Hair Loss

I am week 14/48 and have been losing my hair for a month & 1/2 now.
That was no surprise, I figured it was going to happen.
I also have ALOT of itching on my head, no scabs or anything tho.
What do you guys suggest for a shampoo or treatment to at least relieve the itching...it feels like there is a bug crawling on my head all the time, and I am constantly touching it.
Please help.
-E

P.S. Kim? Are you out there?? I miss our Friday Fight Song. Hope you are okay.

[pln]

Now hair I know about! Thats what I do. Use a mild shampoo and a very soft brush and avoiding high temperatures when drying your hair can offer relief and stop some of the loss. If you have long hair, cutting it may help because heavier locks fall out faster. An added benefit of a shorter cut is that the hair loss is less noticeable. I have also found Tea tree hair and scalp treatment by Paul Mitchell twice a week help's with the scalp itch. It moistuizes and conditions the hair and helps soothe and treat the scalp. Pam

[Lady E]

Thank you. My hair was long in July when I started tx the first time. It was making me SO hot & uncomfortable so I cut it short. I agree with your philosophy. I prefer having 50 short hairs in my sink & on my pillow instead of long ones. *ugh* just a quirk of mine, makes me wanna gag LOL

I saw an ad for Scalpacin (spelling?) on tv too..I wonder if that helps.
Thanks.
-E

[pln]

To bad I can't spell!!! lol

[Lady E]

Hmmm..chochole..that must be a new candy! LMAO
I knew what you meant. *giggle*

[Pdilly]

I am starting to loose mine too.  I have an appointment to get mine cut to shorter than chin length.  Right now it is about 3 inches past my sholders.  I am hoping that the shorter hair will lessen the fall out.  My hair is curly but I straighten it.  It is thick and gets really tangled.  That pulling on the hair does not do it any good.   I was told to wash your hair the minimum and use a mild shampoo.  Also do not pull on the hair if it gets tangles.  The less you do I think is the key.  As far as the itching. I have not experienced that one yet.  Good luck and let me know how it goes.  I know NYGIRL had issues and recently bought a couple of wigs.  If I remember correctly she is enjoying them.

[friole]

Paul Mitchell's Teatree shampoo is my normal shampoo and I love it as does my hubby with psoriasis, but when I started losing hair, I switched to Nioxin which is made for thinning hair.  It comes in one version for chemically treated (died --- oops - dyed!!) hair and another for not dyed hair (the one I used).  They make a "starter kit" for about $35-40 containing the shampoo, creme rinse and a leave in treatment. This starter kit will last a month an by that time you will know if it works for you.

I got pretty obsessive about the hair loss, lining up all those little hairs on my shower wall and sorting them in groups of ten to count. LOL -- glad those days are gone!  I am 4 months post now and the hair is not growing back much yet.  I think the shafts are coming in thick (my hair sure got thin) but I don't see much new growth.  Leg hair and other "regions" still slow to grow too..........
frijole

[Lady E]

Mine is still pretty short, about 5 inches & wispy. I only wash it twice a week now, as told by my nurse. I also use a blow dryer daily & sometimes a straightening iron..the iron just makes the falling out worse, really rough on it so I don't use it often. Last week I asked the hubby to give me a scalp massage with almond massage. It really felt & smelled good, I left it on overnight, but of course had to wash it in the morning. It was a nice temporary fix tho! ;)
My hair is naturally curly too. I should probably go back to just messing with it (without the gadgets) and letting it dry naturally.

[NYgirl]

In the last 63 weeks I've lost about 80% of my hair now.  I was MISERABLE let me tell you. No matter what I did I just looked so bad.

So finally I went on ebay and got a wig! Well...instead of spending $500 it only costed me $29.99 plus shipping!

When I came in to work everyone started saying "oh you colored your hair it looks AWESOME!".  You see people don't pay NEARLY as much attention to what we look like as we all think!

It was the BEST move I ever made. I LOVE them. I just bought three more...it's so so so much fun!

So if it continues, and you get down in the dumps - do NOT HESITATE LIKE I DID!  Run and get one FAST!  I wish I had done it months and months ago but for some reason I thought it was so VAIN I didnt....

And I really wish that I did.

