Most medications come with a pretty long list of potential adverse reactions. When a health professional prescribes a medicine, such as a beta blocker for the heart or high blood pressure, the chances are that she will focus on the drug complications that seem serious such as slow heart rate, insomnia, digestive distress, sexual difficulties or dizziness. Many doctors may consider a hair loss side effect as a minor problem. The same may be true for the diuretic hydrochlorothiazide (HCTZ). But for some people this is a very big deal. This reader shares her emotional distress.
A Hair Loss Side Effect Story:
Q. I am very upset about a side effect of beta blockers. These drugs are widely prescribed for blood pressure and other problems and a huge number of people are taking them. But they make our hair fall out! This is devastating for a woman.
I have appealed to my cardiologist to help me with this problem and she has offered to switch me from carvedilol (Coreg) to metoprolol (Toprol). If this doesn’t work, what’ll I do?
A. Beta blockers like atenolol, carvedilol, metoprolol and propranolol can lead to hair loss. No one knows how common this complication is because it has not been considered a serious side effect (by researchers and doctors). Patients have a very different perspective!).
One reader reported her experience with a different beta blocker:
“I started drastically losing my hair soon after starting on atenolol. My doctor was reluctant to take me off of it since it was working so well in lowering my blood pressure. But there are many meds to take for hypertension, so don’t let your doctor keep you on any one medication if you are experiencing side effects that bother you.
“Hair loss from atenolol IS reversible. My hair grew back completely in less than six months. It’s taken me a few years of trial and error to find the drugs that work best for my blood pressure without side effects.”
Hair Loss Side Effect Research?
We have been disappointed with the amount and quality of the research into this issue. Most everyone knows that certain chemotherapeutic drugs for cancer treatment cause baldness. Surprisingly little attention has been paid to hair thinning brought on by common medicines.
Dutch researchers have reported (Nederlands Tijdschrift Geneeskunde, May 8, 1999):
“Hairs are produced in hair follicles that have a cyclic activity. The cycles that normal hair follicles go through are the metabolically active anagen phase, the catagen transitional phase and the resting telogen phase. Loss of more than 120 hairs daily is called alopecia. Drugs typically cause a diffuse, reversible alopecia by influencing one of the cycles that hair follicles go through.”
Some of the medications discovered to cause alopecia (hair loss) by the Dutch researchers include:
- ACE inhibitors for high blood pressure
- Anticancer chemo drugs
- Anticoagulants
- Antimalaria medicines
- ARBs for high blood pressure
- Beta Blockers
- Lithium carbonate
Hair Loss Side Effect from Diuretics like HCTZ is Rarely, if Ever, Mentioned:
This reader reports a problem with HCTZ. She took us by surprise:
Q. Is hair loss a side effect of HCTZ? I had been taking triamterene for edema for over a year. When my doctor added HCTZ, I started having excessive hair loss. My family and my hairdresser both noticed. The only part of my health routine that changed was the addition of HCTZ.
A. You surprised us with this question. Most healthcare professionals perceive hydrochlorothiazide as a very safe diuretic to help lower blood pressure. Hair loss (alopecia) is not generally recognized as a side effect of this old medication.
When we checked the official FDA prescribing information, however, we discovered that alopecia (hair loss) is listed as a possible adverse reaction. Although it may be rare, you should mention this to your physician. A different diuretic or blood pressure medication might not cause the same problem.
We are sending you our Guides to Blood Pressure Treatment and Hair and Nail Care so that you will know which common drugs cause hair loss.
Please share your own experience with medications that might cause hair loss in the comment section below.
