Hair loss like mad!

I've been tapering slowly for 4 months after initial 9 week use of benzos, and my hair has just been coming out in bunches, non stop.  Will it let up after taper is done, will I have any hair left?  I do have new baby hair coming in that I can see around my hairline, but my hair is noticeably thinner and looks like crap.  I suffer from much greater w/d issues, so hair loss seems absurd and vain to complain about.  But it is disturbing and I just wonder if others are losing hair and if those who are healed can give some feedback? 

I've had the same problem. Mind you that I have not often read about this symptom, it's rare and I think I am the most severe case I know. My hair has gotten progressively worse before withdrawal but this amounted just to it being scraggly, dry and unhealthy looking. It started to really fall out during the beginning of my withdrawal (this May). As my hair was thin to begin with, it did not take long for the receding hairline to show. I've tried all kinds of treatments but nothing has really helped. I also took different tests to see if it was not maybe testorone, prolactine, estradiol, thyroid or anemia-related but I was fine. But of course the simple explaination was stress-related - my cortisol went over the healthy limit 2.5 times. Now my hair loss rate is much reduced but still I have got only 50% of my hair left.

But please think of me as a worst case scenario, you should be soon fine!

I think Ashton states that benzos can effect your endocrine system. I had some hair loss and thinning but it's all grown back now, in fact it's now much nicer 

I think Ashton states that benzos can effect your endocrine system. I had some hair loss and thinning but it's all grown back now, in fact it's now much nicer 

in fact its much nicer!

thats great

thanks starbird

I didn't have hair less (er - yet ) but just wanted you to feel better - because I have ACNE! 

 

I think what one of the buddies mentioned about cortisol levels might have hit the nail on the head.  I get an occasional blemish before my period - but NOTHING like the full-on acne I got all at one time just in the last week.  Whatever it is in the body that can cause stress is whacking me all at once.  I know how you feel.  I know that - yes - of all the withdrawals, acne is a benign thing - but it is a visual representation of what the body must be going through.  I guess I'll know when i'm improving when that goes away! 

 

Hang in there. I lost my hair due to hormones after each of my kids birth - and it all came back in little sprouts immediately. I think this shock is a stress to our system.  But I know that getting OFF the benzos will make the entire thing go away - if not now - sooner than later. 

 

Hang in there!

Parker

Boagie- You are NOT crazy. I strongly believe it IS these meds. I have always had a very thick head of dark curly hair. I am a 33 year old man, and while I was taking Buspar and ativan earlier this year, my hair was also coming out in clumps in the shower when I would wash it! My hair was longer then and I couldn't deal with seeing it come out in stringy clumps, so I buzzed it all off, and it's just now getting sort of longer again, and it is much thicker again. (I have been benzo free for 5 week.) I, too, was worried that it was my getting older or something else physically wrong with me at first, but then my analytical side kicked in and I realized there is no way that I would go from a thick head of hair to thinning like that overnight. It would have been more gradual if it were natural. The only thing that had changed when I was losing my hair earlier this year was that I was on those meds. I don't see it listed as a side effect often, but it needs to be.

 

Also, I truly believe that chronic stress and anxiety can do this to us, and personally, when I was taking more meds and my body was chemically altered, I felt MORE anxiety too, so it could be a combination of stress AND meds. Regardless, I have high hopes that my hair will fill back in.

 

Has anyone on here had weird skin symptoms too? Like where your face is extremely dried out and peeling? My cheeks and forehead are RED some days from stubbing the dead skin off my face from the extreme dryness. It's embarrassing, and I have to believe this is the meds too, because it has improved since I stopped taking them.

Yes lots of hair loss, long strands. Normal for wd.

Yes, I had hair loss, too.  I started my taper in November of 2010 and the hair loss started in June of 2011.  So, it took awhile to kick in.  But it only last a month or 6 weeks and by now, October 30, 2011, I have lots of new hair growing all over my head.  It is 1 to 2 inches long and very thick.  Unfortunately, my hair is longer than down to my waist, so the hair I lost was very long and it will take several years for the lengths to be more the same again.  But, that is not a big deal considering the possible symptoms!

 

I have seen a lot of threads about hair loss, though I couldn't locate them with the search button, and everyone says that the hair comes back.  So, try not to worry about it and just know it will be okay!

 

Best Wishes for your Healing!

Lily

 

 

 

 

 

I had really bad hair loss when I was on a combination of: 4 mg Klonopin, 4 mg Xanax, 300mg Wellbutrin daily.  it took me 10 onths to taper off of the Klonopin and I had SEVERE withdrawal symptoms even though I ws cutting in very small increments.  When I was off the Klonopin, my ex-wife (yes I even lost my marriage through the process) took a picture of my head and I had the classic friar tuck look with little or no hair on the crown  and a very bad receding hairline.  It took me one month to get off the Wellbutrin and I suffered protracted withdrawal symptoms for two months afterwards.  FINALLY after about two months of being Wellbutrin free I noticed that my hair was coming back. I don't know if the regrowth was due to getting off the Klonopin or the Wellbutrin.  I attribute the new regrowth to a combination of both medicines being out of my system. 

 

i am currently on a much smaller dose of Xanax and titrating at a reduced rate (.25mg/week) and I have regained most of the hair I lost with only a small patch of sparse hair left on the crown of my head.  I am hoping that once I get off the xanax, and my system has recovered, I will regain my hair completely.  I will post a reply to this message once I am off the xanax to let everyone know if my hair has returned.  I wish you all well and hope for the best for all of you, I know how horrible the side effects of benzos are and what trauma they cause to our bodies.

 

Hi,

When I first started tapering I was terrified that I was going to have hair loss.  Forget all the horrifying withdrawl symptoms that  I read about that was my biggest fear.  I read a post somewhere, I am thinking that it was benzo liberty, but the poster said that applecider vinegar ingested helped them with that.  I think it was just a few tablespoons full maybe in a salad or something.  I can't stand the smell of vinegar so I resolved to eat 2 apples a day during my taper hoping that I would not get the hair loss.  ))(In my benzo brain I was substituting the apples for the apple cider vinegar.)  Well, I didn't have any hair loss.  Placebo effect or not, it worked for me. 

yep..i have this..