Medications That Cause Hair Loss in Women

Shedding fifty to a hundred hairs per day is normal. A shed hair is replaced by a new hair from the same hair follicle. Hair on the head grows at a rate of approximately half an inch per month. Hair is a form of protein, similar to the protein making up fingernails and toenails. Abnormal hair loss can be due to various factors and if you notice more hair than usual coming out when you comb your hair, this is usually indicative of a problems.

There are various reasons for hair loss in women, including hormonal imbalances, stress, hereditary factors and certain medications. If you suspect that a medication you are taking for another reason is contributing to your hair loss, don’t just stop taking it. You should visit your doctor and ask if there is a similar medication which does not have the side effect of hair loss. Examples of medications that cause hair loss in women include blood thinners, drugs for arthritis, acne, psoriasis, heart problems , gout andLisinopril according to some. Hair shedding as a result of these medications only happens in a small percentage of people.

Most chemotherapy drugs stop the hair cells from dividing. This usually occurs several weeks after beginning the treatment but the hair does grow back when the treatment ends. Women suffering from hair loss and taking birth control pills usually have an inherited tendency towards hair loss.

Before you blame your medication for your hair loss, you need to look at other factors and work out whether something completely different could be responsible for your hair shedding. Other reasons for hair loss include inadequate protein or iron in the diet, childbirth, major surgery or a chronic illness, thyroid disease, alopecia areata, androgenic alopecia or infections such as ringworm or tinea capitus. If you have tried natural remedies, more exercise and dietary improvements as well as herbal remedies, you should seek further advice from your doctor, who will know about medications that cause hair loss in women and might be able to suggest an alternative medication if one is available.

If there is no alternative, you will need to weigh up the medication against the hair loss. If you are taking, for example, a medication for a chronic heart problem and you are suffering from minor hair loss because of that, it would be both unwise and unsafe in this instance to stop taking the heart medication. With many medications, the hair grows back normally once you finish the course of treatment and your body gets back to normal, so it is better to disguise the problem until ending the course of medication is possible.

Some natural or herbal hair loss remedies might diminish the effect of your medication, counteract it or not be safe to take in conjunction with it, so you should always seek medical advice before taking these, even if you are trying herbal medications which seem perfectly safe. The good news is that most medications that cause hair loss in women can be substituted with something similar if hair loss seems to be a side effect, but you should always seek medical help if you think your medication is responsible for hair loss problems.

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