Several Reasons For Chronic Fatigue And Hair Loss
Question:
I am always tired, and I was told by my friend I might have fibromyalgia. Is there a blood test I can take to find out if that is true? What is fibromyalgia?
Answer:
Chronic fatigue is a common complaint of many people, and a diagnosis of fibromyalgia is a diagnosis of exclusion. There is NOT a lab test to determine if a person has fibromyalgia. It is determined after other diseases have been ruled out for complaints of causes of chronic fatigue, such as diabetes, sleep apnea, medications, poor sleep hygiene, or unhealthy eating habits. There are many reasons that one may be chronically tired, and it takes a long, thorough history and medical exam to be performed. A diagnosis of fibromyalgia is often found after other diseases have been excluded.
Question:
I am losing my hair and I was going to buy some over-the-counter medications that say they can help with hair growth. Do you think it will help or are those a waste of money?
Answer:
Most over-the-counter hair growth products do not help with hair growth as much as you would expect, so I would be cautious with what you spend your money on. Hair loss can be lessened if you avoid using too many harsh chemicals on your hair, such as coloring your hair, styling products, and over-brushing. Hair loss is also genetic and is not something you can avoid.
I look forward to your questions at . Have a good week and try to get a good nights rest and dont worry about your hair, everyone is beautiful!
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Hair Loss Symptoms Caused By Thyroid Problems
Thyroid problems can cause different types of hair-related symptoms. Youll usually get hair thinning that happens evenly across your head, but symptoms can include:
- thinning of the hair on your head, or bald patches
- thinning or absence of the outer edge of your eyebrows
- hair that breaks easily
In most cases, these thyroid problems are caused by an autoimmune reaction when your immune system mistakenly attacks your thyroid gland.
Having 1 autoimmune disease can mean youre more likely to get another, including a different type of autoimmune hair loss called
Common causes of underactive and overactive thyroid:
- Hashimotos disease the most common type of autoimmune reaction that causes an underactive thyroid. Your immune system attacks your thyroid gland, causing it to become inflamed and sometimes damaged, reducing its ability to make hormones
- Graves disease the most common cause of an overactive thyroid. Its another autoimmune condition, which in this case causes your thyroid gland to become enlarged and make too many hormones
Study Design And Recruitment Of Patients
Seven male and eight female individuals between 9 and 52 years of age with genetically confirmed HED were enrolled in a longitudinal observational study of 56 complete households with at least one member who had COVID-19 to investigate the spreading and course of illness, immune responses, and long-term consequences of SARS-CoV-2 infection . A total of 149 subjects of the same age group but from households without a family history of HED served as controls. The study was approved by the ethics committee of the University Erlangen-Nürnberg and conducted in accordance with the principles of the declaration of Helsinki. All individuals or their legal guardians provided written informed consent to participate.
Subjects were included only if one or more household members had been registered as patient in databases of the University Hospital Erlangen and if at least one person in the household was younger than 18 years of age. Exclusion criteria were missing informed consent of one or more household members and language barriers to communication that would prevent informed consent.
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Fact: Common Medications Can Trigger Drowsiness
Many common medications, such as those used to treat colds, allergies, or motion sickness, can hinder alertness on the road. If the bottle lists drowsiness as a side effect or warns against operating a motor vehicle, itâs best not to get behind the wheel. Even small amounts of alcohol can amplify the fatigue associated with these medications.
You Have A Rash On Your Face Or Body
Lupus, like hypothyroidism or an iron deficiency, is an autoimmune disease with hair loss as a common symptom. Additionally, lupus can cause full-body rashes as a response to organs becoming inflamed, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Oftentimes, these rashes will come and go and are referred to as “flares.” Other lupus symptoms include dry eyes and joint pain, so if you notice any of these effects, you should see your doctor.
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Overreaching And Overtraining Syndrome
There are two general problems associated with fatigue after exercise. Overtraining syndrome occurs over time from too much training. The other problem occurs very quickly and is known as overreaching. Both issues come from too much exercise and not enough rest.
The symptoms of overreaching usually resolve quickly once you stop exercising and get more rest. However, the symptoms of overtraining can last two months or more. If you have either problem, youll notice that youre constantly fatigued and sore. You might also get sick more often due to a suppressed immune system.
Your mental health is affected by overtraining and overreaching too. Your sleep can be disrupted, and you may feel depressed. Women can experience the absence of menstruation.
Do They Go Away On Their Own
According to an ATA study, thyroid nodules that occur due to iodine deficiency may resolve on their own over time if people increase their iodine intake. In 618 participants with thyroid nodules, roughly one-third of single nodules were no longer present at the 11-year follow-up.
The researchers concluded that increasing iodine intake through iodized salt might be the reason for the disappearance of the nodules.
In other cases, benign thyroid nodules may grow larger over time, and people may need treatment to remove them.
