Hair Loss- Wellbutrin and Lexapro

[emrose97]

I am a healthy 20 year old female. I am a former collegiate long-distance runner; I stopped running competitively a few months ago, but still run and workout regularly. I noticed that shortly after I started college (2 years ago), my hair stopped growing completely. It used to be long and thick, but over the past couple years it has become very thin and damaged and simply doesn't grow. In addition to this, I have also been getting acne on my jaw and neck-which I didn't use to get. It is difficult for me to pinpoint what could be causing this because a lot of things in my life changed when this issue started occurring. My diet changed, I lost a bit of weight(down to 6.4% body fat), my training intensified, and I started two medications for depression (Lexapro and Wellbutrin). I gained the weight back after I quit competitive running, but the hair thinning persists. Another thing to note, I have never been an illness-prone person, but lately I have been getting sick a lot and have had several infections over the past few months. I recently got my blood tested because I have mono(which has hit me hard), and aside from the mono and white blood cell count (low neutrophils and high lymphocytes-presumably from fighting off the mono), everything was normal. My ferritin and thyroid tests also came back normal. I have a regular period and healthy diet. I've tried researching Lexapro and Wellbutrin side effects, but didn't find much on hair loss associated with these medications. Any suggestions would be appreciated!

[Nicolespark]

A lot of your symptoms sound like side affects of malnutrition. Even though you have your period again doesnt mean you are at a weight your body needs to be at to properly function. Sometimes when your weight drops to such a low fat percentage it takes it needing to be up to atleast 22% to restore every function and organ back to normal. I hear you say healthy a couple times in your question, healthy is a generic term in a lot of ways. Are you getting adequate fats in your diet? Just something to consider.

[boldbeauty]

Hormones. Hair could also fall out do to hair straightener. I know that when I had my IUD taken out, my hair started to fall out and I got acne. So it is probably just hormones for you

[emrose97]

You were right, it was high androgen levels, thanks :)

[boldbeauty]

Did you get treated for it, or did it go away on its own?

[AnxiousNoMore]

If yo couldn't find much on hair loss for those 2 meds, I am guessing that isn't the cause. Have you seen your doc about your hair and acne concerns? You didn't say what kind of infections you got.
Here is some info on women's hair loss and you can check the other concerns here too. http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/hair-loss/basics/definition/con-20027666