Hashimotos and hair loss

[Thindy]

Hi Dr Lupo

I have been losing hair for quite a while now and was dx'd with hashi's 8 months ago. We tried Levoxly but it lowered my tsh from a 1.42 to a .32 so the Dr felt it was not helping. I am still having great amounts of hair loss and wanted to post my recent labs here to get your thoughts:

Ferritin  -   19
Vitamin B 12   -    619
Vitamin D    -    29 ng/ml
Cortisol    -   8.1ug/DL
TSH      -   1.1 uIU/mL
TU     -     32.7 %
T4     -    6.7 ug/DL
T7      -   2.2                          


Do these look within range? My endo says Vit D is a little low. Can that cause hair loss? He says hashimotos does not cause hair loss but I read things that say it does. Just wanting your advice and some clarification please.

[kitty9309]

The low ferritin can cause hair loss according to dermatologists.

Hypothyroidism can be a cause for hair loss.

The TSH looks great.

If you are on thyroid meds, what was the starting TSH that diagnosed you? Are thyroid antibodies positive?

This is the community forum. To ask the doctor a question, you need to go to the Ask an Expert Forum.

[Thindy]

I thought I had posted it in the expert forum-oh well, I'll have to repost it later. My endo says my ferritin is within range. Are you saying it's not? If so what is normal and what do you do to bring the level up? I;m not taking levoxyl anymore as dr said it was lowering my tsh too low and would make me hyperthyroid. Any ideas or help??

[kitty9309]

It is in range, but at the lowest endo of the range.
Mine is low as well and I am told I don't need to supplement.
I am taking 25 mg iron which is about 150% of the RDA.
Low ferritin is the first sign of iron depletion. It is a step away from becomng anemic.
Ferritin is the stored iron you have for future use.
If you do a search for ferritin, you will see mainly dermatology websites stating that a level of at least 50-ish is what we should aim for.