Hydroxychloroquine and hair loss

[SunshineT]

Hello Everybody, I have been diagnos with sjogreen syndrome, duscoid lupus and athriritis. I have been on hydroxychloroquine for about 8month.

Recently I've started experimenting spell if dizziness, ringing ears and imbalance went to see the gp is said that I might have vertigo and gave me a treatment for that, but then I realise that my hair start falling very badly ,so I started reading the side effect of hydroxycloriquine and find out that dizziness, ringing ears, and also hair loss was one of them!!! Does anyone experienced that? So I decided to stop taking hydroclorine for a couple of month and change my diet instead and also find alternative treatment for the hair loss, any advise? Also I did stop taking my medicine in one go what that the right way to do so, spoke to my doctor before stopping ,he was ok with it but didn't tell me how to stop the meds and I forgot to ask. I have been of the med for 2 weeks now. Any advise?

Regards

[Jmiller623]

I did this. I thought exactly like you did. Was losing hair and had all these weird symptoms. Turns out it was raging lupus on top of the hydroxychloroquine. When I stopped, a month later I was in real trouble. Wound up in the ED too many times.

Talk to your doctor. Personally I wouldn’t stop. You may be flaring even on the Med and it may need to be increased. Lupus can 100% cause hair loss just like that and all other symptoms listed.

Hope this helps! We all do things that we think will change our symptoms but lupus just does what it wants without rhyme or reason. Things will get better. I promise.

[Paul_Howard Partner LUPUS UK]

Hi SunshineT ,

I'm sorry to hear that you have been experiencing these symptoms. Did they come on quite suddenly or did they gradually develop since you started hydroxychloroquine 8 months ago? It is very uncommon for hydroxychloroquine to cause hair loss, and in most cases it is probably the lupus causing this.

If you notice an increase in your symptoms after stopping your treatment, please advise your doctor right away as you may be experiencing a lupus flare.

We have a couple of articles on our website with some information and advice that may be of interest to you;

Diet & Healthy Eating - lupusuk.org.uk/diet-and-hea...

Coping with Hair Loss - lupusuk.org.uk/coping-with-...

[SunshineT in reply to Paul_Howard]

Hello Paul

Thanks for your reply, I think the symptom started gradually but then from let say April to August went very fast. Like I have said in other replies I was badly expose to the sun too!!!,

Do you think exposure to the sun may have cause that? Just not sure what to think really?

Thanks again for reply

[Paul_Howard Partner LUPUS UK in reply to SunshineT]

Sun exposure could certainly exacerbate lupus hair loss. We would always advise people with lupus to protect themselves as much as possible by wearing a hat. You can get more information and advice about light sensitivity and lupus at lupusuk.org.uk/coping-with-...

[maye1]

Hi SST,

I’d agree with JMiller. Can still flare on Hcq. I had hair loss for years from Lupus and it got worse at one point on Hcq but overall, the hair loss has improved with it. But we’re all different. Could you speak with a couple different pharmacists and then talk with your doctor? Pharmacists know more about meds than GPs.