Hair does return after Optifast

I felt icky today so I decided to stay home from work. I had a really high fever this morning, pretty insistent coughing and I just couldn't sleep last night.  It was a good thing because my fever did go down and I was able to get some good sleep during the day.  It was very cute - I went to sleep and then woke up with both of my cats sleeping on my bed next to me.  Aw!!  As if they were watching over me.  That or I was sleeping in their spot.  Hmm.

My third day on JC has gone better.  I talked to my doctor's office and she does want me to add in some insulin in the mornings to regulate my numbers.  I can already see my numbers adjusting, even before starting the insulin, because while it was still high today it was not nearly as high as yesterday.  And I've discovered I've already lost four pounds since Saturday.  I'll take it!  My weigh-in at the center is not until Saturday morning, but it's a great start.

So, if you've been following my blog for a while, you'll know that I lost some hair from the products while I was on Optifast. At the time, I remember absolutely freaking out because it was very noticeable.  For a woman to lose hair so drastically is not socially acceptable and I always felt people looking at my head when they would talk to me.  Instead of looking at my chest, the attention was paid to my head.  That's just great.  At the time, I took vitamins to see what I could do to stimulate regrowth and even tried Ovation to help my hair come back.  I'm here to report to those of you who may be on Optifast now that your hair actually does come back.  I took a selfie picture today to post on my JC profile, so I'll do before and after shots below so that you can see for yourself.  Am I the bravest girl in the world or what??

It's shorter but you can clearly see my hair has come back.  Yay!  I was told by the Optifast clinic that it would come back and though it took a long time, they were right.  Now I'm moving forward with the weight loss in a way that I don't think will affect things like hair as drastically.  It is hard looking at a picture of myself with the weight gain, but it is what it is.  I can't erase the past, but I can move forward from here.  Outside of not feeling well today, I'm actually in a good place and looking forward to an even better day tomorrow.

Hooray, my hair is coming back

A few months ago, I posted about hair loss as a result of being on Optifast.  I know it's not something I was alone in when participating in a program with rapid weight loss. My dietitian told me that not only do people who have participated in liquid programs go through that, but so have some bypass patients and others on different programs.  I knew this could be a possibility going into it, but I just couldn't imagine that I'd face the day that my hair was actually falling out in clumps.  When I had cancer, my hair didn't fall out like it was when I did Optifast.  If you're reading this and considering doing such a program, just be prepared for the very real possibility that it will happen to you, too.  Not everybody has that experience, but I did as well as others I know.  I not only lost my hair, but my naturally curly hair somehow lost the curl.  It's funny ... I always wanted thick, straight hair not these ringlets of endless curls. 

So, anyway, I chopped my hair off since I was losing so much of it anyway and figured it would eventually grow back.  The clinic promised me that all patients get it back that lose it while on the products.  That's good because I seriously looked like I was going to go bald any second!  Okay, perhaps I'm exaggerating a wee bit, but people who know me in real time saw it happen.  Lately, though,

I've had a lot of people comment that it's coming back.  What am I doing to make it happen?  Well, time has been a big factor.  Getting off the products and adding in food stopped the loss.  I also tried a myriad of hair products that were supposed to help.  Let's see ... I tried Ovation Cell Therapy and other hair products in their line.  That didn't work.  I tried Nioxin shampoo, conditioner and their product that is supposed to stimulate growth.  They didn't work either.  I even tried Rogaine for Women.  Nope, that wasn't successful either.  Don't get me wrong - my hair was silky smooth but my head was not full of new hair.  Instead, what has been working for me has been taking supplements in addition to making sure I'm getting plenty of fruits and veggies in my diet.  I take a multi-vitamin supplement and 5,000 mcg's of Biotin.  Some people take a lot less of the Biotin but my clinic has told me that taking up to 5,000 in a day is perfectly fine.  They even sell capsules in that quantity at Target and Costco.  Before I knew it, hair was coming back.  Yippee!

I know that sometimes we tend to not talk about these embarrassing things like hair loss when doing a weight loss program like Optifast.  And while I'm no longer on Optifast, I have absolutely no problem talking about it.  Who knows, maybe someone out there in Cyberland will benefit from my experience.  I know people are very interested because it's one of the most read posts on my blog.  It's the things that sometimes we're embarrassed about that we definitely need to talk about.  I'd rather do that than eat over something like less hair on my head!  Besides, you guys probably know way too much about me already that the simple topic of my hair is nothing in comparison.  Maybe I'll even get my curls back as my hair grows longer and I promise, cross my heart, that I will never complain about my curls ever again.

