21y/o F losing hair. Low Iron Levels?

Hello,

I'm a 21, almost 22, year old female. I've been losing my hair steadily for quite some time, but it's become significantly worse over the past year. Every time i brush my hair/wash it huge clumps of hair come out... I've counted an average of 30-50 hairs lost every shower, and around the same, if not more, when i brush.

I've had my thyroid checked on two separate occasions and it supposedly normal.

I've also had my iron levels checked, and they were low... a 10. Only, i'm not sure if that's low enough to cause the hair loss that i've been experiencing. I AM often tired throughout the day, but my sleeping patterns are irregular. Some days I get 4 hours of sleep, some days i get 10. However, it seems that no matter how much sleep i get, i'm still sleepy.

So what do you think? Is a 10 low enough to cause my hair to fall out? You can easily see my scalp now, i'm getting sunburned, etc. At this rate, i'll have a huge bald spot in another year.

[meniere135]

A ferritin level of 10 is way too low to help hold hair in.  I think your ferritin level has to reach approx. 70  to promote hair REgrowth.  I think it takes approx. 3 months of taking iron to stop the hairloss if that is the problem.   And then it takes many more months to get the level high enough to help regrowth.  When looking at thyroid results, there is some disagreement on what levels are low or high.  So who knows if your thyroid is ok.
Did the doctor start you on iron pills?

[meniere135]

A ferritin level of 10 is way too low to help hold hair in.  I think your ferritin level has to reach approx. 70  to promote hair REgrowth.  I think it takes approx. 3 months of taking iron to stop the hairloss if that is the problem.   And then it takes many more months to get the level high enough to help regrowth.  When looking at thyroid results, there is some disagreement on what levels are low or high.  So who knows if your thyroid is ok.
Did the doctor start you on iron pills?

[w00tw00t2]

I didn't make it back to my appointment, but I decided to start taking some iron supplements. Within a week of taking them, I noticed a -huge- difference. My nails started growing again. Like, i hadn't noticed that they'd stopped until I suddenly had long, pretty nails again. My energy levels went way up. I could run up the four flights of stairs to my room without getting out of breath. And, best of all, my abnormal hair loss has stopped.

Now, instead of 20-25 "strands" (i have really fine hair, so these wet "strands" were usually 5 hairs stuck together) of hair coming out every time I ran my hand over my head in the shower, I'm only seeing like... 5 literal, ACTUAL STRANDS of hair coming out. The difference was dramatic. Obviously, my hair hasn't completely filled back in yet, but now that it's stopped falling out at such a scary rate, I feel so much better. I've been taking them around a month now, and I can start to see some difference in the thickness of my hair. It lays better, my scalp isn't nearly as blaringly obvious... it's just a good thing all around. my hair is coming back, and i feel better overall. Who knew iron was such an important lil mineral? lol.

[meniere135]

Thanks for getting back to me.  That's Awesome!  You must be pretty happy right now.
Make sure you get your blood tested again in approx. 3 months to make sure your iron level is not getting too high!  Iron is toxic if it builds up in the body too much.  But, again, I'm really happy for you!  It's nice to have some good news.  Congratulations!