Hair loss and skin changes

Hey everyone. I've been sick for a year now, and I have been on antibiotics for going on five months. They have been very effective and I'm working my way towards being better, but sometime in the last five months massive amounts of my hair started to fall out. I'm taking biotin now but I was wondering if anyone had any other suggestions.

Also I have always had very dry skin and very little acne, that has changed while I've been sick. Any perception creams have been making it worse not better. Has anyone had drastic skin changes that weren't rashes?

I know these are little things in the big picture, especially compared to what I was dealing with a few months ago, but as a single 22 year old woman I've become super self conscious because of them, and since everything else is improving but this...

Hi AnnaKatherine -

It's great that you are making progress with treatment! Good for you. But I'm sorry about the hair and skin issues...

HAIR LOSS
When people mention hair falling out, I always think of heavy metals. That was certainly true for me - I was unknowingly drinking a food powder that had a rice product that was sourced from a heavy metals area in China. I stopped drinking it, hair stopped falling out! So that's one thing to look into - you can add in a chelator (start very slowly with low doses! You don't want to leach heavy metals faster than your body can get rid of them, or they might get re-absorbed into your body).

But also, hair loss can be linked to thyroid disorders so please have your thyroid checked - not TSH (that only measures the TSH produced by your pituitary, testing only TSH doesn't tell you how well your THYROID is taking the TSH and creating other horones and chemicals and how well they are being utilized by the body, etc.) So please make sure T3, T4 and Reverse T2 and T4 are also being measured.

After you do that, you can share results here and we can help you figure out whether or not your levels really are off - the "official ranges" used in the medical world tend to be inaccurate for many people. Here is more info about thyroid in case you'd like to read more:
/stopthethyroidmadness.com/

SKIN
Several things could be causing dry skin and acne. If you could describe the sx a little better, it might help to offer ideas - where does your skin look dry and where are you breaking out?

If it's on your face/scalp/neck - this sounds a lot like a yeast/fungal overgrowth, not acne. You can read more about it in my post in the "New to Lyme?" thread - you could have developed this from the abx. As odd as it sounds, the y/f overgrowth starts in the gut and grows out of the orifice (mouth, nose, eyes, ears) and onto the skin. The dry skin is actually a flakey film of the yeast/fungus. And what looks like acne is really just the skin being agitated from the y/f, can sometimes be a little itchy. But the acne products will do nothing for either.

If it's elsewhere on your body, it's more likely that it's true dry skin. The abx can be causing a flora imbalance in your body, just like it does in your gut. Have you tried any natural oils like coconut oil? Prescription creams just seem to disrupt the "natural order of things" even more.

Others will probably come along with more suggestions.

-p

Hi AnnaKatherine -

If it is actual acne, you'll be able to tell - it will be blackheads or whiteheads (or in other words, a waxy or milky build up in the pores or pimples). As gross as this is - just scrape off the top of a pimple. If it is something else like yf/ - the fluid inside the raised bumps or what looks like pimples will be a watery liquid and that is not acne.

"Washing alot" is probably not helpful if it's acne - acne is caused by bacteria in the pores, often an internal bacterial problem, not surface bacteria but the aggravation causes the skin to produce more oil than usual. Aggressive washing will likely cause even greater agitation that will produce even oiler skin.

Ironically, one of the most common abx for acne is Doxycycline, which is also prescribed for Lyme & Co but a LOT LOT tons easier to get prescribed for acne than it is for TBD. Yay medical system! You're doing a fine job...

So - the next question is are you on abx? And if so, what are you taking?

Something else you can do regardless if it's y/f or acne is to try to detox better - acne is a good signal that the body isn't detoxing very well:

- you can incorporate or increase gut binder. Many times, acne problems are tied to digestive dysfunction that can lead to bacterial overgrowth; binders can help move stuff out of the gut and get it better detoxed for you.
- Binders also help keep me more regular; constipation can also be a source of toxin build-up and acne so if you're not having daily bowel movements, this is also something to try to achieve.
- Also, your skin is your largest detox organ so a good soak w/ epsom salts/sea salt/hydrogen peroxide can be helpful.
- increasing lymphatic drain can help keep blood and toxins moving and out of your body.

There are topical cleansers and creams for both acne and y/f overgrowth that I have used (I faced the same issues you're describing and it took awhile to figure out what was causing them.) I loved them so much I'm still using the 3 yrs later. I think you still need to figure out which is causing the skin issues and treat both, but the right topical products can certainly help the symptoms in the process - you can look them up - their website has great info about how the ingredients work and why: Ovante.

ALSO... you also might be on to something with the thought of stress. "Stress" can cause both sx because stress can disrupt the endocrine system (both the thyroid and the adrenals and digestion). I kind of overlooked this at first because in this Lyme world, stress usually causes more severe symptoms.

Regardless, I think having thyroid properly tested and increasing detox is a good start.

-p

I've done a little more research into skin conditions and types of acne (terrible pictures, honestly) and it's definitely acne that I'm struggling with.

I have been slack on my detoxing since I started feeling so much better so I'll definitely try to increase that again, I shouldn't have backed off, it's an important part of healing and I'm still not 100%.

I'm getting my thyroid tested tomorrow to see about the hair.

Thank you for all of the advice!