Root of the matter: Adventures in losing your locks
Written by: Yuri Williams, Nutritional Therapy Practitioner
Ugh! Hair loss! Why?!
I get it, as we get older we may start to experience more hair fallout or you’re swiping through your phone photos from a few years back and you’ve noticed that your hair appears thinner.
You brush it off as it’s something that happens as we get older but something is telling us this isn’t right.
This was my story. I started to experience hair loss but I also noticed my energy was low. My acne showed up again along with gut issues.
At the time I didn’t make the connection that hair loss is a side effect of birth control, which I was on for many years. But wait, there are other reasons you may be experiencing hair loss. So I needed to dig a little deeper.
I decided I had to figure out how to stop the hair thinning, acne, and gut issues and became a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner.
Now, with all that I learned to solve my problems, I help women transition off birth control to minimize hair loss.
One functional lab test that I use to help figure out the underlying issue of hair loss is a blood work wellness panel.
This includes a comprehensive blood count panel, comprehensive metabolic panel, cholesterol panel, iron panel, complete thyroid panel, and other markers that are bio-individual to your needs.
I love blood work labs because they often can point to underlying issues.
Here are some blood work lab patterns I see with my clients who are experiencing hair loss:
Low iron
Low WBC
High monocytes
High eosinophils
High glucose
Low iron can indicate a lack of oxygen in the body and low stomach acid. Therefore, if you have low stomach acid you may not be absorbing your nutrients.
White blood cells (WBC), monocytes, and eosinophils are part of your immune system. Think of these markers as your body’s first line of defense.
Low WBC can indicate there is a chronic, underlying infection. High monocytes can indicate chronic inflammation and high eosinophils can show possible inflammation or allergies.
High glucose can point to adrenal stress and high cortisol.
See how bloodwork labs can help paint a picture of what may be stressing out your body?
In my practice, I follow up lab work with lifestyle questions along with assessing basic health questionnaires.
With this holistic approach, we get a clear picture of what is likely causing your hair loss.
Here are questions you can ask yourself if you are experiencing hair loss:
Have you been in a stressful season within the past 3 months?
Are you eating nutritious meals?
Are you drinking enough water and is it clean?
Some common root causes I’ve seen in women experiencing hair loss have been nutrient deficiencies, medications, mold toxicity, and heavy metal toxicity.
If you had voluminous hair before and all of a sudden you start to notice more fall out along with other symptoms, Yuri can help you run some labs and get to the root of your hair loss.
About the author: Yuri Williams is a Nutritional Therapy Practitioner and an Integrative Health Practitioner.
Her practice specializes in helping women transition off birth control while minimizing hair loss and restoring healthy hair.
She works with clients in a 3-month program to help women address the underlying hair loss issue.
You can connect with Yuri on Instagram or Linkedin. She also has a podcast where you can find more valuable information.
Listen here: The Yuri Williams Podcast