is anyone else losing hair daily? | Arthritis Information

i know that its normal to lose hair daily but what about in large amounts than before. i have always had long thick hair but i see it in the shower on the floor in my brush and just by running my fingers thru my hair some comes out. its not in chunks but its more than i've ever had fall out. my family thinks its just me but i think their just trying to be nice about it. i dont have bald spots but i really do have lots of it that just falls out and i'm scared.

Just to let you know its not all in your head... i havent noticed any extra hair loss, but i have TONS of hair.. its straight and thick.. to bad its got NO BODY!!!

Hope this helps!

I know mtx. causes hair loss but I don't know about humira. The folic acid (leucovorin esp.) helps slow down the process, and luckily I have a lot of hair too, but boy I and my hubby too have noticed a big difference in the thickness in my hair.

Mina
I think that you do lose some hair with Humira...when reading the cautions I remember thinking..OH GREAT!! I've always had fine hair til I got pregnant then it thickened up. I've noticed a little loss when I started MTX...but it grows back so fast and I have a lot of hair now for some reason. I guess everyone is different.

Lisa, I'm on mtx and I loose hair. Have you had your thyroid levels checked? That can also make you loose hair and it is very common for women to have thyroid problems.

Unicorn, how did you get your picture in your little box? In fact, I see all kinds of things in the boxes.

Lisa, Now I am getting scared. I am supposed to start back on mtx and I have always worried about hair loss with mtx. I do not have a lot of hair to lose and what I have, I am very attached to. Hair loss is one of the side effects I just won't accept. I am right on the edge of accepting the fact that I am getting older (almost 50) but I am not going to accelerate the process by letting my hair fall out. So I am freaking out with you. I guess you have to make choices. I am glad you have a lot of hair, so some time to decide. Maybe the hair loss will slow down. Good luck. I am also going to be taking Humira so I hope that does not cause hair loss also. GOD I HATE RA. ROXY...DON'T PANIC. I WAS ON MTX, AND YOU HAVE "SOME" HAIR LOSS BUT IT'S MINIMAL. YOU MAY NOT HAVE ANY!! THE GOAL IS TO GET THE DISEASE UNDER CONTROL AND AVOID THE PAIN AND DESTRUCTION. thank you all for your kind words i really appreciate your responses and i'm learning to deal with this ra stuff. i dont think i'll ever be able to accept i'm just learning how to deal with it day to day. its just a blessing to have another day with my family.

Roxy. There are worse things that losing some of your hair. If you lose enough hair that you actually consider stopping medication that helps your RA, instead buy a fun wig to wear, a different hairstyle and or color than your own. Have some fun with it instead of letting it depress you.

Barb

Cheryl

Sometimes the drugs we take will attribute to our hair loss. But there are other reasons that we may experience hair loss. Since you are on Humira, they have listed hair loss in the uncommon side effects.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/druginfo/uspdi/500449.htm l

Go to this page and look under Side Effects of this Medication: then scroll down to the Less Common: section.

Since you are worried, I would ask my doctor about the hair loss. It can be something like hormonal changes that may be going on that cause the hair loss.

I hope you get an answer to your question very soon. I can hear that it is stressing you out...and that is a not good thing...

Toni

waddles38576.4064236111

Mine is falling out by the strands-I try not to keep combing it several times a day-as every time I do more strands-Trying to preserve it.Pretty soon I will look like this

Hi Lisa,

I'm on mtx and my hair has thinned out quite a bit since starting with the med. I'm a guy, so it doesn't really bother me. When i first started with the mtx i heard folic acid would help in preventing the thinning hair, but my doc said the folic acid would make the mtx less affective so i don't take the folic acid. I know that hair loss is traumatic for a woman and hope you and your doc can come up with something that you're comfortable with.

DON

I have been mtx for about 5 months and altho it is helping me sometimes, I am experiencing a LOT of hair loss. I have always had thick hair and still do in the back. However, on the top it is very thin--looks moth eaten. I bought 2 wigs out of panic and HATE them. Too hot, too much hair in them--awful. I am going to start Humira and I just read that may cause hair loss. I was hoping I could maybe get off the mtx when the Humira kicked in so my hair could go back to normal. What vitamins are you taking to help? I am taking Folic Acid (prescribed), C, Cal with D & K. It has only affected the hair on my head---I still have to shave my legs--and it seems like there is more there!

HELLO to everyone...

Please forgive for not mentioning all your names, my hands right now are very un-cooperative...

I have been off MTX for about 4 months now. The top of my hair did thin out but mostly around the widows peake...looked like your typical receding hairline.

Any way, since I have been off the MTX my hair has been coming back in but it is going to take a while to fully fill in, that is if the Enbrel doesn't do the same thing as the MTX.

What I did to keep it from getting to the point that I was seeing more and more hair on the floor, was to make sure I had a hair cut and style that would not require me to put to much tension on my hair. I also used extra vitamins and one very useful one was Vitamin B12, as I also am anemic and being anemic can help with the hair loss, plus I also take a acid reducer and that can contribute to hair loss too.

