Generic Name: Spironolactone for Alopecia (spironolactone)
"I actually can’t believe it’s taken me, I don’t know how many years to find this medication! Long story short... 5 years of non-stop hair loss and thinning… 4 years on minoxidil… 10k spent on PRP and mesotherapy and nothing was working for longer than a week or two… I would call it a good hair week. Currently, I am 28 years old and single because of how low I felt about myself and how the hair loss affected my mental health. After going to see my maybe 5th private derm, she recommended trying spironolactone as a last resort as I had actually tried everything!!! I held 0 hope BUT 5 months in my parting has got 1.5mm thicker, thicker hair strands and the last 4 weeks I have had minimal hair shedding. I don’t want to get too excited as it might just be a ‘good hair month’ but if this continues I can honestly say this drug has changed my life and my mental health :)"
"Started Spironolactone for acne 3 years ago. Helped my acne, and although I always had thick hair, I never really noticed a big difference except my hair was drier over the years. THEN I STOPPED SPIRONOLACTONE!!!!! My once beautiful thick hair is almost completely gone. Exactly 3 months after stopping (and yes, I tapered down), my hair came out in clumps. Now 8 months later and still shedding handfuls, I wish I never ever started. Please, please only take it if you understand you will be taking it for life, or you will end up practically bald after it. Please post if you are experiencing similar issues."
"As a female, and years of taking an anti-migraine pill caused massive hair loss. Over time, it started coming out by the handfuls. I went to the dermatologist, and he prescribed spironolactone. I have low BP, so 25mg at first, then 50mg. Not only after a few weeks, my hairbrush didn't need a daily cleaning. My hair loss stopped completely, and my regrowth is tremendous! I had lost about 1/3 of my hair, my parts were wide. Now I have my luscious locks back, and without breakage. No more tears!"
"Spironolactone has been an absolute miracle drug for my PCOS symptoms. My dose is that I take one 100mg tablet per day. Cramps in my ovary area stopped overnight, acne on face and chest cleared up in a week, and I gained a heap of energy after about a month which has remained with me ever since. My alopecia stopped after about 3 months, and my hair started to grow back. Added bonus: decreased appetite and weight loss - I've lost 10kg this year, of which I would easily attribute 5kg to this medication alone. The only side effect was I fainted once when I first went on it (blood pressure adjustment at the start). I never want to come off this drug, it has completely improved my life for the better."
"I'm a 56-year-old female. I started experiencing hair loss about 2 years ago, due to alopecia. When it got to the point that I was wearing either a wig or a hat every day to hide my hair loss, I decided to go to the doctor. So 3 months ago, the doctor put me on spironolactone, 100 mg once daily, and also Rogaine 5%. I've done them both faithfully every day. To make a long story short, today I have a full head of hair. Just returned from the doctor and she was amazed at how fast it worked on me. I'm sold on it now!"
"I hit pre-menopause, and my formerly thick head of hair literally started falling out in clumps. Spiro arrested the loss, and my hair regrew over a year+ time. Then, I tried to go off Spiro a couple of years later, as I am on BHRT and stable now. Big mistake, after I tapered off, exactly 3 months later, my hair started coming out at a shocking rate. It is awful, I am sick to my stomach every time I wash my hair. I pick up a massive fist-sized hairball. I can just touch my head, and hair comes out. It is everywhere, all over the house, my clothes... I am back on Spiro (200mg) and praying every day for the loss to slow. I have lost nearly half my hair volume in 4 weeks :-( I wanted to post as a warning for anyone who stops Spiro...try slowly reducing over a year and in increments. Give it a good 3 months before assuming you are okay. I should have done this more gradually to avoid now losing so much hair."
"Dermatologist prescribed this for hair loss. I've been on it for 3 months and I have dramatic hair regrowth! I am so thrilled with what's growing right now. Only side effect is I get dizzy if I stand up too quick. Other than that, I'm thrilled."
"I read all these reviews before taking spironolactone, and I was nervous about side effects, but I'm so glad I started. 50mg/day taken before bed, 23 years old. I'm two weeks in, and the first couple of days I had really bad dehydration, lightheadedness, fatigue, and a little nausea. Once I started drinking water, I felt better, and back to normal in 48 hours. Peeing every half hour, but that got better as well. Now, my appetite has slightly decreased, and I can't eat a lot at once without feeling nauseous. Occasional diarrhea--balance your fiber and drink a lot of water! But it's worth it because I have inch-long hairs growing on my scalp!!! After two days, my hair felt thicker and didn't shed as much. My face is slightly less oily, and my breasts are slightly bigger, which is a good thing for me."
