Hair falling out!!!

[nanniegea]

Hi All, I started tx Jan 13, for hepc geno1 with cirrohis, not sure if A or B. I am taking peg-intron/rebetol. What I'm worried about is my hair. Now I knew going in there was a chance of losing my hair but has anyone totally lost it all or is thinning more the norm? At the rate it is coming out now I am going to be bald very soon. Can anything be done or should I start looking for scarves soon? This is really starting to bother me a lot. I take a shower and just want to cry when I see how much I'm losing. Any ideas or good news would be appreciated. May God's blessing be on us all!!

[Honey15637]

I don't know of anyone that has gone bald from tx but very thin states it pretty good,,,unfortunately.  Mine started about 4th month slightly falling out here and there....By 6th month,,,I quit brushing my hair so much as it was falling out bad. I was so scared and started 7th month looking for back up,,,wigs! ha  It finally slowed down 8th month which left me with about 60% gone.  Three and half months post,,,and its growing back.

Snook,,,Yep,,,don't know what is up with the eyebrows either lol  Everyone seems to complain about the wild wooly eyebrows! Mine are just now starting to get tame again.  What on earth would cause that medicine to do that to eyebrows??? LOL

[layla]

I have not met anyone who says all their hair fell out. Most people just thin. On rare occasions for a very few it falls out in hunks and this can be a problem for regrowth. Most often it just falls out like crazy and is thinner. I thought for sure I would end up bald or at least people would notice it because so much came out all the time. My pillow was always covered with hair but most people did not even notice. Like other I also did have it cut short which helped. I also lost my thyroid which contributed to my hair loss but still even as thin as it got no one really noticed much which I found odd. Mine came out throughout all of tx and I did 18 months. It started growing normally about 4 months post tx and is fine now. It stinks to lose it but I don't think it's too bad. I even colored my hair throughout tx. but I did stop using bleach. LL

[Califia]

Forgot to mention that sleeping on a satin pillow case helps minimize hair loss at night.   A silk scarf would probably work just as well.

[Oreos]

Out of all the sides, that was one of the worst!  Hard enough feeling crappy on the inside, but seeing my hair in the shower drain made me feel that much worse.  Of all things, thank goodness for my hairdresser!  He cut my hair short, cute style.  Recommended Nioxin hair products, especially the "Nioxin Treatment."  It helped out.  Lost about 40% of my hair, but 6 mos post tx, It's grown back thicker and curlier than before!

[Califia]

Oh gawd, the hair thing.   It's pretty horrifying when it starts, but at least in my case the rate of loss has slowed down.   Still, I've lost a good half of my hair and it looks awful.  Goes pretty well with the riba rash on the face, however.  Always coordinate!

[Docsgold]

Ahhhh, the inappropriate hair business.  Thinning hair and mine was already thin!!  Mine stopped falling out when I began the thyroid meds--coincidence--who knows?  Just wait until you discover the bambi eyelashes and eyebrows so long you could use a curling iron on them.  NO body hair grows as it is supposed to.  I am waiting to return to normal at this time.

Just be careful if you have sleep problems.  I got a prescription for Ambien and rarely took it, and then only a half.  Well, this eyebrow thing was driving me nuts but I was afraid to trim them.  Anyhow I took half an ambien one night and it acts really fast and has an amnesic effect.  At least the next morning I thought what a crazy dream--until I looked in the mirror--good lord I had trimmed my eyebrows!!  LOL  It wasn't too bad of a job, but not too good either.  I wear bangs thank goodness.

Hang in there, side effects come and go and we all learn to deal with them as they pop up.  Good luck to you.

[Tony-z]

Here is an interesting artical...


             God Bless

          TonyZ

<a href="http://www.hepatitisneighborhood.com/content/in_the_news/archive_2329.aspx">New Clinic Trial</a>

http://www.hepatitisneighborhood.com/content/in_the_news/archive_2329.aspx

[snook_man]

Oh boy, I definately wanna comment on this one.
I'm at week 28, and I'm thinning pretty bad. You can see through the top, and I shaved it pretty short.
When does it stop coming out? During which weeks does it slow, or stop? Funny how the clinical trials only report alopecia in 29% of participants when it seems ALL of us experience it.
Also, is that why my eyebrows are curling over my eye lids lately?

[louisep]

I massaged hot almond oil into my scalp once/twice a week & left it in over nite.  I'm convinced it helped.

