dianette feels like it has been a total horror stor

[annmitch23]

hi dindin!!

i am so sorry that i was jst able to reply right now. please dont thnk i have abandoned this site. u know..being in a new country. i rly had to adjust. i was just soo busy with work and i ddnt find time until now. the hair loss is still there. it is gradually reducing. there has been regrowth but i am not yet convinced. i want the hair loss to really stop.
i went to the GP and i am rather sad because he just brushed me off. ddnt bother to even check my hair. he just looked at it and said i still have enough hair. what is he waiting for? when i will become bald already! it was frustrating. he said my problem was not urgent. he wanted me to go home saying i was just stressed. not convinced..i told him to have my thyroid check.my thyroid was normal when the results came. so dindin, what else do i need to be checked. i want to come back again to him and see if there are any labs that needs checking. how is ur hair loss. hopefully it has stopped and you are feeling better. i thnk i am half way there but not yet fully there to the path of being contented and happy bout my hair. i dont have the courage yet to let it down. always had to tie it with my pony tail.and my skin is crappy right now.

[DinDIn]

Hi Anee,

glad to hear that the shedding has slowed down. How long have you had it for? Don't worry, it will stop before you know it. Do you get the itchy tingling scalp as well?

When you get your blood test, you should ask for the following..

Estrogen
progesterone
LH
FSH
Thyroid
prolactin
Dheas
iron
testosterone

Testosterone and the Dheas are the most important because those are the male hormones and thats usually a cause for hair loss. Anyhow, I am sure that all your blood tests will come back normal. It is the pill that did this to you.

As for me.. I have a specialist appointment tomorrow. She is a hair specialist. I have seen her three months ago but she just brushed me off. This time I really need to see her. The hair loss is ok.. I still lose a little hair when I wash it and I am hoping that it will get better, but I still get the itching and burning scalp which drives me insane. I can't live like that anymore so lets see what they say, but I am sure that it is a waste of time. It will be 6 months for me on MAy 23rd. Quite a long time. I guess we just have to have faith that this will end soon. m

How much hair do you lose whan you wash it now Anne?

Let me know how you are,
Din

[Guest]

hi dindin
i am rly sorry if i cnt reply everyday. i get to use the net everyday but then i am always busy making paperworks that sometimes i overlook the site. but every time i was my hair or comb it...i am reminded of how much it affects me and then i log in to see if any of you replied or posted something that may be able to help. i still keep losing hAIR. i just want the day to arrive when i will be not losing any and everything will eventually stop.
i just keep my hair on a ponytail everyday because it just cant be laid all all down. its SOOO THIN. its sickeninh. i have listed every lab tests u have just said and i am trying to book an appointment for the GP next week. my hair fall started last march. so this could be the 3rd month. =(
when i brush. i lose about 20 hairs and when i take a bath..lets say 50 to a hundred. its because as i said it has slowed down a little bit. but i am not that convinced. so how was ur trip to the hair specialist dindin. what did she say? =)

i will keep u updated. thank u for sharing this with me. for making me feel not alone. for all the support. although i dont know you. i seem to feel that we are connected because of this problem. hopefully we both will come out of it happy and have good results. how old are you by the way? i am turning 27 this year. =) take care!

[DinDIn]

Hi Anne,

I went to see the specialist this week. I went more so because of the itchy burning scalp. She said that telogen effluvium( which is what is the hair loss we are exoperiencing is called) can last even up to one year!! I almost died when I heard that. anyhow.. she said that most women that are going through this complain of an itchy tingly scalp. she gave me a good shampoo to use.. and amazing product made by Vichy Laboratories called DERCOS TECHNIQUE Frequent use DERMO-SOOTHING SHAMPOO ANTI-ITCH... It soothes scalp irritation from first application , reduces itcing sensations after 3 applications and it says the hair shines and maintains volume and vitality. I have used it twice already and it is helping. I wish I knew about this product before instead of suffering. It was only $15 so it is not too bad. I hope that it will solve my problem.

This Monday will be 6 months for me. It is much better though. I lose about one hair when combing.. sometimes none at all.. and when I wash around 2o hairs or so including in the drying and brushing. I am not sure if it is normal or not yet. I don't remember losing hair before. I just want to get my hair back. I do see regrowth.. but I am hoping to see more.

This is how it worked for me.. the first 7 to 8 weeks were hell.. high rapid shading where I lost half my hair it seems.
After that for the next two months I had a medium shed.. and it slowly tapered off, Then month 4 and 5 was a light shed.. but sometimes it went to medium then became light again. I hope this will be over very soon. Please...please.. I hope so.

