Post-treatments Hair loss

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welela52
welela52 Member Posts: 38
edited June 2014 in IDC (Invasive Ductal Carcinoma)

I have finished all treatments (lumpectomy, chemo and rads) and started Femara 2 months ago.  My concern is this:  my hair grew back after treatments ended and just within the past week and a half I've noticed that my eyebrows and eyelashses are falling out again.  My eyebrows are very thin and my eyelashes are so sparse I can't put on mascara.  Is this a normal sequence or is this something I have to worry about? 

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  • NancyD
    NancyD Member Posts: 3,562
    edited July 2009

    The very short hairs around your eyes normally fallout and regrow all the time, but they are usually staggered, with each hair on a different cycle, so it isn't noticable. With them falling out from chemo and coming back at the same time, they are probably all on the same regrowth/fallout cycle. I think I heard that the cycle was about 30-60 days (depending on the individual) so it sounds like you are going through that. It may take a few cycles until they are staggered enough to not show the fallout, but it will happen eventually.

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  • welela52
    welela52 Member Posts: 38
    edited July 2009

    Thanks Nancy.  That sounds logical to me.  So I won't worry - LOL!

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  • StarWish624
    StarWish624 Member Posts: 101
    edited September 2009

      Hi, I finished Chemo./Rads. around Thanksgiving 2008. And, I am still going through the hair/eyelashes/eyebrow grow in/fall out repeatedly. I am rather getting used to it. I wonder, I have heard that it can take 2 years upward for your body to work out the treatments and find it's new "normal", again. Perhaps this is a part of it. All I can say, is, after having NO hair/eyelashes/eyebrows - I can deal with this.

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  • Faith316
    Faith316 Member Posts: 2,431
    edited September 2009

    I am finding the same thing.  Eyelashes and eyebrows all came out within a matter of a few days about a month after I finished Taxol.  They came back in quickly, though.  Then, several months later they really thinned again.  Especially the lashes.  They didn't fall out totally that time and came back in.  Now, 6 months later, same thing is happening.  Thinning lashes but not total fallout.  I think this may be pretty common. 

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  • julibug63
    julibug63 Member Posts: 12
    edited September 2009

    Hi Gals!

    Nancy D hit right on it. My lashes more so than my eyebrows fell out and regrew 3 x before they finally held. The good news is it was a quick cycle and each time they were fuller.

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  • mom_of_2
    mom_of_2 Member Posts: 347
    edited September 2009

    Just lost all my lashes for 6th time since chemo ended last November :( They grow back every time but I am really ready for this to stop. My hair is also thinning like male patterned baldness thanks to Tamoxifen. Where the hair is thick it is crazy thick and where its thin you can see scalp. BUT I love bitching about bad hair days again!

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  • carol1949
    carol1949 Member Posts: 562
    edited September 2009

    Ladies,  I think it takes about one year for the chemotherapy to totally leave our systems.  Femara also caused my hair to fall out almost immediately.  I took myself off from it for many reasons, and my hair thickened up almost immediately.

    I just read a lot of information on Life Extension's website in regard to breast cancer and some of the natural substitutions for things such as Femara, Tamoxifan, etc.  I would encourage you all to at least read it.  What we do with it is certainly personal.

     I have met so many women lately who have chosen not to take some of these medicines again for various reasons, but they all seem to be doing very well!

    For me on Femara, I felt like a 90 year old.... with too many aches and could barely move when I got up from sitting.  It just wasn't worth it to me to feel like that.  I feel so much better since not taking it.... I feel normal again!

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  • welela52
    welela52 Member Posts: 38
    edited September 2009

    Thanks for your responses Ladies - I sure do appreciate them.  Carol - could you give me the address for the Life Extension website?  I'd like to check it out.  I know exactly what you're talking about with the Femara... feeling like I'm 90 with the aches and pains .... getting real tired of this. LOL

    A friend of mine was just diagnosed and had a mastectomy last week.  She is coming back to work on Thursday, 6 days post-op!!  Amazing!  (Makes me feel like a wimp - lol).  She has no pain and is doing amazing.  However, the pathology shows more than what was originally diagnosed.  She has to have another surgery in about 3 weeks to remove more nodes..... and she is turning down the chemo.... going for a natural method - someething from pine trees.  Keep her in your prayers pleez. 

