hair loss from Femara

leabow

I have been on femara now letrozole for a year and half and have had hair thinning a lot. I am assuming that is because this drug kills all of the estrogen left after menopause. I am also assuming that there is not much to do about it as long as you take the pill short of buying a wig. If anybody has any suggestions, please let me know.
I know this seems so unimportant to what many of you are facing that I was almost ashamed to ask.
Thanks all.

SIROD

All Are Good Questions
Dear Leabow,

No cancer issue is unimportant and you should never feel ashamed to inquire about them. I was on Femara for 2 years and didn't have hair thinning. Over the years I have read that many do. We all experience side effects from these drugs but, they are as different to each of us.

Why not ask your oncologist's nurse or the oncologist PA about hair thinning. I have always found them less in a hurry than the oncologist and able to answer some of our questions better.

Good luck to you and I do hope someone on this board with this problem will answer you.

Best,

Doris

Double Whammy

It IS important!
Ok, on the pecking scale of living or having hair I we'd all choose living, but the hair thing is really difficult for me. My hair never fully returned after chemo and it is quite hideous. Was it the chemo? Is it the Arimidex? Was it anesthesia? Menopause/age? It doesn't matter what it is, it is a constant reminder that I had cancer and seeing myself in the mirror makes it difficult to forget. Plus, I don't like how I look. Plain and simple. I don't like it. I had hair 16 months ago and now I have yuck. Yucky yuck. And I'm sick and tired of people telling me "oh, it will come back" when they don't know what they're talking about.

As for suggestions, if you want hair, other than a wig, I have none, and I've explored a lot of options. I have two really good/flattering wigs and I intend to gather more into my collection as time goes on. Afterall, I changed my style/color all the time when I had hair. The wigs actually look better than my hair did before chemo, but it's still a wig and under it is still icky thin fine hair that is not fit for publc viewing. The wigs are fun, but I'd like them to be a choice, not a necessity.

The woman who did my permanent makeup insists she can make my hair grow back by needling my scalp. http://www.estellesplace.com/ She needles your scalp and then you apply minoxidil. I let her do it once, but didn't want to use minoxidil because it was one more drug I'd be absorbing. Besides, I didn't believe it would work. She charges $1000 for this process and I did not have to pay her for the one treatment. Since I don't want to use minoxidil for the rest of my life, it's really moot.

Nioxin can't resurrect the dead, but I haven't tried it.

I visited a wonderful woman in Las Vegas last week and learned a lot about wigs. Primarily, there are a huge number of women who wear wigs for many reasons. She had a client in before me who wears a hairpiece and you'd never ever know. It actually adheres to her head and she wears it for about a week at a time. She had Cushing's syndrome and lost most of her hair on top only. I don't have enough hair to pull this off, but you might.

The woman who makes the Beaubeaus (www.4women.com) has alopecia. She never wears a wig. She wears her beautiful scarves and they are beautiful and she looks good in them. I hope I can feel comfortable doing that some day because I have some and I like them and the look. They now remind me too much of chemo but maybe I'll get past that.

I now notice a lot of women "of a certain age" (mine) with very very thin hair. It does happen to some women as they age.

Your post sent me off on a tirade I'm afraid. I get lots of unsolicited compliments on my "hair". I even met a woman a few weeks ago who asked to take my picture so she could show a friend my haircut and color because she loved my "hair" so much. I just told her thank you. My wig looks really good and it's flattering. But it's not my hair.

My pcp thinks my hair loss is because of the chemo and some of my stem cells are dead, not sleeping/stunned. Her husband does stem cell research and while he doesn't work on hair stem cells, he keeps up on the literature and thinks some new breakthroughs are just around the corner. I told her I needed to be her first phone call if he learns anything. My oncologist says it could be the chemo or the Arimidex and has offered to try a different aromatase inhibitor. I think it's the chemo because it wasn't looking very good even before I started taking Arimidex. Like I said, it really doesn't matter why unless they can fix it and that seems unlikely. I tolerate the Arimidex very well and don't want to switch.

Good luck to you. It's ok to vent about these unanticipated side effects of having had breast cancer. No one warned me about this - yet it does happen. They tell you about things like neuropathy and bone pain and other lingering after effects, but not this one. Heck, they even tell you about secondary cancers, you think they could tell you about hair. It doesn't hurt and it won't kill me, and for that I'm honestly very grateful. I believe my treatments were necessary and this is a small price to pay for life. But . .


