I am a 46 year old woman who began taking Lexapro 10 mg.for stress related knots in my scapula on April 4, 2006. On May 2, 2006 when brushing my hair I noticed large amounts of hair coming out. When I would shower and wash my hair Large chunks and strands would come out like I was on Chemo. By May 14, 2006 I stopped taking the Lexapro immediatly because the hair loss was getting worse. In the beginning I was able to hide the hair loss by putting my hair up and doing a type of comb over, when I was unable to do that anymore I then had to go out and purchasee a hair piece that clipped on the top of my hair which cost me 400. I have now lost approximately 95 of my hair and have had to purchase a full wig (500). I spoke to my Doctor about the hair loss and he was convinced that the hair loss was not due to Lexapro and that I have some type of Auto Immune disease like Lupus. He did blood work up on me and everything came back normal. He advised me to take Prednisone and see a Dermatologist. I have gone on numerous message boards and i have found that others are experiencing this same side effect. This has been an extremely devestating experience for me and has been very uncomfortable for me to go out of my house looking this way. To top it off, I have been recently laid off from my position and I have had to go on job interviews feeling uncomfortable about my appearance. I have now been off the Lexapro for almost four months and my hair is slowly coming back in on top of my head (approx 14 inch) but there is none growing yet on the sides, the back of my head or underneath as of yet. I never took the prednisone that my doctor prescribed because of the many side effects that it has. Please HELP! this side effect is so devestating and others need to know about it, especially our Physicians who are handing them out like candy and our Pharmacists.
Thank you,
Annette Jones
Seal Beach, California
Updated On: Monday, August 28, 2006
I am a 46 year old woman who began taking Lexapro 10 mg.for stress related knots in my scapula on April 4, 2006. On May 2, 2006 when brushing my hair I noticed large amounts of hair coming out. When I would shower and wash my hair Large chunks and strands would come out like I was on Chemo. By May 14, 2006 I stopped taking the Lexapro immediatly because the hair loss was getting worse. In the beginning I was able to hide the hair loss by putting my hair up and doing a type of comb over, when I was unable to do that anymore I then had to go out and purchasee a hair piece that clipped on the top of my hair which cost me 400. I have now lost approximately 95 of my hair and have had to purchase a full wig (500). I spoke to my Doctor about the hair loss and he was convinced that the hair loss was not due to Lexapro and that I have some type of Auto Immune disease like Lupus. He did blood work up on me and everything came back normal. He advised me to take Prednisone and see a Dermatologist. I have gone on numerous message boards and i have found that others are experiencing this same side effect. This has been an extremely devestating experience for me and has been very uncomfortable for me to go out of my house looking this way. To top it off, I have been recently laid off from my position and I have had to go on job interviews feeling uncomfortable about my appearance. I have now been off the Lexapro for almost four months and my hair is slowly coming back in on top of my head (approx 14 inch) but there is none growing yet on the sides, the back of my head or underneath as of yet. I never took the prednisone that my doctor prescribed because of the many side effects that it has. Please HELP! this side effect is so devestating and others need to know about it, especially our Physicians who are handing them out like candy and our Pharmacists.
Thank you,
Annette
Seal Beach, California
