HAIR LOSS

If you are losing your hair, or know someone who is, then you know that it can be very frightening and anxiety provoking. There are several products on the market to help deal with the symptoms of hair loss, and may, for some percentage of the population, act as a temporary fix. These products however do not go to cause. Like many OTC medications they treat symptoms only, and quite often with unwanted side effects.

There are a variety of potential reasons for hair loss. In my practice I look to cause and treat that, rather than the symptom. When cause is treated the underlying problem is solved and the results are long term.

Some causes of hair loss: Anemia, Hypothyroidism, Autoimmune Disease, Hormone Imbalance, Stress, Zinc deficiency, and Malnutrition. To investigate I order blood work, and salivary hormone tests. When we understand where the deficiency or imbalance is we can work to effectively correct it through appropriate nutritional supplements, herbs and lifestyle medicine.

I recently had a patient, a 23-year-old woman, who had been steadily losing her hair for months, She said she would wake up and see lots of hair on her pillow. He scalp was clearly visible, more so than it should have been. Her blood work revealed a severe iron deficiency anemia, low Vitamin D, and low protein. Her hormone tests revealed low progesterone and adrenal fatigue. After just a few weeks of being on a good blood builder, Vitamin D, adrenal support and bio-identical progesterone, and eating adequate protein, her hair stopped falling out and started growing back. We can no longer see her scalp!

So many problems are like this: skin problems, musculoskeletal pain, digestive disorders, mood disorders, immune system weakness. The moral of the story is to not just treat symptoms, but find the underlying cause and fix that!

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