Anyone else experiencing hair loss?
I'm one of the lucky ones who had some hair loss while taking Enbrel - and since starting Remicade I've lost a lot of hair. I now have very thin hair and am debating what to do with it. I cut it shorter (chin-length), but may need to go shorter, unless I start getting bald spots in which case I may just shave it all off. My hair is on everything. I wear bandannas almost all the time because I'm sick of picking my hair off of everything.
Anyone else?
Oh nym, it is bad enough going through this as a grandmother, so I know how much of a drag it is for you. Think twice, maybe even twenty times before shaving it! Really!
Hi Nym, unfortunately I am familiar with hair loss as a side effect. It started when I was on Humeria; the docs switched me to Enbrel about a year later. But my hair was still falling out; I have a couple of bald spots which I try to hide by always wearing my hair up.
I spoke to my GP, and he suggested that I stopped colouring my hair. I was disgusted (I’m completely grey even though I’m only 34) and I thought typical man. As if I would be happy to go grey at my age. So for a few years I continued to colour my hair and I continued to pull more and more hair out of the drain and tried to put my hair up in clever ways to hide the bald spots.
This past Christmas I decided that enough is enough, no more hair colour. My hair has stopped falling out, I don’t need to unclog the shower drain as much and my bald spots are beginning to get smaller as my hair stats to regrow. Now I couldn’t care less that my hair is grey, I’m just happy to have it back again. When people are rude and say that it ages me, I tell them that I’d rather be grey than bald, that usually shuts them up.
I don’t know if you colour your hair, but it might be worth going au natural to see if this helps you. I hope this information is useful to you.
Ali C
My hair is currently blue and purple (really!). I actually colored it after being completely natural for YEARS, including not using any chemical products on my hair. I colored it because my hair was falling out quite rapidly and I wanted to do something fun before it was gone! LOL I spoke with a doctor and several hair professionals and they said the color stuff I'm using wouldn't make much of a difference, using it once or twice, since I was losing a ton of hair already.
Ah well, keep going with the purple so. I like your style ;-). Was thinking of going purple myself a few years ago. Hopefully someone else will have a better idea for the hair loss.
Go for it, I'm a fan of hot pink too. Keep in mind that it may not be all the drugs.... Stress is a huge contributor. So is pain. And of course both contribute to hormone changes which is a contributor.
You might want to run a video surveillance camera though Nym, with your life style and the fact it comes out in patches, you may be pulling it out and not even knowing it.
I don't have any suggestions for keeping it or I'd be using them my self. I will say my wife started growing hers back when she went gluten free. Of course she had a complete hysterectomy at 32 so had been losing it for a while anyway. If you youngsters are using BC you may want to check with your OBGYN. That sometimes has an effect. My 13 year old Grandaughter was having hair loss problems and we had to change pills (she has been on BC since 9) her doc said it was a fairly common side effect with some formulations.
Now lamb, nym may look fine with blue/purple, hot pink hair, but if I were to pull that my husband, son, and my grandkids would have me locked up and Thorazine drip would be added to the med list...hum???????????????
I'm definitely not pulling out my hair...and am gluten-free. When I shower in the morning, just running my fingers through my hair produces a handful of hair:
That's ONCE through my hair. I have to clear the drain several times during a five minute shower. I actually had to have my husband get the hair off my hands the other day because there was so much. My best friend is shocked at how thin my hair is.
SK - You'd look great in hot pink! :)
Here's before hair color: 
And a really bad after, in the rain, in grubby clothes.
My husband is NEVER going to go for the hot pink hair, trust me! He is not into the bizarre looking senior or pre-senior citizens all punked out we see on the 'Wal-Martians' e-mails! Had we not met in our later years, we never would have connected in our younger ones, now those were my 'punk'days!! Surely you children have heard of those?
Nym seriously, I know how devastating that must be for you.... I don't really mean to be making jokes. (Although I have mentioned before one of my wifes teachers who passed away last year with colon cancer bought a hot pink wig when her hair went and per her request was buried with it on NOW she was funny.
If its tress/hormone related the supplement Provillus will help
Interestingly enough how are your nails? Folks with psoriaic nails also have a tendency to get Alopecia areata yet another gift from our autoimmune system, It often regresses. It is usually just small patches but can involve the whole head. There is some medication for it, but most common is the corticosteroid cream (Who knows maybe spike will come back.
One thing I would not use is spray hair. When my uncle died (he was 100) his kids went all out for the funeral and even hired a horse drawn hearse and bag pipers. It was a beautiful burial just as they were lowering the casket the bagpiper standing on the hill started playing Johnny boy a light rain started. a very solemn moment except for the fact us cousins all got the giggles (all 21 of us) The undertaker standing at attention in front of one end of the casket facing the family but back to every one else) had spray hair which was not water proof and started to run down his face. $100.00 for bagpiper down the drain. Fortunately my uncle who arranged for the reception several weeks prior to his passing included an open bar and it was all forgotten
Looks great! Your hair is not thin looking to me at all. Hopefully, what strands falls out now may grow back faster (hair grows faster in summer months). Hair colar tends to add texture and fullness as well, so it may help in camouflaging any thinness BTW, my blonde 13 year old son just insisted on dying his hair black... Today! To paraphrase Will Smith in the movie, Men in Black,"You both make this look GOOD!"
nym said:
I'm definitely not pulling out my hair...and am gluten-free. When I shower in the morning, just running my fingers through my hair produces a handful of hair:
SK - You'd look great in hot pink! :)
Here's before hair color:
And a really bad after, in the rain, in grubby clothes.
nym, loosing hair is not fun or funny, and if we did not have this wretched disease, we would surely not have this pain, well, maybe in childbirth, but that is fleeting compared to the tenacity of this! Stress, well, stress is a given, not at this level either, just the pain and inability to function piles the stress up to unlivable proportions. Then you take not leaving the house for months on end... it's too much!
I say no to pink hair, but who can say what I will end up doing, or even more unpredictable what my husband will 'go for'! Like lamb's old teacher, a hot pink wig may be my last means of defiance too!
I don't mean to sound sexist BUT as long as you're naked when your husband sees it.... You can make it any color (or shave it.) You could be sitting on new furniture or vacuuming new carpet and he won't notice. I am suprised more wives don't take advantage of this known fact. If you are cooking at the time (don't fry bacon) you can get away with even more.
And something else, for some reason most women can't get through their head that no matter what, how old, what happens a mans wife is just beautiful to him now as the day he was smitten. (He may never stop shopping but as long as he doesn't buy...)
My nails were horrible, got better w/ Enbrel, and back to being bad but perhaps getting slightly better w/ Remicade. I do know that alopecia is a possibility.
I'm actually not really that stressed about losing hair. It's just hair. I'd rather have health than hair.
People are often surprised when they see our family - a four year old with purple and blue hair, a six year old with a mohawk, a nine year old with black and purple hair, an 11 year old (boy) with black and blue hair, and a 13 year old boy with long hair. My husband shaves his head. So... no matter what I do, I'll always fit in with my crazy family! :)
