Hair loss on mesalamine?

I would love to hear from anyone who has experienced hair loss while taking Asacol or other mesalamine drugs. I took Asacol from 1/11 to the end of 5/11, and starting in 3/11 I experienced some hair loss. Based on my GI doctor's recommendation, I stopped taking the Asacol at the end of May, but am still waiting for the hair loss to stop. Are there any folks out there who have stopped Asacol due to hair loss? How long did it take for the hair loss to stop/decrease after stopping the medication? What about your experiences with hair loss when starting Asacol again?

SFSLP, may I ask why your GI took you off Asacol? What did he/she replace it with? Are you on mesalamine enemas or suppositories? Were you in a flare when you started on Asacol? Were you on prednisone.

The stress from sickness (flare) may prompt the body to temporarily stop hair production. You'll get fallout and no replacement for a while. I really don't think it's Asacol and your hair will come back. Are little hairs sprouting.

For me, it took 1 and a half years for my hair to grow back. I maintain on 8 Asacol a day and mesalmaine enema every other night

When I started the Lialda I noticed that my hair was coming out by the fistfuls. I had fine hair, but a good amount of it. Now it is thin and frizzy and I talked to my GI doctor about it and he said it was more than likely not the medications that was the cause... there is less than 3% of people that have hair loss from these types of medications. He also had me start a good multi-vitamin (which I chose prenatal, it gives you a double dose of everything) and then folic acid and biotin (both promote healthy hair growth). He believes it was from being so sick and malnourished and the stress of being sick and worrying that caused my hair to fall out. I see a lot of new growth and since I started taking the vitamins and supplements and stopped worrying about being bald, my hair has stopped falling out. I had even gone and gotten those 90 dollar clip-in hair extensions which didn't work because my hair was too thin to hold them in.. so I know what your going thru. And maybe you should talk to your GI about adding in those kinds of supplements. It won't fix the hair you have, but it could promote new healthy hair to grow back thicker and faster. Good Luck ! :)

Have you had your blood work done recently? Maybe there is a deficiency somewhere else that could be causing your hair loss? My GI did tell me that there was one other medication that had a 1% or less hair loss rate... I will have to go and see which one he said, I wrote it down. Maybe you could talk to your doctor about switching to that?

The name is Azulfidine. It is not a mesalamine, it is a sulfasalazine. I have not tried this medication as my hair seems to be staying in these days. Hope you find something that helps :)

asacol 4800 mg. hair loss. grew back in 4 months. i was told it was stress but i think it was asacol.

Me too, Journey, I thought it was gone forever. I think it might have been more like two years, now that I think about it. I cut my own hair so I didn't have a hairdresser to notice any little sprouts! :)

journey2health,

I don't think 8 months out is enough time. Don't be so sure the hair loss is permanent.

Thanks, I hope you're right... waiting to see hair regrowth

Hi can you give an update on this? Has your hair grown back? Thanks

When taking Asacol in 2011, I had really bad hair loss. It improved a little when I decreased my dosage. Because of this problem, my GI had me switch to Lialda. I didn't notice much difference though, maybe slight... After dealing with this side effect for about a year, I stopped oral mesalamine. I was feeling better at that time with UC symptoms, but the hair loss was really too much to handle. After I stopped the medication, hair loss stopped after approximately 2 to 3 weeks. I don't recommend however that you stop your medication.

Have you tried biotin supplements? I was taking biotin while on Lialda. Even though I started taking it closer to the time when I discontinued my medication, I do think it helped. My hair came back thicker!

Right now I'm back on Lialda, and hair is falling out again What a horrible disease

When I first started asacol: 25+ Years ago I thought my hair seemed to be falling out more than usual - my doc kept me on my Rxs. Either my stress was reduced, the side effect stopped, or it was my imagination that I thought more was falling out. Whatever - but I'm thrilled that I can stay in remission on it and not have to resort to more toxic Rxs.