Im gonna go bald at this rate!!!

I always knew that hair loss could be a side effect of gastric bypass... but never in a million years did i think it would be this bad!!! It started two weeks ago and im starting to freak out... big time! Every time i shower or brush my hair i end up bawling my eyes out. im getting huge clumps of hair... over the course of a week the amount of hair that fell out equaled the size of a grapefruit! My biggest fear is that im going to get patchy bald spots, or worse go bald all together. 

Is there anything i can do or take to stop this? My hair is the one thing about myself that i love and am not self conscious about... looks like thats gonna change :(

When did you have your surgery? I was just about to post this also!! I am only 8 weeks out and it started falling out by the handfuls last week!!! I thought it wasn't supposed to happen until 3 months out :(

I had my surgery on july 2nd... so it hit me pretty much right at the 3 month mark! I did notice some fall out around the 8 week mark, but within the last 2 weeks its gotten a lot worse.

According to my hair dresser I lost about 60% of my hair post-RNY. I would say that was about right. I didn't do anything differently and it grew back. When I had surgery in 2013, I again lost my hair. It grew back. It's called Telogen Effluvium and it happens. It will grow back.

Telogen Effluvium

K.

Agreed. It will grow back. I was already thinned out before I had surgery so was really scared. I did have hair come out in clumpfuls for a few months straight, but give your body time to adjust and recuperate and it will slow down. I noticed a difference of the slow down around 10 months. I'm at 14 months post now and am having lots of grow backs.

I too am having lots of hair come out! You could make a wig out of my hair loss! Even though we were warned about this, I hope it stops soon! 

haha i was just talking to my friends about this yesterday, i made a joke about saving the fall out to make my own wig... apparently that would be weird lol  I really hope it stops soon too, but i have a feeling that its gonna be a while :( 

my nutritionist told us that the first "falling out" of hair within first few weeks is from anesthesia and then later if it keeps coming out in large amounts it means your not getting enough protein, but im not a  nutritionist.

I looked up what Karen mentioned (wise girl that she is..). 

Telogen Effluvium

"People with TE never completely lose all their scalp hair, but the hair can be noticeably thin in severe cases. While TE is often limited to the scalp, in more serious cases TE can affect other areas, like the eyebrows or pubic region.

Whatever form of hair loss TE takes, it is fully reversible. The hair follicles are not permanently or irreversibly affected; there are just more hair follicles in a resting state than there should normally be.

There are three basic ways TE can develop.

1. There might be an environmental insult that "shocks" the growing hair follicles so much that they decide to go into a resting state for a while. This results in an increase in hair shedding and a diffuse thinning of hair on the scalp. This form of TE can develop rapidly and may be noticeable one or two months after receiving the shock. If the trigger is short lived, then the hair follicles will return to their growing state and start producing new hair fibers pretty quickly. This form of TE usually lasts less than six months and the affected individual has a normal scalp hair density again within a year."

I'm not sure how long your hair is but it looks long. Others that I have known have cut their hair so it wouldn't be as noticeable. I, like you, loved my thick hair. From month 3 to 9 it fell out and it stressed me out. But saying that it was the only side effect/complication I had so I'm not going to complain. I'm 18 months out now and it is thick and full again. Don't sweat the small stuff :)