Don't worry Anne.. as hard as this is.. this nightmare will be over soon and you will get your hair back. You are young.. just stay away from any medications or hormones right now. Right now.. anything you take into your body.. even an advil, can start hair loss cycle again. You need to let your body heal and adjust first. I am very sure that we will get all of our hair back. We just have to be patient and one day we will laugh about this. Ther eis nothing you can do. The hair that needs to fall out, will fall out wether or not we like it, so let it be, don't stress out and we will get back to normal eventually.

I am in my early thirties. Never thought I was going to lose my hair so early in life...( but like I said, lets hope for th ebest.

I am glad that I have someone to share this with. It feels less lonley to deal with this.

Stay strong!!! We will get past this!!

Din

[DinDIn]

For anyone who is interested,

my friend told me yesterday that if you rub your finger nails, your hair will grow faster and it will prevent hair loss. Of course I was kind of skeptical, come on... but I actually googled it and it is true. I have found many articles claiming this. Click on the link below to red... also google it. Hey... for me, anything sounds goo dright now. I will try it. They say you have to do it 5-7 minutes in the morning and 5-7 minutes in the evening.


http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/s ... clnk&gl=us


Just make your hands into a fist and rub your four fingers in each hand together. The nails have nerve endings in their that go to the scalp and by rubbing them you are stimulating the blood to go to the scalp. If it prevents further hair loss, it is worth a shot.

Din

[DinDIn]

It is now 10 months sice stopping the Dianette(Diane 35).

Things are ok but not so great.

I think the hair loss pretty much stopped. I am not certain though. I don't remember how much hair I was losing before all this started so its hard for me to tell.

When I comb my hair now.. maybe one hair falls out or none at all, and I comb my hair hard. When I wash it... maybe 5 to 6 hairs come off when I comb it after washing(None come out in the bath).. and then maybe a couple more when I dry it. so maybe it is normal now.. I don't know... I just really can't remember if I lost hair when washing when all this started.

The thing that bothers me right now is the itchy burning scalp. I don't have it every day. I have a few days that everything feels good and I am happy, but then it comes back. So I really don't know what to think anymore. I tried switching to organic shampoo as it does not contain the SLS ingredient that is bad for you. That seemed to work for a few days. Now I think that staying in the sun triggers it. My scalp is a bit red on top and I think because my hair is thinner, the sun really irritates my scalp. so Now I decided to wear a hat when outside, even though I will look like a geek. I just feel so down because I wish this nightmare was over already. I want to look like my old safe. I miss the way I used to look. I feel like crap.

Anyhow.. so I am just trying to be optimistic and hopefully things will improve. I want my hair to grow back!! There is some regrowth, but I need to see a lot if I lost so much hair.

Anne, how are you doing?? What is going on with you? Is it getting better? The shedding will stop. You just have to ride it out. Nothing else we can do unfortunately,

Din

[DinDIn]

Actually,

my hair is still falling out lightly. Not as bad as before... but still I can tell it is still going on.Just washed my hair today.. so I know it is not like it used to be.

Din

[annmitch23]

hi dindin

how r u??? its good that ur hair has not been falling out that much. as for me..i have good days and bad days. i had all the blood tests that u recommended taken and all the results turned out good. my thyroid is normal, testosterone and other hormones are normal. except for the Iron. my test result was 6.13 and the normal is 13-50 something. so i have very low iron. i immediately went to holland and barrett and bought some iron vitamins as well as hair. skin. and nails vitamins. i am just so tired of this. my scalp will get sooo itchy and if its itchy i know i am going to lose a lot more.my hairloss is tapered down but im still losing a good amount of hair. this is my 4th month of hair loss. cnt wait 4 it to stop. how r u?

[Guest]

hi dindin

how r u??? its good that ur hair has not been falling out that much. as for me..i have good days and bad days. i had all the blood tests that u recommended taken and all the results turned out good. my thyroid is normal, testosterone and other hormones are normal. except for the Iron. my test result was 6.13 and the normal is 13-50 something. so i have very low iron. i immediately went to holland and barrett and bought some iron vitamins as well as hair. skin. and nails vitamins. i am just so tired of this. my scalp will get sooo itchy and if its itchy i know i am going to lose a lot more.my hairloss is tapered down but im still losing a good amount of hair. this is my 4th month of hair loss. cnt wait 4 it to stop. how r u?

[annmitch23]

hi dindin

how r u??? its good that ur hair has not been falling out that much. as for me..i have good days and bad days. i had all the blood tests that u recommended taken and all the results turned out good. my thyroid is normal, testosterone and other hormones are normal. except for the Iron. my test result was 6.13 and the normal is 13-50 something. so i have very low iron. i immediately went to holland and barrett and bought some iron vitamins as well as hair. skin. and nails vitamins. i am just so tired of this. my scalp will get sooo itchy and if its itchy i know i am going to lose a lot more.my hairloss is tapered down but im still losing a good amount of hair. this is my 4th month of hair loss. cnt wait 4 it to stop. how r u?