"I have been using spironolactone for the past 6 months. I take a total of 75mg per day (1-25mg in the morning and 2-25mg in the evening). The first month or so, I did not see any changes. By the second/third month, my hair was shedding; however, I also started to see hair growing in areas that I had none. At the six-month mark, the sprouts of hair I saw in the third/fourth month are approximately 1/2 inch long. Now, I do not see my scalp or that shiny scalp that you see on balding men. Periodically, I have experienced scalp soreness. Overall, I am very pleased with my hair growth."
"Girls, I know everyone is different, but BEWARE! I started this for acne and hair loss and have been on it for 2 years. I went from 25mg, 50mg, 75mg to 100mg. At first, all was good, I was loving my skin, but no notice in my hair. I actually noticed it was getting drier. Two years on, my hair has never been so dry, breaking, and falling more, you can see my scalp. Plus, acne is coming back. It has caused extreme weight loss, purple veins all over the back of my legs, and muscle and bone pain so bad that it hurts to walk. I had to quit my job. Mind you, I was a healthy 27-year-old female. Be careful! Oh, and your hair falls so bad when you stop it."
"I've been taking spironolactone for 6 months due to hair loss from PCOS. The first 4 months my hair continued to shed. There were many times I panicked and wanted to stop taking it, thinking it would just get worse (dose of 100 morning and night). I'm so happy I pushed through, I now have a lot of new hair growth and the shedding has stopped."
"As far as I'm concerned, Spironolactone is a miracle drug for female hair loss. It ABSOLUTELY regrows hair in addition to preventing further hair loss. I had a lot of hair loss around my crown from PCOS and after 6 months on spiro, my hair was growing back very thickly."
"As a young woman, I noticed my hair thinning. I was losing up to a hundred strands of hair just in the shower. Then I had my three children, and my hair stabilized for a while. At about 36, I started to lose hair again, and my dermatologist prescribed spironolactone. It was only about 50 milligrams daily, but it worked. My hair was still fine, but soft and full. I weaned myself to 25 milligrams and then off, all in about five years. Now I’m 55. A year ago I noticed loss again, but worse. My dermatologist put me on 100 mg daily. At first, I was dehydrated and had terrible night cramps. I increased my water consumption and don’t drink as much in the evening. Now I sleep through the night and I am cramp-free. I have noticed a dramatic change and have no concerns about my hair. Right now I take a break every three days, but will soon start to reduce my daily intake. For me, this medication is amazing, and I hope that everyone has the success I’ve had."
"I had suffered from hair loss for 3 years. I have been taking spironolactone 50mg per day for 2 weeks, and my hair stopped shedding! I tried everything, but nothing works like spironolactone. I feel free. I can wash my hair more than twice a month without feeling depressed at all about the hair falling out. Also, zero side effects so far."
"My hair started thinning and falling out. The dermatologist prescribed 100 mg of spironolactone daily. I had problems with high potassium levels, so my dosage was decreased to 50 mg daily for a month, and now I am back on the 100 mg. I do not see any increased hair growth, but it seems to have slowed down my hair loss. I have been on the medicine for 3 months."
"I am 19 years old and have female androgenetic alopecia, at an alarmingly high stage at that. This had a HORRIBLE initial shed, but it has stopped shedding, and now I have less hair falling out. I don't see any regrowth though and am using minoxidil every other day, so maybe if I used it regularly, I'd be fine. Minoxidil is causing me to grow lots of facial hair though (5% concentration), and the spironolactone is supposed to fix hirsutism, but the minoxidil is more dominating in the facial hair aspect... not giving up though because keeping hair on my head is more important than having a hairy face. I can just wax/thread facial hair."
"After many years of intermittent worrying bouts with hair loss, I noticed it getting worse onwards from 45 years to the point where I was losing 300-500 hairs at every hair wash!! Very scary and disheartening. Blood work did not explain what was happening with any particular deficiencies. Doctor suggested spiro and I've been on it now for approximately 4 months and so happy with progress so far. Didn't notice much in the way of side effects, perhaps slightly unsettled stomach for a couple of months. I will keep a watch on my kidney function as I know it can be impacted, and try to drink extra water. Can now wash hair with only approximately 50 strand loss and very little loss in between washings. Not much regrowth as yet, very much hoping it will restart very soon! Hope this helps :)"
"I have hair loss because of high DHEAs and testosterone. Girls out there, spiro is the best! I was all about natural stuff and using herbs to lower my testosterone and DHEAs, but as soon as they were working a little bit, I'd have some stressful episodes happening during my days, and cortisol would push from the other side to higher my DHEA again. I tried for one whole year and realized that nope, this doesn't work. I need to be relaxed with this issue, get my life together, and not be distracted with this. So I started using Spiro (50mg/day) and darn girl, it worked like crazy fast, like from the first week of using it! My average hair loss is about 20 hairs a day now. It's better than ever! I have a plan to take it for a year. Also, NO side effects at all. I wish this helps if you have doubts trying it! Good luck, ladies."
