Hi all!! I am only 3 weeks post op but I keep hearing about people losing their hair and that is kind of scarry....My surgeon told me that the hair loss is from the surgery and stress on the body and not from the diet. (as long as you get enough protein) Does anyone know this? When would someone start losing their hair? Also what is biotin and where do you get it??:confused2:

I am 5 weeks post op. One of the ladies was talking about loosing a lot of hair at my post op nutrition class. I've had no problem. I would just listen to your DR., take all your Vitamins and eat plenty of Protein. (The protein will keep you full, and not hungry as a bonus :sneaky:.)

enjoy the journey, forget to stress

carlene

Thank god for doctors who give accurate information. I could kiss him/her. Biotin is a supplment that's probably not going to do much for you. People like to load up on supplements... probably a mental thing, largely, because adding additional nutrient to your body normally doesn't make any positive difference unless you have a defecit of said nutrient. If you don't know that you don't have enough of it, why would you just pile on more? (that kind of thing)

Pasting some of my previous posts so I can be lazy and not have to re-type:

Biotin does not prevent hairloss. If it did, we wouldn't have any bald people, and expensive products like Rogaine, and hair Clubs for Men, and wigs, and surgical treatments for hairloss, and...

Have you been tested to show a Biotin deficiency? If you have a biotin deficiency, you will lose hair. Period. Not just the hair on your head. Eyelashes, eyebrows, arm hair, etc. Taking biotin only increases the amount of biotin in your system, and that will only have a significant impact on hairloss (ALL hair) if you are counteracting a deficiency. As of about 4 months ago, there was never a single study ever that showed an improvement of hairloss by taking Biotin in people that did not have Biotin deficiences.

[...]

If you have a, or a few deficiences, you need to know exactly what they are and not just start popping supplements... that can be very bad for you. (People think they're harmless, so not true.)

If you search here and read through the hairloss threads (tons of them), the one thing you will find repeated by seasoned bandsters is that it's a waiting game. The hairloss starts, persists sometimes for 4-6+ months (about a year was the worst I remember), and then almost overnight it stops. There is no one product that consistently shows results.

By the way, IF you have a Biotin deficiency, which you probably don't, and IF taking Biotin helps with your all-over-the-body hairloss, it really is going to help all over the body. In other words, not only will your eyebrows, eyelashes, and arm hair grow, but so will ALL hair.

There's really nothing you can do for it, so save your money. Body trauma, including surgery, and anesthesia are known catalysts for hair loss. Like everything hair, it's a cycle, and it too will change.

Hair loss has much more to do with the fact that your body underwent major trauma than it has to do with Protein. Any advice that tells you protein overload is the answer -- take it with a grain of salt at best. You can lose hair if you have extreme protein (or most things including circulation/poor blood levels, etc.) deficiences, but we're just not likely to get there.

Surgery, period, can cause hairloss. A significant body trauma, period, can cause hairloss. Body shocks, period, can cause hairloss. Bandsters have all of the above. I lost MORE hair when I had my GB out than when I had my band surgery, and my protein/blood levels are just fine. Throwing more protein into my diet would have just made me work harder to lose weight.

We tend to run to our hairdressers for advice on hairloss because we assume they're experts, but they are no more experts on hairloss than someone who mows your lawn is an expert on soil chemistry. They can tell you how to style, cut, color, etc. but I've never once heard a hairdresser give good advice on hair loss. They're big on throwing protein at you - protein shampoos, conditioners... umm hello, hairloss is at the follicle... hair breakage is in the shaft, and might be aided by slathering on different shampoos and conditioners, but keeping a hair from breaking doesn't do much good when it's released at the follicle.

I would suggest using our search functions. These threads and many, many more (a lot of them containing questionable information, so reader beware) can be found using search terms such as "hairloss" or "biotin," etc.

BTW, hairloss started for me about 3 months out with my band surgery, and about 2 months out with my gallbladder removal (about 6 months ago). With band surgery it lasted a good 2 months, and with gallbladder it lasted about 6 weeks.

People like to tell you it's because Protein, this, that -- the chances of that being accurate are tiny. We're just not going to get there. Body trauma, anesthesia, etc. cause hairloss. Hence I experienced virtually the exact same thing with my gallbladder removal as I did with my band, and I was getting more than enough nutrients with both.

sorry for using this page, but I've been trying to add a ticker to my signature and it didn't show up. Just tried again and am checking.

good advice wheetsin (hope I got that right, am having a senior moment)

carlene