I am 69 years old. A very active person. Diagnosed in April with PMR. Started on 25 mg of Prednisone. Tapering now and on 8 mg. So far so good except now shedding lots of hair. I’ve had thickish coarse gray hair. Crown and top of scalp really thin and so distressing. Another lady on another PMR blog related a product she uses to cover the bald spots. It’s called Toppik. It’s a fibre like powder- same color as my gray hair. It’s quite amazing how well it covers. Got it on Amazon.
Hoping it will grow back after I get off the prednisone.🤞🏻🤞🏻
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GolfNana
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My hair loss with Prednisolone was diffuse but I did end up with some bald patches too . It will grow back but may be not the same texture and my regrowth for some reason was curly and has stayed that way throughout my steroid journey. My hair used to be very thick but the structure has now changed and not for the better. I have still ended up with a full head of hair though so all is not lost..
My hair thinned noticeably on higher doses of pred (I started on 40). I was advised by my hair dresser to wash it less often & to change my shampoo & conditioner to an eco brand that I’m not sure you can get.out of NZ. It grew back on lower doses ( much curlier than usual).my hair is naturally curly & now I’m at 2 mg is back to normal
I'm not an expert on hair loss, but I know it's a fairly common occurrence to experience some hair loss & thinning, particularly whilst taking higher doses of steroids.
I personally experienced some significant hair thinning when I was on higher doses of prednisolone too, but once I began reaching lower doses, (below 10mgs) my hair condition began to improve.
I'm currently on 2mgs and my hair is healthy and has volume again, so hopefully your hair will improve likewise.
I think that rightly or wrongly so, how we feel can often be determined by how our hair looks, and a 'bad hair day' can for some, make for a 'bad day' full stop, particularly if we're already feeling low.
Thankfully, attitudes have changed, and conditions like alopecia are far more accepted with baldness now recognised (as it should be) as beautiful, and the wearing of wigs & hair pieces, very fashionable.
My own sister has been bald since the age of 25...she's now 62.
She has always worn wigs as sadly a bald woman was not so readily accepted in the late 80s. However, she doesn't wear a wig in her own home and still of course looks lovely.
Whatever condition our hair manifests as a result of the steroids, there will always be ways to remediate the situation, whether that be topical solutions like the one you found to be so successful, a different hairstyle, going bald, wearing a wig, a headscarf or hairband or something completely different, so thankyou for sharing your solution to your hair concern here. I know there'll be others who'll definitely benefit from it.
When I was feeling quite low about my thin & out of condition hair, my son said to me;
"Mum...you're not defined by your hair. Your defined by your heart!"
Just make the best of what you’ve got, there are lots of way of disguising the issue, but don’t go down the path of spending oodles of cash on so called ‘miracle cures’. Your best friend can be your hairdresser, and it is usually only a temporary phase.
Hi my hair started falling out on 8mg went a bit wild and a bit curly. It suddenly stopped after about 6 weeks. I am on 6mg now. It's still sticks out and hard to control but it's growing again
My hair started to fall out 3 months after I was diagnosed with PMR, along with weight loss and generally feeling very unwell. This happened before I started taking prednisone. Eventually, my hair grew back. The doctors said it was a reaction to the general inflammation and illness. Now, 5 years later, I am experiencing a massive flare-up, and my hair is falling out again. From the time the hair "dies" until it actually falls out, there is about a 3-month period. So it's not always the prednisone causing the hair loss. I still have very thick hair, even after 5 years on 10–20 mg of prednisone. 🙂
This is a worrying aspect. I too have had hair loss & thinning. The texture has also changed & is now more coarse & wavy, looking like candy floss or a brillo pad. Nothing will really help change this, so I hope all becomes normal eventually. I will look out for the product you mention. Good luck & thanks.
I've had the mad scientist hair too. It started to fall out in handfuls this time last year, but I blamed the short time that I was on alendronic acid for that, going by the length of the regrowth. It stopped falling out after I had it cut a bit shorter and I have been using a moisturising shampoo and conditioner since, which has improved the texture. It's got most of its shine back and tamed the frizz, but I now have curly hair too after 6 decades of poker straight hair.
Mine is 100% different texture and I lost most of my waist length hair that I had not really cut since 1984! Kind of upsetting, but I wore it up so much anyway, that many haven't noticed. I have some wigs for when I really need them.
Your hair loss now could well be the PMR rather than the pred. Our general health is often reflected in our hair but often takes about 6 months to become obvious, Like Killremy I lost loads of hair during the 5 years of PMR without pred but it didn't really worsen with pred. The natural curl and bounce went, it was a pain to get cut well and my wonder hairdresser did a valiant job. The curl has come back over the years on pred and during Covid I let it grow out - the frizz in the nape hair goes when it is longer - and I now regularly get compliments out of the blue. A couple of weeks ago it was from a teenage girls walking the dog in the park beside my daughter's house, but someone stopped me in the street here to say how she liked it and a local man told me I looked like the Christmas Angel. It will improve - it may not be the same but it may be even better!
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