By Nomalungelo Ginindza | 2019-04-20
Most people think hair loss can happen to people who are diagnosed with cancer, yes that is true, but it can also happen to people who are diabetic. Let’s see how this can happen.
Diabetes can cause multiple problems throughout the body. And it is not surprising to hear of how it causes hair loss as well. In fact, this could be one of the symptoms you first experience not knowing you have diabetes. People normally lose a certain amount of hair daily, but only in small amounts. But those people with a hormonal imbalance have a greater chance of losing a lot of hair daily. If you are having a lot of hair loss recently along with symptoms such as:
Then, you need to see your doctor and get your blood sugar tested which is very easy to do. If you are found to have diabetes, then your doctor will treat you promptly, and get you on the right care regime.
So how does the hair loss connect with diabetes?
Well, first of all, according to American Diabetes Association, diabetes is all related to hormone factors since it is a hormonal type of disease. Since diabetes of both types 1 and 2 cause various types of skin problems, this is where the hair loss problem comes in. It takes good blood circulation to have normal growth of hair and even healthy hair. Since many diabetic people have blood circulation problems such as neuropathy, for instance, this can cause problems with hair growth in the first place.
Diseases like diabetes cause a person a lot of stress. Dealing with medications and insulin injections, watching your diet, monitoring your blood sugars often, and getting proper amount of exercise is hard for anyone on a day to day basis. When under stress, hormones can also become unbalanced, thus causing even more loss of hair.
Other reasons that diabetes commonly causes a great hair loss are due to the build-up of blood sugar in the body when it is not controlled. With glucose at too high of levels, you have nutrients, and oxygen that cannot reach the follicles of your hair. As this happens with high glucose levels, hair falls out until glucose is brought under control.
What other things can you do in order to help your hair re-growth?
The most important thing you can do is control your blood sugar levels so that they are in control. Doctors should always aggressively treat diabetes since it is such a damaging disease to the body in so many ways.
Stay away from all stresses possible. Have your diabetes care regime all mapped out so that it is easy to follow. You need to also make certain that you understand your medications, insulin, and diet so you know what to follow. This will help you to put everything into perspective, eliminating stress right there. Meditation, reading a book, walking, and taking a bubble bath are also great stress relievers.
Your diet is very important and can help your hair health. Fruits and vegetables have many vitamins that can help your hair follicles rejuvenate. One such vitamin is Vitamin E. Broccoli, asparagus, bananas, and many other vegetables have Vitamin E in a one cup serving.That being said, there are other reasons for losing hair such as age, thyroid problems, etc. This is something that should be discussed with a doctor. Better to be safe and cautious since everyone is different. Drugs that are used to treat diabetes may also lead to hair loss. If you feel that particular regimens are causing distressful hair loss, then consult your doctor to get your prescription modified. Diabetes may weaken the immune system, making it susceptible to other diseases. This weakened immunity may lead to scalp conditions like ringworm or other fungal diseases which in turn may cause hair fall.
Autoimmune diseases such as skin rashes and thyroid dysfunctions can be a part and parcel of people suffering from diabetes and these diseases are known to cause massive hair loss.
According to Australian Diabetes Association, hair loss during diabetes is sometimes attributed to telogen effluvium. All hair has a growth phase, termed anagen, and a resting phase, namely telogen. In normal people, five to 15 per cent of the hair on the scalp is in telogen at any given time.
Telogen effluvium is a condition triggered when a physiologic stress or hormonal change like diabetes causes a large number of hair to enter telogen at one time leading to diffused hair shedding.
So resist the urge to just curl up on your couch in front of the television with a bag of chips and get set on the goal of controlling diabetes if you want to preserve your lustrous locks.
If you notice unwarranted hair loss, it is very important that you seek immediate medical assistance. Since hair loss can cause untold trauma, lack of self-esteem, and social anxiety, it is also advisable to visit a trichologist (trichologists are hair and scalp specialists (one type a skin specialist) who diagnose the causes of hair fall, hair breakage, hair thinning, miniaturisation of hairs; diseases of the scalp and treat according to cause) and get an expert’s opinion about your condition.
Something else diabetics with atherosclerosis (is a specific form of arteriosclerosis in which an artery wall thickens as a result of the accumulation of calcium and fatty materials such as cholesterol and triglyceride) may notice is a loss of hair or thinning hair. When there is a thickening of blood vessel walls, the blood vessels narrow. This can occur in blood vessels all over your body, including your skin. Narrow blood vessels mean less oxygen, which causes symptoms like hair loss as well as shiny skin and thickened skin. Hair loss is not limited to any one specific area of the body. With circulatory impairment in your legs, you could often see hair loss on your legs say experts. But the good news is that through careful diet and exercise along with weight loss, diabetics can control many of the effects of the disease. But included in this preliminary discussion about diabetes is the fact that many people do not know that they are diabetic.
The normal cycle of hair growth is about two to six years. Once the follicle reaches the end of its growth period, it goes into a rest period until the follicle is finally shed. About 90 per cent of our hair is in the growth stage while ten per cent is in the resting stage, getting ready to eventually jump off into eternity.
The good news is that in most cases, new hair members are ready to take its place. The bad news is that the medicine that a diabetic may be prescribed will actually contribute to diabetes hair loss. Now this is kind of an individual thing because some people respond differently to medicine than others. There may be a treatment that can work in concert with a person’s diabetic medicine to actually help deter diabetes hair loss. The other alternative is to talk with one’s physician to perhaps change the type of diabetic drug initially prescribed.
The illness may affect follicles that don’t get enough nutrition from circulatory problems caused by the diabetic condition.
Women are prone to lose hair when they are diabetic because of hormonal changes brought on by diabetic imbalances in the system. There is no doubt that diabetes really is a life changing event with the need to permanently change diets, get daily exercise, and test blood glucose levels several times each day.
Few tips on Diabetes and Hair loss
First, when first diagnosed with diabetes and the doctor prescribes a drug therapy for you, ask about the medicine’s side effects, especially with regards to one’s hair being lost. The physician may often say that hair loss side effects are minimal, or he might say that each person’s experience is different.
The physician may encourage at least a few months on the drug and that the patient should monitor any diabetes hair loss due to the medicine. In many cases, it may be difficult to know whether it is the medicine causing the hair loss or the diabetes itself. In reality, the body reacts differently when fighting a disease and the physician may have to experiment to find the exact cause if there are signs of one’s mane hair prematurely dying.
That means that it is extremely important to monitor mane loss as soon as it begins to manifest itself. Biotin is important for healthy hair and may have been shown to help prevent the loss of one’s hair in some cases. Biotin is found in such foods as brown rice, green peas, lentils, oats, soya beans, sunflower seeds and walnuts so a regular inclusion of these foods is a good thing to have in a diet.
Keep the use of a dryer to a minimum, because this makes the hair dry and brittle, and do not use a brush or fine toothed comb because these tools pull the hair out by the roots when snagged. Some hair care experts suggest inclining the head for 15 minutes each day to all blood to reach the scalp, nourishing follicles and a five minute scalp massage each day is also recommended.
Stay away from washing the hair every day because this can strip away natural and helpful oils, and make sure that the conditioner used doesn’t just sit on top of the hair and attract dirt. Remember that a person’s hair is weakest when it is wet so limit the brushing and combing when the hair is in this condition.
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