[j stepp]

Hair loss & white blood cells

by j stepp on Mon Dec 17, 2012 9:43 pm

I will be starting on Revlimid/ Dex. and Velcade .... I am planning on donating my hair to locks of love which requires that I harvest my hair before the chemo starts.... should I go ahead and have my head shaved after this or does it take a while for your hair to start falling out? My cousin has breast cancer and she is taking a shot once a week to boost her white blood cells... is this something that multiple myeloma patients could benefit from? Thanks for any answers!

[scott011]

Re: Hair loss & white blood cells

by scott011 on Mon Dec 17, 2012 10:23 pm

The drugs you mentioned will not cause hair loss. Unless you proceed with a stem cell transplant. where you will probably require drugs that will cause hair loss. Good luck with your treatment.

[Christina1952]

Re: Hair loss & white blood cells

by Christina1952 on Mon Dec 17, 2012 11:53 pm

These drugs do not cause hair loss, at least rev/ dex doesn't !

[lys2012]

Re: Hair loss & white blood cells

by lys2012 on Tue Dec 18, 2012 11:21 am

I agree the drugs you mention (REv/ Velcade / Dex) do not make you loose your hair. So if you shave your head to donate your hair you will have a nice army cut for a while

If your treatment plan includes a stem cell transplant, then you will likely loose your hair from the other chemo used for that (cyclophosphomide and malphalan).

The shot your at talking about is called Nupegon. It is also used in multiple myeloma treatment, to boost counts, but is also a large part of the stem cell harvesting process / stem cell transplant recovery