I’m currently taking 200 mg Celebrex twice daily, 20 mg Methotrexate by syringe weekly, 50 mg Enbrel self injected weekly, 1mg folic acid, omeprazole, plus various vitamin therapies. Which one (or more?) could be causing me to shed many hairs daily?
Would you change meds because of this?
It's my understanding that it could be the mtx, which can cause hair thinning or hair loss. It's rare for Enbrel to cause hair loss, but that said, it did for me. Remicade is worse as far as hair loss goes for me, to the point that I shaved my head at one point and keep my hair very short, as it breaks if it gets longer than an inch or two. I would no more stop Remicade than I would stop breathing at this point, because it has been life changing for me. Personally, I'd rather have relative health than hair.
Thanks nym.
You can talk to your doc about increasing the folic acid dose to help combat the hair loss. I agree with Nym that it is most likely the Methotrexate. I take 2mg a day of the folic acid and that has worked really well at preventing side effects, but I know others who take even more than that.
I would certainly take a look at increasing my folic acid and a long look at at some of the supplements especially any that contain Vitamin A and D. If you are not deficient and taking supplements of vitamins A and D those two will absolutley cause hair loss, not to mention other problems. The other thing to look at is your hormone levels. simple stress can send things way out of wack. If changing those things don't help Prilosec (omeprazole) is well known for causing hair loss. There are other "stomach drugs" that don't
I have had some hair loss with MTX and started taking Biotin daily. Not only has it helped with my hair, but also my nails.
Thanks everyone. I already take biotin and the vit d, b1, calcium, b12, and iron are for diagnosed deficiencies. I’ll be seeing my rheumy tomorrow, we’ll see what she thinks?!
I had a lot of hair loss too and blamed my meds but even stopping mtx & using arava & others along with my Humira didnt help. Point is I had hair loss during all the 234546 meds I tried. Finally, I went to an endocrinologist after an accidental MRI showed I have thyroid issues. Turns out the real problem was that I have an autoimmune thyroid disease. I started meds for that and my hair finally stopped falling out. My rheumy mentoined that a lot of people with RA or PsA have other autoimmune diseases, including thyroid problems. I would suggest having your thyroid checked. Oh, I am also taking biotin as suggested by my endocrinologist now but it hasnt been long enough to know if that is helping too.
Thanks, my rheumy did order thyroid tests which were in normal range. She thought it is methotrexate causing the hair loss, but didn’t want to change my dose because I’m actually doing well with the arthritis now. I will be stopping the omeprazole after the first of the year. We’ll see if anything changes.