Mustering up the courage

The other day I posted about dealing with hair loss that has come with being on Optifast.  Some people contacted me privately to say they are dealing with the same thing, even if they are not doing the same program I am.  It does make me feel better knowing I'm not alone in this.  I already tried the Nioxin product line which didn't really work for me.  Some people have had great success with it, just not me.  Instead of just sitting here waiting for my hair to grow back, I'm trying the best I can to be proactive.  Sure, some people are probably thinking, "What's the big deal, Kathy?  It's just hair."  I get that, but it's really not just about the hair.  How often do you see women with big hair loss walking around that aren't above the age of 60 or cancer patients?  I'd venture to say you don't see them.  Besides, this is about me and feeling good about myself.  Right now the hair issue makes me want to hide in the house.  I'm not doing that, but it's the way it's making me feel.

So, I decided to try Ovation Cell Therapy.  If you live in the San Diego area or another city that is heavily marketed by this company, you likely hear ads for them on local radio stations to the point of making you want to poke your eyes out.  Again, this is one of those product lines that is a hit or miss for people.  They are running a special on it right now, so I decided that I'd give it a try.  I'm in no way endorsing Ovation at all, but just writing about my experience with it.  I am really hopeful that it will help me.

From the time I ordered it to the time I received the products was only two days.  That was a great start!  Here's what came:

This is a 6-week supply, so I'm going to give it a try.  The instructions said to give it three months to see a major difference, but hopefully I'll see some sort of improvement after the 6 weeks to at least start.

The last time I posted a picture of myself on this blog, I cut off the top of my head in the picture because I was embarrassed with how my hair was looking.  This isn't just hair loss from the weight loss, but also weakened hair that left it unable to handle color processing as well as normal, so I lost a lot of it that came out in clumps.  My hair has also changed from thick and curly to very thin and messed up.  So I've been straightening it to make it look a bit better.  Anyway, the reason I titled this post "Mustering up the courage" was because I want to post some pics of what my head looks like right now.  I can't begin to express how uncomfortable it makes me, but it also is a liberating feeling to share the truth at the same time.  You can click on the progress pics link at the top of my blog if you want to compare what it used to look like, but here's what it is now.

Okay, this doesn't look too horrid. 
Besides, look at my collarbone (meaning, I have one!). 

This one doesn't hide a thing ... it's just awful.

So here I am.  I know this will get better in time and I have to find some patience to deal with it.  I just don't want to do things to isolate myself because of whatever level of embarrassment I may be feeling.  That will only lead me to frustration and picking up food, which is not solving any problems whatsoever.  Even when I put my hair up in a ponytail, I can see the hair loss on the sides, not just on the top, and I'm losing more all the time.  I'm not unique on this because others have told me they are going through the same thing every time they run a brush through their hair.

Sorry to go on and on about hair today, but it's what I'm dealing with right now in the moment.  There are definitely worse things in the world, but I also don't want to discount how I'm feeling about this either.

Drop the scissors Kathy

There are some drawbacks to doing a weight loss program, especially a liquid one like Optifast.  You always have to weigh the positives with the negatives.  One of my negatives is a subject not many women talk about ... hair loss.  My clinic did tell us that some of us will experience hair loss, but it is temporary and it will grow back eventually.  It turns out I'm one of those having to deal with it.  I'm not surprised, given the low calories and how fast I have been losing the weight.  A couple of months ago, I colored my hair, like I do every so often.  I never accounted for the fact that my hair is a different texture and thickness than I'm used to.  I left the product in for the regular time I usually did, but my hair didn't like that and started coming out in clumps.  In addition to hair I've already lost before the coloring incident, it has left quite a problem for me.  It's very noticeable, too.  So today, in a moment of pure insanity, I grabbed a pair of scissors and just lopped off my hair.  I just couldn't stand it another second.  I know in time I'll be "normal" again.  This negative of the program isn't enough to be a true negative, just an embarrassment that makes me feel self-conscious, especially as a woman. 

Other than that, I've been doing pretty well.  I didn't get any exercise in today, which is something I do on some level every day so it felt like something was missing.  Tomorrow, though, I'll be walking at lunch, I have an acupuncture appointment after work and then will hit the gym to workout in the evening.  I definitely look forward to the exercise ... my body is so thankful for the stretches and smaller frame.  It's such a switch to want to exercise when I did everything in my power to avoid it in the past.  It's amazing how different my life is today in comparison to even just a year ago.  Even with less hair on my head, it's all worth it, that's for sure!