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Lyme and thinning hair?

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Posted 8/27/2018 9:25 PM (GMT 0)
Is there a connection between Lyme and thinning hair? I've always had thick, healthy hair - thinning now in front. Not "male pattern baldness" in my opinion.
Posted 8/27/2018 9:33 PM (GMT 0)
There is a connection between many chronic, multi-systemic illnesses and hair loss, which includes lyme disease. Look into “telogen effluvium.” As I understand it, its a stress induced hair-growth-cycle disruption that causes hair loss. I’ve been suffering with that particular symptom myself for about a year and a half now. My hair has primarily thinned in the front as well, alongside stunted facial hair growth.
Posted 8/27/2018 9:52 PM (GMT 0)
What meds are you taking. I find that my hair growth and texture changes depending on the antibiotics I'm on. I noticed a loss of hair when on alinia.
Posted 8/27/2018 10:02 PM (GMT 0)
I’m not sure if that was addressed to me or the OP, but right now I’m on minocycline for lyme and atovaquone for babesia. Earlier in the year I saw some regrowth while on bactrim for bartonella, but due to mast cell activation several months ago I’ve since had to stop the bactrim and my hair loss has continued to progress.
Posted 8/27/2018 11:09 PM (GMT 0)
I'm not losing hair....but my curl went away after I started Mepron....could be a coincidence...we'll see if it comes back in a few months.

I had a natural wave...now my hair is straight and lifeless.
Posted 8/28/2018 12:35 AM (GMT 0)
Have you had a hormone profile (male and female hormones) done lately? I’m experiencing the same as you, and my labs came back sky high for free testosterone and low for testosterone, which causes you to lose hair, plus no woman should be having a free testosterone higher than 0.08 pg/mL. Mine was 8.3 pg/mL!!

My llmd believes that the compounded progesterone he ordered for me (last labs showed estrogen dominance, go figure) was being converted in my liver to testosterone. I see him on Thursday to discuss this odd dysfunction. Possibly your liver may be involved in your case as well.
Posted 8/28/2018 2:24 AM (GMT 0)
Many here prob have low thyroid from lyme, which will make hair thin out - and outer third of eyebrows are missing.

Everyone here needs their thyroid ft3, ft4, and tsh checked on occasion.
Posted 8/28/2018 2:33 PM (GMT 0)
I already posted here about my hair problem, I had developed severe dandruff that nothing could keep at bay except for coconut oil, but only temporarily, meaning I would slap on coconut oil whenever I was at home, so that I could wash my hair and actually be dandruff free for a few hours when I go outside. Then within hours it would of course start returning, agressively.
A few months into having dandruff, my hair started falling out like crazy, also in front first (btw I developed dandruff in front first as well), the quality of my hair changed completely, from thick, glossy, "heavy" hair it has become straw like, very thin, and incredibly easy to break (how come I didn't link this to thyroid problem straight away?). I also had other mysterious rashes on my skin.

Anyway, I started using kelp, which has very high iodine content, and all of this has dramatically improved. My hair looks and feels better, it has stopped falling out, dandruff has almost completely cleared, some new hair is growing back. Although I still overall look and feel like s..t, at least one of my many problems seems to have resolved, and that's huge for me psychologically. Apparently, thyroid may not be functionning normally even though blood work seems normal, because liver and kidneys are involved in conversion of hormones etc, Klinghardt talks about this. I also recommend adding one brazil nut a day for selenium, also to support the thyroid.
Posted 8/28/2018 4:30 PM (GMT 0)
Zimica - the free level thyroid hormone test is the best to date but then only relay shows whats available in your blood as opposed to whats being used by your cells.

That said I wonder how these Drs arrive with their opinion being someone can have low thyroid despite good test levels. How are they coming to this conclusion/diagnosing it with no proof/data/ accurate test? wierd

Dandruff is usually a outer yeast thing going on, i suppose that can be advance somehow by low thyroid, I know it can in the gut since low thyroid level means less stomach acid.
Posted 8/28/2018 4:37 PM (GMT 0)

astroman said...


