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Any tips for hair loss on Imuran?

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Crohn's Disease
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Posted 10/6/2010 12:54 AM (GMT 0)

I am a 41 year old woman who is losing clumps of hair. My pharmacists blames the imuran. Any advice on what to do about this? I don't want to go bald!

Posted 10/6/2010 2:05 AM (GMT 0)
It might help to boost your folic acid intake to 800 mcg. 
Posted 10/6/2010 2:19 AM (GMT 0)
My GI recommended that I take a multi vitamin with minerals like selenium, copper, chromium... I take One a Days. I think my hair loss slowed down. I hope you find something to stop your hair loss. SB
Posted 10/6/2010 2:30 AM (GMT 0)
I'm right there with you! My hair has been falling out at an alarming rate for weeks. It's depressing to take a shower and have to pull out all the lost hair every morning. My GI says it's the asacol, my hair stylist says it's the prednisone, but maybe it's the 6mp. Who knows? All I know is I'm going bald. I've been taking 800 mg of folic acid every day for a month or so but the hair loss doesn't seem to be slowing down. I'm almost tapered off pred, so I'm hoping that's the culprit. Yesterday my GI lowered my asacol to 2 x 1200 per day (from 3 x), so maybe that will help. I hope something helps soon, because I'm not going to look very good with a gigantic prednisone moon face with no hair.
Posted 10/6/2010 1:39 PM (GMT 0)
I have always heard that Folic Acid and Biotin are great for slowing the hair shedding our meds cause. Good luck!
Posted 10/6/2010 6:13 PM (GMT 0)
Thanks for the info. Just talked to my GI who said he's never had anyone tell him about the hair loss...odd! He agreed that I should increase the folic acid and biotin on top of the multivitamin I take. I hope that helps!
Posted 10/7/2010 1:23 AM (GMT 0)
I had a lot of hair loss after stopping prednisone.. my doc drew a pic to show why :) Basically your hair follicles and strands of hair get skinnier/ more brittle and can't support the heavy weight of the normal hair.. if I'm remembering correctly.

Once I heard this, upon tapering prednisone, every time I cut my hair pretty short (in a bob) and that seemed to help a lot. I still shed, but not nearly as badly.
Posted 10/7/2010 1:34 AM (GMT 0)
Good info Tara - do you remember how long after being off pred that you noticed the hairloss slowing down?
Posted 10/7/2010 1:43 AM (GMT 0)
I can't remember exactly as thankfully it's been years since I was on it, but I'd say around 2 months. You have to be off it long enough for strong hair to sprout above the scalpline.. when you;re first off pred of course your hair gets stronger but it's still below the surface.. so 1-2 months depending on how fast your hair grows, I think :)
Posted 10/7/2010 3:58 AM (GMT 0)
Imuran is a folic acid antagonist. It interfers with the getting the amount of folkic acid that you need. My doctor put me on 1 mg of folic acid daily. Your doctor can prescribe that if it will you save you money rather than buying it OTC. When taking that amount of folic acid, it is VERY important to take B-12 supplements. High doses of folic acid will mask low B-12 levels. Low B-12 can cause nerve problems.

I had pretty significant hair loss while on Imuran for 6 years. I was taken off of Imuran in May and now my hair is no longer thinning like it did when I started Imuran.
Posted 7/17/2011 11:32 PM (GMT 0)
I was on Imuran when I was 23 for my Crohn's and the doctor said he wasn't concerned about hair loss because my hair was thick and healthy. I was completely freaked out when I realized my hair was falling out and I was angry! I saved the clumps of hair into 4 paper lunch bags that were full and I dumped them on the bed in the doctors exam room and demanded to be put on something else. I had to cut all my hair (which was down to my waist at the time) that I had left because what didn't fall out became brittle and unhealthy to the touch, plus the hair that was growing back after being taken off the imuran stuck straight up through the dry hair like peach fuzz. I was really depressed and my self esteem was shot at this point considering I had just been diagnosed the year prior and hadn't yet even felt the relief of remission from any medication that was tried on me. My doctor stays away from any drug in the same category as imuran. If there is a side effect I'm pretty much known to have it which is annoying.
On another note, my hair does "shed" more than normal on a regular basis, not enough to be noticeable to people that look at me, but my hair brush, bathroom floor, and shower drain definitely reveal the evidence quite well. I have noticed that when I'm on iron, calcium, and or prednisone the "shedding" slows down drastically. I don't know which of these is helping with the hair loss but it's got to be one of them!
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