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How Is Alopecia Areata Treated
Alopecia areata cannot be cured however, it can be treated and the hair can grow back.
In many cases, alopecia is treated with drugs that are used for other conditions. Treatment options for alopecia areata include:
- Corticosteroids: anti-inflammatory drugs that are prescribed for autoimmune diseases. Corticosteroids can be given as an injection into the scalp or other areas, orally , or applied topically as an ointment, cream, or foam. Response to therapy may be gradual.
- Rogaine® : this topical drug is already used as a treatment for pattern baldness. It usually takes about 12 weeks of treatment with Rogaine before hair begins to grow.
Other drugs that are used for alopecia with varying degrees of effectiveness include medications used to treat psoriasis and topical sensitizers .
Youll Experience Fatigue Hair Loss Brittle Nails And Even A Craving For Non
If you frequently experience fatigue, have brittle nails, and crave certain non-food items, the chances of you having iron deficiency are high.
Iron is required by the body to make hemoglobin, which enables red blood cells to carry oxygen around the body.
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Iron deficiency is one of the most common deficiencies. Youll experience fatigue, hair loss, brittle nails, and even a craving for non-food items like chalk, raw rice, detergent, Simrun Chopra, a nutritionist, wrote on Instagram, adding that we are what we eat, digest, and absorb.
The expert further shared that there are two types of iron non-heme and heme.
We get non-heme iron from vegetarian sources. This form is quite unstable and we can absorb around 2 to 20% depending on gut health and many dietary factors. However, heme iron, that we get from animal sources, has a higher absorption rate 15 to 35%, she shared.
According to her, the main causes of low iron absorption could be the following dietary factors:
*Having caffeinated beverages with foods this includes tea, coffee, green tea, or anything that has caffeine in it. The caffeine, tannins, and polyphenols bind with iron, making it more difficult to get absorbed.
*Not adding vitamin C to iron-rich meals. Adding vitamin C to meals helps absorb the iron present in our food.
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Hair Styling With Fibromyalgia
Hair-specific symptoms can change the way we approach our hair, and so can other symptoms such as pain, fatigue, and excessive sweating.
Those wispy little re-growing hairs can detract from your hairstyle. Loss can noticeably thin the hair, and some people even report bald patches. Many of us have changed or adapted our hairstyles as a result of these issues. Often, theyre bad for self-esteem.
For a lot of us, styling our hair at all is difficult. Holding the arms up to brush, braid, blow-dry, or flat iron can lead to arm pain that ranges from mildly annoying to seriously debilitating. It can also lead to significant muscle fatigue. In those with overlapping chronic fatigue syndrome, it may trigger post-exertional malaise.
The heat from styling implements can also trigger bouts of extreme sweating, especially on the head or face. Some people may have to take multiple breaks while using these tools, so they dont just sweat away all their work. Others have given up using them entirely.
What Causes Alopecia Areata
Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disease. This means that your immune system mistakenly attacks a part of your body.
When you have alopecia areata, cells in your immune system surround and attack your hair follicles . This attack on a hair follicle causes the attached hair to fall out.
The more hair follicles that your immune system attacks, the more hair loss you will have.
Its important to know that while this attack causes hair loss, the attack rarely destroys the hair follicles. This means that your hair can regrow. The less hair loss you have, the more likely it is that your hair will regrow on its own.
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Underactive Thyroid And Fatigue
Symptoms: Extreme fatigue, sluggishness, feeling run-down, depression, cold intolerance, weight gain
The problem may be a slow or underactive thyroid. This is known as hypothyroidism. The thyroid is a small, butterfly-shaped gland that sits at the base of your neck. It helps set the rate of metabolism, which is the rate at which the body uses energy.
According to the American Thyroid Foundation, about 17% of all women will have a thyroid disorder by age 60. And most won’t know it. The most common cause is an autoimmune disorder known as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. Hashimoto’s stops the gland from making enough thyroid hormones for the body to work the way it should. The result is hypothyroidism, or a slow metabolism.
Blood tests known as T3 and T4 will detect thyroid hormones. If these hormones are low, synthetic hormones can bring you up to speed, and you should begin to feel better fairly rapidly.
Forgetting The Root Cause
And the biggest reason for thyroid causing fatigue is because nobody is addressing the root cause.
The root causes which started it all the thyroid imbalance is the inflammation in body.
The inflammation in our body is destroying the thyroid gland, that is the reason our mitochondria are being destroyed too.
Replacing the thyroid hormone with medicine like levothyroxine does not reduce the underlying inflammation hence thyroid fatigue.
So we need to work on reducing inflammation too to help improve our energy when thyroid causing fatigue.
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Detection Of Specific Antibodies
Patients sera were screened for anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies using the NADAL COVID-19 IgG/IgM test or the Anti-SARS-CoV-2 ELISA according to the manufacturers instructions.
