Need Help with Hair Loss from Arimidex!

I am having the same problem! Very thin around my temples and hairline. I don't know how minoxidil works, is it safe for ER+. I go to MO next week and will ask.

memphis 1211- I go to MO this Friday I will let you know what he says.

My hair never fully came back after Taxotere. I tried bioten,didn't see much or any improvement. Asked dermatology, she said if I used the Rogaine, I'd need it for the rest of my life. Finally bought it. Read the instructions. Says to keep away from children and PETS. I get hot flashes sweat pretty bad. Don't want to take a chance of Spookie giving me kisses and ingesting that stuff.

She has enough hair for both of us. I took it back.

Memphis- MO said there is no issue with using minoxidil if you are ER+, it is actually a male hormone that they used to treat Breast Cancer. Too many side effects so they don't use it anymore. Anyway, very little gets into your blood system. So it is safe but he doesn't think it will help a lot . I am going to give it a try anyway. He did not have any other suggestions. Let us know if your dermatologist gives you any ideas.

Marley

Hi memphis - I see you've been on arimidex about 4 months. I lost a lot of hair in the initial months of arimidex - thin all over and a lot of scalp showing and I feared it would not stop. The good news is that it came back very well, almost imperceptibly, and by about 6 months, it was great. I started biotin a couple of months into arimidex and thought perhaps that had helped - now not sure.

Here I am at 18 months on arimidex (about the same length of time as you lexie?) and the major shedding has started again - for about the last 4 weeks - and getting thinner again. Thyroid is okay I think but will get it checked again. Will the shedding stop again? I don't know and I don't think anyone can tell me. Sigh. And swear.

I have these issues with Letrozole. particularly my parting and the crown where it seems to be increasingly thinning. The hair there is very soft and fine, almost like chemo hair coming in. It truly bothers me too! I am going to speak to my BCN and get her opinion on what might (if anything) help. I do not think it is a good idea to switch to another A1 as I don't really think it will make much difference. I may suffer hair loss again.

I am trying to ascertain if it comes back once tx ends, but I have not been able to get a clear answer on this. I have been on Letrozole just over 3 years now.

memphis1211-I will have been on Arimidex 5 years this coming April. I had a head full of thick dark hair until 2 years ago. I have lost at least half my hair. It is so upsetting. Don't get me wrong I am very thankful to still be here but hair loss for anyone can be upsetting. I use Nanogen hair fibers too cover where my scalp shows mainly at my crown. I go through 1 bottle a month. I too have been using Biotin and Nioxin. Been on both 1 1/2 years. Neither has helped. My hair has continued to thin. I hope I don't have to resort to wearing my wig again. I'm 57 so I'm surepart of the hair loss can be contributed to age. I'm wondering if anyone had their hair thicken back up after completing 5 years of AI's??

I was on Arimidex for about a year, then switched to Femara, which I continued for about 3 years. My hair had been so thick that my stylist was in the habit of thinning it slightly, even after years of treatment. I noticed in a photo that I had bald spots on top of my head, and that I'd been shedding a lot of hair without realizing that it wasn't growing back. I went to my MO, and asked for another thyroid test--not thyroid he said, male pattern baldness. It's the AI, and try Rogaine. I didn't bother; I gave it some thought and did some research and went back and told him I was not going to continue the AI. At that point I'd done 4 years and 3 or 4 months of one AI or another, had an Oncotype score of 9, had done ACTH (Taxol, not Taxotere), 2 years of Herceptin, one of Neratinib (the trial, and I am pretty sure I got the drug), and had a bilateral mx, hysterectomy, and oophorectomy.

I was not going to lose more hair.

He gave me a scrip for Tamoxifen, but told me it was not the drug itself, but the estrogen/testosterone balance, and that I'd most assuredly lose hair on Tamoxifen as well--the effect of the changes are cumulative and progressive, so that it's not likely you get a reversal of what is already gone. So I didn't bother with the Tamoxifen either.

At this point, I have pretty much halted the progress of hair loss, but it didn't stop falling out immediately, and it never did grow back. I use Biotin, which really helps, but was not going to use the Rogane.

My MO retired and the new one says he wouldn't have argued with me either. I am 64 now and 8 years from diagnosis--the hair in question is gray.

Warmly,

Cathy

Edited to add--not everyone gets thinning hair from the effect of the AI's or Tamoxifen. The male pattern baldness thing is a good bit more than thinning, and if you get it, you don't always get it immediately. I started AI's while I was bald from my chemo, and nonetheless grew a very thick and normal head of hair that was healthier than pre-chemo days. The thinning became a problem for me in year 4.

I do believe my hair has started to come back too - still shedding but the hairdresser just confirmed that there are 'baby hairs' coming in. I'm beyond relieved though it is thinner than it was, and the hairs themselves seem thinner. It's taken nearly 6 months for this improvement to be visible - very similar timescale to the initial severe hair loss when I first began the ai. Thyroid and iron okay.

The BC nurse suggested biosil and biotin and I have alternated these supplements daily for about 5 months - have no idea if they have made any difference and am going to discontinue them as don't feel comfortable taking them. But if I have a sudden hair loss as a result, I will re-visit that decision!