[hepcgetlost]

Boy can I relate, and so can just about everyone who has/is going through it. I doubt you'll lose all your hair...I've not heard of anyone doing that yet. Still...the thinning alone is pretty traumatic. The hair loss was pretty awful; I started out with not the greatest hair anyway...very fine and thin; when it started falling out at about week 16 I thought, okay...this isn't too bad; but by 40 weeks, I felt like a plucked chicken--maybe I lost about 60-65%...Like everyone above, I opted for ultra short hair and most of the time I just made it very spiky...Of course, the thinner my hair got, the longer and thicker my lashes got...it was spooky. My lashes got so long they kept hitting my glasses.  Sometime around week 50 or 51, my hair person noticed new growth in all the holes in my scalp...that was five months ago, and by now (just completed 70 weeks of tx and am now DONE) is significantly thicker. I tried to have a sense of humor about it, but being a totally vain person, it was one of my biggest challenges. Of course, I never stopped coloring, even though it was not recommended while on treatment...there were some things I just wouldn't give up.

My formerly luscious lashes, alas, are no longer as long and beguiling as they were when the head hair was scraggly and thin, but I'm happier this way. Oh, I also stopped having to shave my armpits (hair stopped growing there too...don't know if it will come back or not) and my eyebrows got really thin. They don't seem to be growing back yet and don't know if they will. Found a great eyebrow powder/pencil that takes care of that.

Take the hair thing with a grain of salt...remember it's temporary. I promise you it will come back nicer than before! In the meantime, do try the nioxin products (I found that like regular toothpaste, which I couldn't bear, I couldn't use nioxin while on tx because it burned, but if you can, they work really well). You will come through all of this better than you were, hair included. Good luck! Judi :-)

[LvdByGod!]

:O) oh my gosh i'm splitting a side thinking of you stoned out on ambien cutting your eyebrows and then forgetting!!!! that ambien is completely like pot! do ya think? i have'nt' smoked pot in forever but i think that's how i remember it...best to sleep on that stuff!!! save cutting things till mornin...although the cutting may be a tx side effect cause i spent 100.00 bucks on a Mario Tricocci hair cut and then got home and "TWEEKED IT", big mistake!!! i just told everyone it was one of those "new" styles!!!

as for me my hair fell out and my face got fuzzy!!! no kidding!!of course it didn't fall all out, just thinned...but my fuzzy face...could have been from hanging out with all my kitties too much!!! but i think it's those meds messin with our hormones...and the thyroid...best to start thyroid meds as soon as we see a change...a change in our thyroid numbers that is!!!

[bluepeng]

The hair problem sucks.  It comes in waves.  some days you just grind on and forget about it .. other days you catch a glimpse of your white scalp in an overhead light .. or a breeze comes by and your head grows cold.  

Avoid bathrooms with lousy overhead lighting -- espscially halogen.

Horrble, horrible.

This treatment is wrteched.  I'm limping along to the finish line 7 or 8 weeks ... I hope my hair crosses with me.  

[Docsgold]

Snook
Three remedies for curly eyebrows:
1. Straightening iron (kinda dangerous, maybe not)
2. Trim them (preferrably by your hairdresser who is awake)
3. Slick them back with sunscreen (I learned my lesson)

LvdByGod
No wonder the pharmacist told me not to take the Ambien and then try to run out to the store, go straight to bed he said.  Was he ever right!!  I have to laugh at myself, can't believe I actually did that.  Jesus, just think if I had tried to fix my already thin hair................

[stc1993]

My ambien bottle had a sticker on it to "take just before going to bed or you might fall down and hurt yourself."  I had never seen that one before.

[nanniegea]

Thanks for the encouragement everyone. I did go and have it cut nice and short and that seems to have helped a little. I did get a chuckle out of some of your posts though and for anything to make me laugh these days is quite an accomplishment!! I will keep my chin up and come what may, I will deal with it. I wish you all the best, curly eyebrows and all, LOL

[mythoughts]

Gosh, this hair thing sucks! I haven't started tx, but my hair is ass length with a dreadlock & I've been growing it my whole life. It's all one length, so for me, cutting it short is just not an option. I'll look like a moron if it gets much thinner (& I'm not even on tx!). I've never had hair shorter than mid back - even as a child. Has everyone here had thinning hair? Have any of you noticed that your hair thinned just from your HCV but not tx?

[nanniegea]

I am sorry to hear you are on the verge of having to deal with this disease. As far as losing hair before tx, I was thinning (hormonal?) but after starting tx it really started to fall out. I know you don't want to cut your hair but not only does tx make it thin but also just the weight of the long hair itself makes it fall out faster. I guess you will just have to wait and see how the tx affects you, everyone is different so maybe you will be one of the lucky ones that are not affected this way. I wish you all the best!!