Alopecia World
www.alopeciaworld.com
Statins and hair loss
Hi all joined today
I went for a check up in 2007, my doctor advised that i had high cholesterol (11+) and that I was being sent to a specialist. The specialist prescribed statins, a gentle version at first to be taken 1 a day, needless to say that as a man I was not good at following this regime and took tablets every other day. I noticed small patches of hair missing but they grew back so took no real notice. At the time I was also in dispute with my employers. Each time I visited the specialist for cholesterol I would be lectured about taking the tablets. The strength of the tablets increased due to my lapse attitude to taking them. I would follow the regime for a short while then lapse again, the hair loss would appear then disappear. As the tablets got stronger the hair loss appeared and stayed and got slightly worse. I went to see my doctor (early 2008) who advised that due to the work the hair loss and other symptoms such as lack of drive and mental sluggishness were due to stress. I found this hard to believe as I led a hectic life prior to this involving working 7 days a week, 16 to 20 hourrs a day, drinking smoking all the things your not supposed to do but I felt great, it was what I do. At the time of taking the tablets I was actually at home on gardening leave on full pay awaiting my redundancy from work knowing a big cheque was due so no real pressure not inline with what I was used to. I was prescribed depression tablets but did not take them as I felt the diagnosis was not right and the symptoms listed were worse that the ones I currently had. I went through the redundancy at work, then through a legal process so got two decent payments out of it. During this time my cholesterol specialist kept upping the strength of the tablets and the hair loss got pregressively worse as did the sluggishness. In early 2010 I had my money was starting a nw job and felt relaxed. I had shaved my head as the bald patches had not grown back on my head but I stiil had full body hair and beard eye brows etc. I saw my specialist in May 2010 who upped my tablet strength to the highest allowed for someone with asian descent. I having no other distractions took my tablets without missing one. My hair loss increased eyebrows beard and body hair diappeared by August I knew this had to be linked to the tablets. I went back to my doctor who took further tsts and found my liver function to be high and my testosterone to be low. We investigated statins and hair loss and found it can be a cause. As no one had formerly logged it (or so I am told) it was not recognised by the manufacturers as a symptom. The specialist has acknowledged that tablets are a major contributing factor to my hair loss. The manufacturers and specialist do not know what to do and want a wait and see system. Hair is trying to grow then dying off from othe other report the person was taking the tablets short term and when they stopped it took several months to grow back. I have been on the tablets for years and they say that the statins collect in the liver for some time.
Has anyone else come across this or had these symptoms?
I went for a check up in 2007, my doctor advised that i had high cholesterol (11+) and that I was being sent to a specialist. The specialist prescribed statins, a gentle version at first to be taken 1 a day, needless to say that as a man I was not good at following this regime and took tablets every other day. I noticed small patches of hair missing but they grew back so took no real notice. At the time I was also in dispute with my employers. Each time I visited the specialist for cholesterol I would be lectured about taking the tablets. The strength of the tablets increased due to my lapse attitude to taking them. I would follow the regime for a short while then lapse again, the hair loss would appear then disappear. As the tablets got stronger the hair loss appeared and stayed and got slightly worse. I went to see my doctor (early 2008) who advised that due to the work the hair loss and other symptoms such as lack of drive and mental sluggishness were due to stress. I found this hard to believe as I led a hectic life prior to this involving working 7 days a week, 16 to 20 hourrs a day, drinking smoking all the things your not supposed to do but I felt great, it was what I do. At the time of taking the tablets I was actually at home on gardening leave on full pay awaiting my redundancy from work knowing a big cheque was due so no real pressure not inline with what I was used to. I was prescribed depression tablets but did not take them as I felt the diagnosis was not right and the symptoms listed were worse that the ones I currently had. I went through the redundancy at work, then through a legal process so got two decent payments out of it. During this time my cholesterol specialist kept upping the strength of the tablets and the hair loss got pregressively worse as did the sluggishness. In early 2010 I had my money was starting a nw job and felt relaxed. I had shaved my head as the bald patches had not grown back on my head but I stiil had full body hair and beard eye brows etc. I saw my specialist in May 2010 who upped my tablet strength to the highest allowed for someone with asian descent. I having no other distractions took my tablets without missing one. My hair loss increased eyebrows beard and body hair diappeared by August I knew this had to be linked to the tablets. I went back to my doctor who took further tsts and found my liver function to be high and my testosterone to be low. We investigated statins and hair loss and found it can be a cause. As no one had formerly logged it (or so I am told) it was not recognised by the manufacturers as a symptom. The specialist has acknowledged that tablets are a major contributing factor to my hair loss. The manufacturers and specialist do not know what to do and want a wait and see system. Hair is trying to grow then dying off from othe other report the person was taking the tablets short term and when they stopped it took several months to grow back. I have been on the tablets for years and they say that the statins collect in the liver for some time.