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  • enjoylife
    enjoylife Member Posts: 578
    edited September 2009

    I was on Taxotore and I am just starting to get hair I dont say or write it too much i am afraid I will have another winter without hair I have been off chemo for 13 months and havent been able to wear my head with nothing on it since May of 08 its been a long road so I sympathise with you. I flelt great after my surgery I even worked from home I was 1400 miles away in Boston with my sister but I got hours in I felt like  a big wieght had been taken off me......

    Good luck to all of you

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  • carol1949
    carol1949 Member Posts: 562
    edited September 2009

    www.lef.org/

    I tried to do a link, but my Internet browser won't let me.  If you can't get it this way. Google: Life Extension... and then look under health concerns.  You will find the subject of breast cancer there.

    Incidentally, I have a friend who is 11 years cancer free who did it holistically, with no chemo or radiation.  She did end up having to have 2 surgeries for clear margins, but aftr that... she wen't holistic.  She has been inspirational to me in this fight.  More recently, I also met another lady in my town who is seeing an MD who quit because she was fed up with the "system" and she is offering holistic approaches to health.  She told my friend much of the same stuff I read on Life Extension's site.  There is an abundance of information out there... you just have to keep reading and trusting your inner self.

    My oncologist happens to be a personal friend of mine whom I had known for 6 years prior to needing her services.  She also told me that knowing me, she thought the least medical intervention the better.  Also, she said just what we are finding.... Femara is too new and the research on it is inconclusive.  It takes at least 5 years to do the study and then document it, so by the time we get the information it is already old.  Good Luck with your research.

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  • carol1949
    carol1949 Member Posts: 562
    edited September 2009

    P.S.  Taxotere and Taxol are from pine trees! 

    Check out Patrick Quillin's Beating Cancer With Nutrition.

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  • stef58
    stef58 Member Posts: 288
    edited September 2009

    Carol, Taxotere aqnd taxol are fromt the yew tree.  I am interested on what you can do to get better all the stuff they pump into you. I am still in chemo but have less than a month of treatment. I would like to learn to eat healthy, but do not wear to start. Hugs Steff

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  • carol1949
    carol1949 Member Posts: 562
    edited September 2009

    Steff,  I stand corrected.  Thank You.  I knew it was some sort of tree .

    I will personal message you and see how you are doing.  I have been out of chemo since last Sept.  Coming upon one year and I will tell you that once I stopped taking the Femara, I do feel normal once again!

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  • welela52
    welela52 Member Posts: 38
    edited September 2009

    Steff:  I went to the nutritionist at my Cancer Center.  She recommended that I follow the American Cancer Society's low fat diet:  1800 calories a day, no more than 36 grams of fat a day.  I actually lost weight when I started (to lose weight I ate 1500-1600 calories per day) and now am maintaining it.  You may want to try counting calories and fat until you get the idea of what to eat and how much to eat:  5 to 7 servings per day of fruit and veggies, legumes, low fat dairy products, limit of 12 oz of red meat per week, etc.   Low fat diet is recommended by the ACS to help combat the return of cancer.   Also, because my cancer is fed by estrogen, I have to stay away from soy and soy products.    Good luck in learning to eat healthier.  It was pretty easy for me - kept telling myself I'd die if I didn't stick to the diet/life style change.  I slip now and then, but always get back to it. 

    Smile

    I've just been diagnosed with hypothyroidism and will be starting meds today.  Doc says that could be another reason for the aches and pains and thinning hair.   I just don't know what is what anymore.....

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  • carol1949
    carol1949 Member Posts: 562
    edited September 2009

    I hope they didn't put you on synthorid!  I took synthroid for several years and the first thing my oncologist sait to me was she thought my bc had something to do with my thyroid.  You will learn that there is a big number of people who either have thyroid issues b4 tx or after.

    Hair loss while being a symptom of thyroid is also a side effect of synthroid!  Crazy, huh?  Anywy, I also took myself off the synthroid and take Lugol's iodine which is what they used to treat hypothyroid with.  You can Google it and read about that also.  Life extension also sells a natural thyroid supplement.  I just buy one at Richard's Health Food store called Thryoid Support.  One of the nurses on chat says they never saw the amount of fybromyalgia until so many people were on synthroid!

    At least take the time to review your options and then, as I always say.... follow your heart!  Believe that the right information will come to you!

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