Thyroid & Bioidentical Hormones! Dont waste your $ on Dr Redmond

I cured my extreme hairloss and I wanted to share my story in the hopes that I will be able to help you ladies stop your hair loss. The summary is that it turned out to be low thyroid and low progesterone, despite test results (and Dr Redmond) that said these hormones were in the "normal" range. I fixed a 9 month extreme daily hair loss problem in ONE WEEK! My hairloss was cut in half after 7 days, and was completely stopped within about 2 1/2 weeks!

I also wanted to tell you about Dr Redmond’s treatment plan and my visit with him, which was a complete waste of time and money. These are just my opinions about Dr Redmond, and a description of my visit and his treatment plan, which did not help one iota. I am not trying to harm or defame Dr Redmond, just stating my opinion, which should not be taken as fact.

My hair loss started about 2 months after having the Merena IUD removed. This IUD contains progestin, a FAKE version of our real hormone, progesterone. I had bloating, weight gain and other symptoms and started thinking maybe they were connected to the artificial hormones that were emitted by the IUD. The hair loss was really bad for a few weeks, but stopped before it became noticeable. However, 1 year later the hair loss started again and this time it did not stop. Every time I washed my hair, a ton of hair would come out right in my hand. I would gently pull on the bottom so it wouldn’t clog my drain and would get a huge handful. Then more and more would come out while styling (the floor would be covered). Every single time I grabbed a handful of hair and gently pulled to see what would happen, 20 strands would be in my hand. The brush needed cleaning constantly. Luckily I have been blessed with unusually thick hair so it was not noticeable. But the front was really going and you could see my scalp if you looked. I was so stressed and resigned myself to female pattern baldness.

I decided to see Dr Redmond after reading about him on this forum. I brought him my thyroid and hormone tests, which he barely glanced at. He had his little prescription pad all filled out and at the ready to give me his STANDARD treatment of spirolodactone (sp?) and YAZ birth control. He claimed that my hair follicles had become sensitive to testosterone (female pattern baldness) and that the spiro would cut the testosterone production. He also said he was prescribing YAZ for more estrogen (I read this also cuts testosterone production too so maybe he does this as a double whammy). IMO, he has his prescription pad all filled out and ready because he uses the same treatment for everyone. I could be wrong but that was my impression.

I asked him if I could use bioidentical hormones rather than fake chemicalized YAZ and he claimed how much more reliable and better FAKE hormones are as compared to my own natural bioidentical estrogens. You try looking a woman in the face and telling her that a fake estrogen made from pregnant horse urine is better than using a preparation that is made chemically to be exactly like our own natural hormone. Which sounds better to you??! Horses have 13 or more estrogens, while human females have 3. Dont you think having the other hormones that horses need in my system may cause problems while using exactly the hormone my own body creates might be better? Common sense will help you answer that question.

In addition to my extreme hair loss, I also had extreme insomnia and an inability to lose weight and eventually a shortening cycle (getting my period on day 20 of my cycle). I was literally waking up every night at 2am and would sometimes stay up the whole rest of the night. It got so bad I could not sleep more than 5 hours a night, despite being extremely exhausted. I would go to sleep with no problem but wake up in the middle of the night, EVERY NIGHT.

Sooo, I continued following Dr Redmond’s treatment with the spiro and birth control for 9 long months. The hair loss NEVER eased up at all. After doing my own research, I asked my doctor to prescribe me bioidentical (meaning to the body this is exactly like my own hormones’ chemical make-up) estrogen and progesterone as well as thyroid hormone. I knew that my problems were hormonal, despite the tests (and doctors) that said I was in the "normal" range. Luckily this doctor looks at symptoms and not just test results as there is a WIDE RANGE of "normal". What is a normal hormone level for one person could be too little or too much for someone else.

With regard to thyroid, most conventional doctors look at the TSH levels of the hormone in your blood. What they fail to understand, that many non-mainstream MDs understand is that you could have more than enough of the thyroid hormone, but that it has trouble getting utilized at the cellular level. Therefore you have hypothyroid symptoms yet your blood tests look "normal". Many of these docs will prescribe a small amount of thyroid hormone (usually the natural Armour rather than the chemicalized Synthroid) to see if your symptoms improve.

In addition, I discovered that your thyroid cannot work properly without sufficient progesterone. Hair loss and insomnia are symptoms of deficient thyroid.

Back to my story. Since the spiro had NO EFFECT whatsoever in slowing down my hair loss, I decided to stop it completely and get on the thyroid and progesterone instead. MAGICALLY my hair loss stopped so quickly its almost unbelievable. You hear that hormones can take months to work but my OBJECTIVE symptoms cleared up within a night to a week. Within the first night, I was sleeping like a baby. No more waking up at night with insomnia (after five months with not one full night of sleep)!! The hair loss stopped so quickly after 9 months of consistent shedding that I couldn’t believe it.

I only stayed on the Armour thyroid for 3 months and have now gone off of it without any incident. I believe that my own natural progesterone system was KILLED by the Merena IUD, which overrode my natural system with its own chemicals. I believe the lack of progesterone caused my thyroid to be sluggish or not work at all, despite the Drs telling me I have sufficient thyroid hormone in my blood. I believe that once I started the progesterone replacement, it helped kick in my thyroid so that after just a few months I didn’t need anymore thyroid replacement. I am still taking the progesterone and feel great. I lost 12 pounds already, still sleep well, and have no more hair loss. Now when I pull on my hair, not even one strand comes out!!

I hope this long post wasn’t too confusing and will help someone with this problem. Dont believe the doctors that follow the cookie cutter approach. And never believe ANY doctor that tells you a CHEMICAL made by a pharmaceutical is better than your own natural hormones created by your own body. This is a laughable assumption and plays to the pharmaceuticals, who change the chemistry of the hormones so they can patent the product.

Good luck!