Drugs (Cause Hair Loss) – Page 25

February 21, 2008

Vitamin B5 and Hair Loss – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Hello,

I have been reading about the supposed benefits of taking large doses of vitamin b5 as an acne treatment. One of the side effects a few people online have mentioned is that they believe is has accelerated/caused hair loss. The only “evidence” that b5 causes baldness are posts on message boards, but some of these posts are by people who swear b5 caused irreversible hair loss. It seems possible that the onset of baldness and the b5 supplementation are unrelated. But assuming this is true and b5 causes hair loss due some kind of imbalance in your system, is it likely that hair loss caused by b5 would reverse once a person stops taking the supplement and their body re-balances itself? Can anything actually cause permanent male-pattern baldness besides a person’s genes? I realize there are no hard facts or actual studies involved here so I hope it’s not too silly of a question.

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Bullet There seems to be a general agreement that vitamin B5 prevents hair loss, but I looked for objective scientific studies and could not find them. Based upon the general sense in the hair industry, I would doubt that it causes or accelerates hair loss though.

Patterned hair loss (as it is defined) is always caused by genetics. Many times, people take medications or have some stress which may precipitate patterned hair loss (like pulling the trigger of a gun — when once fired, can not get the bullet back). Without any objective, scientific evidence of what you are talking about, I can not comment on the validity of the claims or on any of the date in those observations. The Internet has its good and bad points — one of the bad points being that information may be deceiving and yet sound credible.

February 20, 2008

Is My Son Losing Hair from LSD or MDMA Use? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Hello
My son is 21, he believes that his hair is thinning at the crown and at the hairline. He has also been complaining about an itching, tingling, burning sensation on the top of his head. I personally do not think that it is thinning as both sides of the family have a long line of full heads of hair. He has a long history of depression and chronic anxiety, he is also a hypochondriac. However about a year ago i discovered that he had taken large amounts of estradiol, in the form of my estrogel, a month or so prior to me discovering it missing. He stopped after i confronted him about it. Approximately six months later he took LSD while at a friends, then he took MDMA, overdosed and had a seizure. My question is could his hairloss be due to either of these? I am very concerned about him, he has always been depressed and lossing his hair would be a huge blow on his self esteem.

I can understand young men experimenting with drugs, as illegal and harmful as they may be, but it is strange that a young man would knowingly be taking female hormones. Does he have gender identification issues?

Hair loss can be a source for depression for many young men, but I would be less concerned about your son’s hair loss when there are potential life threating issues such as: depression, anxiety, illicit drug abuse, seizures, etc. Your son sounds like he needs help and I do not think hair loss ranks near the top of the list.

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February 11, 2008

Testosterone Supplement Caused Massive Hair Loss Within 4 Days – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

I’ve been taking propecia and using Rogaine for 8 months now with great results. Recently, I purchased and started to take a natural testosterone supplement. Within 4 days I witnessed an enormous amount of hair loss. I immediately stopped taking the product and since then my hair has stopped falling out. Will the hair I lost every come back? Will I recover from this stupid mistake?

While in theory what you describe is conceivable, it seems very strange a supplement can cause such rapid (in 4 days) hair loss — even if it was a testosterone supplement. I really do not have an opinion on whether your hair will grow back, since I really don’t know what caused your hair loss. You may consider seeing your doctor for his/her opinion and an in-person examination.

February 8, 2008

I Quit Smoking Pot and Now I See Rapid Hair Loss – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Just recently I have noticed a rapid increase of thinning on the front of my scalp. I have recently quit using marijuana on a regular basis, could this be the reason for my sudden intense loss?

I am 20 year old, I have been noticing a receding hair line since my late teens. Thank you.

Hair loss is complex. I wish I could just say that this is or is not the cause, but it isn’t that simple. Genetic hair loss has its own cycles and stress can precipitate it. If you found great stress from going off the pot, perhaps the stress induced genetic hair loss. I suggest that you get yourself examined by a competent doctor who can do miniaturization mapping on your scalp. From that, you should have an idea why you have hair loss.

February 5, 2008

Mixed Causes of Hair Loss for Mother and Son – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Tonight I read a very interesting page on the site of the American Hair Loss Association with a list of prescription drugs that can “cause temporary hair loss, trigger the onset of male and female pattern baldness, and even cause permanent hair loss”. I began this research for my 52 year old mother, who after recently having a heart attack, began taking Lipitor, Coreg, Plavix and Altace. I love her and it breaks my heart that she is having to endure a cosmetic issue in addition to everything else. Imagine my surprise when I found that six drugs I have taken for significant periods over the last 10 years were also listed: Paxil, Zoloft, Tazorac (Vitamin A derivative), Retin-A, Synthroid and Tapazole for hyperthyroidism.

