[riptide53]

I was recently tapered off sertraline after being on the highest dose daily for at least ten years. It's now been four months and thankfully haven't had the awful discontinuation symptoms and syndromes many others have had, but am wondering if discontinuing the zoloft has been the cause for hair loss. I once had a beautiful thick healthy head of hair, but within three or four months have half the head of hair I once had. Any ideas/thoughts on this?

[Rohag]

I have seen reports of sertraline-associated hair loss (PubMed example), but always (?) during and not post-treatment.

???

[still_crazy]

i hate to say it, but...'expect the unexpected." ugh.

i had hair loss on meds. i ditched the meds without a taper (not good), and the hair loss got much, much worse. now...

im on the miracle meds, and my hair is thick and lush. "this too shall pass..." hopefully.

major stress in your life? you don't have to answer here (obviously...), I'm just asking. i think tapers and sudden discontinuation of cns/psych drugs can be a big, big stressor. not to shame you...far from it. its just...

the ssri drugs, in particular, seemed to provide a "cushion" of sorts. emotional novocaine, is I believe how some experts have described ssri treatment. rip out the novocaine...what happens?

antioxidants helped me. massive doses of b-complex, biotin, various minerals such as zinc and selenium, now and then a liquid trace mineral supplement. that last one i have to put in water and...not tasty. but probably worth the effort. some people swear by BioSil, Verisol, and/or topical treatments, such as copper peptides.

try to be kind to yourself and your hair, too. i had a friend whose hair loss improved markedly when she switched from conventional hair dyes (at home, now and then in the salon) to henna. it wasn't just breakage, either...her hair was coming out, big time. weird thing...she did -not ever-show an allergic reaction on those patch tests. just something to think about.