hair loss?

so I have been reading the posts, and im hearing that you loose alot of hair, is that true? is all my hair going to fall out. another thing for me to worry about. ~moni

I lost about a third of my hair. It is coming back in now. The new hair is about 2 1/2 inches long. Can't wait to have a full head again. Why worry? Some lose hair and some don't and I don't think you can do much about it. I took all the vitamins and drank all the protein as instructed and lost hair anyway. If you have exceptionally thick hair you don't need to worry at all. If you have thin hair to begin with you may get thinner than you want on the top. But it is temporary! The hair loss only lasted about 3 months for me. I willingly traded some hair for the loss of 121 pounds! Would do it all over again, too! Lois

Moni, i asked my dr. the same thing was scared to death i was going to go bald cause i have thin hair to begin with. he said no one has ever gone bald from this surgery it will just fall out little by little. i am about 14 mos out and my hair is just now starting to grow back in. protien protien protien is the key... so you dont loose to much. but as with any surgery it is stressful to the body and this how the body reacts.. don't worry your hair will be ok!!! Hugs, Holly

Hey Moni. I was pretty worried about this too. I have long, thick hair to begin with and keep it permed and always lost some anyway before I had surgery. I got my perm done three weeks before I had surgery to help mask any loss I would have. I have lost quite a bit but you really couldn't tell. It is more just an aggrivation to be constantly picking it off your clothes and the floor. I took all my vits, protein, etc. The omega 3 helped a lot. I have just now gotten to where it is falling out at my normal rate and I am a year out. Courtney

I lost about 1/3 of my hair too. It's come back and then started falling out again. Fr the past three weeks I have kept up with a new vitamin plan and it's working. I have little flyaways starting to come out at the roots. Topical stuff, doesn't do anything with the maybe the exception of Nioxin. Andrew Lessman(ProCaps Laboratories) Healthy Hair, Skin and Nails with CoQ10 and N.A.C; It has ultra High Levels of Biotin and soluable Oganic Silcon and M.S.M. It's working. I bought the biggest one they sell (600 caps). It was very expensive(We are talking $99 for the big daddy bottle, $29 for the small), but wow, wow, wow, so worth the expense. After trying every hair vitamin under the sun, this is the one that truly does waht it says. I also take No-Flush niacin. Leilani started taking Niacin and has finally had success with that and a combo of Flax Seed. So I take all three, plus my pre-natal, Vit E High Gamma(that's for my breast surgery) , Vit C chewables, calcium Chewables, Iron, cranberry and anti-oxident formula. I'm now the vit queen. I have to spread them out over the day. But lord, I'm healing fast from my plastics, I have more energy, I'm thinking straighter and my hair and nails are growing like crazy. The thing is our extreme weight loss causes the hair to fall out at a faster rate then it grows. Working on getting it to grow from the inside out is the only way. It can take up to 1 year to start seeing regrowth after loss. Unfortunately some of us never get the hair we once had or it never comes back in at all. One strange thing I should mention, and I've talked to other people that have had the same experience, is the texture seems to change when it grows back. I used to have stick-straight hair. Curling irons rarely worked on me. Now, my hair curls naturally with a round brush and sometimes without if it's humid. I am still thinking about getting extensions while my hair is growing out. I miss my long hair.

Hi Moni, this is one area that I was surprised about because i thought it was a given that everyone loses some hair. But I didn't lose any! And I am about 15 months post op, so I don't think I am going to. I don't know that this helped or not, but prior to surgery and I continue to this day, I take 3000 mg of Biotin. So -- it's not a for sure thing, but I think most people do lose some. Good luck! love donna

Hi Moni, This is something that really worried me pre-op as well. I am almost 4 years out from having the Duodenal Switch. Hair loss was greater in the first year, but really slowed down afterwards. There never were bald patches or anything, just thinning. Now, my hair may be slightly thinner than it was pre-op, but only noticable to me. If I notice more hair in my brush, or if it seems a bit thinner, I increase my protein and fat intake. I take extra biotin as part of my vitamin regimen. Sharon