Healthy You Equals Healthy Hair

And so, there I was, at my Dr’s office. I was sick. I mean, not the sniffles, not a sprain, but all of a sudden, My-brain-says-lets-go-but-my-body-says-no-sick. That is a frustrating kind of sick, the kind where your brain is fine, but your body won’t cooperate. But I digress. Lets get to my doctors questions. It went a lil something like this:

Doc: How’s your stress level?

Me: Fine.

Doc: Any changes in diet?

Me: Nopers. (I am, at all times, a goofball. What can I say?)

Doc: Any over the counter supplements*?

Me: Is red wine a supplement? (Like I mentioned, goofball.)

Doc: How are your hair and nails?

Me: ?!

Now what kind of quackery is this? My hair and nails? Take blood samples! Urine! Plasma! Weight! Height! Blood Pressure! Anything! (He did do these things,but sill!) But to ask me about my hair and nails? Well, wait.

Doc: I want to know if your hair is dry and if your nails are brittle.

Me: Ohhhhh……Whoops.

Yes. My hair was dry and my nails were brittle. But I didn’t think this was out of the ordinary. I mean, yes, I am getting older, and these things happen, right?

Um, well, no. Not to the extent that it happened to me. However, I was too busy fixing my hair with oils* and butters*, and adding cuticle oil and strengthening polish to my nails, so much so, that it became my routine. I didn’t notice that my hair really was always dry lately, and that my nails were not as strong. I was always putting on the band-aid, quick fix, and calling it a regimen.

Here’s the scary part: I didn’t always have to do it. Two years ago, After wearing blow outs for almost 7-8 years, my hair changed, and I knew it was heat damage. So I big chopped again. But my hair stayed dry. Now everything made sense. I was so busy covering up the surface- Newly dry hair, newly brittle nails, combination complexion that suddenly went dry, Hyperpigmentation, etc, that I didn’t mention it to my doc. I just changed the things I put on the surface of my body, until the inside got ticked off and- gave out.

This time it was bad. I had assumed that a lot happened over the past two years- Graduating college, new job, new location, etc. So of course when I got unbelievably tired, it was just all the activity, right?

Wrong! My Doc says that the level of fatigue I was experiencing, with the bodily changes, and the frequency of the “flare ups”, as he called them,warranted further attention. Also, my sleep was down to like, 3 steady hours. On a good night. So after a month of tests, and a whole family history work through, He found that I have/had:

1. Fibromyalgia
2. Chronic Fatigue syndrome
3. Peripheral Neuropathy
4. Iron* deficiency anemia
5. Vitamins D and B-12 Deficiency

All of which caused the problems with hair, nails, skin, and sleep, and stamina. All of which exacerbate one another. And which could all be……Wait for it….. signs of something else. *Sigh*

So now I have to be monitored, and take it easy. Fun. (Not really)

The kicker was when my doctor says:

Doc:  “If you would have listened to your body earlier, we could have at least avoided the vitamin deficiency. People don’t realize that sudden changes in hair can be one of the FIRST signs that something is wrong.”

Great. Fantastic. So apparently my body was not processing all of my  nutrients from my food correctly, so it started to hoard it all, and my hair and nails suffered. But me, being the youtube hair tutorial and hair blog junkie that I am, assumed that it was just my 4b/c, heat damaged ends that caused me to big chop 2 1/2 years ago. Negative. My leaves weren’t flourishing because my roots weren’t soaking up what they needed.

Here is what I want you to take from this post: If it seems like no matter what you do, you cannot get your hair moisturized, and your skin and nails also suffer; heck, even if it’s just your hair- especially if it’s out of the norm for you- PLEASE see your doctor. I waited 2 years, which my doctor said was 1 year, 9 months too long. Mercy! 

So for the past couple of months I have been on a steady diet of ( besides the above leafy  green salad):

• Whole grains
• Medication and supplements*

It’s been a couple of months, and my hair and nails and skin are recovering. My energy level? Blah, not so much. But what can I do? Guess I’ll just take it easy for a while, and look good doing it.

Doctors orders, ya know.

Has your hair ever gave you the notion that something was off? Let me know, I’d love to hear from you!