I started taking 12 mg yesterday. Does everyone at this dosage experience hair loss? I'm taking 1 mg of Folic Acid too. Does anyone use any special shampoo, conditioner, treatment etc. to help protect hair loss? If so, what?
Thanks.
Flamingo- i have been on mtx. for 7 weeks now, just the last week i have noticed i am losing hair in the shower. not really noticable when you look at me. i am on 10mg mtx. and hope it doesnt get anyworse.
kel
I take 20mg injectable and with the Folic Acid don't have too much hair loss.Hi Flamingo, I have been on MTX 15mg and Folic Acid for about 3 years now. A very little bit of hair loss at the very beginning, but like Kel only noticed it in the shower. Also a few mouth ulcers.Hi Chris and Flamingo, welcome aboard
I've been on mtx since july 05. I don't think I shed more hair now than I did before mtx, I've always had a good hair brush full (well not completely full you understand?
As for mtx and folic............you will get as many variations as there are posters. I'm on 7.5mg mtx weekly and 5mg of folic 48 hours after mtx and once a week. I'd say go with whatever your rheummy prescribes.
I take a total of 14mg of folic acid. 2mg daily. I really don't know if it matters when you take it.
Well hopefuly we will be still buying shampoo and not polish LOL! Or start a hat collection just in case. Don't feel too badly Chris. My husband does not have ra or take any sort of meds that would make his hair fall out. It is doing that on it's own lol. Every year I see more and more forehead appearing lol. Now he is starting a little spot on the top and back of his head. He just keeps his hair short. 1/2 inch all around. I'm losing hair from the Plaquinil. would folic acid help this?Flamingo,
Looks like we all experience it to some degree. I noticed the hair loss on week 2 of my mtx (head, eyebrows, face). Was on 15mg mtx. Doc pulled me off mtx for two weeks while quadrupling my folic acid from 1mg to 4mg. Then went back on 15mg mtx and contined 4mg folic acid. Still shed a lot, and use an eyebrow pencil to fill things in (LOL!), but I'm maintaining with no additional hair loss. A wig would just be another headache to deal with, although it might be fun to experiment with some new hair colors and styles. Now on 25mg mtx and do not notice any additional hair loss.
Just talk to your doc. I am sure he/she has a strategy for dealing with the hair loss, be it increase folic acid or something else.
Good luck!
Diane
Hi , I have some hair loss, thinning is what people call it and don't have to shave my legs hardly at all! that's a blessing. I take 15 mgs of mtx(weekly) and 1 mg of folic acid EVery day, no matter what. I also take 5mgs of prednisone a day and Remicade monthly. I used to have really thick, wavy hair.
Oh well, I've been pain free for 2 months and getting my life back . Sarah
Lorster..I bet it would help. When my rd put me on plaquenil I also was put on folic acid at the same time. Only 1mg daily tho. When I added the mtx to my meds collection it was upped to 2mg daily. It can't hurt to try it. I know you are without an rd now but maybe pcp can prescribe it? Otherwise you are taking I think it is about 8 or so folic acid pills OTC to get the 1mg dose.I've been on MTX for almost two years now. I started at 10mg and have been on 15mg/wk since January of 2006. I've never noticed any more hair loss than usual. I always find a little bit in the shower drain or in my brush.Hi All!
I have noticed in this and other discussions that there is a masive variation in how people are told to take folic acid. I take 5mg every day apart from the day I take my MTX. My Rheumatologist told me that MTX depletes folic acid in your body so you need mega-doses to combat that. He said if you take it on the same day the two can affect the action of each other so best not to. Incidentally other Dr's and all the Pharmacists who have ever dispensed my prescriptions have agreed with this. Flamingo - how about talking to your Dr about taking a higher dose of folic acid?
KT
hi! i had some hair loss but at the beggining now i dont ...sobe patience...My RD also told me not to take MXT on the day I use MXT. Apparently it weakens the effect of the MXT. Pharmacist said the same.I have a friend who has experienced a big hair loss since her hysterectomy aI've been on MTX since early Dec. When I was taking 10mg and 12.5mg, I didn't have any problems with hair loss. By early January, the MTX was increased to 17.5mg and folic acid bumped up to 5mg. A few weeks later I noticed I was shedding a lot of hair...even the texture of my hair has changed; I've gone from coarse to baby fine.
