Forum Discussion
Permanent Hair Loss?
I'm wondering if others like me have ended up with a degree of permanent hair loss?
I've always had thick hair. No longer. I had AC followed by Docetaxel and now 15 months after the end of those treatments I have thin, whispy hair with a high bare forehead like the typical male partial baldness pattern. It's horrible. I don't mind having short hair but what I've been left with is this super fine curly sometimes frizzy stuff that mats like felt where my head rubs against my pillow at night - and that's the good bits. I wish I could grow a fringe again. I'm so sad to have lost my hair perhaps forever. Nobody told me it was forever. I can't feel good about my appearance any more I don't feel professional at work. I avoid mirrors.
I recently got hold of some Rogaine like men use for male pattern baldness. My oncologist says he doesn't expect it to do anything but no harm in trying. The advice is that after about 18 months it's not going to change much. The problem seems to have been the Docetaxel just destroys the hair follicles. I wish there was an answer. I was told my hair would grow back. I'm glad to be alive, but this is very hard to deal with.
I've always had thick hair. No longer. I had AC followed by Docetaxel and now 15 months after the end of those treatments I have thin, whispy hair with a high bare forehead like the typical male partial baldness pattern. It's horrible. I don't mind having short hair but what I've been left with is this super fine curly sometimes frizzy stuff that mats like felt where my head rubs against my pillow at night - and that's the good bits. I wish I could grow a fringe again. I'm so sad to have lost my hair perhaps forever. Nobody told me it was forever. I can't feel good about my appearance any more I don't feel professional at work. I avoid mirrors.
I recently got hold of some Rogaine like men use for male pattern baldness. My oncologist says he doesn't expect it to do anything but no harm in trying. The advice is that after about 18 months it's not going to change much. The problem seems to have been the Docetaxel just destroys the hair follicles. I wish there was an answer. I was told my hair would grow back. I'm glad to be alive, but this is very hard to deal with.
46 Replies
- Hi Katie, you have every right to be upset.Its docetaxol and we should be warned that there is a possibility of permanent baldness with this drug. A group of women in America (taxotears)are trying to take legal action against the drug company. my hair took so long to start growing back after that drug that I feared the worst- I know how you are feeling. My hair eventually grew back ok,although a little thinner on one side. My boob won't grow back though! We pay very high prices to rid ourselves of cancer.We are supposed to shut up and be grateful we are alive but then that just adds guilt to the mix of emotions.We learn to adjust but we are all broken dolls who can still love and be loved.
- After the initial shock and grief over losing my breast I got over it within a year and haven't looked back. Hair is very different. I was fine with being bald while on chemo. I was in the experience of cancer treatment and that was part of the deal. I 'knew' it was only temporary and it would grow back because that's what the doctor and the nurses told me. The stress began when months kept going by and no hair was growing. Then I started to panic and everyone around me kept telling me not to worry and that it was coming back and they thought it was growing and I should stop being stupid. That went on and on. I knew I was stuffed and all my worries were minimised like I was stressing over nothing again. I had to go to my daughter's wedding looking terrible. Even my psychologist said, 'It's only hair'. Who says that? People with hair say it.
- You are yourself Katie. Maybe not your old self, but you are still you. I'd be pissed off too. I was fine getting around bald, but there was always the expectation that I'd get hair back once treatment finished. Losing tits is different, you know they are gone for good. Still me though. Ok, maybe a grumpier version, but my heart and soul is still the same.
As for psychologists, you need to shop around. Seeing a shrink is like going to a restaurant--one bad meal doesn't mean you can't get a good one somewhere else and everyone likes something different anyway. Do any of the ladies you have met on FB have recommendations of who may be more sympathetic? They are probably in different parts of the country, but it may be worth asking if you haven't already. I guess it's worth pointing out that a good practitioner may not necessarily understand or empathise with your situation, but they will be able to help you build some tools to help you manage how it affects you. Marg xxx - Sorry to hear about your hair woes ladies. Alive, yes, but I thonk all of us are grappling with unhappy changes to our bodies in some way or another. Some more than others, I think. I really hope you find a solution @KatieT xxx
- What I used is sunsilk the black bottle it helps hair grow quicker my hair has come back but its short I look like a male or lesbian it has changed me I dont like the new me all the best xx
- One thing I haven't looked into yet is microneedling. I'm going to do a bit of research and see if it's worth a try if I can afford it.
We really become vulnerable to every crackpot idea in the desperation to get back to normal. I'm like my mother in law used to be with trashy advertising magazines and wasting good money on snake oil and whatever else comes along. I don't know how to just give up and accept that I will never be myself again. I did actually get referred to a psychologist a year ago. She had no idea what this feels like. It was really alienating actually to realise that almost nobody understands, not doctors, not most other cancer patients, and not even the psychologst. It doesn't happen to them. I've found about four other women on facebook who have been struggling with the same thing after the same drug and that's been good for me. - Ah, bugger. The still alive bit is good, but I'm sad that you are still in the same situation with your hair. This really is a shit of a disease. Marg xxx
- I've come back a year after I posted this topic to have a look. My hair has not grown back. I've tried everything I could get my hands on. I've paid a huge amount of money for medications and I still do, just in case something works. They don't. I look old. I feel old. I am getting used to being a different person though - one who doesn't go to the hairdresser with friends, one who never gets to look nice. That's me. But still alive.
