Medication and Hair Loss

I've been taking prescription medication on a daily basis for two years now. In the beginning, I noticed my hair falling out in the shower, but then after a few months it got better. This past April, I tried weening off of Pentasa, and after a few months of being on a lower dosage, my stomach symptoms weren't doing so well. In June, my doctor decided to put me back on the full dosage of Pentasa. It was then that my hair started coming out by the handful in the shower.

Over the past few months, my hair has gradually become thinner. Thankfully, I have always had thick hair, so my head can handle it - for now.

A few weeks ago, Isaac and I took a vacation to San Francisco. (We had so much fun!) When we were at the Painted Ladies homes, Isaac pointed our that the sides of my hairline looked to be receding a bit. He asked if it had always looked like that. You wouldn't notice it unless I had my hair pulled back in a pony tail. This got me worried.

I noticed that, yes, my hair did look to be receding on the sides fairly noticeably. Now, I'm not sure if this is solely medication or something else. I read online that this can happen from not brushing your hair on a regular basis (which embarrassingly I don't do, because I curl hair). It can also happen especially on the side where you part your hair ( I do notice it more on that side of my head).

My hair stylist suggested that I try this product called Nioxin for thinning hair. I did my research, and it seems to produce good results pretty quickly. I read that it works best if you use the shampoo, conditioner and scalp therapy serum all together. I paid 33 dollars for the package of all three products at Ulta, which seem like a good deal to me.

So, we will see how it works! I am hopeful as I have been taking a hair, skin and nails vitamin as well.

Although my stomach/Crohn's symptoms have been doing pretty well lately, these types of symptoms for a 26 year old are very difficult to endure as well. I would like to try to ween off Pentasa again before the end of the year. I am determined to be on as little prescription drugs as possible.

I chose the Nioxin system kit #6, which is for medium to coarse chemically treated hair that is noticeably thinning to you. I hope this gives me my thick, full hair back soon and makes it stop coming out in the shower!