everywhere in the house, all over the bathroom floor, in the drains. I have quite fine but frizzy, fragile hair that takes a lot of styling to make it presentable, I have to straighten it everyday.

My hairdresser and I worked out my hair was breaking off, not falling out. The condition just went to pot after about 10 months. I was very low on Iron and that seems to have worked somewhat, but the schedule I now keep of Protein and conditioning treatments is utterly ridiculous, I virtually wrap my head in cling wrap with a conditioning treatment for 20 minutes every shampoo. I use Redken CAT by the bucketload too. This is what truly made the difference to my hair and fixed the breakage problem. It costs me a fortune.

Surprisingly, it never looked thinner, I didnt notice any difference in my part, I just noticed the increase in hair all over the house!

Its very stressful!

Jacqui, mine fell out---with the bulb at the end attached! BUT---I had been through total hair loss before due to chemo, so think maybe that made my experience different.

And now I am living Faiths nightmare----I have about 2" hair THICK all over my head. No wide part, no scalp showing, hair is healthy---but I look like a dandelion if I do not slather my head in product!!!!

Hang in there!!!

Kat

I have been having the same problem as well..had surgery about 4 months ago(4/3/07) and have lost about 50lbs and had really really thick, long, curly hair past my waist and it was falling out in gobs. My Nurse practioner at the doctors office suggested a hair cut, and to make sure you are taking your daily multi vitamin and also suggested I try a hair and nail vitamin as well. I cut 8 inches off and started taking the extra hair and nail vitamin and it does seem to be starting to slow down. Hopefully it will stop soon, my husband is getting upset that I keep clogging the drain more than usual :-)

I was just reading an article about this in OH magazine last night. Well, the article wasn't *about* hair loss but hair loss was mentioned. The bariatric surgeon writing the article said this is normal. While I have heard most docs say 4-6 months after surgery it happens, this guy claims it happens from months 3-11.

OMG, 3 more months of this and I won't have any hair left! For me it is 4 months through - now, 8 months. It's slowed down but I think that is because I don't have as much to lose anymore. I suspect I've lost over 60% of my hair. Thankfully I had a lot to start with.

My personal experience with it, was it started about 4-5 months out and lasted til 11-12 months out....and it did seem to lessen, then suddenly would be horrible again. But it stopped just as suddenly as it started, and it was just before my bandiversary. I too lost well over half my hair.

As I said before, they mentioned mine might have been more severe due to having lost 100% of it before due to chemo.

It will quit, and I feel like stress only made it worse---breath deep and repeat...it will stop, it will stop.....

Kat

My personal experience with it, was it started about 4-5 months out and lasted til 11-12 months out....and it did seem to lessen, then suddenly would be horrible again. But it stopped just as suddenly as it started, and it was just before my bandiversary. I too lost well over half my hair.

As I said before, they mentioned mine might have been more severe due to having lost 100% of it before due to chemo.

It will quit, and I feel like stress only made it worse---breath deep and repeat...it will stop, it will stop.....

Kat

I don't want to breathe deep, I'll inhale a hair!

Honestly, this is getting spooky and creepy. I'm gonna be bald if this doesn't stop.

Keep in mind, if you get super thin, and have no hair, you can always buy a cool wig. On the other hand, back when you had a full head of hair, you could not go buy a thin suit to slide on....keep it in perspective, and it WILL quit!!!

This is what I posted before, and I think when I finally accepted that and relaxed with it...it stopped. Now it could have just been time for it to stop I have no idea, but relaxing helped....sorry anyone else has to go through it, even my DH admitted the other day he felt sorry for me you could see my scalp so clearly!!! Thankfully he didn't say that then, I would have been more of an emotional wreck. But I repeat---It WILL stop!

Kat

What helps mine is really good conditioner, it had stopped and I had to have surgery for another reason and it started again and I started deep condtioning again and it slowed it down again, just my 2 cents.