Hyperinsulemia Hair Loss Trigger

The first hair loss trigger is the most common one. It’s called the Hyperinsulinemia Hair Loss Hair Trigger. It shows up differently for men and women.

For men, it shows up as Male Pattern Baldness. Hair loss is mainly on the front hairline and temples, around the crown, on the top, or on the top AND the front of the head.

For women, it is less obvious. Unless you’re a woman who has it.

Women suffering with this trigger experience hair loss and thinning mostly on the top of their head, their hair part is getting wider over time, and in some cases, there is a receding hairline on the front and at the temples.

What Causes It?

What hair researchers have only recently discovered, is that this type of hair loss pattern is caused by excessively high insulin levels – also called Hyperinsulinemia.

Insulin is a hormone your body makes to metabolize your blood sugar. When your blood sugar rises, insulin rises to help carry that sugar into your muscles and organs for energy. But your cells can become resistant to your insulin. And that causes your blood sugar to rise and stay elevated for long periods. And the same thing happens to your insulin.

So you’re probably wondering, “What does this have to do with my hair?” The answer is: It’s different for men and women.

For women, it turns out that when insulin is elevated for long periods, your brain senses that and forces your body to create more testosterone!

Harvard Health states:

“Excess insulin can cause [a woman’s] ovaries to make extra male hormones…”

And as you now know, the more testosterone a woman has, the more testosterone gets converted to DHT.

According to a study conducted by the University of Oulu in Finland, where 324 women aged around 63 years of age participated in a hair loss study. Those women who had the greatest hair loss, also had the highest levels of insulin.

In fact, women who have elevated testosterone, not only have a high amount of hair loss, they also have a host of unwanted symptoms like:

• Weight gain that is primarily, but not limited to, the midsection
• Acne
• Excessive facial hair and body hair
• Infertility
• Moods swings
• Irregular menstrual cycles
• And depression

When it comes to men and hyperinsulinemia, a study was conducted in the Institute of Endocrinology. They studied 256 males between the age of 20 - 40 to see if there was a relationship between insulin resistance and male pattern baldness.

This what they concluded:

“…the men with premature androgenic alopecia could be considered as a male equivalent of the polycystic ovary syndrome of the women.”

But they went on to say…

“These premature balding men represent a risk group for the development of impaired glucose tolerance or diabetes mellitus type 2.”

Several other studies since then have confirmed the exact same findings.

Stress-Induced Hair Loss

Next is Stress-Induced Hair Loss. Otherwise called Telogen Effluvium.

What’s unique about those who have this trigger is that they tend to have a sudden period of shedding that followed a stressful event or prolonged period of stress. About 6 weeks to three months after the stressful event is usually when the phenomenon called Stress-Induced Hair Loss begins.

And it is possible to lose handfuls of hair at a time when this trigger is full-blown.

What It Looks Like

It can fall out evenly throughout the scalp, or it can fall out in a specific area. There is usually no hair line recession, except in a few rare chronic cases.

People with Stress-Induced Hair Loss never completely lose all their scalp hair, but the hair can be noticeably thin in severe cases. While Stress-Induced Hair Loss is often limited to the scalp, in more serious cases it can affect other areas, like the eyebrows or pubic region. But the main characteristic of this trigger is how sudden it is.

And that is started following or together with a stressful period.

Potentially Permanent

If the stressful event is short lived, then the hair follicles will return to their growing state and start producing new hair fibers pretty quickly. It usually takes about six months and you have a normal hair again within a year. But in other cases, your hair never goes back to the way it used to be, or it has gotten worse.

Cortisol

The reason is because of the hormone that causes this problem. When you are stressed, your body releases a hormone called Cortisol – also known as “the stress hormone.” Cortisol is designed to be elevated for short periods of time. And when cortisol is elevated for a prolonged period of time, it creates a chemical chain reaction within your body that has a direct effect on your body, your health, and without question, your hair. If this condition continues without end, it will lead to the next trigger – Hypothyroid Hair Loss Trigger.

Hypothyroid Hair Loss Trigger

What’s unique to those with Hypothyroid Hair Loss Trigger is that they tend to have thinning (either mild or extreme) all over their head. This includes the top, the sides and the back.

And their hair is very dry, frizzy, and breaks easily.

There is much less “hair volume” and your scalp is showing more than it used to.

Hypothyroidism basically means your “thyroid” is not making enough thyroid hormones. Your thyroid, this tiny butterfly-shaped gland, influences virtually every organ system in the body.

And it causes a range of symptoms like:

• Weight gain or difficulty losing weight (despite reduced food intake)
• Unexplained fatigue
• Coarse, dry hair and dry skin
• Outer third of your eyebrows have no hair
• Unexplained muscle cramps and aches
• Unexplained hair loss and lethargy (even though there was no physical exertion)
• Memory loss
• You feel cold or are sensitive to cold (even when others aren’t)
• Constipation
• Depression

his isn’t a complete list, but the point is that one of the symptoms is hair loss.

And even Harvard Medical School states…

“Hair loss can also result from a number of conditions, including an underactive thyroid gland.”

That’s because when you have too LITTLE thyroid hormones, your hair simply does not get the “food” it needs to produce enough hair cells. And so it either doesn’t grow long like it does for others… or it stops growing altogether… or it gets extremely frizzy, brittle and even frayed at the ends.

According to the American Thyroid Association, an estimated 20 million Americans have some form of thyroid disease. And up to 60 percent of those with thyroid disease are unaware of their condition.

Women are five to eight times more likely than men to have thyroid problems.

The Perfect Storm

But that is not all. The domino effect can still continue to the last trigger. If your body is getting insulin resistant, experiencing stress, and also experiencing a drop in thyroid output… it is the perfect storm for the next and last trigger.

Inflammation Hair Loss Trigger

Last is Inflammation-Induced Hair Loss. People with this hair loss trigger tend to have hair falling out in patches. It is often in random places. Sometimes it fills in and a new patch forms in another place on your scalp. This is because parts of your scalp are getting inflamed and this is speeding up your hair loss in certain locations.

What Causes It

Inflammation is caused when your immune system believes a part of your body is under attack. Inflammation is basically your body’s response to invading microorganisms. When it comes to hair loss, your body mistakenly treats hair follicles as ‘foreign objects’ and destroys them.

Starves Hair Follicles

Also, inflammation interferes with the nourishment of your hair roots by damaging the scalp. That’s why you may have experienced burning sensation, itchy/red spots, and flaking in those areas. Autoimmune inflammation around the hair follicle, such as Inflammation-Induced Hair Loss, is also considered to be an autoimmune disease where hair roots are mistaken as foreign. White blood cells gather around them, leading to inflammation. This cuts off nutrient supply, causing follicles to become weak and eventually fall out.