That said I wonder how these Drs arrive with their opinion being someone can have low thyroid despite good test levels. How are they coming to this conclusion/diagnosing it with no proof/data/ accurate test? wierd
.

perhaps the same way we often do with lyme and coinfections - clinical diagnosis.....and response to treatment.


And within the range of FT3 and FT4 - you may test in lower range but still feel better in upper end of range - you already know this though.
Posted 8/28/2018 5:52 PM (GMT 0)
I am not sure, Klinghardt says it's possible to have normal thyroid hormone tests but positive Barnes test and excellent response to giving T3 - as Girlie says, response to treatment. I found it here, but I think I read it previously somewhere else https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2009/08/04/dr-klinghardts-treatment-of-lyme-disease.aspx
Low thyroid can cause dandruff.

Dr Eric Berg has a great video on iodine and there he mentions if there is some kind of liver damage going on (talk about overloaded liver), or lack of bile, it affects iodine conversion, or active hormone conversion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LpNqXUzwqPs I think everything about glands and hormones is complex, and I am not surprised that the test isn't all that straight forward.
There is also a great video on iodine by dr edward group, it is fascinating how important it is for us, even for a proper detoxification (it's used in high levels of radiation), according to him, pretty much everyone in the western hemisphere is iodine deficient, and I personally think that low iodine can be one of the missing links in recovery from lyme.
Posted 8/28/2018 8:18 PM (GMT 0)

Girlie said...

astroman said...


That said I wonder how these Drs arrive with their opinion being someone can have low thyroid despite good test levels. How are they coming to this conclusion/diagnosing it with no proof/data/ accurate test? wierd
.

perhaps the same way we often do with lyme and coinfections - clinical diagnosis.....and response to treatment.


And within the range of FT3 and FT4 - you may test in lower range but still feel better in upper end of range - you already know this though.

Ive seen that before but just stating a neutral zone since taking hormone without proof of lacking can be dangerous. If they really are proving it with measurable means, it would be good to know, im guessing there just guessing.

After 20 years I can guess when low, but still back up with labs since excess t3 gave "muscle heads" heart-attacks in the past. -Where as treating an infection, present of not, will not kill you.
Posted 8/29/2018 2:46 AM (GMT 0)
Interesting thread. I've experienced thinning hair and changing texture of hair since lyme. But it's off and on and it would cycle.

My hair would bounce back for an extended period of time and then thin and recede a little, then bounce back.

Weird.

This cyclic affect leads me to believe that it has something to do with hormone or an organ not functioning optimally, it eventually recovers, then lyme throws it off again, then recovers, and so on.

Also, stress of lyme most likely plays a role as well.

I've recently got back on collagen powder drinks. When I was taking that constantly my hair and nails would grow noticeably faster and thicker.
Posted 8/29/2018 3:26 AM (GMT 0)

astroman said...

Girlie said...

astroman said...


That said I wonder how these Drs arrive with their opinion being someone can have low thyroid despite good test levels. How are they coming to this conclusion/diagnosing it with no proof/data/ accurate test? wierd
.

perhaps the same way we often do with lyme and coinfections - clinical diagnosis.....and response to treatment.


And within the range of FT3 and FT4 - you may test in lower range but still feel better in upper end of range - you already know this though.

Ive seen that before but just stating a neutral zone since taking hormone without proof of lacking can be dangerous. If they really are proving it with measurable means, it would be good to know, im guessing there just guessing.

After 20 years I can guess when low, but still back up with labs since excess t3 gave "muscle heads" heart-attacks in the past. -Where as treating an infection, present of not, will not kill you.


“though blood work seems normal”.
If someone is in the high end of TSH but low end of FT3 and FT4 - That could look fine to a Dr - but the patient could feel lousy with those numbers...

I wonder how they’d respond to a micro dose of thyroxine.
Posted 8/29/2018 4:31 AM (GMT 0)
Many times I read on a forum that some Dr said "my thyroid labs are perfect" - and the patient believed that instead of investigating learning about thyroid labs. Half the time the Dr only tested TSH which is obviously incomplete testing.

A note about Iodine- it can aggravate and worsen Hashimoto antibodies, tried this once and needed more thyroid med the following months. Had my iodine tested years later with intercellular testing (spectro cell) levels were fine.
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