Hair loss from Vivelle Dot???

I had trouble with hair loss the last time I was on the dot, but I was just a few months out from surgery and I just thought it was hormonal problems and didn't relate it to the Vivelle Dot. I just started using the dot again and have noticed a lot of hair fall out. Anybody else have this? How long will it last? My hair is finally growing out after I ended up cutting it short after the last massive fallout period.

Carol, I have hair loss anytime hormones change to become balanced or imbalanced. I think its a fluctuation thing. It should curb once you become more balanced, either with or without hormones. If your estrogen/ progesterone is balanced then there are other things like thyroid that could be a factor.

yes, I wanted to chime in on having your thyroid levels checked. Be sure and ask doc to not just test, tsh, but t3 t4 too. My thyroid doc says you can't make accurate diagnosis without those levels.
My hair goes through the same kind of thing, falls out, I get my levels ok, grows back.
best
vali

Dear Carolinachick,

I am also on the Vivelle Dot 0.1

I have noticed that my hair is thicker and I do not seem to be losing anymore than normal.

My nails grow well too. My biggest problem is my skin and cystic acne that has developed since surgery...imagine that with no ovaries???

I hope you get to the root of your hair problem soon. That would be very distressing to me.

I'm sure it's just from the rapid rise in my estrogen level. I am hoping it will stop when things settle down a bit. I am feeling so much better I am not going to change anything right now!

I have had the hair loss you are describing. My dr says anytime you make changes with the hormones, this can happen to some women. It does it everytime I get off or get back on, so if you keep getting on and off and never let your body take the time it needs to adjust, it will seem like an endless thing. It seems to take 5 mos. for it to stop in my case. If you are going to get on the hrt then give it 5 mos. and it probably will stop by then.

s

Sue

Carol

I had terrible hair loss for the first few months when I was experimenting w/ all the hormones. I added the Vivelle dot to my "repitoire" in July/Aug. My hair continued to fall out until Sept/Oct and then I noticed a slowing and finally it stopped. It definitely had to do with the surgery and the changing of different hormones. I know yours will stop too. Good luck.
Sue

I had the hair loss on the Vivelle dot. And I took it for years. I hated that.

I starting using NEW HAIR solid shampoo by LUSH and after about 3 weeks it started to thicken back up and improve in volume. You might give it a try. Best of luck.

	Quote:
Originally Posted by Sweet Pea in SC My biggest problem is my skin and cystic acne that has developed since surgery...imagine that with no ovaries???

Sweat Pea,

I, too, dealt with cystic acne. I even went and had the smooth beam laser treatments. It worked....but only temporary. I would have had to keep going back every 3 weeks at $275 a session since I found my acne due to the hormones. The laser did help with scarring I had though.

For the most part, I was on a patch since having the hysteretomy. I stopped the HRTs for few months because I hated the fluctuations. The patch wasn't giving me a level dose of hormones because it wouldn't stay on (too many baths!). Being off, I had extreme symptoms of estrogen loss. Not sure if it is my age, body size, or what.

I went to the creams and they started me out on 6mg of bi-est. It was a frustrating battle of trying to find a balance with the creams, but I was able to learn what my body truly needed from overdosing myself on estrogen and knowing how I felt without. I am take 2mg of estradiol 2x day.

Towards the end of my month supply of the cream, I was noticing symptoms of low estrogen like brain fog and I started getting acne that wouldn't clear up. As soon as I got my new month supply, I definitely notice an upsurge of estrogen where the 2mg dose was a little too much. So what I think I will do is when I first get my month supply is not use as much, but then use a little more towards the end.

I know we want to be sure to be on the lowest dose possible but I've found acne is generally a sign we aren't balanced yet in our hormones. NOT that you would want to increase just to fix the acne, but are you having any other signs of being too low in estrogen? Also it has been reported that women who take oral estrogen have greater control of the acne. (As I'm sure you know the dose is generally higher because it loses some potency due to the liver breakdown, but I'm not sure how the drug companies can individualize how one metabolizes a drug. I think its all deteremined by our body. In relating to the acne, I think the reason it helps the acne is because you are getting more estrogen in an oral dose.) The choice of the method of delivery doesn't matter if it is working for you, yet you may need a little more?.....Just a thought I wanted to share....

Lovemonster: I have never had problems with the patches sticking. I use the Vivelle Dot. I am just the opposite of you, could never get a steady level with the cream. I do fine with prosterone cream, but the estrogen cream only makes me worse.