Re: spironolactone/hair question
From: Sonnet (anonymous@obgyn.net)
Wed, 16 Jul 2003 10:51:26 -0500 (CDT)
I'm not on the spiro myself, so I'll let the other ladies who are answee
those questions for you, but I do know that a lot of women take both
Gluc. and Spiro!
It is a diuretic, but it also has the 'side effect' of blocking
testosterone. (There's some cool story about how they figured that out,
but I forget it at the moment!) If you're looking for a pretty potent
medication to counteract PCOS symptoms of excess androgens (like hair
loss, as well as facial hair and acne, etc.) this seems to be a great
choice.
I will repeat that it's a pretty potent medication though, and because
of the testosterone blocking effects it can cause extremely serious
birth defects if you get pregnant while taking it (any boy child that
was exposed to it while developing, for example, can have pretty severe
problems with genital deformities.) So if you use it, you have to be on
birth control. But if you're not TTC, don't let that scare you off -
lots of women use it with great results!
At Wed, 16 Jul 2003, Jennifer wrote:
>
>I am fairly new to PCOS....well, not the symptoms; but I was only
>diagnosed and have been on medication for 3 1/2 months. One of the
>symptoms that does worry me a lot is hair loss on my scalp. I have
>always had long hair, currently it is down to my waist. But it seems
>that every year it gets thinner and thinner, when I grab the ends there
>is less hair than a toddler's pony tail right now. It was very thick
>when I was younger, but after I got chicken pox at age 14, it started
>thinning and falling out more and more. So I always attributed it to
>the chicken pox....but now I'm realizing this may have been another PCOS
>head's up that was missed by all the doctors, just like my other
>symptoms.
>
>I thought it was hopeless unless the glucophage was able to change my
>body chemistry so much that it might correct itself. But on a few posts
>I have seen spironolactone/spiro mentioned and am now very curious. When
>I looked it up on WebMD it said it was a diuretic and didn't mention
>anything about hair issues, although it did say it may be used for
>"other" treatments. One of the other things it mentioned was that you
>should not take it if you are on diabetes meds. It didn't mention
>glucophage specifically however.
>
>Right now I'm on 300mg Wellbutrin, 1000mg Glucophage, and birth control.
>Is anyone else taking Glucophage and the Spiro? Are there any side
>effects? I'm especially worried about excess urination...am I going to
>be running to the bathroom every hour? For the ladies taking the Spiro,
>it is really working for you? I'm very excited to hear any info you can
>provide....thanks!
>
>--
>Jennifer
>
--
email always welcome: sonnet_fitz@hotmail.com
![[ PCOS Discussion Forums ]](../../images/pcos_at_obgyn.gif)