Methotrexate side effects four weeks in

[Pudding26]

Hi

I am new to this site and am four weeks in to treatment.. My main concern is hair loss.

I have read that this is minimal, but i seem to be losing lots, will this decrease , It is really upsetting me.

next appointment with Nurse is not until start of December.. any advice?

[Ali_H]

Hi and welcome.

Alas it does happen but it can be helped if your folic acid is upped - how often are you prescribed your folic acid and is there space to try a more frequent dose? I took it once a week for the first 2 1/2 years but have recently upped it to twice a week to work on fatigue and it seems to be doing the trick. Some people takes folic acid six times a week (not on MTX day).

Al the best

Ali

[rosie1928 in reply to Ali_H]

My doctor has put me on a daily dose of folic acid. My specialist that is. I had some hair loss but it has stopped. So that was maybe 10 years ago when I started the Methotrexate.

Kind regards

Rosie

[Downtime]

Good advice from Ali. Upping the folic acid might help. Mine seemed to settle after a while ( probably a year actually) and now although it’s thinner it’s ok and I im not losing any more. x

[Hidden]

Hiya

Sorry to hear that, i think we tend to put up with a lot because whole diagnosis and side effects of meds totally knock you sideways. I would ring your rheumatology advice line, thats what it's for. I haven't had hair loss yet, just scalp sores. On MTX for 3 months and Hydroxyc now but they switched from oral to injections which dropped nausea to 2 days instead of all week and increased folic acid to 6 days. I think they can jiggy things about a bit for you, they said to me no point easing joint pain if it's making you miserable all week. I hope you get some relief soon and wish you well.

Keren

[Joy_1]

Hi

I lost a fair amount of hair initially. It was quite a shock as I have long hair and so it looked like I was shedding more than I actually was.

I take folic acid 6 days a week to control the nausea I get from MTX. After a few months my hair stopped falling out and my hairdresser noticed that new hair was growing in.

During the hair loss period my hairdresser cut my hair differently. She cut in more layers which had the effect of making my hair look thicker again.

Perhaps then folic acid + time + changing your hairstyle = solution.

[Beverley-NRAS]

Hi pudding,

there have been lots of posts in the past about hair loss. If you do a search on "hair loss" then you will be able to read all the suggestions from previous posts as well. There was a good one about a product called caboki a few months ago.

Beverley (NRAS Helpline)

[mrdiggs]

Hi All-- can only say I have been on Methotrexate and Prednisone for 4 1/2-5 years and yes I have lost a lot of hair. Also take Folic Acid pills every day except on the Metho day.. I don't know if it's the combo of both drugs or not but nothing has helped so far. I can commiserate with you as this is very unsettling and has caused me to try and come off the Metho. twice in the past years but have both times had bad flare ups.This last time was for 4 months and my hair started to look a little better- it didn't come back in where it departed but it stopped breaking off and falling out.I now have a rather high farhead---LOL. It sounds like other people here didn't have the same reaction as I have had so don't fret, I might just be the odd ball. If you hear of any solutions please pass them on , I would greatly appreciate any and all help. And keep the faith---------better times are ahead. And I'm sure you are just as beautiful as you always were.

[Graceusha1]

Yup, had hair loss too. Scary. Switched to leflunomide. Hair loss stopped. All the best!!! Ushagrace