Wondering when HAIR LOSS will STOP??

i'm 16 and suppose i have been anorexic, not quite sure if thats the term, but at least restrictive on my diet for the last half a year. Luckily, i came to my senses in  last november 2008 and began eating normally again (btw i ate at least 1500-1600 cals per day during restrictive stage, and i'm about 154 cm tall, small frame and lightly active...even sedentary).

i've gotten my period back, after losing it for 5 months. i think i was in starvation mode cos i ate a fair bit before hand and lost about 4 kg dropping from 47kg to 42.8 kg, but my hair is still falling out in strands (this began in about december).

does it take around 3 months for this hair loss to stop or less considering my bout of anoerxia was slight and short? i have thick hair, and quite a lot of it so it doesn't seem to be thinning arcording to my eyes...and my parents say i look like i've hardly lost any hair at all... sorry, i now there've been quite a few questions about this...but i wanted to post anyhoo.

ps this site is wondrously helpful!! good work!

Hey, I Know exactly where your coming from because I posed about 3 times about this and I was freaking out and I know people must have been annoyed with my posts. Anyways I am the same I wouldnt say is was "anorexic" and that term scares me. I guess i was def restrictive but I was eating at least 1200 to 1800 calories while being restrictive. I was working out as well. I dropped very low because I was exercising too much. Anyways the hair started falling out in July and i hate to tell you this but it hasnt fully stopped. It is def alot better alot, but i would say it takes a good 6 months to make peace with it. My hair loss may be normal now as I had thick hair but I have lost id say half of it. Luckily I know look like every other persons hair because I had so much. Eat lots of almonds and take fish oil. I wasnt eating enough fats which cause your body to shift its energy to keep the rest of your body and not focus on your hair. I have spent countless hours crying and crying about it and even saw counsilers. Please try and make peace with it and know that it will only get better if you get to a healthy weight and diet. It took a while for you to loose the weight so it will take a while for the hair to come back. I do have alot of baby hairs. I wish someone would have told me this when I was going through this so I hope this helps. Message me if you have any questions!!!

Are you getting treatment for your eating disorder? Anorexia nervosa cannot be slight and short. If you were sick you should be aggressive about getting treatment so you do not relapse at some point in the future. Please take care of yourself.

How many calories are you eating per day now? What sort of nutrition and food groups are you consuming?

In the meantime, here are some answers from the Ask Mary section of Calorie Count:

Poor nutrition, especially inadequate protein and iron, is one cause of hair loss.  Your calorie intake is probably too low to spare your protein for building cells, and the plant protein in your diet might not be adequate.  Recalculate you target calorie goal and eat that amount.  Aim for 60 grams of protein a day.  Too much vitamin A can cause hair loss too. Make sure you don’t get more than 3,000 mcg (or 10,000 IU) a day. Other reasons for hair loss are an overactive or underactive thyroid, medication side-effects from contraceptives and antidepressants, and excessive shampooing, hair-drying and coloring. Consult a dermatologist for a diagnosis.

Your hair is probably falling out because you are not eating enough. You may be choosing nutritious foods, but you are not eating enough of the calories you need in a day. Raise your calorie intake to get enough protein and vitamins and minerals for hair growth as well as for good health. Aim for at least 35 grams of fat and 160 grams of carbohydrate a day; visit My Pyramid.gov to learn how to plan a healthy diet. By eating too little, you also raise the risk of binging, which is a common side-effect of overly-restricted diets. Read about how rigid dieting contributes to disordered eating on About.com.

Amenorrhea (a’.men.or.rhe.a), the abnormal cessation of menstruation, is associated with low body weight, rapid weight loss and excessive exercise. You should always consult your doctor if you miss three periods in a row. Undereating and being underweight disrupts your hormones and so ovulation stops. While your weight omay be technically within the healthy range, it might be too low for you.  To maintain your present weight at your activity level, you need to eat at a lot more calories a day. You could need even more calories for your period to return.

i don't count my calories anymore- but asking my mum and dad, i'm eating as per normal before my anoerixa or extreme dieting. i'm def not getting that hungry pang anymore and trying to gain at least past 44kg.

urmm...i'll give you an example of what i'm eating each meal per day

breakfast:

glass of soymilk / skim milk

2 slices toast with peanut butter/ 1 serving oats with honey

eating fruit if still hungry or cookies, peanut

lunch: (i'm chinese) i go out and eat the stir fries/ rice/  has meat and vegies etc or the ones my mum make

or a sandwich with whole wheatbread and ham etc.

snacking again on stuff previously mentioned

dinner i have like 1/2 cup rice, more 1 serving meat, any sort white or red, and more than 1 serving vegies, asian soup, and 1  serving fish/ tofu

OR a plate of pad thai, stir fry noodles etc with soup / congee

yep. thats my day usually. so yeah..i def eat enough and building a good mentality and idea on body image. lol. since its the holidays, i don't do any exercise....minus some twists and walking for shopping etc.

wow this is basically exactly what i went through last summer

my hairloss started around late november/december (but i had already been eating better then), but its just the hair proteins  had died from when i restricted my diet, and were catching up with themselves a few months later (if that  makes sense?), so all the dead ones from my dieting period fell out A LOT! and now, its like pretty much all normal now cause im eating better, so they're growing normally (as soon as i started eating better, i had a HUGE hair growth spurt!) and my hair is growing back! so i'd say it took me about 1-2 months to stop my hair loss

hope this helps!

thanks steph- this is great news that you're better ! :)

haha yeah- really simliar situations!! i guess it isn't how many calories i ate anymore- rather the decrease in food amounts from my original intake. i knew it wasn't adequate enough- go with the feelings not the numbers!!

this was what probably stopped my period and hair from growing etc. but def eating like i was before. i'm a lot happier too now i can focus on other things that i'm meant to enjoy :) teehee. my dad tells me the same thing too- better for the dead hair to drop off and start off afresh with new hair. worrying is the worst thing possible- i need to be more patient!