"My specialist has yet to diagnose me because I'm right on the line of TE and androgenic alopecia. Either way, my hair started falling out rapidly and I was horrified. I was put on 25mg of spironolactone and then increased to 100mg. This has helped me DRAMATICALLY. I've been on spironolactone for 8 months and just began 100mg 2 months ago, and I think it's safe to say 90% of my hair is back! I felt the dizziness mentioned in reviews only for the first month or so when I was taking 25mg, then I was fine. However, it has significantly lowered my sex drive, but give a little take a little. I was becoming so upset and self-conscious, and now I feel like myself again. After chopping off 4 inches of dry, brittle hair that I started with, I'm left with a thicker, healthier bob. Very, very happy."
"I've been on this medication for 4 months now. I started noticing a dramatic change in my facial hair, it's almost all gone by 90%. For my hair loss, I can say that I did see a big change, but at least I'm not losing hair like I used to. It makes me urinate a lot, but it's a normal thing. It also helped me to lose weight. No side effects until now."
"So I wasn't actually diagnosed with alopecia, but there were miniature-sized hairs on my scalp. My crown area was definitely balding, and I’d have to part my hair a certain way so that it’d be less visible! Anyways, I got it checked out in March 2018 and took a few hormone tests, and it turns out my DHEA Sulfate was on the higher side. So, my doctor prescribed me 50mg daily of spironolactone. After a few weeks, I asked if I could increase to 100mg, and I did. I have been taking 100mg for a year now and I see an incredible difference! My crown area isn't as bald - it's been filling up with more hair! A couple of days ago, I asked my doctor to increase the dosage to the maximum 200mg. I’ve heard that 200mg daily is the magical number to see more results! So far, I have not had any side effects. Just make sure you take it with food! Good luck!"
"Due to medication, lost hair every time I brushed, every time I washed, seemingly every time I touched my head!! Now, due to spironolactone, I no longer lose hair!! My plumbing is happy too. My doctor suggested I take Biotin as well. I know it will take many months for me to see new growth, but that's okay. My skin looks great too!!"
"I had been experiencing hair loss for about 2 years. I finally decided to do some research and found out about spironolactone. Spironolactone slows down the hair loss but does not help hair regrowth. I decided to try it out and went to a dermatologist to have this medicine prescribed to me. The doctor started me off with 50 mg once a day. But during my research, I found out that the effective dosage would be 200 mg a day (divided). So, I decided to do 200 mg a day. I am happy to say that my hair loss has completely stopped after two weeks of taking this medicine at 200 mg a day. I am also using Rogaine 5% twice a day. My problem is that I cannot find a dermatologist that will prescribe me a stronger dosage."
"I've been taking spironolactone 50mg for 6 months, my skin cleared up dramatically almost perfectly. It's not greasy anymore. My hair feels softer but is still coming out a little, although it does feel much healthier I don't see any amazing regrowth. I've decided to up the dose to 100mg because it doesn't hurt anymore. It was a real curve coming from 25 to 50. It hurt whenever I jumped right into 100mg when I first started. I don't pee that much either even now on 100mg, I think my body has a tolerance for it. Nothing hurts really but my stomach (not belly, but stomach right below the heart) that went away in time, the pain was more of a depleted feeling than a painful feeling. I had a little brain fog in the beginning, not anymore."
"I'm quite ambivalent about spironolactone. I started taking it in October 2019 for alopecia, and at 100 mg it does its job. My hair loss stopped, and a lot of what I lost grew back. However, since I went up to 100 mg, I started having panic attacks and general anxiety, which I didn't experience before. When I lowered the dose to 50 mg, the anxiety disappeared, but so did my hair, so I stayed on 100 mg. I also have to watch my potassium intake, if I eat too much of it, I get arrhythmia. I still recommend trying it if you suffer from hair loss and if nothing else worked for you. It is a lifelong commitment, though."
Aldactone, CaroSpir
Aldactone