Suzanne

Tux

Double Whammy said:

It IS important!
Ok, on the pecking scale of living or having hair I we'd all choose living, but the hair thing is really difficult for me. My hair never fully returned after chemo and it is quite hideous. Was it the chemo? Is it the Arimidex? Was it anesthesia? Menopause/age? It doesn't matter what it is, it is a constant reminder that I had cancer and seeing myself in the mirror makes it difficult to forget. Plus, I don't like how I look. Plain and simple. I don't like it. I had hair 16 months ago and now I have yuck. Yucky yuck. And I'm sick and tired of people telling me "oh, it will come back" when they don't know what they're talking about.

As for suggestions, if you want hair, other than a wig, I have none, and I've explored a lot of options. I have two really good/flattering wigs and I intend to gather more into my collection as time goes on. Afterall, I changed my style/color all the time when I had hair. The wigs actually look better than my hair did before chemo, but it's still a wig and under it is still icky thin fine hair that is not fit for publc viewing. The wigs are fun, but I'd like them to be a choice, not a necessity.

The woman who did my permanent makeup insists she can make my hair grow back by needling my scalp. http://www.estellesplace.com/ She needles your scalp and then you apply minoxidil. I let her do it once, but didn't want to use minoxidil because it was one more drug I'd be absorbing. Besides, I didn't believe it would work. She charges $1000 for this process and I did not have to pay her for the one treatment. Since I don't want to use minoxidil for the rest of my life, it's really moot.

Nioxin can't resurrect the dead, but I haven't tried it.

I visited a wonderful woman in Las Vegas last week and learned a lot about wigs. Primarily, there are a huge number of women who wear wigs for many reasons. She had a client in before me who wears a hairpiece and you'd never ever know. It actually adheres to her head and she wears it for about a week at a time. She had Cushing's syndrome and lost most of her hair on top only. I don't have enough hair to pull this off, but you might.

The woman who makes the Beaubeaus (www.4women.com) has alopecia. She never wears a wig. She wears her beautiful scarves and they are beautiful and she looks good in them. I hope I can feel comfortable doing that some day because I have some and I like them and the look. They now remind me too much of chemo but maybe I'll get past that.

I now notice a lot of women "of a certain age" (mine) with very very thin hair. It does happen to some women as they age.

Your post sent me off on a tirade I'm afraid. I get lots of unsolicited compliments on my "hair". I even met a woman a few weeks ago who asked to take my picture so she could show a friend my haircut and color because she loved my "hair" so much. I just told her thank you. My wig looks really good and it's flattering. But it's not my hair.

My pcp thinks my hair loss is because of the chemo and some of my stem cells are dead, not sleeping/stunned. Her husband does stem cell research and while he doesn't work on hair stem cells, he keeps up on the literature and thinks some new breakthroughs are just around the corner. I told her I needed to be her first phone call if he learns anything. My oncologist says it could be the chemo or the Arimidex and has offered to try a different aromatase inhibitor. I think it's the chemo because it wasn't looking very good even before I started taking Arimidex. Like I said, it really doesn't matter why unless they can fix it and that seems unlikely. I tolerate the Arimidex very well and don't want to switch.

Good luck to you. It's ok to vent about these unanticipated side effects of having had breast cancer. No one warned me about this - yet it does happen. They tell you about things like neuropathy and bone pain and other lingering after effects, but not this one. Heck, they even tell you about secondary cancers, you think they could tell you about hair. It doesn't hurt and it won't kill me, and for that I'm honestly very grateful. I believe my treatments were necessary and this is a small price to pay for life. But . .


Suzanne

hair loss
I have also experienced hair loss from tamoxifen. I am assuming it is because of lack
of estrogen. Luckily, I have very thick hair, so it is not yet too noticeable.

I know many women, who, for various reasons, wear wigs. My mom wears one in public; she
got a new one from a wig shop specializing in hair loss due to medical reasons & they couldn't have been nicer. They made sure it was flattering & comfortable enough to wear for several hours if necessary.

If it would make you feel better, look into getting one!