Please help - hair loss due to medications

[TropicalBreeze]

My sister in law (who is 26) has a blood clot disorder for which she is taking meds that are causing her hair to fall out in massive clumps. What vitamins / suppliments / products could help her out? Any other advice I can give her? Thanks for any help!

[skaempfer]

Yikes, TropicalBreeze!
Hair falling out is no good, but I think if the meds are causing it and not just general ill health due to the blood clot disorder, vitamins won't help much. The number one thing to do, IMO, is for her to talk to a doctor (hers, or a second one) about her hair loss. Perhaps there is a different, equally effective med she could take without the side effect?

I think good nutrition, perhaps a high-quality multi-vite or biotin (as long as this causes no conflict with her medication) would be a good idea in any case, because it is difficult to know if the hair loss is due to the med or just her body going "ACK!" in response to the illness. If the latter is the case, a little extra nutritional support might do some good.

Good luck! :flower:

[Purdy Bear]

I would suggest she have a word with her Dr, as they maybe able to prescibe something either to stop the hair loss or a different medicate for the blood problems.

Otherwise, massaging the scalp may help, with lots of protein, vitamin c and biotin rich foods as well as iron but check the later out with the Dr first as it may affect her meds.

The other thing is for her to watch her intake of cranberry and garlic as these affect the blood.

[podo]

I've had a similar issue myself, though I don't think it was as bad as hers sounds. ;)

If she has to be on that medicine there's nothing to be done. It's not her body that is causing the hair loss, it's the outside agent (i.e. the meds) and until she gets rid of the outside agent she's going to have the hair loss.

She should talk to her doctor, as the other responders have suggested, to see if there's an alternative medicine available.

In the meantime, if the problem is that the follicles are loose rather than hair hitting the anagen phase early/unexpectedly then she should definitely be careful about how she treats her scalp - don't pull the hair, etc..

Also, just as an FYI - my hair loss didn't show up for 6-8 months after I took my med (I only took it for a few days in a row once every few months) and from what I understand that is quite common. It might not be *this* medicine that is causing problems...

[CariadA]

She does need to talk to her doctor.
Supplements may get in the way of blood thinners, especially if they contain vitamin K, so I don't know if there's much she can do besides scalp massages. Maybe she could switch medications though? Coumadin/Warafin has no known association with hair loss and is the typical medicine used for clotting issues (I have been taking it a year without hair loss)