is this because i was pregnant?

[laurexoh]

I am 20 years old and have two children, the youngest being nine months, the past few months i have been having alot of hair loss,easily bruising(waking up with bruises) and a loss of appetite. I haven't been stressed; i have lots of help with my little ones,  and im not pregnant, although i have been told by other's its because my hormones are still changing from being pregnant. Do you think that it's a possibility why?

[Elaine Brown, MD]

Hi!
If you were my patient, there are a couple of things that I would want to check before chalking it up to hormones. It is quite normal to lose a fair amount of hair when the baby is about 3-4 months old.  9 months is a little far out though.
I would want to check for lupus, and also check your platelet count as well as your bleeding time.  Also a thyroid level.  If all of the testing came out fine, I would then feel comfortable saying that its just hormone changes, but not until then.
You may want to contact your OB doctor or a general medicine doctor and see that you get the proper work up. In the meantime, make sure that you are taking a good multivitamin with extra iron and calcium--this will help make up any deficiencies in your diet!
Good luck!
Dr B

[laurexoh]

thank you very much for your help, i really appreciate it!