Thyroid

After finding out ive an underactive thyroid, I had it for 3 years and didnt know, during this time i shredded 100-150 hairs a day, ive been taking 25mg thyroxine a day for 1 month, how long will the shredding take to stop roughly?

[DrEmilyAltman]

It is normal to shed approximately 100 hairs a day without any medical problems.  We have about 100,000 hairs on our heads.  90% are in growing phase (anagen) at any given point and 10% in telogen (resting) phase.  About 100 of these resting hairs are shed every day, and are gradually replaced by growing hairs.  

With hypothyroidism, the number of shedding hairs may increase dramatically.  Normally they do regrow, particularly if the thyroid hormone is replaced, as long as other factors such as hormonal changes in women during perimenopause, do not interfere with the regrowth.

Usually you should see stabilization of hair loss and some hair regrowth within 3-6 months of thyroid hormone normalization.

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[Bhupinder Kaur, MD]

Hello,
Since you have recently started with the thyroid medication, hence it will take a few weeks or months for hair shedding to come to normal. In addition to the thyroid medicine, give your diet an overhaul if you're lacking vital nutrients for growth and switch to foods for healthy hair. Selenium, zinc and magnesium are some of the minerals that your hair needs and also amino acids and vitamin E will help in growing hairs.

It is very difficult to precisely confirm a diagnosis without examination and investigations and the answer is based on the medical information provided. For exact diagnosis, you are requested to consult your doctor. I sincerely hope that helps. Take care and please do keep me posted on how you are doing.