Thyroid Hair: When your hair is falling out
It is worrying when you suddenly realise that you are losing a lot more hair than usual. I have seen it in the shower when I comb through my conditioner, and suddenly, a huge amount of hair is stuck in the brush. And I got worried. Because hair loss is no laughing matter.
Could my thyroid be the reason I am losing my hair?
It could be.
Your hair needs thyroid hormones
Back in 1998, researchers discovered that there were thyroid hormone receptors in the outer sheath of the hair follicles. And the thyroid hormones must be at the right level – both low and high levels of thyroid hormones can cause hair loss.
Remember, that T3 hormones are the active hormones your body needs and uses. The inactive T4 hormones must first be converted to T4 hormones. Here’s the problem: if your body isn’t converting T4 to T3 efficiently, your hair follicles might not get the active T3 they need, leading to hair loss.
Possible causes of your hair loss
There are many reasons why hair loss may occur (such as genetics and autoimmunity), and today I want to have a look at the most common thyroid-related causes:
- Your thyroid hormone levels are too low or too high.
- Your thyroid hormone medication, or even other medication, is causing your hair loss.
- You don’t eat enough protein.
- You have nutritional deficencies, including zinc, iron and ferritin.
- You don’t have enough zinc in your body.
- Stress or trauma can cause hair loss.
Your thyroid hormone levels are too low or too high
Your thyroid hormone levels must be optimal (not just within the normal ranges of the lab). This means you must do a complete thyroid lab panel, which will include TSH, free T4, free T3, TG, and TPO antibodies, and if need be, a Reverse T3 test.
Even if your free T4 levels are good, if your body is not converting T4 to T3, you don’t have enough T3 and you can experience hair loss.
What do you need for this conversion to happen? A healthy liver and kidneys, a healthy microbiome and a selection of nutrients, such as selenium. Your thyroid gland also converts T4 to T3, so that is why it is so important for those of us who have Hashimoto’s to reduce inflammation and preserve as much of the thyroid gland as possible.
We also must make sure that the T3 hormones can get into the cells, and for that, we need to have the right level of glucose (blood sugar levels) and the right level of cortisol (stress management).
See how this is so much based on our environment and lifestyle?
- Make sure your thyroid lab results are optimal. I have created an online course to share everything I have learned about thyroid labs and blood tests and interpret the results with you. You can check out the course here if you want to learn more about thyroid blood tests.
- Eat a healthy diet, loaded with fruits and vegetables. This will help your gut microbiome and provide you with the nutrients your body needs to support hormone conversion. It will also help to improve your body’s blood sugar regulation.
Zinc – a mighty hair mineral
I was intrigued to read a published article that there is a link between zinc, hypothyroidism and hair loss.
First, zinc is needed to make thyroid hormones. So if you don’t have enough zinc, together with other elements such as copper and selenium, your body may struggle to make thyroid hormones, which can contribute to hypothyroidism. But this is interesting: you need thyroid hormones to effectively absorb zinc!
With your hair, zinc is crucial for the growth and maintenance of healthy hair. When a person with hypothyroidism also has a zinc deficiency, it can lead to hair loss.
- Check if you may have a zinc deficiency. Unfortunately, the blood tests to test for zinc are not reliable, and if you want to have it checked, you may need to do a hair mineral test to check for zinc concentration levels. But is it necessary to have the levels checked? For most of us, I don’t think so. However, it’s important to note that the dosage of zinc intake is crucial. The recommended dose is not more than elemental 30mg per day. Just remember to check the doses of zinc when you are taking a multi-mineral in addition to a zinc supplement. You don’t want to overdo it.
Supplement with zinc, which is especially important for vegetarians and vegans. There are different types of zinc supplements (zinc picolinate, zinc gluconate, zinc sulfate, zinc orotate, zinc citrate and zinc acetate), and there is little evidence to date to show any significant differences between these forms. So take any form and see how it works for you.
You can also eat more food that is naturally high in zinc. Oysters are naturally high in zinc, but that is not practical for most people to eat daily. Other options include beef, liver, pork, lobster and chicken.
Thyroid medication may cause hair loss
Isn’t it ironic that hair loss is a side effect of hypothyroidism, but the medication that is giving you thyroid hormones to treat the hypothyroidism, could also cause hair loss?
Here is a screenshot from the site Drugs.com that lists the side effects of Eltroxin (which is a synthetic T4 hormone medication, levothyroxine):
Also, if you read the list of side effects on the information leaflet, you will see that hair loss is a possible side effect of Eltroxin. Here is a photo I took from the information leaflet I got from my pharmacist:
What can you do if you suspect that your thyroid medication may be the cause of your hair loss?
First, please don’t stop your thyroid medication. It is hormones, and you should never stop or change your thyroid hormone medication without consulting with your treating doctor first.
Second, speak to your doctor about possibly changing thyroid medication. Thyroid-medication hair loss may just be temporary if you recently started thyroid medication. However, if hair loss persists, you may need to consider changing to other thyroid hormone medications, such as NDT or T3-only-treatment.
Action you can take
- Make sure your thyroid lab results are optimal. I have created an online course to share everything I have learned about thyroid labs and blood tests and interpret the results with you. You can check out the course here if you want to learn more about thyroid blood tests.
- Eat a healthy diet, loaded with fruits and vegetables. This will help your gut microbiome and provide you with the nutrients your body needs to support hormone conversion. It will also help to improve your body’s blood sugar regulation.
- Check your stress. If your stress levels are high, your cortisol levels will not be optimal, and your T3 hormones may not get into the cells.
- Reduce your toxin exposure. Your liver and kidneys work very hard to detox your body from all the environmental toxins. Help your liver by reducing your toxin exposure. There are many things you can do in your home, cooking and even your skincare.
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