Wellbutrin and hair loss

[Samsays]

Hello, I posted almost a year ago about surgery related hair loss and rec'd some good advice that calmed my hair loss fears and soon after my hair re-grew and returned to normal. I have thin/fine hair, but a lot of it.

Now, almost a year later, I have another hair loss question. My regular general practitioner doctor put me on Budeprion SR 150 MG (generic for Wellbutrin) once a day to help relieve my 'mom jitters'. I have four kids and this drug really gave me some extra patience. Anyways after taking it for a couple of months I've had a ton of hair loss. I'm losing more hair now than after the hormone shifts after having a baby and it's been going on for 8 weeks in addition to a dry, flaky, and itchy scalp. I've read other horror stories about this drug and hair loss, so I threw out the bottle yesterday as I technically didn't medically need it.

My diet's great and I take hair vitamins. I've had my blood and hormones tested and they're all great too. The doctor just thinks the hair loss is related to having the stomach flu, but I don't as this is way more hair loss than I have ever experienced.

My question is, will my hair grow back? There's very noticeable thinning at the crown and sides of my head. You can actually see my white scalp now and I have to do a comb over to cover it and the comb over is beginning to not work. Even my husband noticed the thinning and he usually doesn't really notice anything different in my hair. From all the horror stories I've read online about hair loss and Wellbutrin, it seems people don't grow their hair back the way it originally was.

I was thinking about some of the topical hair loss drugs such as minoxidil, but are they safe and will I have to use it forever?

Thank you for any and all help.

[jacksonbrowne]

It's interesting that Welbutrin related hair problems affects both sexes. I myself am on 300mg Wellbutrin SR for close to 9 months now and over the time, my hair has noticeably thinned.

I'm going to talk with my doc about Wellbutrin alternatives.

[Samsays]

In my quest to understand this, I recently read that it raises the testosterone levels, thereby raising DHT (??? sorry, not well versed in hair loss lingo), that causes the hair loss. I've also read that it changes the brain's chemicals and that causes our hair to shed prematurely (brings on the shedding phase faster). And, some people, obviously me, are just more sensitive to this. The FDA seems to sweep sensitive types under the rug.

Now that I think about it, I feel rather naive. My mom, in the late 60's to 70's took tranquilizers at that was the thing doctors gave women to calm their 'nerves', and she had terrible reactions such as hives, swelling, sweating, etc. Gee, I forgot, history repeats itself.

I'm on my second week of 'detox' and feel fine, but I'm still not sure if the hair loss is slowing. Washed my hair yesterday and it shed dramatically again (another golf ball size of hair). Though the shedding does seem to be slowing between washes.

The good news is that I see baby hairs sprouting, and I'm also upping the hair vitamins and protein too.

Good luck to you with your doctor, mine swore hair loss was not related to the Wellbutrin.

[jacksonbrowne]

Are you female? Funny, in searching the web for clues, i'm seeing alot more women complaining about it. And does female hair have the same susceptibility to DHT as men? And isn't hairloss a possible side effect after child birth?


Thinig that aggravates me about my situation, is that i'm at a precarious age (31), and shedding is confined to the crown, vertex, and temples, so it's diffiicult to tell if it's genetics or meds.

I've noticed that the hair on my scalp does not grow as fast as it used to. I've been measuring strands since my last haircut to gauge growth factor and plan on using my stereo microscope to measure hair shaft diameter over different parts of the head and getting an inexpensive USB based computer scope to check density.

[Samsays]

Yes, I'm female and yes hair loss does happen after giving birth due to the change/drop in hormone levels. I've had three girls and one boy and lost a lot more hair after giving birth to the boy, but didn't lose much hair while pregnant w/him. In fact, I had a ton of beautiful long hair when I was pregnant with him in addition to gorgeous glowing skin. When I was pregnant w/my girls, I didn't notice beautiful skin and hair, just not a lot of hair fall out while pregnant.

The hair loss I've experienced after the Wellbutrin is much much worse than that experienced after pregnancies and surgeries. In addition, my hair seems drier too.