Posted by Racer on March 30, 2005, at 10:25:13
In reply to losing hair!! does it grow back?, posted by CareBear04 on March 30, 2005, at 1:47:27
I've gone through two or three phases of hair loss in the past year. Each time, handfuls of hair have come out each day and it is horrible! And it was what your doctor described: a reaction to stress.
I did a bunch of research, and found that it's most probably -- at least in my case -- something called telogen effluvium (or thereabouts -- I haven't looked up the spelling, so don't quote me on it) It usually happens about two to three months after the stressor, and what happens is that all the hair in the "resting" phase of the growth cycle falls out at once, rather than spreading the loss over a longer period. Your hair has a three phase growth cycle: active growth, resting, and shedding. In TE, the shedding happens all at once, so you can lose about one third of your hair in a very short time!
It's horrible, there's no question about it, but it grows back. About the same time I resign myself to being half bald, I realize that I'm not anymore. In my case, I had so many major stressors last year, all coming one after the other, that I went through multiple phases of it. But that's unusual, so I wouldn't worry about it.
Yes, it's probably stress. Yes, it's stressful to lose your hair. Yes, it will grow back. Yes, I do envy you greatly for having thick hair! Mine is thin to begin with, so you can imagine how horrible it was to lose so much!
Hope that helps.
poster:Racer
thread:477536
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20050330/msgs/477626.html