How my heart sank.

For about two years, I have been trying to cope with my rapidly thinning hair and temporal recession at age 23. And I really haven’t. If anything, my attitude has gotten worse as it has progressed. I take my Propecia religiously, and I avoid myself in the mirror. It makes me sick – but now there is something that makes me even sicker.

Previously, my abundant good sense would have told me that if my baldness were medicinally linked, pattern baldness, which is genetic, would not present itself, and all hair loss would be reversed upon cessation of the medication. I believe, given the lovely cocktail of drugs I have been absorbing since age 12, I have “triggered the onset of pattern baldness”. The slim chance of (I’m guessing) 10% that one of these drugs would induce what probably would have happened 30 years later increased to 60%. I am sort of fuming – piping hot..really, really angry about this.

Luckily, I am entering a stage in my life where I’m realizing my genetic predisposition to certain diseases. Cancer, Heart Disease, Grave’s Disease, Diabetes and Depression are all thrown in to make my life more interesting. I am trying to realize this and lead a healthy life, taking as many preventative measures as I can. While it does make me angry, the thought of one of my conditions not being caused by faulty genes, and instead by medications to treat what those faulty genes caused, rather makes me sort of hopeful. I am off the acne, depression and thyroid medications, so is there some treatment I could begin specific to my case, and possibly, many other cases? Surely my only option isn’t Propecia. Is there something else I can do to reverse the damage Vitamin A, SSRI’s, and thryroid medications caused? And what can my poor mother do?

I apologize in advance for dropping such a tangled complexity in your lap. Please help us.

Thank you

You are certainly pouring your heart out and taking too much blame for what is going on. We take medications when we are in need of them; some can cause hair loss. Both you and your mother need to see a good doctor. I wish I could offer more than just a physician recommendation, but without an examination I just don’t see this being quite that simple.

As you are on the east coast of the US, I can recommend Dr. Robert Bernstein in New York, who can develop a Master Plan for both you and your mother. The information you supplied is packed with interesting stuff and many readers may find your experience helpful. Thank you for sending this. Good luck.

February 1, 2008

Prescribed Capex and Topicort for Itchy Scalp – Still Experiencing Hair Loss – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Dr. Rassman,

For over a year I have been experiencing hair loss. It started with a great deal of hair falling out in the sink and shower and has progressed to include a sharp itch (or sometimes general itch) to the scalp with an immediate loss of a few hairs in the area it itched. These “itches” are not limited to any part of my scalp. I was on Propecia for about 8 months which seemed to have no effect. At that time I was prescribed Capex and Topicort which seemed to just help temporarily. Do you have any suggestions on controlling the inflammation and hair loss? Thank you.

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Capex is a shampoo containing fluocinolone acetonide and is sold without a prescription for itching of the scalp. Topicort contains the active synthetic corticosteroid desoximetasone and this can cause hair loss. I have no doubt that a topical steroid will reduce the itching, but at what cost on the issue of hair loss?

January 31, 2008

Hair Loss InformationNexium, Prilosec, and Hair Loss – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

I am 52 years old (male) and have pretty good hair and after taking Prilosec for 2 months and then changed to Nexium for another 3 months, my hair has become quite thin. I have three questions.

if I stop the Nexium, will my hair recover back to what it was?

what alternatives are there to Nexium or Prilosec?

are H2 blockers better to your hair that the PPIs?

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Your hair will probably not come back, but please know that your hair loss may not even be associated with these medications.
Sorry, you’ll need to ask your doctor about any alternative drugs. I am not your doctor and do not know your medical history.
Again, you’ll need to pose these questions to your doctor. I am not a GI doctor or an internist.

If these medications are the cause of your hair loss, stopping them may help to stop further loss, but these are rare side effects. Please do not discontinue or change your medication without consulting your prescribing physician.

