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I had been worrying about the news from the doctor about the mass on my adrenal gland. Yes, I thought I would be able to push it aside so I can worry about the surgery I will have to have for the navel hernia. Heh. NOPE. NOT WAITING, THX.
The doctor had said it could explain the very low potassium I had at the ER back in December. My research showed that it could also explain how very terribly awful my fingernails had become in the past month or so. As well as the extra-heavy hair loss I was seeing for the past couple of months.
It took two full days of mental processing before I was able to put the two time periods together.
When my mother had an episode of very poor health in her later years that ended up putting her in the hospital on IV antibiotics for a couple of weeks, followed by a nursing home for another couple weeks of the same treatment, she was glad to get home afterwards. She was feeling better, doing more, had fully recovered.
Then weird things started happening- what bugged her the most was that her hair started falling out like mad. Not in clumps, just overall- but enough that she was very worried. Her doctor didn't see anything wrong with her (other than the usual levels of the same chronic problems- she saw him about every 3 months at that time to monitor things), so he referred her to a dermatologist.
This guy looked at the information the doctor had sent over, listened to mom describe what was happening, and then asked her if she had had some kind of severely traumatic physical or health-related event happen about six months ago, like having to be hospitalized? He explained that when our bodies are in crisis mode, they automatically let less-important maintenance tasks go while the trauma is dealt with. As recovery progresses, routine maintenance kicks back in. In the meantime, whatever was let go will show.
In the case of hair and skin and fingernails, it takes time for the neglect to get to the surface, where we can see it. In other words, having heavy hair loss was most likely a result of her six-months-previous hospital stay for the blood poisoning she had.
He went on to give her the information about Minoxidil for women who are having baldness issues, also told her that she didn't look like it was something she was really having. Then he explained that there was also only anecdotal evidence that supplementing high doses of biotin every day would help skin and hair get healthier. He emphasized more than once that this DID NOT have medical testing to prove it, but that biotin that wasn't needed by the body would just be flushed out harmlessly, so she might want to give it a try.
The biotin supplement became the one thing mom was not willing to give up- even on future hospitalizations. I had to always bring her bottle from home so she could keep taking it. And honestly, her hair not only recovered, and got much thicker, but it began growing a lot faster, too.
Which brings me full circle now. My traumatic head laceration that resulted in my first-ever emergency squad trip to the ER, and 19 stitches plus 6 staples, occurred towards the end of October. Six months later I'm seeing the full bloom of the after effects of that in my hair and nails. Also, I expect the severe kidney infection I got at the end of November and the leg infection I had at the end of December are also factors in this.
HELLO, HIGH DOSE BIOTIN! WE'RE GONNA BE GOOD FRIENDS, I JUST KNOW IT!
The doctor had said it could explain the very low potassium I had at the ER back in December. My research showed that it could also explain how very terribly awful my fingernails had become in the past month or so. As well as the extra-heavy hair loss I was seeing for the past couple of months.
It took two full days of mental processing before I was able to put the two time periods together.
When my mother had an episode of very poor health in her later years that ended up putting her in the hospital on IV antibiotics for a couple of weeks, followed by a nursing home for another couple weeks of the same treatment, she was glad to get home afterwards. She was feeling better, doing more, had fully recovered.
Then weird things started happening- what bugged her the most was that her hair started falling out like mad. Not in clumps, just overall- but enough that she was very worried. Her doctor didn't see anything wrong with her (other than the usual levels of the same chronic problems- she saw him about every 3 months at that time to monitor things), so he referred her to a dermatologist.
This guy looked at the information the doctor had sent over, listened to mom describe what was happening, and then asked her if she had had some kind of severely traumatic physical or health-related event happen about six months ago, like having to be hospitalized? He explained that when our bodies are in crisis mode, they automatically let less-important maintenance tasks go while the trauma is dealt with. As recovery progresses, routine maintenance kicks back in. In the meantime, whatever was let go will show.
In the case of hair and skin and fingernails, it takes time for the neglect to get to the surface, where we can see it. In other words, having heavy hair loss was most likely a result of her six-months-previous hospital stay for the blood poisoning she had.
He went on to give her the information about Minoxidil for women who are having baldness issues, also told her that she didn't look like it was something she was really having. Then he explained that there was also only anecdotal evidence that supplementing high doses of biotin every day would help skin and hair get healthier. He emphasized more than once that this DID NOT have medical testing to prove it, but that biotin that wasn't needed by the body would just be flushed out harmlessly, so she might want to give it a try.
The biotin supplement became the one thing mom was not willing to give up- even on future hospitalizations. I had to always bring her bottle from home so she could keep taking it. And honestly, her hair not only recovered, and got much thicker, but it began growing a lot faster, too.
Which brings me full circle now. My traumatic head laceration that resulted in my first-ever emergency squad trip to the ER, and 19 stitches plus 6 staples, occurred towards the end of October. Six months later I'm seeing the full bloom of the after effects of that in my hair and nails. Also, I expect the severe kidney infection I got at the end of November and the leg infection I had at the end of December are also factors in this.
HELLO, HIGH DOSE BIOTIN! WE'RE GONNA BE GOOD FRIENDS, I JUST KNOW IT!
