Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Trish and Angelica on September 15, 2009 at 3:39pm

My daughter has had AU for 4 years now our Doc said there is no other treatment and nothing more they can do we have not been back to see him in over a year ... For what? If there is nothing he can do! Ugh this can be frustrating sometimes but I just wanted to say that I envy all the parents that have had ANY medications for there children I mean I don't know if meds are the best way to go if they are not going to do anything but I just need some kind of hope maybe : /

Permalink Reply by Lisa on September 30, 2009 at 3:23am

I have had experiences with doctors who said nothing you can do it will grow back eventually or never! Very frustrating. You have to go to a dermatologist. We found one that actually listens to us and takes our suggestions from what we have read about Alopecia. My daughter is using Dritho-Scalp and a foam everyday. Her hair is growing back. She was almost completely bald about 3 months ago and now her whole head except for the front is covered in hair. The front is not because she has been wearing a wig with tape and the tape keeps pulling the hair out. We have to fix that this week. Just keep looking for the doctor that will listen to you, stay positive:)

Permalink Reply by Cari on July 3, 2010 at 10:54pm

Hi there. My daughter is also doing dithro-scalp and a topical gel (Lidex, I think). Her doctor also put her on Rogaine. I worry about the meds for two reasons. First and most obvious - her doctor assured me that it is a small amount and she won't have side effects but I still worry that it could be doing harm. Second, will it stop working at some point?

She has had complete regrowth - hair long enough to almost pull into a ponytail. We are right back on a downward path though - she is constantly losing and regrowing - it seems like it never stops.

I'm wondering if I should go the natural route just to see what they say or go to an immunologist to try to get more info from an immune viewpoint. Have you done that? How old is your daughter? When did she start wearing a wig?

I've logged countless hours researching everything but lately have been looking more at the inflammation and immune side of things.

Hope things continue to go well for you and your daughter!

Permalink Reply by Shay and my girl Kaleigh :) on September 15, 2009 at 3:57pm

I have not read anything so far about Zyrtec but I am new to all of this, my daughter developed AA only a couple months ago. I really hope others have had experience with this and will respond! Good Luck :) Shay

Permalink Reply by Lillian (Tracy-mom) on September 16, 2009 at 2:59pm

My daughter took Zytec for allergies. Never heard of taking it for alopecia. She is currently off all allergy and asthma meds. We are going naturopathic with positive results. No drugs, and no symptoms. Small regrowth of her small patches have started. We've been doing this for 4 months so too early to tell if it will last for her alopecia but she is symptom free from asthma and allergies for the first time in 8 years. I call that a success.

Permalink Reply by Cindy on September 17, 2009 at 4:06am

Debbie, give the treatment more time. Although Sam is doing a different squaric acid treatment it took 6 months from the process before seeing any hair regrowth. She did the skin test end of 07 and had the start of hair by June 08. Stay positive. Cindy

Permalink Reply by Lisa Leppert on July 13, 2010 at 4:33pm

I have never heard about Zyrtec being perscribed for Alopecia. My daughter takes the medicine for allergies that she has and to control the itching from her eczema.

Permalink Reply by Matt (Mikayla's Dad) on August 10, 2010 at 2:53pm

I see some other people are saying the same thing...my son takes Zyrtec for his allergies, but our dermatologist has never said anything about it for our daughter's alopecia. As far as treatments...we have a sincerely compassionate dermatologist, I can't explain it, but if you were in the office, you would know what I'm talking about. We tried 4 or 5 different treatments, including injections, steroid foam, etc...sometimes we got a little re-growth, but as soon as we stopped, it all fell out again. Our doctor told us that there is really no way to tell. Some treatments work for some people, and sometimes, there's just nothing that works. It depends on the person, and the immune system. He told us that we could continue treatments, but there is no way to tell if hair is growing back because of the treatments, or if it just IS, because it does that sometimes too. He even sent us to Arkansas Children's Hospital to a specialist, and she told us the same thing. I don't think they are necessarily trying to dash our hope, but it's better to be honest, and in our particular case, we felt it would be better for our daughter if we just let nature run it's course. A lot of the treatments were painful, and we just got tired of seeing her cry with pain, getting her hopes up, then nothing happened. So we embraced the fact that we were going to do whatever it takes to help her accept and live with this condition. There's nothing wrong with her, it doesn't change who she is, or maybe it does, because she sure has grown a lot stronger from all this.

As parents, all we can do is get as much information as we can, and use that information to help our kids through this. I say...use your best judgement on meds...I am a firm believer that WE know what's best for our kids. I believe most doctors are sincere, but when it comes to alopecia, they really have no guarantee...it's different for each individual dealing with it, and inconsistency is about the ONLY thing that's consistent.

Good luck!!