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Suggest Treatment For Severe Hair Loss While Treating Hypothyroidism
Question: I am a 67 year old woman who is experiencing severe hair loss. Just called my pharmacist who suspects my thyroid med Levothyroxime 150 mg daily since December, 2015. I suspect both it and Venlafaxine HCL ER two 75 mg tablets daily. Got any idea?
Brief Answer:
Hair loss can be a rare side effect of Levothyroxine and less severe but possible side effect of Venlafaxine HCL ER
Detailed Answer:
Hi dear,
I have gone through your question.
I can understand your concern.
Both an overactive thyroid and an underactive thyroid can cause hair loss. In fact, hair loss is a fairly common symptom of hypothyroidism.
If your thyroid disease is not being well controlled on levothyroxine, it is possible that you will continue to have problems with hair loss. It is not the levothyroxine per se, it’s that you may not be getting enough of the medication or you may be getting too much.
My advice is to see an endocrinologist because in my opinion you need to repeat the thyroid tests TSH,free T3 and free T4 to understand your actual thyroid function and to be sure that your dosage of Levothyroxine is right.
A less common minor side effect of Levothyroxine is hair loss; this possibility can be considered when the thyroid tests are normal.
Unfortunately, even your second medication could be the culprit here. There are a lot of case reports where Venlafaxine HCL ER can cause hair loss. It seems that hair loss could be a less severe but still possible side effect of it.
You definitely should speak to your treating doctor about this and see if there is any connection between your hair loss and your medication.
Hope my information is helpful for you.
If you have any further questions I will be happy to help.
Best regards.
Dr Elona
Hair loss can be a rare side effect of Levothyroxine and less severe but possible side effect of Venlafaxine HCL ER
Detailed Answer:
Hi dear,
I have gone through your question.
I can understand your concern.
Both an overactive thyroid and an underactive thyroid can cause hair loss. In fact, hair loss is a fairly common symptom of hypothyroidism.
If your thyroid disease is not being well controlled on levothyroxine, it is possible that you will continue to have problems with hair loss. It is not the levothyroxine per se, it’s that you may not be getting enough of the medication or you may be getting too much.
My advice is to see an endocrinologist because in my opinion you need to repeat the thyroid tests TSH,free T3 and free T4 to understand your actual thyroid function and to be sure that your dosage of Levothyroxine is right.
A less common minor side effect of Levothyroxine is hair loss; this possibility can be considered when the thyroid tests are normal.
Unfortunately, even your second medication could be the culprit here. There are a lot of case reports where Venlafaxine HCL ER can cause hair loss. It seems that hair loss could be a less severe but still possible side effect of it.
You definitely should speak to your treating doctor about this and see if there is any connection between your hair loss and your medication.
Hope my information is helpful for you.
If you have any further questions I will be happy to help.
Best regards.
Dr Elona
Note: Hope the answers resolves your concerns, however for further guidance of skin related queries consult our Dermatologist.Click here to book a consultation
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Arnab Banerjee
Answered by
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