Hi does anyone have a clue what's goin on ?

[catgreeneyes]

Hey all,im a 31 year old female .my hair started falling out 5 months ago (diffuse pattern) and at the same time acne appeared all over my back neck upper arms chest and face .my scalp also has acne .lve been to a dermatologist who tested my hormones. Everything came back normal (androgens,testosterone )apart from my prolactin which was at 42 and my progesterone is low also . My thyroid was normal but they didnt do a full panel only tsh and t3 .I also have low iron .I have an appointment with an endocrinologist in a month thank god . I know it cant be poly cystic ovaries as l know you have to have irregular periods and high androgens and l don't .l havent been on the pill for years so it cant be that either .l just don't have a clue what could cause your hair to just start falling out and severe scarring acne to appear out the blue . I'm so scared I have some horrible illness ! This has taken over my life . I don't go out anymore ,my boyfriend doesn't look at me the same ,I'm so depressed !

[Tracy C]

Your descriptions sure sounds like your androgen levels should be high or out of whack in some way. I don't have a clue what's going on. Why do you have to wait a full month to see an endocrinologist? Is there any way to see that doctor sooner?

[catgreeneyes]

Hi Tracy

Thanks for your reply ! If my androgens were out of wack would that cause my hair to fall out so suddenly ? The dermatologist had a look at my hairs under the micro scope and he said they were shedding hairs ( white bulb on end ) so probably not AGA.Can androgens cause your hair to go into TE ? I hope so as I'm just living on the hope my hair will grow back when l short out my hormones ! I live in Scotland and he is a n NHS professor of endocrinology .He doesn't do private and his waiting list is two months so another one to wait .

[Tracy C]

I don't know the answer. I do know that once the cause of a woman's hair loss is determined and treated, her hair usually grows back.

There is quite a bit of information about women's hair loss at the American Hair loss Association. Here is the link:

http://www.americanhairloss.org/women_hair_loss/

[catgreeneyes]

Thankyou Tracy .I have just sent them an email .Maybe they will have some answers.

[Tracy C]

I have a short story that might offer some hope on your situation.

I had stabilized my hereditary hair loss (AGA) that I inherited from my mother for quite a while and my hair was slowly growing back. Then several months before I lost my job rumors started going around that the company was going to shut down and we would all be out of a job. During those months, I started shedding a lot. The shedding continued until our last day of work on January 3rd 2012. The shedding stopped almost right away after that. Even though I had just lost my job (we all did), the stress of worrying about it was over - and the shedding stopped. TE is usually caused by stress. The more we worry about losing our hair, the more hair we can lose. It's a vicious self-feeding downward spiral. The only thing we can do about it is to try not to worry about it, which is almost impossible - but that is exactly what we need to do.

I have learned a lot about women's androgenetic alopecia (FPB), but the most important thing I have learned about women's hair loss in general is that you need to find a way to get it out of the front of your mind so you can recover and move on.