What is my next step? (unsure if I'm losing my hair)

[goinginsane]

I'll try and keep this short and simple. I am a chronic stresser-outer. I have CPPS - a quick Google search will inform that you that it's associated with extreme stress. About 5-6 months ago I had an extremely stressful event - I discovered a serious health risk while simultaneously almost losing my girlfriend, so if I am in fact losing my hair, it could be related to the stress.

Now I have been known to stress out and convince myself that I have certain ailments that I in fact don't - I thought I had stomach cancer, lymphoma, thyroid disease, et cetera. I was convinced I had bad breath for an entire year and even considered surgery to get my tonsils out.

However, now I think I am losing my hair - only now there seems to be actual evidence. It's just visual ... My hair seems thinner. I never remember being able to see through my hair to my scalp. When it's dry, you can only see through it under direct light, but when it's wet, my god, I get sick to my stomach. It looks like I have cancer.

I first noticed it during fall semester when I got a haircut, and I thought huh, I've never been able to see through my hair like that before. But I didn't think much of it because it was minimal. Then I got another haircut and noticed it again and started obsessing over it, now I'm convinced its worse every day.

Evidence:
- Hair looks thinner
- In the shower, running my hands through my hair returns between 1 and 8 hairs with while bulbs on the ends



I don't know what else to say, hair loss is pretty visual so pretty much the reason I think I have hair loss is because it LOOKS like I do.

However, my girlfriends says I'm insane and there's nothing wrong with my hair. The lady who cuts my hair says she hasn't noticed (I asked). My father says it seems a little thinner when I asked him. My family members on both ends have always had good hair genetics, my father is 60 (62-63ish) and has a full head of hair, it's a little thin but it's pretty impressive for his age.














I went to a general practitioner, and asked about it but he told me the only test that could be done was to count all the hairs that fall off my head that that it would be too hard. He ordered a bunch of tests (T4, TSH, liver, kindey function, etc). I want to have someone look at my head and tell me if I have hair loss or not. Where do I find a good dermatologist? I asked my father to make me an appointment and he said I would have to wait until March. I will go crazy before then.

 

[TD500]

Just from what your describing it sounds like you have telogen effluvium. I do not know though as I'm still new. Post your pictures here and someone who is more knowledible will answer.

 

[theEvergreen]

Based on what you described it might just be what the other guy said. Telogen Effluvium. It really varies how long it takes to grow back. I am still dealing with the effects of this. My dermatologist when I went to visit him with my balding concerns basically said thinning in and of itself is not really a perfect indicator that you're balding, but did say I've receded just a little bit and that I shouldn't have to get on propecia as it's natural with age and isn't severe. Hair thins with age, and it can also thin due to stress. This doesn't necessarily mean you're balding.

The hairs in the shower thing can be alarming. I recently have been going through an intense shed. 6-7 months ago I went through a rather stressful time in my life about finances and existentialism. I didn't start noticing thinning until around September after it happened. It's been sort of continual since then and I supposed it's going to keep going, as I've noticed that the very long hairs on my scalp have dipped in quality. Not thinned, but become very inconsistent in texture, almost jagged in an otherwise straight hair. Is this happening to you?

Another thing about the hairs in the shower is that losing about 10-30 hairs can happen at any given time. This is not a great indicator of male pattern baldness, as what really counts is how many grow back and at what diameter. Many people go bald without noticing a difference in shedding and it just happens gradually. In fact, just the other day I had to contain a panic attack, as I lost 30 in the shower. The only comforting thing was that it wasn't just from pattern-baldness areas. The hairs were from all around my entire scalp, and I haven't shed that much since then.

Hair is a very sensitive thing. Your hair could have thinned from a plethora of different things that don't necessarily mean you're going bald. Maybe maturing, maybe stress, maybe an infection, maybe a nutritional deficiency. I've been to many doctors for other things, but usually casually bring up hairloss during the visit and they say the same thing. You can never really know for sure usually until it's too late.