Diabetics and Hair Loss
Sometimes hair loss can be a symptom of disease. One disease that often presents an initial symptom of hair loss is diabetes. If you are losing your hair faster than usual and you have a feeling that the cause is not common pattern baldness, you should visit your physician to rule out an underlying disease such as diabetes. Diabetes has the following impact on your physiology:
1. Impacts to circulation due to diabetes. Proper circulation is often impacted by diabetes, and this can impact hair follicle health. Hair normally grows two to six inches every year, goes dormant for a period of time and then falls out. Poor circulation can limit the nutrient supply to hair follicles and shorten this cycle; hair falls out faster, and starved hair follicles don’t have the resources to replace lost hair with new hair.
2. Diabetics are more susceptible to skin conditions, and skin conditions on the scalp can cause hair loss. Both bacterial and fungal infections of the scalp can interrupt the normal growth process of hair.
3. A diagnosis of diabetes comes with a new regimen of drug treatment, and often these drugs can cause some degree of hair loss. As your body adjusts to new medications hair growth will usually return to normal. If you have recently had a change in medications to address diabetes, you should be aware that this may be causing some of your hair loss.
4. Stress comes with a diagnosis of diabetes, and stress can lead to hair loss. Especially when combined with other factors such as dehydration, which also often accompanies diabetes, stress can be the overriding source of your hair loss.
If you care experiencing hair loss, and you have been diagnosed with diabetes, here are a few things that you can do to limit the disease’s impact on your hair:
1. It might take a few months, but wait to see what happens once your body has stabilized on the medications that have been prescribed to you. Be very conscientious it taking your medication on time and in the right dose. Often your hair loss problem will correct itself.
2. Make sure you get enough water. Staying hydrated is important for a diabetic for many reasons, and it can help you retain hair. Six to eight glasses of water consumed over the course of a day is a good rule of thumb to make sure that you’re getting enough fluids.
3. Exercise regularly. Exercise increases blood circulation, and your head will be a recipient of that increased circulation. Your follicles will love you for it.
4. Try Yoga or some other form of relaxation to relieve stress and anxiety.
If you have diabetes the I don’t have to tell you what a life-altering thing that diagnosis can be. It is important to follow the advice of your doctor in controlling the disease and limiting its impact on your life. Healthy hair growth and retention is dependent upon your overall health. Take care of your body, and diabetes does not have to be a factor in hair loss.
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