Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group Hair falling out from medictation

hey, i am new here and was wondering if anyone have had this problem while on the medication methotrexate. i started it a few months ago and have noticed that i have been losing a lot of hair and was wondering if anyone on here knows of a good thickening shampoo to use.i am an 18 year old girl that got diagnosed with this about four years ago, so i no i hould make a big deal out of this but my hair is like a security blanket and now im losing chunks at a time.

sorry you are having this side effect. have you told your doctor / your doctor's nurse? maybe they have advice or can switch your medication. hoping they will be compassionate about this.

Advise your doctor what is happening. There are other medications that you could be put on. (Sulphasalzine did that to me - and all the rest of the side effects...horrible stuff.)

thanks and yes i told my doctor and its the last medication for me before i start on Humira on the 30th, becaue i am not getting the results they wanted to from this drug and im scared hair loss is a result from Humira too. does anyone know that has been on this drug before?

My doctor told me to try Folic acid to help.

Hi Kennyroo, welcome to KA!

Shyguy's advice to try supplementing with Folic Acid should help alleviate side effects from mtx, if you aren't already taking it. Just make sure not to take it on the same day as the mtx... and it's a good idea to check with your doc before beginning any supplement.

More info can be found on this thread, in the Pharmacy forum:
methotrexate

Although we all react to medications a little differently, I think it's unlikely that you'd experience hair loss on Humira.

I would not want to have to cope with that side effect either!
Good luck and I hope you have great success in trying Humira and will be feeling better soon.
mig

thanks you guys! yes i have been talking folic acid the day before i take my other meds

I'm on 15mg/week of MTX, but don't see a lot of hair loss at this dose. I tried 4 months of 20mg/week and saw a lot of hair loss. Since there wasn't much improvement at that dose, I dropped back to 15mg/week.

You should be taking folic acid with your MTX. If this is the first few months of use, it will probably level out to your normal rate of hair loss in a few months. If you've been on it for 6 months and it's still bothering you, see if the doc will increase your dose. That may help, especially if you are seeing a benefit from the MTX. If it's not helping, then that is a different problem.

Kennyroo,

I'm sorry to hear this. I am 18 aswell and seeing as I am so young, I am incredibly reluctant to rely on medication to get me out of pain. I may be slightly pessimistic but I've seen what some of these drugs have done to people. One of my facebook friends developed MS from humira and she is only 19. If you can look at your diet, it can make a huge difference. I try and use a combination of diet and medication (but only when I need it) + supplements like fish oil to try and tackle this and for a decent amount of the time, this combination works quite well.

But then again, what I am saying is completely my opinion and I could be wrong. Many people here will argue that the risk from AS drugs is minimal and that too is probably true.

Best of luck with whatever you decide

When I was on Methotrexate I took Folic Acid 3grams (not micrograms) each day, except for the day I took the MTX. If you are only taking it once a week, it may not be enough to take care of the side effects.