Hair Loss - Not From Chemo - Hormonal?

TeddyandBears_Mom said:

Not sure how to answer your

Not sure how to answer your 'how long' question.... I started having hot flashes, night sweats and chills at 46. I was STILL having them when I got my hysterectomy at 58..... I am now 64 and I STILL have them! Not the chills so much but I do get hot flashes and night sweats. They are not quite as severe as they used to be, but still quite intrusive. My surgeon told me that my body was asking for estrogen and would eventually stop asking.... Darn stubborn stuff!

My hair was fine and thin before chemo and came back the same. Except a bit less of it. I have been losing hair as well. My part shows lots of scalp these days.

So, no answers to your questions but wanted you to know you are not alone.....

Love and Hugs,

Cindi

Thanks Cindy.  I did go thorugh all the meno symptoms bad for awhile 15 years ago along with sleep issues and fibromyalgia but they had pretty much gone away excoet for sleep issues which got somewhat better. 

It hadn't even occured to me they'd kick in again after the hysterectomy.   The chills are not so bad nor the hot flashes but the sweats are awful and not just at night - on and off all through the day - and my sleep is awful. 

I do take Ambien but I had just finished tapering myslef down to 1/4 pill a night in the hopes of stopping completely but now looks like I am going increase back to 1/2 and see how much that helps.  I cannot do melatonin - have horrible nightmares. 

I do have long thick hair so I am lucky but my part is more pronounced and I notice it whehn I am on zoom calls and lower my head.  Obviously have concerns about heart and bone issues and the oncologists really do not wnat to address these ancillary side effects so I feel like I have to be my own general contractor as my current interenist is also not very "wholistic". 

Thanks for letting me know I am not alone!     

MoeKay said:

Common Post-Surgical Hair Loss Cause--Telogen Effluvium (TE)

I had a vague recollection of hearing about post-surgical hair loss and was curious, so I researched it.  Post-surgery hair loss is most commonly caused by TE, a condition that’s triggered by a disruption of your normal hair follicle cycling.  See:  https://www.healthline.com/health/hair-loss-after-surgery.  According to the article, in most cases, hair loss after surgery will reverse itself over several months’ time.

I never had any sweats or chills, but had horrible sleep issues after my hysterectomy.  I think part of it was that I hadn't gone through menopause yet and part of it was that I was extremely stressed about my diagnosis, especially the length of time that had elapsed between my symptoms and my diagnosis.  I eventually ended up on Ativan for a while until I was able to break the no-sleep cycle.  But it was a very rough time, so I definitely can relate. 

All the best to you. 

Thank you!  I will check out that article.