[DinDIn]

Hi Anne,

I am doing ok.
Don't worry, the hair loss will stop soon. It will get less and less every day!!

Iron is very important to grow hair. Take iron supplement to make suer that it goes up, Its a little on the low side. When you take your Iron supplement.. take it with orange juice or vitamin C. Do NOT take it with milk, eggs, dairy, or cereal and fibers. Iron is hard to absob so you want to make suer you take it proparly otherwise you will take it for nothing. What you do is take your iron two hours after you finsihed eating.. take it with vitamin C , and then don't eat for an additional two hours after that. My iron was low too and now it is very good. Even though your hair loss will stop, you should continue to take iron , because iron is what will grow your new hair. so I am going to take iron for at least another two years now, until my hair is back to normal.

I have good days and bad days. I still have the burning and itching that drive me crazy. It makes me so depressed. I just want to feel normal. I don't know what to do anymore. Now Ia m only going to use organic shampoo, because most shampoos have SLS and it is irritating for our scalp right now. And , I will wear a hat when outside. Sun irritates the scalp. And I love the sun!! How my life turned upside down!! But it will get better for us both. Don't worry!! Your blood tests are normal, but they would be.. but that is good. DO NOT TAKE ANY MEDS!!! That will just make it worse. ride it out. It will stop!!!!

Let me know how you are,

feel better, and lets hope this nightmare will be over soon!!

Din

[Guest]

Hi I'm the one who posted on the previous page about going to a college doctor when finding a lump in my breast and deciding to come off dianette. Probably should have given my name, it's Laura. Been off it six weeks and not a bother although I know in a month or so I won't be able to say the same.

Only trouble is my period. I was nearly two weeks late and it was very light. I'm worried because when I came off dianette for 5 months a year ago my periods were perfectly fine and regular. I'm wondering whether I should be worried by the fact that it's diferent this time around?

Thanks in advance,
Laura.

[DinDIn]

Hey Laura,

Good for you for coming off this pill.

Don't worry about your period, from what I hear it is normal to get weird periods after getting off the Diannete(Diane) . Just because everything was normal last time you got off of it doesn't mean it will be the same this time around. I heard it could take 9 months and up to a year for things to get normal again so don't worry. What you are experiencing is totally normal. Keep us updated on how you are doing..

Anne, what are you up too? How is your hair coming along?

I am still trying to survive. I still lose hair when I wash and the itchy scalp.. although not as intense as it used to be and not always every day, is still bothering me. I sometimes get very scared that I would have to live like this for the rest of my life and I am very scared that my hair will not grow back. i guess only time will tell.

Hope you are ok Anne,

Din

[DinDIn]

I am now 11 months after stopping Diane 35(Dianette).

Things are much better, but not so great either.

The itchy tingly scalp has gotten much better in the past two week. My scalp actually feels normal on most days. It still bothers me a little bit, but hopefully it is only getting better.

I still have hair loss. Although not as much as before, but I still shed lightly mostly when I wash my hair. I also lost eye lashes. My eye lashes are very thin now and they used to be very long and thick.

This is a very big price to pay for just being on this pill for 6 months. My hair is very thin now.. I hate the way I look. I see some re growth, but not as much as I should see considering how much hair I have lost. I honestly think that I lost 50% of my hair. I am hoping that things will only get better from here.

I know I am the only one posting on this thread, but the reason I post here is more so that other girls who are going through this, or will go through this, will kind of have a guide as to what will happen. I know that everyone is different, but its good to share my story here and I really hope that one day it will help others. I will keep posting here monthly, until i recover.

While going through this, I didn't have much information of what will happen. Most girls write about their hair loss, but they never write and update what happened once the hair loss stopped, so you end up feeling scared . I know that some girls Like Tulip83 posted on her progress and I thank her so much because she really gave me hope that this will stop one day and that I will get my hair back. I want to give that hope to others as well.

Anne, if you are still lurking here, please write back. Let me know how you are doing,

Din

[AngInver]

Hi everyone, havent been on here for ages. Just been feeling really ill, just wanted to put a wee update in here, went for an ultrasound today as ive only had 4(very light) periods in the last 2 years since coming off dianette..the doctor said im verging on having polysystic ovaries!!!! I am furious!! The only thing that can have caused this is this pill, luckily she said it doesnt seem too bad and is passing the scan info onto my consultant to see if he wants to do more testing, she said i have 9 cysts on one of my ovaries, but i dont really know what that means! Still having crazy mood swings and feeling awful,i also have lumps on the back of my head that are sore, is this something that any of you have? I was losing a lot of hair previously but that has stopped!Nightmare!! I would say to anyone, dont go on this as its so not worth all this!!