Now I know

My daugher is 11 years old and disgnosed in Feb. 08, with type 1. We are doing fine, but all of a sudden her hair is falling out?? The doc said it could be strees, our endo doc. said to wait until our apt. at clinic in April, this worries me, any ideas??

So, after many conversations, with Doctors, and friends here on the site I have discovered that some children dx with Type 1 can indeed lose their hair, it is a reaction to the shock of the diabetes, apparently when her body stopped producing insilun or some the hormone necessary to keep her hair growing her hair indeed stopped growing or went into a resting state, when we started giving her insilun via the shots, her hair started growing again, soooooo, the resting hair is now falling out because the new hair is pushing it out!! So she has a chance of losing 40 - 70% of her hair. This stinks. Yesterday we trimmed her hair up short, hoping that will elevate some of the stress on her hair, who knows it is still falling out…She is not happy about this at all, none of us are… :frowning:

Hi Micky:

Gee Whiz, like she needs that.

Yes, it could be stress. The hair cells can shut down
so that the energy will be redirected to where it is needed.

Many reasons for hair loss: stress, hormonal, surgery, medications, nutritional deficiences, medical conditions
including the thyroid, etc. Many Diabetics have thyroid conditions.

I was dxd. with Hypothroidism many years ago. I have been in remission for years.

Your Daughter’s Dr. will more likely than not, do a TSH test. In all, I hope that she does well. :slight_smile:

Yes, this is a common symptom of hypothyriodism! She should also get the thyroid antibodies checked. My TSH is normal still (3.2), but I showed to have significant antibodies, which means it’s probably only a matter of time until my thyroid function will not be sufficient.

It’s great that you are so proactive! This is a lot to deal with all at once…

Ya, Micky:

Her Dr. is right. Two weeks won’t matter if it is the thyroid. No her hair won’t all fall out just thin out. Thinning hair is a symptom for sure.

I was dxd. with Diabetes at age 3 and dxd. at age 25 with severe Rheumatoid Arthritis. That is one Bad autoimmune disease, if the drugs don’t work.

I was on many drugs and some I was having handfuls of hair fall out when I washed it. That was depressing also.

But I found a drug that finally worked half decent for a few years with no hair loss and my hair started growing back in when I was 27.

Then at age 30 or 31, it started just thinning plus I was intolerant to the cold, gained some weight unexpectedly(there are many symptoms), etc.

My Endo did the TSH test and dxd. me right there. He
put me on Thyroxine and Dur K since my potassium was low also. Too much Fun, these diseases. ;o)

I hope that it’s just a bit of stress or hormones for her and
it will resolve itself after a while.

Please tell us how it goes.

Yup, thyroid was the first thing I thought of. That was my only symptom - big chunks of hair on the pillow in the morning.

I have two non-thyroid thoughts and they are:
Allopecia is an autoimmune disorder that causes hair loss.
Starvation also causes hair loss and I experienced that in the months before and the one month after I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes.

I know it has been awhile since this thread has been posted. I had to comment on the hairloss thing, but would like to be available to help in any other way also. I have been a type 1 diabetic for 20 years now. I am also a first year nursing student. The hairloss is most lokely not related directly to the dibetes. I had this type of hairloss that the doctor mentioned about 3 - 6 months after giving birth, Any stress to the body will cause it, and it will even oput after the cycles of hair growth catch up. At the time it was alarming though - I mean handfulls at a time were coming out. Fopr more info. try Googling “Telogen effluvium”.
Don’t worry too much about other diagnoses. Peoiple are corrext in the fact that hairloss is a commn symptom of thyroid disorder, and thyroid disorder is a common diagnosis. Because atuoimmune diseases are commonly related genetically, the endochrinologist will keep a closer eye on these as well. There are relationships genetically with type 1 diabetes and Chrohn’s, rheumatoid arthritis, hypothyroidism etc. but while it is possible to have multiple diagnoses, it is not necessarily likely, meaning that the majority of us do not. If you are interested in keeping up to date on researdh and advances, I would also check out the American Autoimmune Disease Related Association - http://www.aarda.org/ I have info emailed to me because I find it fascinating, and both my 16 year old brother and I have type 1 DM. We also have a family history on both side of the family of Rheumatiod arthritis, Psoriasis, Lupus, and thrombocytopenia. It is common for diagnosies to be seen in family lines. Anyways, please email me personally with any questions. I feel that I have experience both as a long time diabetic, as a child with diabetes struggling with school/social issues, as well as with other children diabetics working in healthcare.

Peace! - Brandy

P.S., Sorry about all the typos. I am oftem typing while breastfeeding. I should spellcheck! lol