Comments on: Spironolactone - Hair Loss Story Question

By: jan305

jan305 — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 13:02:31 +0000

Hi everyone,
It has been about 2 months since i last posted. I am at my 6 mth mark with spiro and birth control pills, I see a decrease in hair loss and an increase in regrowth, i have tiny hairs growing in all over. I am not sure if this is because of the rogaine that i was using tho. i will now slowly try to ween myself off of the rogaine. I go back to Redmond in October now. Plaase let me know if you have any questions.

By: CJ

CJ — Sun, 18 May 2008 16:01:03 +0000

I heard back from Dr. Redmond’s office yesterday and they suggested I try one of two options:

1. Try switching from generic (spiro) to the brand name (Aldactone). He said that some patients have better results with aldactone.

2. Continue taking spiro but add on finasteride.

So now I’m just trying to decide what’s the best option and I’m nervous I’m going to make the wrong decision and only continue to loss more hair in the process. If anyone has any suggestions or experiences with swithching to aldactone or using both spiro and finasteride I would greatly appreciate it.

Thank you!!

By: Dara

Dara — Sat, 17 May 2008 05:14:14 +0000

Hi CJ,
This is in response to your post on feeling immune to spiro. I too feel that way. I am 22 years old and my best ‘hair’ year so to speak was last year… even though I was taking the same medication then as I do now. Now I am in the worst situation I have been in and I feel as though this ‘regimen’ that was working before is no longer doing its job. I have been taking sprinolacton at 200mg each day. I think I may have taken aldacatone (generic spiro) in the past- and perhaps that made a difference and worked better for me? You might want to look into that. As I am sure you feel, hair loss is all too lonely and depressing when the medication can’t even stabilize the hair loss, let alone help with re-growth. I wish you luck, I would call Dr. Redmond and see if he has any suggestions.
I haven’t experienced skin reactions, but I certainly have noticed a lot less hair on my head since last year.
Hope this is helpful info, it certainly helps to know there are people out there going through the same thing….

By: CJ

CJ — Sat, 10 May 2008 21:01:56 +0000

I’ve left a message and sent along an email. Still waiting to hear back…

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Thu, 08 May 2008 23:56:32 +0000

Have you contacted Dr redmond regarding the hair loss?

By: CJ

CJ — Thu, 08 May 2008 00:44:02 +0000

Hi everyone,

I am 27 years old and been experiencing hair loss for almost 4 years now. I visited Dr. Redmond last summer and was prescriped 200mg of Spiro. It seemed to be working for about 6 months…less shedding and skin was clear. Then about 2 months ago the medicine just seemed to stop working. My hair is falling out the same as before I started taking the medicine if not more and my face has been breaking out again. Has anyone experienced this? I feel like my body has become immune to spiro!

Thanks for your help!
CJ

By: Misty

Misty — Sat, 19 Apr 2008 21:42:56 +0000

Hey… I stumbled upon this website and thought I would join in. I am 30 years old. I have been dealing with hair loss for over a year. I had a baby in Jan 06. I first noticed the hair loss about 6 months later. I thought it was baby related, but by 1 year, I decided it probably wasn’t. I mentioned it to my GYN… I had switched pills after the baby was born, then my husband had a vasectomy and I stopped pills all together. Then I went back on them because I was having cramps and my face was breaking out like a 14 year old. I first thought it was a hormone issue with being on and off pills, but I had a complete work up and it was all negative. Anyway, went to see a dermatologist who said “yep, you are losing hair, buy some rogaine.” My GYN didn’t agree, so I saw another derm. and he said my scalp looked red, gave me atarax for a couple of months and thought it all looked better. I saw no change. I finally got in with a hair loss specialist at WFUBMC in early April. They thought it was female pattern hair loss, put me on Spironolactone and Rogaine. That has been 9 days ago and I have broke out on my hands and feet for the past 4 days with redness and itching. I called the office and told them what happened, and she asked me if I was putting the rogaine on my feet… That really made me mad! I bit my tongue on that comment. Today was the worst with the itching, and I took a benedryl and it helped. I spoke with a Pharmacist and he urged me to stop the Spironolactone and call the doctor first thing on Monday. Does anyone know if there is anything else I can take besides Spironolactone? I can’t stand the thoughts of doing nothing and losing all my hair at 30. I am so stressed out with this… I look at myself and wonder how much worse it will get. It isn’t noticeable to people, but it is to me. I have always had think, long hair… as a kid I complained about it. Now I feel like I am being paid back for the comments I made as a kid! Any help, advice, or comments would be appreciated. I feel like I am the only one struggling!! Thanks!

By: Amy

Amy — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 22:43:42 +0000

hehehe….. you are so right Bridget! And I DO tend to get a little tooo paranoid at times!

I do agree with you on the success stories etc…. BUT I must say that I’ve been reading a bunch of medical articles all day… and have learned ALOT about different TYPES of estrogen! I can’t remember if anyone has mentioned the importance of “natural progesterone” or not…. but progesterone and estrogen levels need to be in balance. And what concerns me about Dr. Redmond is… especially on our follow up…. no test were suggested, not alot of questions, and nothing mentioned about progesterone and estrogen.

There is a term called “Estrogen Dominance”… and I’ve pretty much diagnosed myself with that… Mine, I am almost positive are from …. XENOESTROGENS. They come from chemicals. There is list of symptoms for “estrogen dominance” and I totally fit the bill.

For anyone intersted… Do some studying on “estrogen dominance” and the importance of natural progesterone.

I am making an appointment with a doctor next week … and see if i can have my estrogen levels tested…along with iron levels etc. If nothing else….. it couldn’t hurt! :0)

By: bridget

bridget — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 20:58:07 +0000

Amy, you sound like me!!! You have to find a doctor that you trust and stick with him/her. If you search enough, you can find anything that you “want” to find. There are some birth control pills that are known to cause hair loss, but Yaz and Yasmin are two that DO NOT!! In all of the trials, when ANY PARTICIPANT complains of a “sympton,” they are obligated to report that it may be a side effect. Good luck with everything and know that you’re not alone! There are plenty of stories of success, just not all of them are posted!!!

XOXO

By: Amy

Amy — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 20:11:20 +0000

Hi everyone!

Thanks Bridget for the info…. while trying to determine if I should start Yasmin with more ‘estrogen’…. I decided to do some research on estrogen and hair loss. And I knoooow I need to be careful with what I read online… but I came across a VERY interesting article…that states that estrogen could be the CAUSE of hair loss! Here is a part of the article…

“Although it is true that DHT directly results in hair loss by stunting and destroying follicles, what causes this is often misunderstood, and as a result most people never EFFECTIVELY stop their balding problem. So what causes DHT? Is it really testosterone? Well, simply put, it is not testosterone. That is the big myth about hair loss. This is primarily produced by the hormone ESTROGEN. It is excess estrogen (a condition called “estrogen dominance”) which results in OVERproduction of DHT…

Estrogen is the underlying hormonal cause of hair loss.

With this well known, it becomes easy to effectively stop your hair loss and regrow thick hair - simply lower the estrogen levels in your body to normal levels, and remove the DHT on your scalp.”

~~~~~~ Okay, I’m officially freaked out. :0) While I’ve been on YAZ that has estrogen… I am actually losing more hair… and can’t help if this is the cause??

I also read one little article that states if we allow too many toxins in our body… our livers become overworked, and the toxins that slip by turn into estrogen…… which in turn causes hairloss. For my home business, I am spray painting alot…. could those fumes be toxins ????