[Lady E]

Yes, I remember reading your post when you got your wig. That was awesome! The thought HAS been starting to go through my head about a wig...I am so damn vain & self conscious.
Hmmmm...I do have a shag (mullet style) wig, but it's purple. LOL The hubby loves it but it rarely goes out of the house!;)
I'm really starting to notice it thinning around where I usually part it...it's noticable to me.

[Lady E]

I just want to say that the sx are hitting me hard today. Shot was yesterday, I got a good 8-9 hours of sleep last night. Woke up feeling ok, but every time I try to go do something today I have to come sit back down in 5 minutes. This sux.
It's just one of the unpredictable ways that sx hit us. I usually feel "fair" on Fridays & get stuff done around the house, but today? Nahhhhh. I usually feel like this on Sat.
No replies needed..I just wanted to share the unpredictability of tx.

[pln]

I am finding it very unpredictable, someone on here wrote TX is like a box of chochole you never know what you are going get. how true. Pam

[Pdilly]

The sides of running into that brick wall can be intense.  I usually experience it a day or two after my tx but I s eem to rebound a day or two later ....then tx time again.   I probably should not get my hair straigntened next week but I can not sand the kink.  Drives me nuts.  I am hoping it won't make the fall out worse.

[sfbaygirl]

My hair has been steadily falling out for a few months. I used to be able to wrap a band around my hair twice, now it is so thin it take four wraps and is still loose! My hair is curly too. When it gets itchy and scabby I use my husbands T-gel shanmpoo and it works! I only have to use it once in a while. I even use it in my arm pits. LOL I had to laugh, Friole, at the shower wall. I don't want my hair going down the drain, so after conditioning, I run my fingers through and hang all the stray hairs on the shower wall. The piles are getting bigger these days, but if I brush really lightly and seldom, the hair seems to look fuller than it really is.

[crsrph]

tgel or a coal tar shampoo may help ( some odor to these) with the itching they are used for psoriasis . also most pharmicies carry a hair vit to help thining or brittle hair that may help however if you are taking a multivit already maybe increasing protien intake would be the choice as mega doses of vit can be bad everything in moderation

[Lady E]

I just read right off my Patient RX Information sheet that both Ribavirin causes hair loss & Peg-Intron Redipen causes temporary hair loss. But I bet the lack of iron is contributing to it too.

[Cindy10]

I have really thick and long hair so this hair loss issue is huge to me. After talking with several different hairdressers I have found a couple products that work for me. I too use the Paul Mitchell Tee Tree Oil Shampoo, and I use the Noixon Scalp Therapy. I leave it in for a few minutes while I wash up. They both work great. I am starting my eighth week today, so we shall see how long this last. I have lost a little, but nothing noticible yet. I also only wash other other day, some time three days and I never blow dry my hair, it makes me itch all day. One last thing, I also use Condition hair mousse, alcohol free w/a sunscreen in it, I am outdoors alot so trying to protect it.

I have debated cutting it for now, but the devastation on my husband face has prevented me from doing so, yet!

Take care everyone!

[Lady E]

I can't stand my hair & I just ordered 2 wigs.
I think This is going to be fun & interesting! LOL
Thanks Deb.
-E

[painterlady13]

Just read one of your posts further up in this thread, about how tired you are....  Have had your bloodwork done in the last week?  What does your HGB look like?  It sounds too much like it is in the process of falling and you are becomming anemic.  If your doc isn't doing a weekly cbc for the first 6 weeks if at all possible I would request it. Hope you get to feeling better quickly.
Nicki

[Lady E]

I had a cbc w/differential done last week, but haven't gotten a call from my doc, so I'm assuming everything is ok. My lab is making me physically go in and pick up my labs now. They are saying that they can't mail them to me anymore. I haven't gotten over there to pick up my last lab results yet.
This is just "one of those days" for me. Yeah, I am tired, but I still make myself stay active. I was actually painting the kitchen at 7 am this morning but then started to get the faint feeling so I stopped.
I think I will give the doc's office a call tho and just find out about the labs.
:)

[cajunlady]

I have lost about 2/3rds of my hair.  It was very long and thick.  Cut it at the beginning of tx when it started to fall out. I first lost it in my widows peak as they call it.  It just kept thinning through out tx. What did not fall out stopped growing and some turned solid white in the front peaks.  I went from twisting a hair tie 2x's around my hair to 5 times around.  Had a ponytail the size of a 5 year old.  I have noticed in just the short while that the white hair started to grow back first about 1 1/2" now and the rest is just there.  Now, I have to figure out a cut to blend the different lenghts as it grows.  Can Not wait til I have my long pretty hair back.  I have really, really missed it.  

