I had posted here a while back about hair loss after some of the meds and treatments I’d been on like anastrozole…I lost more than half of my hair on it and was really devastated. (Could also be from being put on early menopause). Since going off the anastrozole, my hair is growing back very thick but with all the new meds, also extremely dry, was sticking straight up, was impossible to manage and I wouldn’t have dared to wear it down. I’ve had it in a bun fixed with about 15 clips to secure it to my head for over a year.
I had read on another forum about different natural supplements for hair…in the past I was on collagen powder, but then learned it wasn’t good for breast cancer. So I went off of it. One of the recent posts mentioned MSM powder, which I have in my pantry but hadn’t been using. It’s good for joints and pain, but also hair skin and nails, so I started putting about half teaspoon in water in the am.
I kind of forgot about it, and one day I was washing my hair in the shower, and was really surprised how soft my hair felt as I was washing it. It totally threw me off guard, because usually it feels like wet heavy straw.
I remembered I had been taking the MSM powder (so of course I upped it to 1 tsp daily). It tastes pretty bitter so I also add lemon or stevia to the water. I also noticed my skin is a lot softer. I’ve only been on it for a few weeks! A bonus is that it’s supposed to help with pain. I believe that it has been helping with mine, although I also started high dose melatonin powder at the same time which has been very useful for pain (and is anti-cancer and good for before going into petscans or having radiation treatments).
I hope this is useful for someone - I just started wearing my hair back down again. It’s still growing in and hard to manage (I straight iron it or else it would be a total mess) but it’s nice to have hair again. Someone asked me if I got extensions recently - it’s been so long since anyone has seen my hair!
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Verbena1
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I have been using Gummies for hair, nails and skin. You take 2 a day, cherry tasting. They have made a difference, I have been taking them for many months now. Have a look at reviews etc to see what you think. My nails are so much stronger, in my opinion they work and do no harm
I experienced hair loss after going on lupron, and I found biotin 500 or 5000 mcg every other day helped it grow back. It also helped my nails grow. Apparently it can cause acne in some people (according to 1-star amazon reviews) so I guess it's best not to overdo it. Now I'm on Xeloda, taking 5000mcg biotin every other day, and it makes a big difference for me in hair growth. I haven't tried MSM powder, but I'm so glad it's working for you! Also was surprised to hear collagen is bad for breast cancer :(. I've been taking Schiff's move ultra tablets to help with arthritis that started after I got on lupron. Other options, such as glucosamine, turmeric, and fish oil thin the blood too much for me (breast bleeding and pain), so I'm wondering what else I could try. Thanks so much for your post!
I’m not 100% sure on the collagen, it was more something a couple of women had mentioned…maybe I should try the biotin again. Oh another good thing for pain externally or internally but you’d want to read up on it first, is DMSO liquid. It’s also very healing for cancer.
I prefer the one on Amazon that is listed as having no odor. It’s great topically for pain anywhere on the body, including the breast. I’ve had it work in minutes for pain and people swear by it. You can look on Amazon under some of the reviews, people have exceptional experiences with it.
It doesn’t mix great with oil, but I’ve mixed it with coconut oil or something anyway just so I’m not putting it directly on my breast. It can sting just slightly at first, but nothing terrible. I know other people mix it with other things but I can’t think of any at the moment!
Just be careful with it, it’s a carrier, so it will transport any other liquid or anything you have on your skin at the time into your body. So you’d also want to be sure you don’t have any makeup or other products or residue on your skin beforehand (unless you want it to go deeper into the tissues, like certain essential oils or something safe).
Sandra, you always have such good advice. I'm wary of supplements but have continued to take omega 3 and glucosamine, and a probiotic, especially when I'm away and can't get kefir.
"The FDA said the amount of biotin can vary significantly among different products. Consider that the daily recommended allowance (DRA) for biotin is 0.03 mg and that amount does not typically cause interference in lab tests." Please note that .03 mg is equal to 30 mcg. My multivitamin, for example, contains 45 mcg of biotin which is more than the DRA but, presumably not high enough to interfere with lab measurements of my tumour markers which seem to always reflect changes in my treatment.
"The FDA said some supplements, particularly those labeled to benefit hair, skin and nails, may have high levels of biotin, which may not always be clear from the name of the supplement. FDA is aware of many supplements containing 20 mg of biotin, and some containing up to 100 mg per pill, with recommendations to take multiple pills per day. Supplements containing high biotin levels may interfere with affected lab tests, the agency explained."
"Sufficient information is not available to know if stopping biotin consumption for any number of hours prior to testing will prevent incorrect test results. If a consumer had a lab test done and they are concerned about the results, they should speak to your healthcare provider about the possibility of biotin interference."
I added the bolding to emphasize specific points. My reading of the article is, however, that this is a caution with limited supportive research findings to date.
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