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Hair Loss & Lyme Disease (Hair Loss with Chronic Illness)

8/27/2014

23 Comments

 
I wrote this post for HealClick many months ago and realized I never posted a link to it here. However, I see a lot of people struggling with hair loss and not understanding why. I went through this myself and did a lot of research into the why and the how. I also decided to include a picture of my hair before when it was at its very paper thin brittle state & what it looks like after implementing the things I did below. I hope this is helpful to some of you as well, and as always the original post on HealClick can be found here.
Chronic illnesses come with an insane amount of stress. Even if you can keep it calm on the exterior, there is so much havoc happening inside the body. In the case of Lyme disease you have bacteria that is drilling it’s way into different parts of the body creating pain and autoimmune conditions all over the place. I have no idea how my body functions when I think sometimes of what all is actually happening inside of it.

But I digress… A huge issue I hear a lot of patients complain about is hair loss during said illnesses. It’s scary when your once thick gorgeous hair is thin and coming out in clumps. Every time I would touch my hair I was pulling some out, and my hair looked and felt like paper. I’m a skincare & beauty lover, and although hair was the least of my worries health-wise I still got very stressed out over it. I spent a big chunk of time googling info on what to do and why this was happening. However at that time I came up with very little info on why hair loss happens when you have Lyme Disease.

So I took matters into my own hands. I started to think about hair loss associated with disease on a deeper level. What makes our hair grow? Well vitamins & nutrients for one are vital, which I was depleted on, so that was one thing I knew had to change. I started a variety of vitamins, and really I would recommend getting checked for vitamin imbalances and supplementing those as needed.

Next I thought about it at the root of the hair itself. Often times hair will fall out if the scalp has an unfavorable Ph balance, and I found out that chronic illness can severely mess up the scalp Ph. So I bought a shampoo called Nizoral. Although it is intended for dandruff, trust me on this one. The main ingredient in Nizoral is Ketoconazole, which is an antifungal but also works as a DHT-blocker, thus lowering inflammation on the scalp. It actually helps a lot in hair loss situations due to a scalp imbalance. Within 3 months of use 3x a week my hair was totally different. My hair dresser noticed how much healthier it looked, which to me is the ultimate good sign

As time went on & my health went from dire to stable I also noticed more improvement. I saw my dermatologist, explained my findings, and this is when I learned I was suffering from something called TE (Tellogen Effivium). TE is a condition which happens when the body is under lots of stress. You see, our hair grows in cycles. Hair growth cycles all vary, and at any given time your hair is either in a growing stage or in a sleeping stage. Your hair does not grow evenly all at once. Those hair follicles which are “asleep” at any given time wake up when the time is right and begin to grow new hair in place of the old ones you shed. It’s a nice little cycle that takes place in perfectly timed intervals so that we aren’t ever bald but we have fresh hair. When you get TE the stress causes this “sleeping” stage to extend.

The American Hair Loss Association explains the 3 ways T.E can develop:

1. There might be an environmental insult that “shocks” the growing hair follicles so much that they decide to go into a resting state for a while. This results in an increase in hair shedding and a diffuse thinning of hair on the scalp. This form of TE can develop rapidly and may be noticeable one or two months after receiving the shock. If the trigger is short lived, then the hair follicles will return to their growing state and start producing new hair fibers pretty quickly. This form of TE usually lasts less than six months and the affected individual has a normal scalp hair density again within a year.

2. The second form of TE develops more slowly and persists longer. The hair follicles may not all suddenly shed their hair fibers and enter a resting telogen state. Rather, the follicles may enter a resting state as they normally would, but instead of returning to a new anagen hair growing state after a month or two, they stay in their telogen state for a prolonged period of time.
This results in a gradual accumulation of hair follicles in a telogen state and progressively fewer and fewer anagen hair follicles are left growing hair. In this form of TE, there may not be much noticeable hair shedding, but there will be a slow thinning of the scalp hair. This form of TE is more likely to occur in response to a persistent trigger factor such as stress.

3. In a third type of TE, the hair follicles do not stay in a resting state but rather cycle through truncated growth cycles. When this happens, the individual experiences thin scalp hair and persistent shedding of short, thin hair fibers.

