Case Study: Mood Swings And Hair Loss

Tina was a 43 year old lady who came to see me because she was fed up with feeling so unwell. On her symptom questionnaire the words that stood out the most were mood swings and scalp hair loss. Tina had not felt well for many years and she had seen her doctor regularly. There were several abnormalities in Tina’s blood test results, and together they contributed to each of her health problems.

Tina was a very busy person. She had two part time jobs and one of them was a night job; she restocked the supermarket shelves 3 evenings a week. Tina was chronically exhausted but she had no other choice than to keep going. The loss of scalp hair was stressing her very much. She learned how to style her hair in a clever way so as to minimize the problem, but when she parted her hair for me I could see the extent of the hair loss. Tina found this incredibly upsetting, and this is understandable.

Each month, a week before her menstrual period was due; Tina became extremely irritable and upset. She flew off the handle and became snappy at her children and partner. Tina said she really didn’t like herself at this time and desperately wanted to feel calmer and happier.

I found some interesting things in Tina’s blood test results.

Her doctor had ordered a celiac disease blood test that actually came back positive. Tina wasn’t on a gluten free diet though. She never went back to see her doctor and she did not understand the blood test result. Tina’s blood test also showed iron deficiency, vitamin B12 deficiency and vitamin D deficiency.

In a word, Tina was malnourished.

The gluten she was eating was inflaming and irritating her digestive lining, which was inhibiting the proper absorption of nutrients. This meant that no matter how nutritious Tina’s meals were, her body was simply not able to extract the nutrients from her food.

My recommendations for my patient:

• I explained the importance of adhering to a completely gluten free diet. I also asked Tina to avoid all dairy products for the time being. When the intestinal lining is inflamed, it is impossible to digest dairy products properly and they can just worsen inflammation.
• I gave Tina a vitamin D supplement and asked her to take the capsule with breakfast or lunch each day.
• I gave Tina a vitamin B12 supplement. B12 deficiency causes a lot of fatigue and it can be harmful to the health of the brain if prolonged.
  An iron supplement was also necessary. Tina’s ferritin level was only 14. Ferritin means the iron that is stored in the liver. Tina had extremely low iron reserves and it would take many months to correct this. Low iron will cause fatigue and also scalp hair loss.
• Tina had hormonal problems, which contributed to the irritability and premenstrual syndrome, as well as the scalp hair loss. I gave her a magnesium powder and asked her to take a teaspoon each evening with her meal. I also gave her a progesterone cream. Bio-identical progesterone is wonderful for thickening the scalp hair. It also helps to stabilize mood and emotions before menstruation. Women in Tina’s age group typically suffer from low progesterone. This becomes a problem for most women long before estrogen starts to drop at menopause.

Tina is booked to see me again in another 3 weeks and I look forward to monitoring her progress.

The above statements have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, treat or cure any disease.