Flow cytometry-based detection of antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein were conducted as described previously . In brief: A plasmid encoding SARS-CoV-2 spike was co-transfected together with a green fluorescent protein -encoding plasmid into HEK293T cells. Two days later the cells were incubated with serum samples from patients , followed by staining with a secondary antibody mixture of PE-conjugated anti-human IgA , AF647-conjugated anti-human IgG and DyLight405-conjugated anti-human IgM antibodies. Stained cell populations were analyzed using a Gallios flow cytometer . The antibody TRES 224 recognizing the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein served as positive control.
Specific antibodies blocking the spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 were identified using a cell-based SARS-CoV-2 spike surrogate blocking assay, details of which have been published in a separate manuscript by our group .
Quantification of IgG specific for the SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid or the spike S1 protein was performed by SYNLAB International GmbH .
Luscious Locks And The Pregnancy Glow
You look so healthy and glowing. Its not unusual to be showered with compliments when pregnant, but is there any truth to this or are people just being overly nice? Your skin, hair and nails are actually often in tip top condition when pregnant, and you have your hormones to thank for that. Its not all roses, though, as things may start to change.
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What Is Telogen Effluvium And How Does It Cause Hair Loss
Telogen effluvium is a condition that causes sudden, excessive hair loss. Here are some things that commonly trigger this type of hair loss :
- Severe psychological stress
- A very low-calorie or crash diet
Your body considers all these things stressful, even if you dont. Whatever the triggering event is, it forces hair to suddenly transition from the growth phase to the resting phasethe phase where hair is normally shed. Its not the shedding itself, but hairs rapidly leaping from one phase to another that causes sudden shedding.
We all lose hair naturally as follicles cycle through the phases of hair growth. But if your hair loss feels excessive, you could have telogen effluvium or another condition called androgenic alopecia, which is more commonly known as female and male pattern baldness .
If youre losing short, thin hairs along with longer ones, you may have a combination of telogen effluvium and androgenic alopecia. This is different from alopecia areata, which well dig into below.
Sudden hair loss from telogen effluvium typically starts three months after a major stressor, but there have been reports of even longer intervals between the stressful event and the start of hair loss .
If a hormonal imbalance or nutritional deficiency is affecting hair loss, it should stop as soon as the underlying issue is corrected. In many cases of hair loss triggered by medications, regrowth starts as soon as the drug is out of your system .
Which Vitamin Can Help With Hair Loss
Hair loss is a complicated topic and the role of nutrition in preventing or treating hair loss can be somewhat controversial.
While nutrition and specific nutrients are vital to the hair growth process, increasing your intake of these nutrients may not help you, especially if you have a certain type of hair loss, such as scarring alopecia or cicatricial alopecia.
Vitamins to incorporate into your nutrition plan that may promote hair growth include:
- B vitamins, specifically riboflavin, biotin, folate, and vitamin B12
connects excess intake of vitamin A or selenium with an increased risks for hair loss.
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Thyroid Nodules Are Common But Usually Are Not Cancer
Your doctor may find a lump in your thyroid during a routine medical exam. A thyroid nodule is an abnormal growth of thyroid cells in the thyroid. Nodules may be solid or fluid-filled.
When a thyroid nodule is found, an ultrasound of the thyroid and a fine-needle aspiration biopsy are often done to check for signs of cancer. Blood tests to check thyroid hormone levels and for antithyroid antibodies in the blood may also be done to check for other types of thyroid disease.
Thyroid nodules usually dont cause symptoms or need treatment. Sometimes the thyroid nodules become large enough that it is hard to swallow or breathe and more tests and treatment are needed. Only a small number of thyroid nodules are diagnosed as cancer.
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The Initial Causes Extreme Fatigue Hair Loss Weight Loss
The main cause of hair loss is stress. While most of us shed about 50 to 100 strands of hair daily, we also continue to grow new ones at the same rate. This shedding is normal, and its perfectly natural to replace lost hair with new ones. However, if youre losing hair that is excessively slow or isnt growing back, youre experiencing hair fall. There are many possible causes for this condition, but theres no one single solution.
Tinea capitis, also known as scalp ringworm, is a fungal infection that affects the scalp. Symptoms include bald spots and patches of hair loss. Infection may be caused by fungus, and scaly, red patches may develop. In severe cases, sores may develop on the scalp and oozing pus may be present. Treatment with a prescription may be necessary, but the long-term results of taking these medications are not always permanent.
In some cases, temporary hair loss may be the result of a hormonal imbalance. While some women experience hair loss due to hormonal fluctuations, others may experience permanent loss of hair. These changes can be caused by hormones in the body, such as those produced by the thyroid or by the adrenal glands. In severe cases, the loss of hair is caused by medical conditions. Inflammatory diseases can cause an excess of androgen, a male hormone. High levels of vitamin A in the blood and in the body can also result in hair thinning.
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