I was diagnosed in July 2008, had 4x FEC, 4x Tax, surgery & 15 Rads. Started Tamoxifen in March 09. Still wearing wig much to my disgust! My hair is very very thin on top. I saw my onc last week and asked if there was any other drug i could go on to give my hair a chance. I’ve now started Zolodex, which She agreed to let me try for 3 months. She thinks my [lack of] hair growth isnt due to Tamoxifen, but prior to loosing my hair in August 08, it grew like weeds!!
So am giving it a chance - will keep you all posted.
I am on Arimodex, and I am having aching legs and joints, and my hair is getting very thin. I used to have beautiful thisk hair, and it came back nice and curly after the chemo, but not the curls ahve gone and it is thinner - If I stopped the arimadex would it start growing properly again - it is all very detressing - people say that thin hair is better than no hair at all, but I amnot happy with my very thin hair.
The drug company says hair loss is rare, but they are absolutely wrong. My hair is thinning in the FIRST MONTH of taking it, and the number of posts on the Internet indicate it is a very common side effect.
Of course they don’t want to admit how prevalent the effect is.
Most patients don’t realize the connection between Tamoxifen and their hair loss to even report it.
My hair dresser warned me it might fall out, as her friend’s hair did fall out/thin greatly. I have found keeping my hair coloured has helped the condition in general, to be better. My hairdresser recommended it too. As soon as it starts getting unmanageable, thinning, or the roots show through (about every 4 - 5 weeks now) I re-colour it.
Hello everyone, am glad I have found this community whilst searching on google to some answers on my hair being so fine.
I too am on Tamoxifen and soon to start using Arimidex.
I was diagnosed with breast cancer beginning 2013 and had constructive surgery on my breast as well as 6 months of chemotherapy and 1 month radiotherapy. After all my hell my hair has grown back too thin and falls out often. My eyelashes still fall off and my eyebrows are not as thick as they used to be before all my treatments.
My question is the following, is it normal whats happening to my hair? right now am waiting to recieve a hair filler call Topikk and am willing to give it a try for the top of my head where I can see right through my thining hair.
I am working and am using a natural wig which I purchased from Japan online and hardly anyone knows it as a wig, but to be honest if I could find a way of going natural with concealing my thin hair and willing to give it a go.
I would appreciatte advice as well as input if this is normal during tamoxifen and if arimidex will be less awful than tamoxifen?
I hope to hear from you all soon 
Has anyone tried Regaine for women ,was recommended on an American site for hair loss connected with Tamoxifen, supposed to stop it getting any worse anyway.It is obviously alot more common side effect than the manufacturers want us to believe.Only been taking it 6 weeks and I have receding hairline!!
Hi Jules, from what I can gather the hair loss is not permanent ,but will continue for at least the first year of using these drugs then maybe settle down a bit ,you seem to have had the opposite effect however.I am bathing in my own hair at the moment and finding it very depressing to the point where I am considering stoping the Tamoxifen as it is affecting how I feel about myself. I only get a very small percentage gain from the Tamoxifen but even so I feel worried about not doing all I can to stop reoccurrence,can’t win really !Good luck with new meds.
Yeh ,it’s not fun is it!!!I looked at Rogaine it is very labour intensive twice a day and can be 3 or 4 months to see any results but if you can be bothered may be worth a try.
Thanks Jules,I have been taking Biotin and using Nioxin shampoo for past 3 weeks and hair loss does appear to have slowed down.Spoke to G.P about it and she said could be like when you are pregnant and suffer hair loss an initial reaction to the changes of hormone balance.She said that although hair is breaking/dropping out new hair is also growing so watch this space (or should I say hairline)!!
I have found my joint pain settled down after a while,I have been on Tamoxifen since beginning of August.So hard putting something in your mouth every day that you know causes you problems but hopefully the side effects will be liveable with as I don’t want to repeat this experience in a hurry .Try the Nioxin it’s not too bad price wise if you shop around, recon a bottle will last at least a month ,I have plenty left after 3 weeks, but only have short hair.
