Posted by med_empowered on October 23, 2005, at 10:32:26
In reply to Only 21 yrs old Losing hair on wellbutrin lex, posted by Doug_Saving_The_team on October 23, 2005, at 10:07:50
Hey! OK..alot of psychiatric drugs can cause hair loss. Antidepresants--old and new--are among the offending agents. If your hair loss is drug-induced, you can try switching to other agents, discontinuing any and all meds known to cause hair loss, or try to medicate around it. Do you have a history of hair loss in your family (either side) ? The reason I ask is that although your hair loss may be exacerbated by medication, you are also male and at the age where male pattern baldness first becomes noticeable in some people (25% of all men begin the balding process in their 20s; some start the process in their teens). The best theory I've heard is that in some people meds can **cause** hair loss--once the meds are discontinued, the hair grows back, and everything is fine. But, in some people, particularly those with a predisposition to genetic hair loss, what meds seem to do is JUMPSTART the hair loss process. Soo..if person X is predisposed to hair loss, taking certain medications can cause the hair loss to become more pronounced at an earlier age...so instead of the hair thinning noticeably at 28 or 35, the hair loss begins sooner and becomes more pronounced sooner. What is the pattern of your hair loss? If its diffuse loss, concentrated in the hair line and/or the crown, then you have a male-pattern baldness problem, possibly made worse by medication. In that case...I'd recommend switching meds, and starting an anti-hair loss regimine like Propecia+minoxidil, or something similar. You could try discontinuing these medications, and trying something that doesn't cause hair loss, and then re-evaluating your status now and then to see how its going; if you continue to lose hair, or your hair doesn't grow back, you're likely dealing with a problem that is caused, in part, by genetics; if thats the case, and you want to treat it, Propecia and Minoxidil are the only FDA approved medications....Nizoral shampoo, Retin-A, Azelaic Acid, and (possibly) Avodart may help. Supplements that may help: rosemary oil (topical), B-vitamins, selenium/zinc, green tea extract, and saw palmetto (these aren't FDA approved, so the data's a little sketchy). Good luck!
poster:med_empowered
thread:570860
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20051017/msgs/570867.html