Luckily TE is NOT permanent. Your hair will re grow and the follicles are not permanently damaged. It’s almost like the stress paralyzes them into not growing as they should. The two main causes of T.E are stress and poor diet, which with Lyme disease often both are occurring at once. Even if we eat a healthy diet, often time most of it does not get absorbed, leaving us with vitamin and mineral deficiencies.

TE lasts as long as the stress lasts, so there isn’t a miracle cure, but you can rest assure if you are one of many who are experiencing this, then it’s likely not serious. My biggest worry being in my 20′s was that I would soon be bald. But it’s not the case. If you had nice hair before the illness then it’s not gone forever! If you want to stop the cycle now & help your hair regrow sooner then I recommend using Nizoral with a good scalp massage, because it's been shown to help with T.E. In fact, massaging the scalp in general helps the hair to grow so I would often lay in bed doing that on dry hair during the day. Also, good high quality hair masks are very helpful to rebuild the keratin bonds in the length of the hair. I used this Virgin Hair Fertilizer which puts nutrients directly back into the length of the hair. Together they helped my hair be shiner and stronger as well as speeding up growth. I used the Nizoral for about 6-8 months and then stopped because the pH balance and hair loss seemed to be okay and it can be drying if used too long. Since then I just pulse it in about 1-2 times a month for good measure, and have kept up with a weekly hair mask. The photo below shows about 2 years from where I started and where it is now. The key for me was Nizoral and the right hair masks, with lots of TLC! 

I hope this post was useful to some of you struggling with similar situations.

xoxo,
-Christina
Picture
From left to right you can see progression of my hair health: 1). Jan 2012 2). July 2013 3). Current (Aug 2014)
23 Comments
Michelle Doris
2/7/2017 09:34:38 am

Hi - thank you for this!!! I have a question; I am not sure if my hair loss is due to this TE effect or if it is a side effect of Herxing. I looked up that shampoo, and it is quite expensive. Do you think that another dandruff shampoo would work similarly? Please email me at the email above, when you have time.

Reply
Christina
2/7/2017 11:12:58 pm

Hi Michelle! The active ingredient in Nizoral is Ketoconazole so I suppose any other shampoo with that active product could be useful too, but I haven't tested it myself. I believe target sells Nizoral for 13.99 but they may have smaller sizes to try out which are cheaper, or perhaps eBay might have a good deal.

Reply
Alison
12/12/2019 08:41:46 pm

Did you have hair loss before you started herxing?

Reply
Michelle link
6/24/2017 03:32:04 am

Thank you. Ive learned so much from your post. Firstgetting a lyme test . im almost possitive this is whats wrong, i had a tic bite me 2yrs ago. Will let everyone know if im right after next week. Gosh a chance for my hair to grow back. Wow thank you again for your post.

Reply
Christina
6/26/2017 09:15:46 pm

Oh I so hope this is helpful for you as well! I completely understand the importance of our hair & when it's thin & falling out it's terrifying! If you do the shampoo I recommend giving it about 8 weeks to see progress. Your roots have to grow out enough & your ends need to get trimmed (or a good deep conditioning) for you to really see. If you can take before & after progress photos I recommend that too! It was REALLY useful for me to see it changing. Especially for my spirit. Good luck!

Reply
Alison
12/12/2019 08:41:06 pm

What were your tick bite test results?

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Jolie
12/9/2017 01:04:20 pm

My 17 year old daughter is understandably flipping out because her hair is coming out by the handful. She was going to get low lights on her hair next week. Should we wait until it starts growing back before any chemical treatment?

Reply
Christina
12/9/2017 10:08:10 pm

Hi Jolie!
I so understand how your daughter feels! I also understand that she probably wants some low lights to boost her spirits & make her hair look better. Since she's getting low lights, as long as it doesn't bleach her hair (which is very damaging) it should be ok. Highlights are super damaging and will only make brittle hair more brittle. Low lights deposit color & are more gentle. So although I'm not as expert, I know it's not as damaging for hair to apply color vs bleaching it. But of course the safest bet is to skip color, do some work on healing her hair & color it later.

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Holly
3/27/2018 12:19:58 pm

Possibly Lyme disease. 😔

Reply
Stephanie
7/2/2018 09:16:38 am

Hi Christina,
How long did it start to take for you to notice the hair wasn’t falling out constantly? Every time I touch mine a strand is coming out.

