Posted by Dr. Bob on December 15, 2002, at 21:47:53
[Posted by LB on December 15, 2002, at 1:44:17]
> Hi everyone. I've been very frustrated lately and hoping someone could help. I was recently prescribed a 20mg daily dose of extended release adderall based on concentration difficulty. I'm a college student who asked my psych. if i should consider medication to enhance my focus ability and help me with schoolwork. I have not been diagnosed with ADD. The thing is, i didn't take the adderall as it was prescibed to me daily, but rather used it when i had a lot of schoolwork to do, which in my case only ended up being a total of 6 doses on six different days, 2 different weeks. I used 3 doses within 3 consecutive dys. and then two weeks later did the same thing. My problem is that i noticed my hair has become considerably thinner. The worst was when i took a shower the last time i used it, and hundreds of hairs were shed. Likewise, i had been shedding on my clothes, bedsheets, everywhere. This has never happened to me before. I have never experienced hair thinning or excessive shedding before and have always had very thick hair. It all happened simultaneously with my adderall usage. My question is was it infact the adderall that caused my hair loss or could other factors like stress be involved? I've looked everywhere online and haven't found hair loss as a side effect of adderall. The excessive hair shedding was only mainly that one time during that stressful cramming period but my hair hasn't returned to the way it was. It's gotten a little better but it's still a lot thinner than before. I've actually noticed that when i lift my hair and look on the bottom of my hairline it's sort of receding upward. Everyone keeps telling me not to worry but i'm so upset. I haven't taken adderall since because i've been so scared of the repercussions. I've been okay with schoolwork so it makes me realize i didn't need it in the first place. But what's done is done. Has this happened to anyone using adderall? And if so, will my hair return to the way it was and in how long? Is it that premature hairs in the growing phase just fall out due to the medication or is the diameter of the hairs get smaller making the hair simply feel thinner? If anyone knows the logistics behind medication induced hair loss please write back, i'm desperate to know. Thanks for listening everybody.
poster:Dr. Bob
thread:131945
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20021210/msgs/131945.html