Did not have to go to wigs, but I did pull the hair back and used hair clips to clasp in the back.  Cost about 9.99, have a few of them.  

Have a good day all

Cajun

[goldyn]

It was around 12 weeks when it started falling out, Im a leo and had engough hair for 3 heads full, my head would hurt like when you have a tight pony tail, and then the fallout started, I also would hang it on the side of the shower and leave it there so my husband could see it and hopefully feel sorry for me, you know what he never said a word but i noticed he did start doing more house work for a little while, I lost around 65 to 70% of my hair Im almost 1 month post tx and i think im down to almost normal hair loss, Im just waiting for all those little hairs to start coming back.....

[MissMiss]

I'm 3.5 mo post tx.  I gotta say the pile of hair on the side of the tub is about 1/4 what it was during tx.  I have a lot of stubble a couple inches long up top.  I bet the stubbles were broke off cause my hair never grew that fast before and can't imagine it picking up growing speed now.  It's so thin my clips, which are for thin hair anyway, fall out!

Always had long hair and one heck of a cow lick top back of head.  Short hair just doesnt' work with that.  Sooo, I'm thinking maybe I should start a local fad and go with the Mohawk.  Lol, just kidding.  

miss

[Lady E]

That was how it first hit me too!! Just about 2 months into tx my scalp started hurting..like what you said, as if I had it in a tight pony-tail or parted it in a different place. ouchies!
It was right after that I started to notice the hair loss.

I'm glad y ou are doing well. I bet that before you know it, you'll start seeing all those 1" hairs popping out like I've heard mentioned by others in this forum.
-E

[goldyn]

Its hard when you start losing your hair, but it helps to know your not alone, and that it will grow back...

[APKhaos]

Full Disclosure: I'm a guy, so WTF would I know about this?

My wife was being treated for Lyme, which involves some fairly aggressive antibiotics. She began loosing hair at a great rate, ultimately loosing around 50%. We thought it was the antibiotics, but NO! It was an iron deficiency, according to Dr. After taking iron supplements for a month or two, her hair came back strong.

This may have nothing to do with TX hair loss, but many of us have been on heavily reduced iron intake since diagnosis because iron is fuel for the viral replication process. Maybe the low iron is contributing to the hair loss?

[prettydamscared]

I'm almost to week 17 and started losing hair about 3 weeks ago.  It seemed to start overnight.  I absolutely hate it.  It takes forever to shower cuz it gets all in my fingers.  I put it on the shower wall too and try not to gag.  It's all over my floors and countertops and I have to be really careful not to eat in the semi-dark.  I've gotten hair in my food a few times and I don't want to even go there.  

If it's this bad at 17, how bad is it gonna be by the end.  I guess I'll be doing wigs too  I'm gonna get it cut shorter too but I hate to do it because of taking the steriods for a bad rash, my neck and shoulders are twice the size they were.  I look a linebacker and kind of foolishly hope that the longer hair covers it up.  Probably very wishful thinking.  Oh well, at least we know we're not alone in this and it will hopefully grow up just the same way it was or better.

[ladybug52]

All the hair loss stories are really sad to me.  
I have seen wigs that look great on other women, but aren't they hot? I'm like a sweathog anyway so if I do need a wig I'm afraid it won't be an option for me.
Best wishes to you both, if I do lose hair I will line it up on the shower wall as a reminder to all the others who have gone thru this.
Bug

[christinaf28]

It's funny u saying that about the wig cause 3 years ago my hair is falling and shave it off and wear wigs and I had such a fun .. They were like urs cheap but looked wickey ! So now on treatment week 17 .. My counts were wrong .. My hair long by now .. Is falling crazy iam so upset it's itching and I can see in the top of the crown so much missing the rest is thick and looks okey .. So I cut it half length now but by the end of the week I will shave it off .. And buy a wig from eBay too .. I want to buy a fringe but I reckon it's better if I shave it off so mentally will help me !! I didn't want to do the treatment cause I knew I was going to lose much more hair .. Now it itchs too .. I will have the courage to shave it all off for the sake of my sanity .. Bless