The GLP-1 forums all said: "Take biotin. Try collagen. Get hair vitamins. You're probably malnourished."
So I did.
Biotin every morning for three months. Hair kept falling out.
Collagen - That $47 Amazon powder with thousands of 5-star reviews. Gagged it down for two months. Nothing changed.
Generic hair vitamins - The ones with "all the hair essentials." Another $35/month wasted.
Expensive hair-specific supplements - "Clinically studied ingredients" and "visible results in 90 days." Still nothing.
Then I became obsessed with protein. Everyone said I needed 100+ grams daily. I forced myself to hit that target even with zero appetite. Protein shakes for breakfast. Chicken for lunch. Tracked every gram on MyFitnessPal for eight weeks straight.
My hair kept falling out.
I demanded a full workup from my doctor. Thyroid, iron, vitamin D, B12, protein—everything came back normal.
"Your labs look great," he said, smiling.
I wanted to scream. If everything was "normal," why was I going bald?
Desperate, I stopped my GLP-1 entirely for six weeks. Maybe giving my body a break would stop the shedding. I watched my hair obsessively, counting strands, checking my part five times a day.
The hair loss didn't slow down. Not even a little.
But I gained back 15 pounds. The food noise roared back. The cravings. I went back on the medication. My hair was falling out either way, but at least on medication I could control my diabetes.
I felt trapped—forced to choose between my health and my appearance.
I posted on Reddit, desperate for answers. The responses were always the same:
"It's from rapid weight loss, nothing you can do." "You're not eating enough protein." "It's malnutrition. Your body is in shock." "GLP-1 medications don't cause hair loss. It's just correlation."
But nothing added up. If it was malnutrition, wouldn't my labs show that? If it was weight loss, why didn't it slow when my weight plateaued? Why did stopping medication make zero difference?
I was running out of hope.