severe hair loss

About 2 months after beginning Tamoxifen I started suffering hair loss. It was diagnosed as alopecia areata. The dermatologist injected my scalp with steroids. The bald spot became bigger and bigger. 8 months later it suddenly began falling out very rapidly and 3 weeks later I lost 75% of my hair. I shaved my head and here it is now 3 months after shaving my head and the hair has not grown back also I have now lost every hair on my body including eyebrows and lashes the last to go. I did 3 months with a pulsed does of prednisolone 300mg per dose once a month, No change. Nothing has worked. I have continued taking Tamoxifen but my oncologist is suggesting I stop for 1 month to see if it makes any difference. Is there any information about whether this could have been caused by the tamoxifen and whether stoppping it will help.


This discussion is related to antidote for tamoxifen hair loss.

[japdip]

Did you have any other form of treatment before the Tamoxifen; such as any form of Chemotherapy ? I don't really think this is due to the Tamoxifen and could even be totally unrelated to your breast cancer unless of course you did receive other Chemotherapy drugs.   Regards .....

[corihairloss]

I did not have chemotherapy only radiation. About 2 months after beginning the Tamoxifen my hair began to fall out. But I was also under severe stress.

[Marylou_II]

I hope this information will help you as it helped me. When I was about to get my chemotherapy and radiation treatments my Chemotherapist asked me two questions:
1] You had two pregnancies, were you ever nauseous or did you vomit during the pregnancies? I said I never did. He then told me that I would not have any of the two with chemo and radio.
2] He then asked me if I dyed my hair, what product did I use and if my hair had thinned in the past years? I told him my hair had slightly thinned and that I always used L’Oreal. He said that chemical hair dyes are quite toxic and weaken the hair follicles and to stop using it because a follicle is a part of the skin that grows hair by packing old cells together. Attached to the follicle is a sebaceous gland, a tiny sebum-producing gland found everywhere except on the palms, lips and soles of the feet. The thicker the density of the hair the more sebaceous glands are found.
Also attached to the follicle is a tiny bundle of muscle fiber called the arrector pili responsible for causing the follicle lissis to become more perpendicular to the surface of the skin, and causing the follicle to protrude slightly above the surrounding skin (piloerection) and a pore incased with skin oil. Stem cells are located at the junction of the arrector and the follicle, and are principally responsible for the ongoing hair production during a process known as the Anagen stage. The average growth rate of healthy hair follicles on the scalp is half an inch per month.
3] He told me to dye my hair with a natural product called Henna I have done so and have not lost any hair it has gotten thicker and healthier.      

Radiation treatment
Radiation only causes hair loss on the particular part of the body treated. If radiation is used to treat the breast, there is no hair loss on your head. But there might be loss of hair around the nipple, for women who have hair in that location. Radiation to the brain, used to treat metastatic cancer in the brain, usually causes complete hair loss on the head.

Hormonal treatments
Tamoxifen may cause some thinning of your hair, but not baldness. No matter how ready you think you are, it's always a terrible shock when your hair falls out.

How to apply Henna: http://www.hennaforhair.com/forum/index.php?module=phpwsbb&PHPWSBB_MAN_OP=viewforum&PHPWS_MAN_ITEMS=4

Give it a try and good luck.