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

 

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Permalink Reply by muaomun on July 21, 2016 at 3:05pm
Why go to turkey I get xeljanz I can sellin to you
Permalink Reply by Xeljanzmiracle on July 16, 2016 at 3:31am
No Sultan, my skin did not peel. Also, I didn't have any hair at all to comb.
Permalink Reply by Cstarr on July 21, 2016 at 12:58pm
I am starting month 3 and I have vellus hairs all over with some dark hairs on my body but none on my head! How long did it take everyone else to see some terminal hairs on the head, eyebrows or eyelashes?
Permalink Reply by Jcortez05 on July 21, 2016 at 3:40pm
Just a lil update .. My hair is still thinning my dr thinks it's lupus related but can not disgnose me bc I believe you have to have 4 symptoms for diagnosis ..so I'm going to start plaquenil .. But my insurance switched and now they will not cover the xeljanz.. I applied for the financial assistance program through Pfizer and they will send me my xeljanz from now on
Permalink Reply by Ahmed on July 29, 2016 at 4:05am
Hello everyone,

It's been almost a month since I started taking Xeljanz (2 pills a day) and I'm happy to report that I'm noticing some vellus hairs on both sides of my head and my beard. My eyebrows are growing too (about 3-5 eyebrow hairs each day). I also noticed vellus hair on my fingers (Yes, finger hair is just as important to me, lol) Gonna do some blood tests after 2 days just to make sure that everything is normal. No side effects yet except sore throat at the beginning which went away after few days.
I guess Xeljanz is working for me :)

(I also think it's worth mentioning that I've been using Rogain 5% for about a year and a half and I'm still using it.)
Permalink Reply by James 2me on July 29, 2016 at 8:41am
Sounds good very fast response. It took me 4 months before I saw any results. What was YOURE severity of alopecia previously and how long have you had alopecia. Thanks for shareing and good luck to you.
Permalink Reply by sultan h on July 29, 2016 at 3:01pm
Hi everyone
how's going with Xeljanz

Thais is my update the first day to start Xeljanz was 21/3/2016
this photo in 21/3
and the second photo 21/7
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Permalink Reply by James 2me on July 29, 2016 at 5:23pm
Wow that looks great sultan another words are you saying you started in March of 2016 and if so you must of still had a lot of hair left on YOURE head allready
Permalink Reply by Ahmed on July 29, 2016 at 5:21pm
Hello James :)
Thanks a lot. It's hard for me to tell exactly which type of alopecia I had. It started as AA when I was 10, but now it's something between AA and AU. I didn't have any eyebrows or eyelashes, no mustache, I lost about 75% of my beard, 40% of my scalp hair and most of my body hair (about 75%). I've had Alopecia for 16 years.
Permalink Reply by James 2me on July 29, 2016 at 5:45pm
Oh that's good then Ahmed it sounds like Celljanz will work well for you.
Permalink Reply by Xeljanzmiracle on July 31, 2016 at 3:34am
Congratulations Ahmed!
Permalink Reply by Ahmed on July 29, 2016 at 5:57pm

Guys here are Sultan's Before and After photos :)

He seemed to have some problems uploading both photos.

Before: March 21

After: July 21

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