Reply
Daniel DiNoia
7/2/2018 01:14:24 pm

re: tick bite illness Babeosiois,,,,,,,,,,,can you lose hair from this illness..........I am a male and noticed when I got out of t he hospital for 14 days my hair came our from top, front, sides and back of scalp..........will it grow back ? thanks much

Reply
lisa
11/8/2018 10:31:52 pm

hi, my daughter has had lyme since she was 4yrs old. she has been losing hair for a year now at age 14-15. we had her blood work done and all came back normal. can lyme still cause hair loss even if the titer test is not spiked?

Reply
Christina
11/19/2018 03:00:41 am

The short answer is yes. The long answer is that the titer test isn’t always accurate. I would ask, is she symptomatic? If she is feeling poorly then hair loss make sense still with the above explanation. Any kind of stress to the body can trigger TE & so if she is run down, symptomatic & not feeling well when those are the key points to look for with hair loss.
If she feels ok, meaning not Lyme-like run down then perhaps exploring her thyroid function would be another avenue to go down, as it’s also a common cause of hair loss.

Reply
Alison
12/12/2019 08:39:18 pm

Hi! Dis you use any antibiotics for your lyme disease? If so, what where they? Do you think they helped with hair regrowth?

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Elizabeth James
4/26/2020 06:54:24 pm

Thank you so much for this post. Having hair loss on top of difficult symptoms is just hard. I’m hopeful this will not last forever!

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Ryan
6/30/2020 09:04:12 am

Just want to say thank you for the tip on Nizoral, i had massive hair loss on the top of my scalp due to multiple tick bites and lyme. Hair fell out in large patches. after about 4 months of using Nizoral im back to a happy healthy hair i had before this started. thank you so much for posting this, gave me direction, hope and good results

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Christina
7/8/2020 12:00:08 pm

That’s wonderful news! Thank you so much for sharing that!

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Lizzie
8/16/2020 11:00:37 am

Thank you so much for sharing your experience, this sounds so promising. I have been struggling with hair loss for many years and never thought my Chronic Lyme could be the cause. I'd love to learn more about your exact process so I can do the same. For those 6-8 months of using Nizoral, did you use it twice a week like the bottle instructs? Is there a certain conditioner you used as well? Would you suggest using the hair mask on a different day as when you used Nizoral? Whatever tips you can throw my way, I'd be forever grateful!

Reply
Karen
11/27/2020 11:34:40 am

Thank you so much for your information on losing and then growing hair again. You have lifted my spirits so much!

Reply
Michelle
2/22/2021 04:20:27 pm

Losing hair for the past year from Bartonella. My hair is like straw, its falling out and breaking off. Im in treatment and taking appropriate supplements. I had several bald patches form - they have regrowth but the temple regions are almost bare (if I shine my camera light I see tiny hairs but they never seem to grow very long) I feel so ugly and hardly recognize myself. Having this happen during a pandemic has been "nice" because its "acceptable" to isolate.....I feel like the journey through this would be easier if I didnt feel so darn ugly.

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Kristen Artale
9/16/2021 09:36:01 pm

Thank you for the recommendation for Nizoral. My scalp feels sensitive as well as itchy. Is this a common complaint with TE?

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Natalie
10/6/2021 04:02:37 pm

I am currently on Disulfiram for Lyme and several co-infections. I cannot use the Nizoral because there is alcohol in it, a severe contraindication to DSM. I'm a 38 year old, and my hair is shedding so, so much, I think it's about half of what it was about 6 months ago. Also getting dry and frizzy! Like a commenter said above, I feel so ugly! I'm scared to take showers because every time I do, so much hair falls out. Do you have any other recommendations that don't have alcohol in the ingredients?

Reply
Solene
11/2/2022 01:21:11 am

Rosemary oil added to shampoo can also help promote growth. I add directly to bottle and mix. Unfortunately, doesn't help much with the frizz, dryness, or breakage. Adding coconut, olive, castor, apricot, or other oils can improve the dryness to a degree and reduce frizz. All have different weights, so some may work better for you than others. Olive oil is too heavy for mine unless I'm going to let it sit a few hours than wash. My lyme has caused a great sensitivity to many scents, chemicals, and half of everything really. Point being, they have helped my hair, even though it is not what it used to be. If you get super dry scaly skin from lyme, a homemade coconut oil scrub is the way to go. Best of luck everyone!

Reply



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