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I've had my share of hospital stays. Dating back to my initial Goodpasture's diagnosis in 2001, which brought with it a six-week long stay, I've spent probably close to a half year inpatient for varying lengths of time. So I've been dealing with hair loss after a hospital stay for a long time.
While the reasons for my stays have varied, there's one things that's consistent across the years, even if I'm only in for a couple of days. About six months or so after I get OUT of the hospital, my hair starts falling out.
I don't know if the amount is related to the length of the stay, or the stress experienced while I'm there, but it happens without fail.
In October 2017, I spent about a week inpatient, finding out that my transplant had failed and that I had to go back on dialysis. (Boo hiss) Without fail, just like always, early in 2018 my hair started falling out at an alarming rate. If you've had a baby, it was comparable to postpartum times. Emptying my hairbrush midway through brushing sometimes, long hairs everywhere I looked.
Photo taken 5/6/19. Hospital stay 10/4-10/17.
Here I am, a year and a half later, and it's slowed down, but I also know that it's going to start up again soon, thanks to spending 12 days in the hospital back in March.
What to do about post-hospital hair loss
This is the one I take. They're chewable and don't taste terrible.
Convinced I was going to end up completely bald, I asked my doctor what I could do, and she recommended I take Biotin, so I've been doing that pretty faithfully. I'm hoping it'll make a difference this next time around, but who knows!
I've also recently added a collagen supplement; it mixes beautifully (and invisibly) with my black coffee in the morning, so it's super easy to incorporate every day. I feel like this is helping my nails too, and if it has the side effect of joints, well even better!
I also try to treat my hair really well too… I haven't colored it in several years, and I use a gentle sulfate-free shampoo when I wash (which is only a couple times a week)
I also highly recommend the Wet Brush for detangling. Even with my long hair, it does such a good job without a lot of stress to my hair.
I'm really tempted to just chop it all off soon, so we'll see if I follow through. But in the meantime, I'm taking my Biotin and collagen and trying to keep it as happy as I can.
This is something that always stresses me out though, so I hope that if you're going through this as well, it brings you a little peace of mind. It's annoying for sure, but it's also totally normal.
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