Prednisilone for Alopecia

[mykata]

HI

I was diagnosed with Alopecia and most of my hair (75%) has nearly gone.

I have low iron (and took for a while iron tabs) but this did nothing for my hair.

My dermitologist has given me Prednisiline tablets (2 per day) for 2 months (decreasing by 1/2 tab each fortnight).

I am not one for tablets especially these that are so potent.

I am scared to take them due to the possible repercussions they could have on me.

If a crystal ball could catergorically tell me that I would regain my hair by taking these tablets...then I would....but no-one can really do that.

What I am concerned about is that the side-effects making me feel and look even more worse than what I am dealing with now with the Alopecia.

What I wanted to ask was, if I were to start taking the tablets, and I felt that the adverse reactions were making me feel and look worse, could I decrease dosage straight away with view of ceasing within several days or so?

I know that ceasing the tabs straight away is not good and can cause huge probs.

My dermotologist just says take them and does not factor my other concerns even though I have discussed them with her. To change dermotologists means a 6 month wait and by then all my hair would have gone.

Do you have any info that could help me in my decision or perhaps other remedies?

Thank you

[abw15]

Hi Mykata, I lost all of my hair 15 years ago and was totally bald for 10 years. I did all the creams and meds prednisone for almost 7 years to no avail. I did go to many doctors but no one could figure out why I was loosing my hair. I had pretty much gave up everything and got some really nice wigs. Then after ten years of no hair, it just started to grow back. It took another two years for it to all grow back. I did get a few bald spots, then I would just get steriod injection at those sites. But I was not until two years ago, when I was diagnoised with anemia and ferritin level of 2. I now go to a hematologist who has given IV iron when my levels go down below 50. I have found out that for healthy hair your ferritin level should be around 70. If you are like me, I can not take enough oral iron to raise my level to 50 let alone 70 without causing problems with my stomach. So you may want to get your ferritin level checked. Most doctors do not consider low ferritin levels without low hemagloblin to cause any problems, but it does. Do some research on effects of low ferritin(by the way this is your iron store) and hair. By the way ferritin test is a special blood test so ask your doctor to do a ferritin with totoal iron test.
I wish you luck, and I know this is very stressful, but stress does not help either.

[mykata]

Dear ABW15
Thank you for your reply and informative info.
As I did mention, my iron levels are very low and this may be the case - I will go for another blood test to check the Ferritin Levels.
I did have alopecia many moons ago when I was a 9 years old. My hair all came back after a year or so and certainly did not loose as much as now - which will most certainly be all of it.
Thanks again :-)
mykata

[Dr. Joshua]

Hi - thanks for your question, and thanks for your participation abw15.

I've answered this one on the main site:
http://askdoctorjoshua.com/2007/04/02/alopecia-areata-hair-loss-prednisolone-treatment/

[mykata]

Thank You D.J;)