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Can Letrozole Cause Hair Loss

How Long Do Femaras Side Effects Typically Last

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Mild side effects of Femara can usually go away within a few days or a couple weeks. But serious side effects are more likely to last longer. Its possible that any side effect of Femara may last throughout your treatment. Some side effects, such as osteoporosis , will not get better on their own, even after you stop taking Femara.

How long side effects last can vary from person to person. If you experience side effects that dont go way or interfere with your daily life, talk with your doctor or pharmacist.

Learn more about some of the side effects that Femara may cause.

Chemotherapy And Hair Loss

Chemotherapy destroys cancer cells by interfering with their ability to divide and grow.

It can affect healthy cells throughout the body such as cells in the hair follicles. This is why chemotherapy can make your hair fall out.

As well as the hair on your head, this can also affect your body hair including eyebrows, eyelashes, nasal and pubic hair, and chest hair for men.

Not all chemotherapy will make your hair fall out. Some drugs dont cause any hair loss and some cause hair to thin. However, others make hair fall out completely.

How much hair you lose will depend on the type of drugs you are given and the dose. Drugs that are given in smaller doses on a weekly basis or are taken by mouth are less likely to cause hair loss.

If you are receiving a combination of chemotherapy drugs you are more likely to have hair loss. Your treatment team will talk to you about your treatment and how likely you are to lose your hair.

Caring For Hair That Grows Back

When your hair begins to grow back, it will be much thinner and more easily damaged than your original hair. It may also be a different texture or color. The following tips may help you take care of the hair that grows back.

  • Limit washing your hair to twice a week.

  • Massage your scalp gently to remove dry skin and flakes.

  • Use a wide-tooth comb instead of a brush for your hair. When styling your hair, limit the amount of pinning, curling, or blow-drying with high heat.

  • Avoid permanent or semi-permanent hair color for at least 3 months after treatment ends.

  • Avoid curling or straightening your hair with chemical products such as permanent wave solutions until it all grows back. You may need to wait up to a year before you can chemically curl or straighten their hair. Before trying chemical products again, test a small patch of hair to see how it reacts. You can also ask your hairdresser for suggestions.

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Those Most And Least Likely Drugs To Have This Side Effect Of Cancer Treatment

does femara cause hair loss

To many, hair loss is one of the more dreaded side effects of chemotherapy for cancer. An estimated 65% of patients undergoing classic chemotherapy experience what doctors call alopecia. But while some chemotherapy medications almost always result in such hair loss, others typically cause minimal hair loss.

Other factors related to chemo can affect hair loss as well, such as the dose of the drug given. Of course, effectively treating your cancer is the top priority. But knowing about this potential in advance can help you prepare for it. Fortunately, there are options available to help people cope with this symptom.

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Hormonal Changes In Women

There are several times in life when the hormones of a woman can shift significantly. Some of these instances can actually go back to normal once the event is over. However, there are some that will not go back to normal because it is a permanent natural shift. But there are situations when the hormones should have evened out but stay in a state of imbalance and could cause hair loss or other issues until it is resolved.

Side Effects Not Requiring Immediate Medical Attention

Some side effects of letrozole may occur that usually do not need medical attention. These side effects may go away during treatment as your body adjusts to the medicine. Also, your health care professional may be able to tell you about ways to prevent or reduce some of these side effects.

Check with your health care professional if any of the following side effects continue or are bothersome or if you have any questions about them:

More common

  • Bad, unusual, or unpleasant taste and thirst
  • being forgetful
  • swelling or inflammation of the mouth

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Are You Looking For A Way To Grow Your Hair Quickly

Sticking to the right vitamin regimen can actually work wonders for your hair growth, while helping to address menopausal symptoms and increasing overall well-being.

A whole host of vitamins and minerals support the well-being of your luscious locks. When it comes to vitamins for hair health and growth, keep vitamins D, B, A, C, and E at the ready. Dont forget about the importance of zinc and fulvic acid, either, when it comes to maintaining cell health and balancing hormones.

B vitamins are essential when it comes to vitamins for hair growth and health. The B vitamin biotin, in particular, is essential when it comes to preventing hair loss and promoting keratin production. These vitamins can also aid in the production of red blood cells, which are important nutrient transmitters to hair follicles and head tissues. They are water-soluble, making for easy ingestion.

Support your vitamin regimen with a diet rich in B vitamins. You can find biotin most prevalently in meat, but it is also in certain fruits, vegetables, and even grains.

