Can Taking Pred affect your Hair??

Hi Gilly

I have very fine hair and I did suffer from hair loss (down the plughole! :cry: ) when washing it during the early days of higher steroid doses (I did start off on 4mgs due to GCA). However this stopped after a few months and I would say that I stopped shedding hair once below 5mgs. I'm not sure how long you've been on steroids - if not too long then it could just be that that side effect is only just becoming apparent. I stopped having perms whilst on steroids and tended to use organic shampoos without any harsh ingredients. Hopefully, you will soon find that your hair starts to recover on your present low dose.

Shirley

gillybee

Ask your phamacist if Folic Acid is compatible with Pred. If it is then ask GP for prescription.

Yes Gilly,

I too have fine hair, & now it looks awful, thin, wispy, can even see my scalp.

Not happy with it, but hoping it will return to normal when I get down to a more reasonable level of preds.

Good luck

Amycakes.

Thanks ladies for your responses.

I have been on Pred for just over a year, and on lower doses for about 6 months. I am also taking Alendronic Acid, so I am now wondering about that.

I don't think I am losing my hair as such, as it still seems ok at the scalp with no gaps or anything. It's just that it seems very thin and wispy at the ends, as though it is damaged and dry. Looks even worse this morning..

I have always been careful to look after my hair, so I am sure it can't be that.

Have always worn my hair on my shoulders, and I really do not want it cut, but it seems to be looking that way.

I will ask about Folic acid today Mrs K, and also if my pharmacist can suggest anything, it's well worth a try.

Bea.xx

gillybee

Why are you taking AA and have you read the discussion on here? You can use the Search at the top of the page.

Just wondering.

It is amazing how when I have a question and check this sight there is someone else with the exact same issue at about the same time. Also, when we feel pretty good we don't check this sight as often as we should. Kind of like praying only when you are in trouble!

Anyway, I have long hair and have noticed that it is thinner. My ponytail keeps getting smaller. I have been on the pred since last January and am down to 5mg. I will watch for further updates for any miracle cures.

Nosilla, yes I sometimes wear my hair in a ponytail too, and I am seeing it go thinner by the day. Today I have worn my hair off my shoulders and piled up in a clip, and I feel it looks better for it..At least the thinness is not so noticable like that.

If I do find a miracle cure then I shall come back on here and tell you about it!

Mrs K, I have read all the stuff on AA. I did stop taking it for a while as I thought I was getting a (different) reaction to to it. I have started taking it again as my doctor keeps asking me if I am taking it. Suppose I started it up again just for the quiet life.. :roll:. However, I am now wondering if I should stop taking it now. Surely the threat to bone density must be less now my Pred dose is lower? I do take the calcium supplements too.

Gilly.

Hi Gilly and Nosilla

Mrs K recommended a Folic Acid supplement to help your hair. When I read that it dawned on me that I have been having Folic Acid by way of Wheatgerm on my muesli every day for years. As well as containing Folic Acid, wheatgerm also contains Vitamin E which is excellent for your skin (steroids can cause thinning of the skin). I'm just wondering if it was my regular daily wheatgerm helping that helped to get my hair back to normal after being thinned due to the high dose steroids.

I have never taken any AA drugs during my time on steroids, just ensured that I upped my intake of calcium-rich foods. Although I did develop osteopenia of my spine during the high dose steroids, another scan 2 years later doesn't show any worsening to osteoporosis. I can probably expect to have some bone thinning as I'm approaching 70 but my physio has advised that once off steroids completely my bone density will actually improve, so here's hoping. Walking is excellent as a weight-bearing exercise for our bones and Nordic walking (with poles) is even better.

MrsO

Gilly - the only thing that can show whether you need AA is having a dexa scan to see what your bone density really is. Some people will have a low bone density even before steroids, about half of patients will develop low bone density as a result of steroids - and you can't tell from ordinary x-rays or from the steroid dose. And some won't lose bone density - it will depend on the person.

Some doctors have been persuaded that giving AA will prevent you losing bone density so, because you are on steroids, whatever the dose, they also hand out a prescription and hound you to know if you are taking it. I was lucky - my GP agreed with me about the bad press and allowed me to stop taking it.

In fact, the most recent evidence is that it is not a good idea to give it prophylactically (as a prevention) and it is warned by the FDA (the drugs monitoring agency in the USA) that it should not be given for more than 5 years at a time because of the possible side-effects associated with longterm use - gastric problems, oesophageal cancer, problems with bone loss in the jaw leading to tooth problems and some strange fractures of the thigh bone which only occur in patients on AA. It remains in the body for at least 10 years after stopping and it may be much longer - it is just that these are the patients who first took it in the trials. As time goes on this figure will rise and the effects will probably still be there years and years later. Plus, if you are on steroids for a very long time and DO develop bone loss later or, as you get much older, develop osteoporosis even while not on steroids you may already have used up the time it is OK to take the stuff for without risking too many problems.

I don't take it - if I were to develop oesteoporosis that was bad enough to make it a problem I will consider it. But since my dexa scan was OK I take the calcium/vit D supplements and am waiting and seeing. The trouble is, many doctors were persuaded by the drug reps it is a miracle cure/prevention measure - the market was very cleverly created by the pharmaceutical company that developed the drug and it is making a vast killing with its sales for normal patients who don't yet really need it - and persuading these doctors otherwise is difficult. They \"learn\" something in their reading at a given time but then don't keep up that reading in the field to learn the latest evidence in the medical journals - and Big Pharma isn't going to bring it to them on a plate if it will harm their profits.

There is a similar story for the statins, the cholesterol drugs. They, too, are used for many patients for whom they are achieving nothing: mainly women who have not yet had a heart problem. If you have had a heart attack or stroke or are male then if you have high cholesterol statins may reduce the chance of you having one - women with no cardiac history won't get any benefit, are at risk of the side-effects and the NHS is wasting money. Their use was based on the figures quoted by the companies and they omitted to quote any that didn't support their use in everyone. The presented them in a way that suggested everyone would benefit by showing figures for men and women together. Had they done figures just for patients by gender and medical history it would have been obvious who wouldn't benefit.

Eileen

Stopped taking AA after six weeks and awful side effects and will never touch it again! Still having the oaccasional side effect from it

I too have excessive hair loss and even hubby comments on how much hair he sees once I have left the bathroom :?

Hair very fine and is getting thinner and drier and def losing it since preds..... only use organic chemical free shampoo and conditioner but not making much of a difference at the mo :?

If folks find Folic Acid helps will take it!

fifties girl

When people are prescribed Methotextrate, for whatever reason, they are automatically put on Folic Acid to counteract hair loss.

As Methotextrate was developed as a drug for certain types of cancer it makes sense.

It is also used in connetion with Alopecia.

Hope this helps - I am not a medic, just know people.

Sorry, forgot to add, check with the pharmacist that it is compatible with whatever else you are taking. Belts and Braces.

What your hair is doing often reflects something that happened 2 or 3 months ago, so - 50sgirl - the stress and pain etc from the hip problem must be taken into consideration. Anything that affects your well-being can make your hair a mess a bit later :cry: So the massive hair loss that often happens after a baby is born is nothing to do with the birth - it's the earlier process of pregnancy that is to blame. Going grey - similar sort of thing. You can't go grey overnight whatever anyone tries to tell you - a hair falls out and the one that replaces it has less or no colour pigment in it so is a different colour and once it is long enough will contribute to the overall colour you appear to be. Often hair growing back after chemotherapy will be very different from what you had before - because the follicle that the hair stems from has been radically altered by the chemical effect on rapidly dividing cells - no respecter of persons that stuff, if cells are splitting fast it will damage the process, whether it is the cancer cells, your hair or the cells lining the gut.

And just because a company claims their product is \"organic\" doesn't mean it will help your hair more I'm afraid :wink: Improvement of the condition of your hair has to come from inside and takes time - once it reaches the outside world your hair, like your nails, is dead. The conditioners just act as polyfilla, smoothing down the rough outside of the strand of keratin that is what we call hair. The only thing they are improving is the company's profits :roll: :shock: :o

Eileen

Interesting reading from Eileen and Mrs O. Thanks for your input.

Not sure if I am experiencing that much actual hair loss as such, as the hair on my scalp seems ok. It just seems that the hair I have got has gone very fine and wispy. Even walking across a room causes it to fly about.

And because of this, and the fact I wear it long (always have done) it has also gone very dry and is breaking off at the ends.

I spoke to my doctor about Folic acid and he told me that they do not prescribe it, but there are over the counter versions of it in vitamin tablet form. Not bought any as yet.

However I am trying a Hair Loss/Thinning shampoo and serum to see if that helps. Not sure of the results as yet.

I do know that the hair we see on our heads is the result of growth months before, and I am wondering if my thinning hair is just the results of when I was on a higher dose of Pred. Or maybe an onset of IBS that I was suffering with during the summer. That actually did cause alot of stress.

Sadly I can't connect my hair thinning it to anything else.

Gilly.

Hi Gillybee and all,

I am surprised that your doctor does not prescribe folic acid :? as it is automatically prescribed to anyone taking methotrexate, used with chemotherapy patients and is also advised for women planning on becoming pregnant.

Sounds more like a case of saving prescription costs by forcing you to buy an over-the-counter product :roll:

I live in Dublin and have been prescribed folic acid since I started on methotrexate earlier this year. I have not really noticed any difference in my hair since starting it, but did get mine cut shorter a few months ago as I wasn't able to manage blow-drying it when it was long . It definately helps the condition to get regular trims....apparently Kate Middleton gets hers done every week, which would be lovely IF you coud afford it :wink:

love to all,

Pauline.