Thread: Question about extreme hair loss

I am loosing chunks of hair. It started in Dec but I was like "am I? Nah. Wait, am I?!"
Now I can see patches where my hair has thinned and a few small bald spots. Its full loss, the strands have the bulb at the ends. I loose 10-15 strands everytime I run my fingers through my hair. Stop doing that, I know!
I've already had my thyroid & other levels checked and am doing a few other diet, lifestyle, and grooming tweaks to compensate. I did have an abnormal thyroid reading in April and a w/in normal limits in June, so maybe check again?
I'm less concerned with the cause since hopefully its temporary. But here's what I want to know from others who have experienced this type of hair loss:
did your scalp ache and throb?
Right around the time I noticed the loss, my scalp started to ache. I figured it was because I was in a dance show that ran for 2 weeks and had multiple costume, hair, and headdress changes and I was just tender.
But then weeks later I'd find myself rubbing my head and it felt like my hairs were pulling too strongly. This was hair down, clean, smooth, combed hanging off my head with no clips, creams, nuthin'
This has pretty much been the pattern: scalp throbs for a few days to a week, massive hair loss, subsides for a month or so...
I am seeing new growth but not as much as I'd like
I just need someone to validate my experience and tell me their head hurt too.
None of the hairloss forums out in the world wide web really talk about it hurting.

Originally Posted by Jessani

None of the hairloss forums out in the world wide web really talk about it hurting.

Interesting that no one came up with an answer on those sites - "normal" male pattern baldness probably doesn't physically hurt (the head, anyway, the ego, yes). However...

http://www.aocd.org/skin/dermatologi...ia_areata.html

Your question made me think "alopecia" . From this article, there is a symptom of "painful/tingling scalp". Might be something you would like to discuss with your GP, or if that individual would be willing to send you up the line to a dermatologist, even better. Have you ever been tested for a connective tissue disease? That might be something to keep in mind (a coworker lost a good portion of her hair because a medication flared her connective tissue disease into over drive - the good news is, I believe most of it came back for her). Just a thought - wouldn't hurt to ask if that is one of the possibilities your doc has looked into with your labs. Hope you find a good answer soon!

I lost a lot of hair 4 months post partum with both of my babies. My whole scalp itched terribly...it was miserable as the new growth was coming in. Do you have a little layer of new hair coming in?