While it is possible to source a lot of these vitamins from common foods, your physician may also suggest bolstering your diet with supplements. BodyLogicMDs Cosmedix vitamins are a good source of B vitamins and promote healthy hair, skin, and collagen formation with appropriate amounts of biotin, saw palmetto, and other phytonutrients.

Looking After Your Hair During Breast Cancer Treatment

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If chemotherapy doesnt cause hair loss, it may make it brittle, dry or straw-like, so its a good idea to treat your hair as gently as possible. Hormone therapy can also cause the hair to thin and feel fragile.

Due to its structure, African and Caribbean hair is the most vulnerable to damage of all hair textures so it is recommended to take special care and use specific products.

Hair care tips

The following tips may be helpful for all hair types:

  • Use a mild, unperfumed shampoo and conditioner
  • Try not to wash your hair more than twice a week or less than once every ten days
  • Use warm rather than hot water
  • Pat your hair dry rather than rubbing it
  • Brush or comb your hair gently with a soft hairbrush or wide tooth plastic comb
  • Massage the scalp to improve the blood supply to the hair follicles

Things to avoid

You may want to avoid the following to help protect your hair:

  • Overly tight plaits or braids as they may cause tension and this may damage your hair
  • Using elastic bands to tie back hair
  • Hair colours and dyes, perms, relaxers and other products containing strong chemicals
  • Products containing alcohol, such as hairspray, which can irritate the scalp
  • Excessive heat from hair straighteners, hairdryers, hot brushes and heated rollers
  • Hair extensions, weaves and braids as these can weaken the hair

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High Blood Pressure And High Cholesterol

Letrozole can cause high blood pressure in some people. Your GP will be able to monitor and treat this if necessary.

It may also cause the level of cholesterol in the blood to rise, although this doesnt usually need treatment. If you have a history of high cholesterol you may want to discuss this with your specialist or GP.

Vaginal Bleeding Or Dryness

This treatment can cause vaginal changes. You may have bleeding when you start this treatment, or if you change to it from another treatment. If bleeding continues for more than a few days, tell your doctor or nurse.

You can use non-hormonal creams, gels or lubricants to help with vaginal dryness and any discomfort during sex. You can buy these from a chemist, or your doctor can prescribe them. We have more information about cancer and sex.

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Side Effects After Stopping Letrozole

Side effects caused by letrozole will be different for each person. You may find your side effects reduce after stopping letrozole, for others they may continue after treatment finishes.

You may also experience side effects caused by other treatments or individual circumstance, such as the menopause. If you’re worried about any long term side effects after stopping letrozole, speak to your treatment team or GP.

If you have any worries or questions about taking or stopping letrozole, you can to talk through your concerns.

Does Femara Cause Anxiety Or Depression

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Although theyre not common side effects, in some cases, Femara can cause anxiety or depression.

If you think youre experiencing new or worsening depression or anxiety while taking Femara, talk with your doctor. They can help determine if you should keep taking Femara or switch to a different treatment.

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How Does Dht Cause Hair Loss

The androgens are actually known as hair growth hormones because they have anabolic effects on human hair. However, hair follicles at certain body sites respond negatively to DHT a phenomenon is known as the androgen paradox.

DHT stimulates facial and body hair growth, but also it activates several negative mediators in the human scalp, which cause the shrinking of the hair follicles. The hair gradually thins out leading to baldness.

The levels of DHT can increase if 5- reductase activity and T are high. However, increased sensitivity of its receptors in the hair follicle can speed up hair loss and lead to alopecia even if DHT levels are normal.

Evidence suggests that the sensitivity of these androgen receptors is largely determined by genetics

Hair Loss Seen In 1 Of 3 Women With Breast Cancer Receiving Endocrine Therapy

Washington, DCHair loss is a well-known side effect of chemotherapy, but alopecia can also occur with endocrine therapy. Endocrine therapyinduced alopecia has received much less attention than chemotherapy-induced alopecia, and many clinical trials of endocrine therapy do not report the incidence of alopecia. The good news is that ETAL is generally mild, and responds to topical and oral drugs.

In the adjuvant setting, about two-thirds of patients with breast cancer will receive endocrine therapy. There are no controlled studies of the incidence of ETAL, but recent surveys suggest that up to 30% will have some degree of hair loss with endocrine therapy, said Mario E. Lacouture, MD, Director, Oncodermatology Program, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York City, at the 2017 annual meeting of the Multinational Association of Supportive Care in Cancer.

