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They often feel this way because of the sheer volume of hair that is shedding out.
But, when the shedding doesn't end as soon as they would like, they begin to wonder if perhaps they have another type of loss.
I might hear someone ask something like: "I had some health issues last year and I believe this is what lead to the telogen effluvium.
I have very heavy shedding and this happens day after day.
I have lost a lot of hair and it looks limp and so much more fine than it was previously.
The fine texture really bothers me because I worry that I might have androgenetic alopecia because of this.
Because some days my hair sheds out so many strands of hair, I worry that I am one day going to be completely bald.
It's in those dark moments that I worry that I might have something like alopecia areata.
How can I tell for sure what I have? How can I be sure that it's not some other type of hair loss?" I used to ask myself the same question all of the time.
My shedding went on and on and went long past the typical three months of regular telogen effluvium.
I went to specialists and doctors and was very frustrated when they could only speculate that I had telogen effluvium.
The thing that was difficult for me to understand was that this type of hair loss is diagnosed by excluding other things.
With alopecia areata, you will often see patchy or complete hair loss and the regrowth can be white or very light colored while the ends can come to a point (which is why they are sometimes called "explanation point hairs.
") With androgenetic alopecia, you often have patterned loss that comes with excess oil and a shiny scalp.
And, the hair comes back in much more fine, which is called miniaturization.
In absence of these things, and in the presence of a trigger, it is often thought that telogen effluvium is the most likely culprit.
And the diagnosis of this type of hair loss is incredibly broad.
It really just means that more of your hair is in the resting or shedding phase than is normal (for whatever reason.
) People often look back and realize that this diagnosis was correct when it has passed them.
Once the shedding has finally stopped and your hair has begun to grow back normally then you can confirm that you don't have explanation point hairs or miniaturized hair, then you can logically conclude that you had shedding that has ended.
I know that this is very frustrating.
I know that you are probably looking for some confirmation that you are right in your suspicions.
I used to hope that seeing a white bulb on the end of my hairs meant that this type of shedding was definite, but in fact all that white bulb means is that the hair fell out without being pulled by force.
Try to look at it this way.
The absence of things that would indicate other hair loss conditions can actually be a good sign.
It means that you likely have the right diagnosis.
And frankly, if you do in fact have it, this is only temporary and your hair will grow back.
This really is the best case scenario although I know that it is not any fun when you are going through it and the waiting can be excruciating.
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