dry itchy scalp and hair loss

Question
I am a 24 year old black female who is experiencing very dry itchy scalp and my hair has been thinning and falling out. I began noticing the dry scalp almost a year ago in march of 09 then soon after i started loosing my hair, also around the same time i started breaking out all over my face(can all this be associated?).I really don't understand what can be the cause of this, i had a child in 08/08 and i had an IUD(Paragard) put in 10/08. I've tried so many different hair products and all the doctors say is that maybe its stress, i even recently started taking biotin because i heard it was good for the hair. I don't know what else to do, please HELP!


Answer
It is possible that stress of child birth (post-[partum telogen effluvium) caused your initial hair loss and other stressful factors may have contributed to this causing a Chronic Telogen Effluvium (CTE) which would lead to chronic thinning of your hair. When we see acne flaring at the same time as hair loss we have to wonder if this is because of stress or hormones from the ovary but in any case the result is the same-- you are sensitive to the hormones you have and taking a medication to block those hormones should help. Ask your doctor if you can start spironolactone to block your androgen receptor sites. Dermatologists commonly use 100mg per day for treating acne or hair loss or mustaches in young women. If you have not seen a dermatologist then that is your next step. If you have remind the doctor that the hormones causing PCOS can occur in normal levels in normal young women and cause the same symptoms if they are sensitive to those hormones.