hey all,

I am close to 3 months pre op I have lost about 23 lb since surgery and 44 total since September. The last three weeks I have been having "major" hair loss. I have been taking my Vitamins and have been doing well with my Proteins, has anyone else had problems and what have you done to take care of it. Thank you.

peace,

spiffy in Seattle:crying: This is my worried face!

Hi, Spiffy. Yes...I went through the same thing. I think that many of us do. It really didn't matter what I did...it was coming out. It eventually stopped after about a month to a month and a half. My hair has always been thin and I was freaking out. I used a product by Nioxin called Hair Thickening Gel. It gave my hair the appearance of being thicker so it made me feel better. Don't worry...it will eventually stop.

try the vitamin Biotin and shampoos made with coconut oils

Thank you for the reassurance and good ideas about the vitamins and shampoo. It gets kinds scary to see so much hair on the shower floor each morning.

Hairloss is the result of body trauma, a.k.a. anesthesia, surgery...

I had my gallbladder out in August, and had pretty much the same hairloss. I can guarantee you it's not because I didn't use a certain type of shampoo, or didn't take X supplement.

Most people who have surgery will lose hair, they just don't always put 2+2 together. Guess what --trauma, surgery, anesthesia... are the only common bonds. Not what shampoo we use, not what supplements we take, etc.

Hairloss is not the result of a deficiency unless you've been tested for it and know you have the deficiency. In other words, don't take Biotin to help it unless you know you have a deficiency (if you have one, you'll know it). Don't throw a bunch more Protein in your diet unless you know you already aren't getting enough. 100gm more protein than your body needs is 100gm of extra crap your going to make your body store (fat).

If your hair is breaking, oils, conditioners, tonics, etc. may be able to help, but hair falling out is not the same as breakage, and topical treatments aren't doing to do crap.

See this thread: http://www.lapbandtalk.com/f178/hair-issues-54894/ (sorry, I've typed tis so many times that it's now just quicker to refer to existing posts.)

At last I looked, not that long ago, I could not find a single medical document proving the effects of Biotin in people who didn't have Biotin deficiencies. Shampoos, etc. are largely urban legend.

Hair growth/loss/dormancy happens in cycles, and cycles come and go. Wait it out. It's not pleasant, but it will pass. In the meantime, save your money and don't go buy whatever random people tell you to buy.

Thank you so much Wheetsin, I checked out the previous link and saw your posts there as well. I guess I was mislead to believe that if you were "suffering" trauma from surgery it would happen much sooner, seeing your post helps me to understand that my 3 months later is not that unusual. I had a hysterectomy at a very young young age and never suffered hairloss at that time, but I am in a much different "life pattern" so stress makes a but more sense as a cause. I am so lucky to have found this board.

Is there, by chance, an archive of "what i wish I would have known..." type of issues? like a friend's guide to banding? This would be a perfect item to include. i did ask my doctor about hairloss prior to surgery because I had a friend who had Gastric bypass done and she had lost a lot of her hair, i was told this would not happen because my stomach could still absorb most nutrients, so even the doctors seem confused.

I had my surgery 4 months ago and am now losing my hair by the handfuls (or so it seems). I am scared to death I am going to lose all of it. I hope it stops soon or I won't have any hair left (I have very thin and fine hair as it is).

Hi Spiffy,

I had my banding done 15 weeks ago and over the past 3-4 weeks I have noticed a large amount of hair loss. my doctor checked my thyroid to see if that was causing the problem. she also wants me to have my hormones checked too. sometimes because there is so much estrogen stored in our fat cells, we are releasing some extra hormones and that could explain some of the hair loss, but either way, she thinks that this is something that will eventually stop.

It's very hard to see all that hair in the shower every morning and not only has my hair been falling out, the texture of it has completely changed. it seems coarser now too. But I've been told not to worry about it. In the past when I've dieted and have had some hair loss (due to lack of protein) the biotin helped a little, but it was more of the fact that I increased my protein and calories to a normal level.

I think that we both need to just relax about it for a little while and if it continues for more than 2 months longer, then we should go back to our surgeon for more testing to find out if there is something metabolically wrong that can be corrected by taking some sort of supplement or medication if necessary.

Hang in there! The good news is that we are starting to look so good that no one is noticing our hair!!! LOL!:biggrin2: