Posted , 19 users are following.
Was prescribed lansaprozole (Zoton) for reflux. Cured reflux, but caused hair loss. A headful of thick curly hair was reduced to my scalp showing through, also lost all body hair and eyelashes! Stopped taking it but haven't got my hair etc back! Can one sue the Pharmaceutical company?
0 likes, 51 replies
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CURLY27
Posted
I had thick curly hair that was my pride and joy and now have been reduced to private hair medication to stop the loss of the thin hair I now have, as the doctors are disinterested and think it is alopecia due to stress (funnily enough I was quite a laid back person until my hair started falling out, I think doctors like the stress diagnosis a bit too much) rather than down to the tablets and keep telling me it will grow back - this was a year ago now and I'm still suffering hair loss. I stopped taking the lansoprazole and now rely on rennies to combat the reflux which helps some of the time.
Guest
Posted
I have three bald patches and thankfully they don't seem to be getting any worse.
The problem seemed to start when I was prescribed Omeprazole which was only semi-successful against refulx, and so the GP doubled the dose. It was soon afterwards that I found the 'holes' in my hair.
The GP said it was nothing to do with the medication (it was me who had to point it out in the contraindications! He didn't even know it was in there) but moved me onto Lansoprazole instead by way of placating me.
This has been mostly successful with reflux, but I was told to double the dose if I needed to. I have only done this about three times, and for about three days afterwards my scalp has been irritable (red and hot and itchy) and I think I may have lost just a little more hair around the three areas, but not a great deal. It certainly seems to be better than the Omeprazole, but there is no sign of regrowth at all.
I'm going back on Thursday, and hope they take the hair loss a bit more seriously this time!
CURLY27
Posted
You mention there are no signs of regrowth to your patches - I found a product called Nioxin Follicle Booster worked well for me before I went private - It's about £20 a bottle and you apply the liquid to the patch once or twice a day (I found once was enough). It is very effective and I noticed regrowth within about a month, although the bottle didn't last long so it ended up more being cost effective to go privately, but this was due to the fact that as soon as one patch grew back another appeared! As for the private product, I stopped using it for a while earlier this month but noticed the difference immediately, so it looks as though I will be using this for the foreseeable future.
I am thankful there are others out there who have had this experience with these drugs, as I thought I was being paranoid. Maybe the doctors need to sit up and take notice - I hope you have more luck with them on Thursday, it would be interesting to see what they have to say.
Guest
Posted
I know what you mean about the 'how could you not notice it' bit. Mine too seemed to appear almost overnight, but I'm sure it can't really have done. I also feel strangely comforted by the fact that your problem got worse when your dosage was increased - I'm convinced that was the start of things for me, and I am trying more than ever now to manage without 'doubling up'.
I saw my usual GP that Thursday instead of a locum, and he was fantastic about the whole thing. He said straight away that it would almost certainly be down to the tablets. He was full of sympathy and said that I mustn't have to put up with it. He has put me onto Pariet, which is a PPI too but hair loss isn't mentioned as a side effect. He isn't totally confident that it will make any difference, and I have to go back immediately if I think hair loss is getting any worse.
A lady at work looks periodically for me, and she assures me that there is some hair growth starting to appear - about 1cm long and sparse, but better than nothing I guess.
I have a friend who is a Chemist, and she has suggested that I talk to GP about trying drugs such as Ranitidine - they are a H2 antagonist, rather than a PPI. Apparantly not as effective as PPI's but no hair loss, so gotta be worth a shot!
So you are definately not paranoid - and don't let them convince you that you are! I'm certainly curious to know if it is a curly hair problem - logic tells me it could be as I seem to recall reading somewhere that the proteins bond differently with curly hair.
Good luck.
Guest
Posted
So back to living with the acid problem :-(
Guest
Edited
I came off the PPI's and was so terribly ill that hair loss seemed to be a much better option!!
My GP has put me onto Nexium which is apparently the 'second generation' PPI's and therefore work in a slightly different way.
The contra-indications say 'hair thinning' as a rare side effect, rather than hair loss or alopecia.
Finger crossed very, very tightly, I have been on these for about two weeks, and my hair does seem to be growing back.
Good luck everyone.
jo22391 Guest
Posted
I'm not qualified to give advice, but I'll just tell you what I've read on the net. I've read that the hair loss is due to PPi's stopping vitamin B12 being absorbed. Hair loss might also be linked to B6, so have a google.
I couldn't take PPi's, found my hair thinning. The one thing that reduced my horrible indigestion was taking a small amount of vitamin B1. Maybe get them to test you for deficiencies.
Bali2000 jo22391
Posted
Thanks for your advice. Once I see the doctor on Friday I hopefully will know what direction to go. I believe I need to move away from PPI and try to fight the problem by a more natural way.
Again anyone advice natural remedies for reducing belching...
avis Bali2000
Posted
I have been there and tried that ie liquorice powder, peppermint tea, dandilion tea, aloevera juice. I just about cleared Holland and Barrett out, not to mention the chinese herbal man in my local town and all it did was cost me a fortune. I tried leaving out fats, leaving out spicey foods etc but after about 10 days not only would it come back but it came back twice as severe. I ended up with scar tissue at the back of my throat and acid erosion on my back teeth. I got to the stage that I would have taken anything even knowing that it was doing me no good, as was the case with Lansoprazol. The pain was so intense I could hardly sleep and so back again onto the merrygoround of Lansprazol. I hope you can work something out but know if it becomes too bad there is something there to help. The operation is keyhole and for all I had to take it easy for the first couple of weeks, I am so glad I had it done and got my life back.
nav80643 avis
Edited
Hi all,
I am 44, male and have(had) been on Lansoprazole for over six years.
I too have thick dark curly hair and for a long time (several years probably) have been noticing a lot of hair falling out in the shower, on the bed when I wake up, on and around my desk where I spend long periods of time daily . I just thought my hair is thick and since it has grown long, I am noticing the normal daily hair loss (50-100 hairs a day) more.
For three months hair loss seemed to have accelerated. Then a month ago, when I got to my desk in the morning, hair literally started raining down. The more I shook my hair, the more hair seemed to fall out. I thought it was just hair that had somehow broken off already. So I pulled at a clump of hair and the whole clump came off.
I got my hair cut quite short after this and notice there are several "holes" in my hair and although the most noticeable thing is a region of thinning hair on the crown, with scalp showing through. This is also the place from where the clump hair and lots of loose hair seemed to have come off.
When to my GP who said the culprit might be low iron as I had low iron in the past (not that I was ever informed of it). When results for the various tests he ordered came back, everything was fine including B12. However, Ferritin (a proxy for measuring iron level in the body I believe) was 34. Three months prior it was 40 and three months before that it was 28. My doctor said lower limit was 30 and so asked my to take iron supplements which I am now taking.
I have never had low iron in my life. What's more, I have been craving meat for the last year. I don't think I have ever eaten so much meat and fish in my whole life as I have in the last year. Yet my Ferritin levels have been at (or below) the bottom of the range for at least the last six months.
It turns out that Lansoprazole causes iron absorption to be reduced (B12 also, although my B12 levels were ok).
I read on this thread that hair loss is a side effect also. So I discontinued Lansoprazole about 12 days ago and got absolutely hellish, diabolical reflux. In the past when I tried to reduce my dose to 15mg, I had really bad reflux and I had to increase it back up to 30mg.
It turns out this is "rebound reflux" and happens because all the time that PPIs are inhibiting acid production, stomach is trying hard to produce it which increases the number of acid secreting cells. So when PPI is stopped all of those start producing acid at full capacity. I read this can last up to 14 days.
I could only take the plunge this time round because I had a bottle of Gaviscon Advance lying around. It was previously prescribed because my reflux was not fully controlled with Lansoprazole but I hadn't bothered taking it so hadn't opened the bottle. Max dose is 10ml, 4 times a day. But I had to take it about 7-8 times a day in the first week.
After about 12 days, reflux is much, much better, although I still need to take Gaviscon Advance about 5 times a day (recommended dosage is 4 times daily). I also make sure I sit upright after every meal for at least three hours and do not eat for at least 4 hours before going to bed. No fizzy drinks, citrus fruits, juices, tomatoes, onions or chillies and not as much coffee or tea as I used to have before. However, the acidity or reflux seems to be only 50% as bad as two weeks ago.
My hair may not have come back but it has most definitely stopped falling out! After 1+ year of very noticeable hair loss, last 3 months of which was quite heavy, there is suddenly no hair loss at all. I now notice around 3-5 hairs a day on my desk where I spend most of my day (I work very long hours) and no hair on my fingers if I run them through the hair. In the three months before stopping Lansoprazole, this used to be around 5-10 strands of hair falling out every hour, plus whenever I ran my fingers through my hair.
Hope this helps those people quit Lansoprazole who have struggled with to do so because of rebound reflux. Gaviscon Advance has twice the dose of sodium alginate compared to regular Gaviscon. This apparently forms a barrier against stomach acid entering the oesophagus. This is my second attempt at quitting and it seems it will be successful only because of Gaviscon Advance. It seems to have few side effects if any.
