Alopecia World
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Xeljanz (Tofacitinib Citrate): My experience on the trial
I have received a lot of interest from others on here in my involvement with the Xeljanz trials at Yale.
I thought it would be nice for everyone if I documented my progress on here.
Xeljanz is a Jak3 inhibitor and is believed to work with alopecia by turning off the distress signal relayed by the hair follicle to the attacking immune system which is the cause of the hairs falling out. Xeljanz comes in a strength of 5mg per pill and a full box contains 60 tablets. The recommended dosage for arthritis is 1 tablet in the morning and another in the evening each day.
The trial is set in a series of stages and there are requirements before participating. These include monthly visits and blood tests every 2 weeks. Dr Brett King is absolutely fantastic and is an inspiration to me. His positivity and enthusiasm gives me the much needed hope I have craved for over a decade. I have been put on a low dose to start with which is 1 tablet every other day. My dosage has now been increased to 1 tablet every day and next month it could be increased to 2 tablets per day depending on the results.
I have completed my first month and have already noticed my alopecia has stabilised . I have not lost any existing hairs. In addition to this I have seen little hairs growing in my chest area as well as eyebrows. Fingers crossed! To date, I have experienced no side effects.
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AW: Other discussions on Xeljanz / Tofacitinib
https://alopeciaworld.com/main/search/search?q=Tofacitinib
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Peachfuzz on
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How old is the interview with Dr King? The vid was only posted on youtube last month but is it recent?
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Hi,
I have a theory regarding the persons for whom the regrowth is slower to start.
I think the hair bulb is regenerates in cycles but the disease prevents the hair from growing and kills the bulb. Therefore people who started treatment while the bulb is not yet regenerated only see hair growth several months later.
Sorry for my english I am French (thank you googletrad)
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Permalink Reply by Scott on
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Hi Fab
This would make sense. From what I've read, our hair has 3 cycles: growth (anagen), transition (catagen) & resting/shedding (telogen). Telogen can last 1-4 months before the hair re-enters the anagen stage.
I understand alopecia prematurely puts our hair into the telogen or resting phase whereby the hair follicles remain dormant. My guess is that Xeljanz can not speed up the duration of the telogen phase, but can prevent hairs that are re-entering the anagen phase from prematurely returning to the telogen phase.
Perhaps this is why those starting Xeljanz are seeing different results.
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exactly. Personally I universal AA since 2010 and I noticed that in the spring was creating a duvet and fell in the fall, so if I had to take treatment that would be in the spring time that the base of the hair is regenerates.
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I also have Universalis. Occasionally, a few times a year, I get peach fuzz on my scalp. On one of these occasions, I coincidently began taking a course of the oral steroid 'prednisone' to treat eczema. Within a few months, I was shaving my beard area again for the first time in 7 years. At other times of the year, with no peach fuzz, I have also taken prednisone and my hair did not grow at all. This would suggest that the best time to start Xeljanz would be when you notice new vellus hair coming through. And, as you mention, this sometimes happens in the spring when the warmer weather arrives.
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Permalink Reply by Xeljanzmiracle on
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Thanks Scott for explaining the different phases of hair growth. Added to what you said, everyone's phases are different. Angela Christiano's last clinical trial demonstrated tho that Xeljanx in a cream form applied topically regrowed hair in mice within TEN DAYS! She theorizes that Xeljanz does lessen the dormant phase and wakes the hair follicle up. It's exciting to see all of our future prospects!
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Hi XeljanzmiracleYes, I read the report that Dr Christiano released on her last trial, whereby a topical form of Xeljanz is applied to the skin. To quote her:
"This finding implies that JAK inhibition cannot override the quiescence-promoting microenvironment at the early stages of telogen but is sufficient to promote hair growth at a later stage in telogen"
http://advances.sciencemag.org/content/1/9/e1500973.full
This raises the question: How does one know if/when they are in the early stage of telogen as opposed to the later stage ?
Hopefully her research continues to shed light on matters such as this.
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We personally are not going to know. We start the Xeljanz and hope to have growth within a few months. I personally started July 28th and told a friend 3 weeks later that I was prepared to wait 2-3 months to see results. I was going to be patient and not get upset if my regrowth was not as fast as others I saw on the internet. However, one week later, my friends saw blonde regrowth that was spiky, like a porupine before I did. My bathroom is sort of dark and my friends saw my regrowth outside in the sunlight. Now it's longer and darker and everyone can see it, even from a distance. I am beyond thrilled!
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Permalink Reply by nychead on
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Hi,
Im new to this site and I am the proud father of an 18 month old baby boy who was diagnosed with AA 3 months ago. I admire the positivity on this site and find it to be very inspiring and overall I feel lucky to hear so many positive stories from the posters here. I came across this information the other day and I thought it would be interesting to share.
http://www.nasdaq.com/press-release/tetralogic-announces-the-openin...
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Thank you for posting this. There is promising treatment on the horizon which was not the case when it first occurred with my daughter 9 years ago. We all wish the research process would happen faster. Your baby boy is fortunate to have a father that is an advocate for him.
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Thank you for your kind words.
As I mentioned I am a "NEWBIE" to this but i find solace in knowing that there has been lots of progress with this condition and there seems to be a good amount of focus on it.
People like Dr. King and Dr. Christiano are really stepping up and providing what seems to be promising and reliable hope in many cases.
I may not post on here that much but I do read each and every story of success and failure and because of everyone on here it truly has allowed me the opportunity to understand this much better than any doctor visit that we have had.
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I was diffinitely in the falling out stage when I started 7 months ago.Maybe that's why I'm not seeing any growth.But does that mean upping my dosage to 3 pills a day isn't going to make a difference?Should I just go back down to two a day and wait out this hair cycle? Seems like most people who saw such great results were AU the hairs ready to go.
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