I do color my hair and I make sure that when I do a touch up on my hair, I only do the roots and then use a wide tooth comb to pull it down the hair strands and I do not leave the hair color on for the full length of time. I also give my hair a warm oil treatment with olive oil once a week and use a good moisturizing shampoo/conditioner. I am still a little thin on top of my head but I can say I have more than 3/4 of my hair there.....NEVER NEVER use a brush on wet hair and only use a wide tooth comb for combing.

I put a link in here as to reason for possible hair loss. Maybe this will be of some help to you.

http://www.tjclarkinc.com/d_hair_loss.htm

also, this link explains what vitamins that we are lacking may cause hair loss.

http://1stholistic.com/Nutrition/hol_nutr-def-symptoms.htm

I think by adding a good multivitamin, it may help. Also, make sure your multi-Vit has some of the vitamins that are mention for helping with hair loss.

Always ask your doctor what he/she thinks about adding OTC's to your medications that your taking now.

Our hair is our crown of glory and when it is not looking it's best we are not at our best but also remember that we are who we are and not because of hair...

Wishing everyone a good evening and a pain free tomorrow.

Toni

waddles38663.7953703704I talked to the NP at my drs. office when I went for the Humira teaching and we discussed the hair loss from the Methx. and she said some people never experience it--lucky them. It seems to have slowed down for awhile and I see some new growth coming in at the forehead area. I am also trying Rogaine but that takes a long time. She was saying if I did well with Humira maybe they could cut back on the Methx. So far they both agree with me and work pretty well. Still have hand, wrist and foot pain but can walk much better since the Humira. I bought hair thickening shampoo (Thicker Fuller Hair--green shampoo in a clear plastic bottle) and hair thickener (Pantene Thickening spray) you put on after shampooing, tease and propery place the hair to cover thein spots and check in a mirror for the back of my head before I am done--sometimes it separates and I need to place it so you don't see my scalp. Then I spray it down so it can't move all day long at work! I'm not sure but I wonder if RA in general causes hair loss? Maybe it's just aging in general? I'm 45 so that's possible. But I've been on so many of these darned medicines, I don't know what to blame any more. I'm just sick of seeing hair in my hands every night in the tub. I used to have thick hair. It no longer is. Of course, I used to have a smaller butt too.

Hair loss sucks ! I took mtx for a long time, my hair became very thin and dry . I stopped takiing mtx because for serious side effects. MY Hair grew back in Curly and thick.. It had always been straight and fine textured. My hairdresser teases me about giving her some of that medcine. It is only curly in the back and straight on the top. But it still my hair.! Ra took alot of things from my life but it gave me some curls !

Now that's what I like to hear...Another person's hair, which is just like mine..WEIRD and straight on top and curly everywhere else....SO I guess I am not "the different one" after all...

Toni

Unfortunately, I know what you are going through. I am on prednisone and my hair is falling out in clumps, everywhere. I believe this is one of the side effects of taking this drug. I believe methrotrexate (sp) has this side effect as well. I am planning on telling my PC and may be she'll refer me to a dermatologist? I also think hair loss can also be from an over or under active thyroid condition. I'd ask your doctor. Hi
I am new to the message board, I was diagnosised with RA, in
Feb 2005, and started on methotraxate, which is working well. I
was losing hair while I was having my first flare up, badly. I
thought I was going to go bald, getting the RA under control
helped it, but I still worry that I am going to lose my hair with the
drugs I take, so far so good, but there is still a lot hair in the
tub.(my husband swears there always was a lot )
I understand your worry, I worry about it. I never knew that
methrotrexate might change my hair from straight to curly, so far
I have not seen any change in my hair texture.
The methx is responsible for some of the hair loss. I had thick, thick hair until I started with that. The pharm. told me would cause hair loss, the doctor whitewashed by saying hair thinning, and the sheet that comes with the drug says the say thing--hair loss or thinning. Look at any cancer patient on methx and they are totally bald. Methx is a cancer drug and is approved in a lower dosage to treat RA. You may have some other conditions but I don't at this time and it is the Methx. I also asked the NP about Humira causing hair loss. She didn't think it had anything to do with hair loss--just the methx which I take in combination now. My hairdresser suggested the vit. Biotin to boost hair regrowth, drinking lots of water, exercise for circulation. The good part is that when I tell people about it they seem to not notice it until I mention it--maybe they are just being nice. Keep your fingers crossed that research comes up with some better drugs with less side effects. I am on MTX and I loose a lot of hair every time I shower. (I comb my hair with my fingers after I use conditioner, in order to catch the hair and stick it in the wall of the shower..... sigh.) I am hoping to start weaning off of it because of this, and also because I want to see if the enbrel is working. I want to have kids eventually and can't stay on MTX for that!

I lost hair when I went on mtx and it's never grown back even though I'm only on 5 mgs now. Of course, getting older doesn't help either. Just turned 60. OMG!

Susan

ive lost a lot of hair since veing on enbrel, and arava know I just started Remicade and im not sure if Remicade also makes you lose you hair does anybody else know?