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Suggest Treatment For Hair Loss And Fatigue
Question: Ive been loosing hair for the past 6 minths and feeling very fatigued. Ive been taking topamax for the past 1.5 years with an increase to 75mgs twice a day a year ago for migraines on top of verapamil in January and Botox in April. Hormone levels are fine, ANA came back negative, my sed rate came back at 19, ferritin at 39.9 and ive attached the results for my SPEP. What could be causing this?
Brief Answer:
Cause of symptoms
Detailed Answer:
Good evening
Thank you for writing on health care magic
Well, I would like to ask you a few more details before commenting further. I understand the autoimmune work up for you has been negative so far which is a good sign. But since you are losing hair and have a lot of fatigue, will like to investigate further
1. Any history of oral ulcers/rashes over the face /joint pains
2. Any history of altered sleep
3. Any history of Forgetfullness/irritability?
4. Any history of dry eyes or dry mouth?
5. Are your stress levels are high??
6. Has your thyroid levels and Vitamin D levels been checked??
From your reports I have seen it does not look like inflammatory process going on. So we need to figure out if it is a metabolic cause or some other process going on?
As per your SPEP report, it is totally normal. So you need not be worried about it. You have a high albumin which is essentially a good thing. If the globulin fraction was higher than the albumin one, we need to be more concerned but that is normal in your case.
Hope the information was useful
Do let me know these queries. Would try to sort it out for you
REgards
Dr Naval
Cause of symptoms
Detailed Answer:
Good evening
Thank you for writing on health care magic
Well, I would like to ask you a few more details before commenting further. I understand the autoimmune work up for you has been negative so far which is a good sign. But since you are losing hair and have a lot of fatigue, will like to investigate further
1. Any history of oral ulcers/rashes over the face /joint pains
2. Any history of altered sleep
3. Any history of Forgetfullness/irritability?
4. Any history of dry eyes or dry mouth?
5. Are your stress levels are high??
6. Has your thyroid levels and Vitamin D levels been checked??
From your reports I have seen it does not look like inflammatory process going on. So we need to figure out if it is a metabolic cause or some other process going on?
As per your SPEP report, it is totally normal. So you need not be worried about it. You have a high albumin which is essentially a good thing. If the globulin fraction was higher than the albumin one, we need to be more concerned but that is normal in your case.
Hope the information was useful
Do let me know these queries. Would try to sort it out for you
REgards
Dr Naval
Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
Thank you for getting back to me! Here are my answers ro those questions:
1. No history of of oral ulcers, ive never had rashes over my face but always had redness over my checks and nose that i havent been able to cover up with powder foundations, and i have dealt with joint pain on and off, mostly at night trying to sleep if ive been "more active" i.e. Grocery shopping
2. No altered sleep, almost always sleep 8:30pm-5am although its been a little harder lately to stay up even to 8:30 but i usually wake up earlier
3. The only history of irritability was towards the end of my time at my last job in May, im now at a new one. No history of forgetfullness.
4. No history of dry eyes or dry mouth
5. My stress levels are normal, in February they were higher due to death in the family and dificulties at work but not extremely high
6. My thyroid levels were checked in January and were normal but not recently and i havent had my Vitamin D levels checked, however i do take a vitamin D supplement every evening.
Im happy to hear about the SPEP because last year my dad was diagnosed with chronic myelogenic leukemia and that was the biggest thing of concern
1. No history of of oral ulcers, ive never had rashes over my face but always had redness over my checks and nose that i havent been able to cover up with powder foundations, and i have dealt with joint pain on and off, mostly at night trying to sleep if ive been "more active" i.e. Grocery shopping
2. No altered sleep, almost always sleep 8:30pm-5am although its been a little harder lately to stay up even to 8:30 but i usually wake up earlier
3. The only history of irritability was towards the end of my time at my last job in May, im now at a new one. No history of forgetfullness.
4. No history of dry eyes or dry mouth
5. My stress levels are normal, in February they were higher due to death in the family and dificulties at work but not extremely high
6. My thyroid levels were checked in January and were normal but not recently and i havent had my Vitamin D levels checked, however i do take a vitamin D supplement every evening.
Im happy to hear about the SPEP because last year my dad was diagnosed with chronic myelogenic leukemia and that was the biggest thing of concern
Brief Answer:
FAtigue and hair loss
Detailed Answer:
Good evening XXXXXXX
Sorry for the late reply. Just finished my shift
Well, I have gone through your reply. IT doesnt sound anything too serious as per your history and the lab investigations. There are very less chances of an autoimmune disorder and I rarely doubt about any suspicion of cancer either
As for your hair loss, you should consider giving it a shot at multivitamins and minerals. Zinc tablets are available which are known to help in hair growth along with Vitamin A and E. You can try it for 3 months and see if the response comes
As per the fatigue, it can be attributed to many causes. One thing I am not sure of, on how strong of medications you need for prevention of migraine. Long use of topimarate ( topamax) is known to cause generalized slowing along with body aches and fatigue. So you should discuss this issue out, if you can cut down on the dose or maybe switch to some other drug.
Verampil is mostly used for cluster headaches than Migraine. Propanolol and ergotamine are the drugs which help for migraine, but if you are doing good at it we need not change it. But yes, topiomarate can cause a lot of side effects in long run. So rather than searching for a new diagnosis, I would suggest we switch the drug or reduce the dosage and see if you get better with it.
Continue with Vitamin D supplements as it will help combat your fatigue
I hope the information was useful
Do let me know for more queries
REgards
Dr Naval
FAtigue and hair loss
Detailed Answer:
Good evening XXXXXXX
Sorry for the late reply. Just finished my shift
Well, I have gone through your reply. IT doesnt sound anything too serious as per your history and the lab investigations. There are very less chances of an autoimmune disorder and I rarely doubt about any suspicion of cancer either
As for your hair loss, you should consider giving it a shot at multivitamins and minerals. Zinc tablets are available which are known to help in hair growth along with Vitamin A and E. You can try it for 3 months and see if the response comes
As per the fatigue, it can be attributed to many causes. One thing I am not sure of, on how strong of medications you need for prevention of migraine. Long use of topimarate ( topamax) is known to cause generalized slowing along with body aches and fatigue. So you should discuss this issue out, if you can cut down on the dose or maybe switch to some other drug.
Verampil is mostly used for cluster headaches than Migraine. Propanolol and ergotamine are the drugs which help for migraine, but if you are doing good at it we need not change it. But yes, topiomarate can cause a lot of side effects in long run. So rather than searching for a new diagnosis, I would suggest we switch the drug or reduce the dosage and see if you get better with it.
Continue with Vitamin D supplements as it will help combat your fatigue
I hope the information was useful
Do let me know for more queries
REgards
Dr Naval
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Above answer was peer-reviewed by :
Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar
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