My mothers hair is falling out! What could be causing this?

Yes I agree with Blannie. My mum had a lovely head of hair always shiny....since she started taking insulin a few years ago her hair looks greasy? she has to wash it more often and within a day it looks awful again. Although her hair is not falling out. Stress can also cause this and a bad diet?

Here's a site with a bunch of possibilities listed. If they take out the link, just search for hair loss in elderly on google. It looks like some medications can cause this (like blood thinners), low thyroid can, low vitamin levels (iron and B vitamins and some minerals), diabetes. Does your mom take a vitamin? I finally started giving my mom half a Centrum Silver every day, since she is losing her appetite more and more. One illness that was listed on another site about hair loss in the elderly is giant cell arteritis, which is pretty serious. My mom had that (she had headaches and jaw pain). It can cause blindness if not treated. So it is worth just having your mom checked out by her doctor for her thyroid and general blood work.