Has anyone else come across this or had these symptoms?
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Gail on
-
Ok, here's where we all need to put things in perspective....
Hair loss sucks and having alopecia - man or woman - is very difficult. I don't know if there is scientific evidence that statins cause hair loss (doubtful), but the real issue here is your cholesterol level and the implications of that. Heart disease, blocked arteries, stoke, cardiac arrest, angina.... All these things are far more serious than no hair. I would rather be healthy LIVING bald person, than a dead person with great hair, you know what I mean?
Plus, cholesterol drugs have come a long way over the years and "one size does not fit all," in terms of what's best for your particular body and metabolism. Instead of just increasing your dose, patient compliance (YOU) should have been the issue, plus trying different formulations, doses, brands. Liver enzyme accumulation is a risk factor with prolonged statin use, therefore annual blood tests (at minimum) should be done. It would do us all good to examine (honestly) our lifestyles....diet, exercise, smoking, alcohol consumption, stress. The risks for heart disease and stroke are increased by all of the above, especially if you have a family history.
Your alopecia has followed the pattern of many of us who are NOT taking statins... Patches here and there, fill in, fall out, eyebrows gone, eyebrows back... Totally unpredictable and can change form over the years...AA, AT, AU, and back again. We all want to know what causes our hair loss and we all seek to place the blame on some particular thing in our lives that is causing it. But the fact of the matter is, we just don't have these answers right now.
Take care of your health, Abdul. That is far more important and in your control than those pesky hair follicles on your head!
-
Permalink Reply by Abdul Khan on
-
Hi Gail
I understand your comments, it is not me who has linked the statins to hair loss but the specialists. I was told that to change my life style as in the food I ate etc would make little difference to the type of cholesterol I had. I was advised that it was an hereditery factor. If the only symptom was hair loss it would not bother me but the slow degeneration of my mental and physical capacity meant that I face living longer but being unhappy in myself or possibly shorter and being happy. As my father had a heart attack at 72, in myself I would feel ok with that age if my life was happy, I know there are no guarantees but hey there are little guarantees on anything. There are still investigations to carry out into what is going on as apparently I am the 1st to have such an extreme reaction others have had thinning or minor patches. There may be other factors involved but the statins are 1 of those factors that have to be considered.
I am aware that millions are taking these tablets, in the UK there is now discussion on the side effects of the statins taking place. Whether all those taking the tablets really have to and whether the side effects for those people out weigh the actual risk. If changing my life style would not affect my cholesterol level then maybe my body was designed to have a certain level of cholesterol maybe artificially altering that level has the side effects I suffered. I do not know so I am asking the question, there maybe others taking these tablets that have not seen the possible link due to other events normally associated with hair loss and knowing this might help them make further investigations.
Thanks for commenting all welcome as I try to work out what to do next for my cholesterol, hair loss etc.
-
-
To be certain, statins (and any other drug for that matter) can and do have side effects. It's like you said - you have to weigh the benefits against the risks. And yes, some people are prone to accumulate cholesterol no matter what. That doesn't mean you don't take the drug and that doesn't mean that you don't cut your other risk factors to help.
In the brief research that I did, I read absolutely nothing about a connection between that drug and hair loss. Perhaps your physician is at such a loss to explain it, that he himself is looking for a connection? Perhaps he also needs to do a little research on alopecia?
I'm not knocking your doc and obviously you're going to do what you're going to do with regard to lifestyle and compliance, but if know the risks you take going into it, there won't be any surprises down the road.
Good luck and good health.
-
-
Hi vin thanks for info, I will look into it allergies, they are another thing I have never suffered from, before taking these tablets I ate, drank and contacted anything and everything in my life with no reaction. I gave up smoking in 2009 and cut down on my drinking since 2008 to one occasion if that a week mostly. The only difference were the tablets for cholesterol I was taking, within months of taking them my hair thinned and small hair loss patches appeared.
Again all comments and info welcome as it gives me questions to ask the "specialists" if there are any. The fact that the specialist has indicated in writing that the tablets were a major factor gives them and the tablet manufacturers an interest in proving or disproving the sysmptoms I have are related to them and their advice. Hopefully the thought that they may have responsibility will lead to tests that may provide answers to some of us
© 2024 Created by Alopecia World.
Powered by
