Hair Shedding 1-2 weeks after the flu....coincidence or related?

[nikeguy]

I have had a lot of noticable hair shedding in the shower, on my pillow in the morning, ect...for the last month...it started 1 week after getting over I think the worst flu I've ever had....I've read it be somewhere between 1-3 months after getting the flu before you may notice some hair loss...could it be sooner, or is there something else going on? I've never had this type of problem before, and I have no one in my family from either side who has male pattern baldness.

I also broke up with my girlfriend about 3 months before starting to shed. Not sure it's related...my derm looked at me and said it's normal to shed up to 200 hairs a day, if you're in a shedding cycle, which he said can last from 2-6 months...since I never had this happen before, I'm obviously concerned about it...my derm didn't mention TE, he just plucked at my hair in different spots, and told me to take vitamins (b-complex, and multi's, and change my shampoo)...he said that MPB doesn't typically start with an excessive amount of hair shedding, is this true? That's not what I've seen on some of these boards...Should I get a second opinion?

[blowmeup]

Stress can cause some people to go into a TE. If your breakup with your girlfriend was a heavy stressor mixed with your severe flu, I guess it is possible that this is why you are losing so much hair. Some people see lots of shedding with MPB and some do not. You can have your hair follicles checked for miniturizing by a hair loss doctor. They basically look at different parts of your scalp under magnification and can tell what percentage of you hair follicles are producing weaker hairs. This I the real test for MPB.
Good luck!
Let us know how it goes.

[nikeguy]

thanks for the reply....that's good advice to get that done...how long should I wait...it's only been a month...would they be able to tell if I'm regrowing hair and if it's weak this early?