I found this document from NHS in the UK on managing acid reflux to be very helpful and to the point:
https://www.enherts-tr.nhs.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/Acid-reflux-V1-12.2021-web.pdf
nav80643
Posted
I just wanted to add that around the same time as quitting lansoprazole, I also started wearing a silk lined sleeping cap to reduce possible friction of the hair with my CPAP machine mask. I can't say for sure whether it is quitting lansoprazole or wearing the sleeping cap (or both) that have stopped the hair loss.
There is also the fact that I have started taking iron supplements (though their absorption would have been quite reduced if I were still taking Lansoprazole).
avis nav80643
Edited
Hi, I had all of this back in 2015, finally couldn't take it any more so set about doing some serious research and came across a procedure that back then was quite new in this country on the nhs, though it could be carried out privately. I managed to find a doctor in the private sector who agreed to me going to my doctor and requesting a referral to him on the nhs which my gp did and in July of 2015 I had the operation. It is keyhole surgery so no major scars and it is called Links procedure. A titanium band with positive and negative magnets inserted acts as a valve at the base of the oesophagus, when you eat the magnets disconnect and the food enters your stomach then the magnets reconnect, it is brilliant, no acid as the links acts as a barrier and doesn't allow it up into the oesophagus. I have never looked back since I had it done and I cannot remember the last time I had indigestion. I would recommend this to anyone and the beauty of it is, IF something should go wrong later down the road, it is reversible. The one down side is there are not many hospitals that carry it out on the nhs so investigation will be needed, I live in Scotland and there is only one hospital here that does it. A quick note on Lansoprazole, according to the surgeon who did my operation, this drug should not be taken for more than two years as not only does it cause hair loss, it destroys essential vitamins and minerals and can cause long term health issues. There is an American site on the internet that basically destroys it and is trying to get it stopped over there. Good luck and I hope you try this area of research.
nav80643 avis
Edited
Hi avis,
Thanks for your reply which contains very valuable info, especially because you are posting 8 years after your original post!
I have been referred by my GP for GERD surgery and luckily in London there are hospitals that do this as well as Stretta which I think is a new incisionless procedure. I am currenly shopping around for places that do both Stretta and LINX so as to potentially have both options on the table.
It's great to hear that your LINX device is working so well. I was a little sceptical about it as it is a foreign object in your body after all. But I think after your experience I might be more open to the idea.
It really is a crying shame that I have been taking the higher strength of Lansoprazole for 6 years, no questions asked by GP or phramacist! I think all along the problem was not excessive acid production at all (in fact my rebound reflux has pretty much died down after 14 days of quitting). It was always, even while on Lansoprazole, reflux that was the issue. Lansoprazole just reduced the acidity of the reflux and so my asthma, triggered by reflux into the throat or lungs, wasn't as bad.
Thankfully clumps of hair falling out alerted me to the issue and now I am PPI free and on my way to GERD surgery. The experience of hair falling onto my desk for months at an alarming rate also shed new light on what might have been the inspiration for Rengetsu's short poem:
The leaves,
in an act of faith,
Let go of the trees
And fall majestically.
If only we could let go
Of this world
So gracefully.
avis nav80643
Posted
Hi Nav, I am so pleased that you are, at long last, getting something constructive done. No-one likes taking medication but taking it when it actually makes the situation worse is very depressing, it makes you question what the health service is coming to when pill pushing is the 'go to' answer for any medical issues. I had never heard of the Stretta procedure before, not having any problems now I don't tend to keep up with new treatments but hopefully it will be the answer to your situation. Yes, the inspiration could well have been acid reflux side effects, there is no telling how something so invasive can inspire someone, thankfully my hair loss was minimal thanks to the consultant I was seeing, a brilliant man called Grant Fullerton. Anyway good luck for the future and I hope everything works out for you as well as it did for me.
diane46849 nav80643
Posted
Very interesting reading this. Been taking lansoprazole 30mg for about 6months, after first month my doc put it down to 15mg. I stopped due to needing to pee all the time, my son said it was because my body was trying to get rid of the meds I was taking. Peeing went back to normal as soon as I stopped taking Lanso. You all talking about hair loss. I noticed when washing my hair tons were coming out and when I went to the hairdressers she was pulling tons out too, embarrassing. I have very thick slightly curling hair. On stopping the lanso. my acid reflux came back with a vengeance! So I halved the 15mg capsule and started taking again, it just about kept the acid indg. at bay with help from Rennee on occasions. After reading all this, think I need to stop completely, I have not been feeling my normal self, terrible fatigue and a bit of vertigo, once very bad. I do now drink a ginger tea after my lunch and it really does seem to help. Thanks for all the info and link to NHS acid indig. help. Not keen on having an op even with it sounding like the cure. Also, I do seem to have diarrhoea.