Rapid hair loss ON Spiro?

[long.897]

Hi there.  I started taking Spiro at a normal dose about a month ago.  Today, 15.11.10, I noticed that my hair was looking a little thin.  Parting it and taking a picture was horrifying; the first picture was taken about two weeks before starting spiro.  The second was taken about a month after.



I can't find any information about Spironolactone causing hair loss; this is the only medication change that I've had recently.  Does anyone know something about this? 

[Flan]

I've heard of cases of "shedding", but it didn't last more then a couple (2-3?) weeks. I would recommend getting blood tests, might be something interacting or elevated.

[Janet_Girl]

You might also need to have your doctor add Finasteride to your HRT.  It helps with the hair loss.

[long.897]

As I understand it, Finasteride helps if (and only if) the hair loss is caused by DHT sensitivity.  I'm not saying that that isn't the case with me, it's certainly possible, I'm just concerned because it seems like it's happening much to quickly to be MPB, and it seems like it's too coincidental to have really begun just after starting a new medication.  My family history for hair loss is unhelpful; my dad is bald, but he works with tons of dangerous chemicals, so who knows.  His 4 brothers have full heads of hair, my paternal grandfather had hair, my maternal grandfather/2 maternal uncles had hair, ETC.  Regardless, his didn't start until he was 30 or so (about 2 years after he began working with pesticides and the like on a daily basis.) 

I definitely had some thinning when I was taking a high dose of Prednisone for a bit but yeah, this is like a billion times worse than that.  Was just wondering if it's an unspoken side effect, or if it's something about which I should really be concerned. 

[envie]

I'm sorry to hear about your hair loss!
You mentioned you just switched your medication. Maybe that change is the reason for the hair loss.
Some chemical might be reacting with another or your body is reacting to the change.
Also too high levels of Estrogen would be converted by your body into extra testosterone! What is too much is subjective to some degree. It would go see my doctor!
I am on Sprio since a week ago and I have noticeable less hair falling out.
good luck!

[Suzy]

Do know that when you first take a medication to change your hormone balance, it is the body's natural reaction to try to correct that imbalance.  This evens out in time.  But it does not sound like you have been on long enough to know for sure. 

FWIW, my combination of Finasteride, E, Spiro, and Rogaine has worked fairly well for restoring my hair.  In the front, nothing will help.  Transplants are needed there.

Best of luck!
Kristi

[Muffin]

I experienced some shedding when I changed medications last year. It really freaked me out and I just couldn't put my finger on anything other than changing medication and thinking my body was just readjusting. It obviously doesn't happen to everyone so I don't know for sure but for me things went back to normal after around 2 months.. and yes it's scary and makes you realise how precious hair really is!
As far as Finasteride goes I've heard bad things about it which means nothing when I don't back it up with anything. *shrugs*. If a doctor suggested for me to take it I'd say no but I would consider taking dutasteride.
I've since begun taking a progesterone and my regrowth has exploded which I'm really happy about.. though at times it looks like I have a big fluffy ball attached to the front of my hair..with all the fly away regrowth it can get pretty crazy up there.
Without knowing your exact situation it's hard to say.... but I wouldn't be surprised if it's just a temporary problem caused from the spiro or other meds.

[long.897]

I see the endo again in December to begin E, and I'll discuss it with her then.  At the moment, I'm just taking spiro, though it MIGHT be unnecessary; my premedication levels showed that my testosterone is inherently very low.  Inspecting the hair loss more, it doesn't seem like it's less if I go by counting hairs/area (as compared to say, above my ears,) but the strands themselves almost seem thinner.  Just definitely worrisome, I would prefer not to be bald .

Also, for whatever it's worth, my tall forehead isn't hair loss, it's just bad luck.  My sister has the same problem, and I can look at my school ID from when I was 15 or so and see that the forehead:face ratio is unchanged.  The only new thing that I see is yeah, the thinness. 

Maybe it's the body reacting, but I can't find anything about interactions with my current meds.  I've been really off for the past few weeks as well, but given the leaves coming down, I've been attributing it to allergies. 

[amberrain]

Spironolactones can cause hair loss (alopecia) as well as excessive hair growth. There are other anti-androgens available if this proves to be a long term problem. It may be that the Spiro has cuased the hair phase to change from resting to growing so that can cause shredding at first before new hair grows in, obviously this is an optimistic hope.

Your endocrinologist should be able to advise further.

Kind regards

Amber