ETAL has a different clinical presentation than chemotherapy-induced alopecia. ETAL is usually milder in severity, and tends to be localized at the frontal hairline, Dr Lacouture said.

A survey of 868 patients receiving endocrine therapy with an aromatase inhibitor or tamoxifen found hair loss in 22.4% and hair thinning in 31.8%. A separate case history series of 15 patients receiving tamoxifen and an aromatase inhibitor found tapering of the hair shaft, he noted.

Patterns of Hair Loss

Quality of Life and Hair Loss

The hair care industry is a $37 billion industry in the United States, he explained.

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Why Chemo Causes Hair Loss

Hair loss is very common during chemotherapy for breast cancer as well as other cancers, though some drugs and methods of administration are more likely than others to disrupt hair follicles.

Chemotherapy drugs work systemically by interfering with the division and growth of rapidly growing cells.

While these drugs can be effective in eliminating cancer cells, they also damage normal cells that divide rapidly. This includes hair follicles , cells in the digestive tract , and cells in bone marrow .

The keratinocytes in the hair follicle divide faster than many malignant cells, and they have a good blood supply that delivers chemotherapy agents to them efficiently. Their fast metabolism also puts them under oxidative stress, which a chemotherapy drug can enhance to the point that the cell dies.

Whether or not you develop hair loss, and the degree to which you do if so, depends on a number of factors including:

  • The dose of chemotherapy: Higher doses generally have a greater risk for hair loss.
  • How often the chemotherapy is given: More frequent doses carry more risk.
  • The route of administration: Intravenous drugs are more likely to cause hair loss than oral drugs.
  • The drugs or combination of drugs you receive: Some are more likely to cause hair loss than others, and receiving a combination of drugs increases the risk.
  • Your individual makeup: Some people are more likely to lose hair than others, even with the same doses of the same drugs.

Lifestyle And Habit Changes

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If you have low estrogen levels due to a lifestyle factor for example, excessive exercise your healthcare provider may suggest making changes to increase your estrogen production.

You may need to adjust your activity level or diet. If youve experienced weight gain over time or are clinically obese, your healthcare provider may suggest losing weight. Other lifestyle changes, such as reducing your stress levels, may also help to promote optimal hormone production.

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Tell Us Your Cancer Hair

We all know about hair loss related to some cancer chemotherapy drugs. Called alopecia, it is often the most dreaded side effect of these potentially life-saving medications. Over the past 10 or 15 years, there has been huge progress in anti-nausea drugs, and many people complete months of chemo without ever vomiting. This has been a major advance in cancer care I remember all too well when we handed small basins to people as they left the infusion area. We knew some would not even get to their cars before the vomiting began.

You may have heard about cold caps, a system of wearing tight frozen caps before, during and after a chemo infusion to reduce or even prevent hair loss. This system has been fairly successful with some drugs, specifically with the Taxanes, but it does not help with many others. It is also not covered by insurance and can cost hundreds of dollars per treatment.

Chemo drugs are the main cause of hair loss, but hormonal treatments used to treat ER positive breast cancers may also result in thinning hair. This has been debated as women generally have thinner hair after menopause, but the view seems now to acknowledge this potential side effect. It does not affect everyone, and it does not result in total baldness, but it can still be very discouraging and depressing.

Has this been a problem for you? Did anything help? Share your story in the BIDMC Cancer Community.

Anastrozole And Side Effectshair Loss/thinning And Hair Regrowth

I started taking anastrozole in May 2018. The worst side effect I had was hot flashes, but I was undergoing radiation and it was a particularly hot summer here. My Dr took me off it for two weeks and I restarted it in September. I have had very few problems. The first time I had BC, I took tamoxifen and I think that bothered me more. I was anticipating problems this time. The hot flashes are goneI never had them before in my life! I have random aches and pains. One joint in my foot seems to be tender, but it is something I can easily live with. One thing I did notice was the hair thinning. I had it with the tamoxifen and now with this. It really bothered me, but has anyone else had their hair start to grow back? I had searched the internet for a natural substance to help hair growth and found castor oil. Needless to say, I was skeptical. I put it on a cotton ball and dab it lightly on the areas by my temples and my natural hair part and my hairline by my forehead. It is an easy fix if it is a fix. Recently I have noticed new hair growth in the temple areas and in my hair part. It is about an inch + long. It is not as if my hair has suddenly thickened up a lot, but there is a difference. I am not sure if I am just getting used to the medicine or if the castor oil has any effect, but there is a difference. For me, there is an improvement, so I just wanted to let you know that there may be hope for improvement for other people.

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