We're off to Disneyland in July and I'm thinking no water rides. When my hair's all fluffed up with product and blown dry, it doesn't look like I'm thinning too badly; but when it's wet, there's a lot of scalp showing. Aargh,
Dear punkie, may I suggest you try some of those 'cute' little visors with stretch backs. They come in every color immaginable (Michael's) and are . I wear them all the time and sort of put my hair on top over the brim....no one knows. They also protect your skin. It sounds like fun to go to Disney land. Are you going to Calif. or Florida? SarahAre the ladies on this board saying not to take folic acid on the day you take MTX????
Puuuuuunkie...taaaaaaaaaaaaaaaake meeeeeeeeee toooooooooo Disney pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease?
Im all done whining now lol. The Leucorin Calcium--the RA doctor prescribes. You take 1 pill a week. Still do the Folic Acid as prescibed. Just ask him/her about it. I am sure they will prescribe it. You just have to make it known about the hair loss and it is important to you not to have it or lessen it. I have never had any mouth sores--maybe this is why. My hair loss didn't start until they maxed me out on the Mthx and is was horrible. I had bald spots on the back of my head. There was long hair all over the house and it got in the beater bars of the vacuum cleaner and caused problems. The drains were horrible. Some new hairs started coming in and I am doing pretty good with it now. Might alos help to have your hairdresser work with you. When it was real bad, I had a lot of layers cut into my hair--helped to make it look fuller. The baby oil as a conditioner--the wrap would make it work better. This is the cheapest conditioner--and the best working--. I hadn't thought of wearing a visor... thanks for the suggestion Hurts. Yes we're off to California to see Mickey and company the second week in July. Gramma, Kiwi, et al... I'd love to take all of you to Disneyland!!
Chris, I'd forgotten about low thyroid also causing hair loss. I'll have to remind my rheumie that I'm getting a double whammy. Hopefully she'll see that the hair loss is an issue for me and script me Leucovorin or Leucorin Calcium. I've never done the babyoil treatment but I'm using a product my hairdresser recommended... it's a wonderful conditioner and it's also a great hand/body lotion too.
I take 17.5 mg MTX and am on 5 mgs per day Folic Acid, except the day I take the MTX, when I don't have any at all, for the same reason that Chris stated above. And good advice Chris gives to talk to your Rh. first before changing things yourself.
And Punkie, please visit Small World for me, I was there a couple of years ago and went through three times in one visit!! Just loved it best of all the attractions.
Take Care
Take care
I take 15 mtx, and 1 folic acid, upped from 800 (somthings), I have had less hair 'thinning' since takeing more folic! (I somehow totalllllly missed the doc telling me to increase to 1mg of folic? Well, there is so much to remember and that remicade experience was a bummmer. SarahI have had a lot of hair loss at first--then they added the leucovorin calcium and that helped. I stated using Patene Hair thickener--I use the gel after I was my hair when it is wet and the spray on after it dries a bit. (Yep--two hair thickener products). Then I use (a third hair thickener) hair thickening hair spray. When it is noticeable to me is near my part. Hairdresser suggested taking Biotin--a vitamin for hair and nails. It has kinda leveled off but doesn't seem to get any thicker. My hair is very important to me--I have a very professional highly visable job and would just die if my hair didn't look nice. I have also noticed that my hair used to be oily--since mthx it is dry so conditioning is needed now. I put baby oil on my hair when it is dry about 1 hour before I am going to wash it and let it set in. Then wass--hair thickening shampoo!!!! and a conditioner.Catnip - that baby oil treatment is just great for dry or damaged hair. I do that as well, but my hairdresser told me to wrap my head in Gladwrap as well, and look extra beautiful (not) at the same time!
I've been on MTX for over a year, now. Arava, too. They both cause hair loss. After a while, I was losing big clumps of hair in the shower (and clogging the shower drain - yuck!). My RD prescribed leucovorin. It did the trick. Now, I lose maybe a couple of strands, and that's it. So don't be afraid of the MTX & hair loss - there are ways to treat it.
Does your hair loss have to be particularly bad to get that script? Or can it be just annoyingly bad? I'm thinning and losing mine in a spot on the top in the front. OF COURSE!! LOL! Does your rd or pcp prescribe that med? Not like I need another med to add to the collection. But sheeeesh...in the front and on the top!!??!!!hello, just changing the subject a bit. i was wondering if you use embrel or know about its side effects as i will be starting on it soon.
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