Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Sara and William on August 8, 2009 at 1:48am

everything about Boo's bloodwork has been normal. Sorry I can't be more help.

--Sara

Permalink Reply by Susan - Jon's Mum on August 9, 2009 at 3:05am

Nothing has shown up on Jon's bloodwork either. Be interesting to hear if anyone else has the same issue.
Susan

Permalink Reply by Alyssa and mom Lori on August 19, 2009 at 11:36am

Alyssa is 9. She was anemic since she was first tested at around 9 months. Initially we supplemented with liquid iron drops etc but switched to chewable vitamins with iron as she got older. I don't think her anemia was that bad but she has had several tests done over the years such as thalasemia, lupus etc. Basically as long as she takes an iron supplement she stays just above the non anemic border and if she stops them she returns to being anemic. On one measuring scale she was an 8 maybe hemoglobin? Right now she takes flintstones complete which have more iron than flintsones with iron. We have tried several various brands etc and the only taste she likes is the Flintsones. I've tried them all at least once and I agree.

Alyssa started with aa patches at 2.5. She has gone thru a few periods of loss and regrowth. Her loss has always been patchy hairloss though (until patches merged). To be honest we weren't always the best with making sure she had her iron daily and at one point dh and I thought maybe there was a connection between the anemia and alopecia. For the past year or so she has had all of her hair (though different lengths all over) on her scalp. At one point she lost all her her body hair which has since returned though if you look closely it is still hasn't completely filled in. We joke about her shaving hair in patches though she hasn't started to shave yet. Her eyebrows were close to gone once and have returned for the most part. She is still missing some of her eyelashes which seem to be the last area to regrow. Oh after her most recent period of hairloss her hair grew back curly when it was wavy before.

I am not sure if the iron has helped or just been a coincidence but since she needs the iron for the anemia anyway we try and make sure she gets it daily (and she is older now so she remembers it as well). The only other thing she takes is allergy medication as needed for hay fever type allergies.

Permalink Reply by margaret and nicole on October 14, 2009 at 4:30pm

They say the hair and the nails are the most expendable, so if something is off the body gives them up first. I do think my daughter's hair loss is tied to nutritional deficiencies (being on high doses of prevacid since birth is limiting the absorption of nutrients). We had a theory that she was low on zinc, but her blood work came out fine so we didn't supplement. Then someone explained that the bloodwork only shows severe depletion, and she could still be low. So we started supplementing with zinc 2 weeks ago, and within 4 days we got our very first signs of peach fuzz, the rest of her hair seemed less brittle, and she hasn't gotten a cold in 2.5 weeks (rare for her)! For now, we are hoping we have found something that can help her, and wish you all could find what you are looking for too.

Permalink Reply by Hillary Howard on February 23, 2010 at 1:47pm

We have taken our daughter to a wellness center (regular doctors who also use "alternative" therapies) and she was tested for food allergies as an underlying cause to her autoimmune responses (AA) She was positive for many food sensitivities which this doctor believes were keeping her immune system in overdrive. He also explained that the iron and zinc (she was also tested for these levels and was low) fuel the immune system and if it was "always running" then she would be low in these. After removing or limiting the problem foods and adding supplements she has had less loss and more re-growth. Like everyone else it is so hard to say if is just a dormant stage or the treatments...