You should be very carefull what products and medicamentation you take, because it can cause a various of diffrent problems, apart from the ones you have.
If you started taking something and noticed that you start to loose hair, then you should immediately stop taking that product. In many cases it will stop hair loss, but maybe it has triggered a chain reaction in the body and you need to take some measures to prevent and stop hair loss.
A good friend of mine had a bad encounter with hair loss, but after reaseaching and dedicating to a treatment, he finally defeated hair loss and started to grow hair back again.
His story is amazing, you should defenitely check it out.
Has anyone suffered hair thinning when taking anastrazole? I have been on it for 7 weeks and after a couple of weeks my hair went very dry and looked like straw. Now 5 weeks later I am losing a lot of hair whenever I brush it. I have never noticed this before I started taking anastrazole. My oncologlist has told me to stop taking anastrazole for a month to see if things improve and if they do then I can swap to tamoxifen. I am worried that tamoxifen will have the same effect on my hair. Eileen.
Yes, Eileen 2 of the ladies on the rads thread have suffered hair loss on antrazole .It can be a factor with both meds because it affects the Oestrogen production or how your body responds to Oestrogen.I guess you could react differently to Tamoxifen though?My hair loss has settled down this could have happened anyway or may be due to the shampoo/supplements I am using.
That’s exactly how I felt Eileen, had visions of having 3 permed pink curls!!!Glad you have finished your rads and feel ok.We have started a moving on thread " onwards in October" if you want to join us.Good luck with your hair, it’s horrible to see it falling out, but as someone else said hair thinning is a side effect but not going bald so try not to get too worried .
So far Nioxin shampoo/conditioner and biotin supplements appear to have stopped it getting any worse ,watch this space as they say!!Been using them both for a month.
Good luck!!Let me know if you discover any miracle cures!!Yes, Biotin is just a B vitamin supplement that is known to help with hair and nail growth you can get it from health food shops etc
Well it’s not getting dramatically worse think it has slowed down, you could be right re biotin and hair in other places, my beard is coming on nicely !!!Hairdresser cut hair a bit differently to disguise more sparse areas !!!It is depressing isn’t it, but not as depressing as having BC again so I am hoping it will settle down .
BRAC 1 Triple Negative Diag. 2006 Left Breast Lumpectomy/Rads- Stage 1, 1 mm, No Nodes Involved
BRAC 1 ER+PR+ HER2- Diag. 2012 Right Breast Lumpectomy/Rads-Stage 1, 9 mm No Nodes involved
Hysterectomy–done 25 years ago—age 63 now
I had been on Tamoxifen since Nov. 2012, but was changed to Femara on Oct. 22, 2015. I was having severe anxiety and nerve issues & some hair loss with the Tamoxifen. With Femara hair began to fall out within a couple days and my long, very thick hair is now a wispy mess of fly-away hair with thin strands that are invisible when held. At least 50 hairs (I counted) come out each time I brush; what’s left gets oily in a day or two. I am stopping the Femara today until I see my oncologist on Jan. 5th. In addition, I have the shakes about 5-8 times a day, cry many, many times a day, am jittery, can’t think clearly or logically, have joint and bone pain plus sharp, shooting pains, and the like. I am torn about whether to go back on Tamoxifen since I had depression and nerve issues, plus some hair loss with it too. Any advice would be welcome!
Only been on Tamozifen for a month and loosing lots of hair. I am a hairdresser by trade and know its not a normal amount. I am starting my Rads after Xmas and that can cause hair thinning too 
I am going to start using Nioxin shampoo and conditioner as it is especially for hair loss so fingers crossed!
I’ve been on Tamixifen for about 3 weeks and have noticed my eyelashes are thinning. Has anyone else had this problem? My hair doesn’t seem to be thinning. Yet.