Hair Loss and Vitamins

So, obviously, I knew that hair loss was a possibility. I'm just past three months and I'm losing a scary amount of hair. I don't have any bare patches on my scalp, but I'm worried that I'm headed that direction. My hair is unusually dry, and yesterday I got a massive tangle in my hair. That hasn't happened to me since I was a little girl! And as I brushed it out? I lost even more hair. It really is a ridiculous amount that I'm losing. Is this common/normal? Will it stop any time soon? What should I be doing to prevent it/stop it?

My other question is about the vitamins. I went out and bought the Bio-Tech ones as recommended here on the forum. I've just been taking all of them in the morning together and now I'm wondering if that's wrong. If I shouldn't take like A with D or something. If I should be spreading my vitamin intake throughout the day. Thoughts?

You can drive yourself crazy with all the what goes with what stuff but the most important thing is to just take the pills. That said, it makes sense to take supplements more than once a day. Here's why. Everyone has receptors for vitamins and minerals in their guts and we have less of them because we are surgically altered. Each receptor latches on to a molecule of whatever, processes it, then grabs another one. If you take more supplements than you have receptors available, it goes out the poop chute as waste. I take mine twice a day, morning and evening. Pretty much half and half. It is also a fact that our gut processes more slowly when we are sleeping so I may actually absorb more of what I take a night than in the morning.

Hair. I have always had crappy hair so I feel your pain. The loss is from surgery and it will happen every time. Trauma does it. The only thing I have ever seen improve hair is biotin. It's pretty cheap and I take it every day. It is not an overnight fix and it will take months to cycle around again even if you take the biotin. My sister also has crappy hair and she almost went bald when she had the DS. Mine was not that bad.

That's good info for the vitamins. The one's I'm taking are one pill - so would I split it up like take A in the morning and D in the evening, or do you do something else? (And I can't really cut them in half or anything.)

Thanks for the tip on the biotin. :)

Rut roh! OK there is a problem. You are a DSer...right? There is no 1 pill we can take that has enough in it of what we need. I am guessing it's an ADEK? Probably suggested by your surgeon? I can promise/guarantee for sure your labs will go straight in the toilet with your regimen. And eventually you will become so deficient you will have problems.

Bariatric Advantage and others of this ilk are revenue streams for surgeons. They are not helpful to DSers. Way too low dose. You need to start learning about supplements. In the meanwhile, as in now, you need to start taking 2 multis per day, 4 of what you are taking now, and a full dose of calcium citrate(that's usually 4 pills per day). Me personally, being female and wanting to avoid osteoporosis, I would add in a full dose of Boneup too.

Go to vitalady.com and print out her list for DSers. This is what you need to start taking now. Buy the stuff wherever you please. Read the labels! You will have to take more than 1 of almost everything to get the correct amount/dose. Plan on buying these till you get your first labs done. Then you will probably have some doses to adjust. Remember not to buy anything in oil based gelcaps. These are a waste because we don't absorb 80% of the fat we eat! You wan****er miscible supplements. Not oil/fat.

You will need some kind of organizer. I use 2 from the dollar store and I count out a weeks worth, AM and PM, at a time. Lots of people have fancier ones but that works for me and it's only 2 bucks. An even less expensive option is snack sized ziplocks. I use those when I travel.

You have a lot to learn! It really chaps me that surgeons don't tell their patients what they really need postop. But it's because they don't know. Vitamins and supplements get very little air time in medical school. When you don't know, ask questions!

This MAY explain your concentration issues!

I take the Bio-Tech pills that were recommended when I asked about vitamins in an earlier post. They're all dry pills, and the dosage is the one pill I'm taking -

50,000 D
1,000 K
25,000 A
400 E

Along with a priobiotic, 5,000 B12, calcium citrate (two 600 pills for 1,200) and a multivitamin.

Feel much better now! Add the Boneup and another multi and you should be good till your first labs.

I take 2 calcium tablets (250mg per tablet), 4 times a day. So that's 2000mg in total, per day.

Hi, hope you read this, I've had the DS 7 months ago, I also have crappy hair and when you described your sister- that's what I'm dealing with right now, even considering a wig. What I'm wondering is did her hair grow back/get back to some sort of normal?

Really dry hair could mean you need more fat in your diet

That's a possibility. But I didn't have much fat in the beginning and am just now seeing this problem, and I'm eating fatty foods (like bacon) and I take servings of olive oil and coconut oil. There's not really anywhere else in my eating plan to try and add in more fat.