January 21, 2008

I Made a Foolish Mistake in Experimenting with Anabolic Steroids — Now I’m Losing Hair! – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

Dear Dr. Rassman,

I am not 28 years old and made the foolish mistake of experimenting with anabolic steroids a few times a few years ago. My first two attempts, I had zero hair loss and then all of the sudden the third time I had quite a bit of hairloss in the diffused pattern all across the top. My question is was there a chance that I was not going to bald at all or was not balding at the time and the steroids started mpb that might not have started for another 10 years or not at all?? Just curious to if I would be losing any hair had I not experimented with the anabolics. Does it have the power to start mpb if you weren’t going to bald and can it start it up to 10 years earlier? I am asking this because my dad didn’t start to bald until his 40’s.

Thanks for the time.

Anabolic steroids can accelerate hair loss if you have the gene for male pattern hair loss. Even without taking anabolic steroids, you probably would have had hair loss at some point in your life. Anabolic steroids are illegal unless prescribed and managed by a physician and only for special health purposes. Anabolic steroids can not only accelerate hair loss (that is usually not reversible), it can also cause other medical problems such as liver damage, etc.

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January 17, 2008

Hair Loss 2 Weeks After Starting Lexapro? – Hair Loss Information by Dr. William Rassman

It could have been coincidence, but I started shedding hair about 2 weeks after starting Lexapro. I was also taking agomelatine with it (a new expiremental antidepressant). I had been on agomelatine for several months without effect. I have taking Lexapro before and this didn’t happen. I stopped both about 5 weeks ago.

My questions is: If a medicine causes hair loss, how long after stopping it would the hair loss continue? I stopped both and I want to go back on the Lexapro for anxiety but i don’t want to start shedding again. How long does it take for medicine to START causing shedding, and how long does it take for it to STOP if it was in fact the Lexapro? I was on a very low dose (5 mg) for only 4 weeks, so it seems unlikely to do this.

I have researched telogen and anagen effluvium and I don’t know if this could be what happened? Or maybe it was just MPB kicking in again after 9 years of being on Propecia and was coincidence?

It seems like you have done your share of research. The hair loss could be coincidence after starting either medication, or it could be telogen effluvium, MPB, etc. Your guess is as good as mine. I don’t see anything in the literature about agomelatine (also known as Valdoxan) and hair loss, but many antidepressants are known to cause hair loss. I’ve written about Lexapro in the past.

If you have genetic male pattern baldness then I would think that would be high on the list of possible causes. If this was due to the medication, nobody would really know when or if your hair would grow back to its normal state. Hair loss and hair growth cycles are in the order of several months, so I would conservatively give it a year. Before stopping any prescribed medication, please speak with your doctor.

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January 16, 2008

Hair Loss InformationDostinex (Cabergoline) and Propecia – Hair Loss Information – Balding Blog

Dear Dr. Rassman,

I’m a 28 year old male. About 6 months ago I was diagnosed with a rare pituitary condition called hyperprolactinemia. This disorder is genetic in my family, and mine is a very mild case. The treatment is a single half-dose of cabergoline (marketing name Dostinex) taken once a week.

Male pattern baldness also runs in my family and I’m starting to show thinning on the crown of my head. My dermatologist suggested I try the propecia/rogaine route. Since propecia affects the endocrine system I am a bit reluctant to take it without knowing more about possible side effects or interaction with the cabergoline. I don’t think it should and my dermatologist said she wasn’t aware of anything and I haven’t found anything about it on the web, but I wanted to get another opinion before I started propecia. I also read online that minoxidil from rogaine may have a side effect of increasing prolactin – the condition I have too much of. Do you know of any cases like this? If so, should I reconsider starting propecia, rogaine, or both?

Thanks!

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Dostinex At this point, it is very difficult to accurately assess the cause of your thinning hair. As far as I know, cabergoline does not have hair loss listed as a potential side effect, however, this does not mean that this drug can not cause this in you. Also, certain diseases / stresses to the body have also been known to cause hair loss. Lastly, as you have mentioned, male pattern baldness could be the cause of your thinning hair. You definitely need a miniaturization study to determine the extent and locations of most of your hair loss (i.e. does it correspond to MPB?).

There have been reports that minoxidil may be related to the development of hyperprolactinemia, definitely something you don’t need more of (see Drugs.com – Interactions between cabergoline and Minoxidil). The main point here should be that before you start any medication, whether it be Propecia or Rogaine, you should have a coordinated discussion between your physician that is treating you for the hyperprolactinemia and your dermatologist. To answer your question though, I haven’t read about Propecia (finasteride) and cabergoline interactions, but again, please discuss this with your prescribing physician.