u/c9h13nx

So for context, in September 2024 I started Wegovy and around the end of April 2025 I noticed my hair started falling out, my hair loss stopped in December 2025 and I had decent regrowth and the hairdresser confirmed my hair was not falling out anymore and I had tons of regrowth, I wasn’t deficient in anything and I had slowly been titrating off wegovy from January and I stopped completely in July so it’s assumed I had TE from weight loss

I was diagnosed with ADHD at the start of the year and on the 2nd of May I started methylphenidate XR ( concerta ) and within two weeks I noticed hair loss, my dose was then doubled and the hair loss got worse, three weeks after starting the 36 mg of methylphenidate, they stopped it because I told the prescriber my hair loss got worse, originally they were blaming the wegovy but considering I was titrating off it and the hairdresser confirmed a month before I started the medication my hair wasn’t falling out They agreed it was the medication, the hairdresser also confirmed thinning just before I stopped the methylphenidate in June

They told me to stop taking the medication for a week and I got started on elvanse ( vyvanse ), the hair loss didn’t change at all and when they put my dose up to 50 mg it got slightly worse so two weeks into the 50 mg dose they stopped me completely and within a week my hair loss improved very slightly, but that was five weeks ago and the hair loss hasn’t changed since

I’ve been referred for more blood tests and to the hair clinic to see what could have caused the hair loss but is it possible that the methylphenidate caused the TE to start within a few weeks of me being on it? Because my blood vessels were not constricted enough to cause hair loss because my blood pressure hardly changed, I was eating enough and making sure I ate loads of protein with my medication so I did everything correctly and I’m trying to get to the bottom of why the medication caused this, especially because I want to go back on elvanse as it changed my life and since I’ve stopped taking it

I have hardly left the house and I eat like shit again and it is been so destroying to my life but I also don’t want to go bald, I had to cut about 14 inches of my lengths off as I only had six months max of regrowth so my lengths were ruined from TE last year and then again but this time it seems worse and my hair is extremely thin and it’s very visible now and it’s made me extremely depressed and I feel so ugly and awful

Has anyone dealt with this too with ADHD meds? Is it possible it could’ve been the first medication only causing it but because there was not enough time between stopping the old medication and starting the new medication it’s just hard to tell? Is it possible the 1st medication cause TE quickly and it just continued on the elvanse? I don’t have enough hair left to test out the elvanse again any time soon because my hair is insanely thin and it barely even touches my shoulder for the first time in my life

EDIT - I forgot to add my thyroid is normal, I had a blood test in August when I was on the medication it said my iron was 58, and last year when I had a blood test, I was on the highest dose of wegovy meaning I was eating a lot less and my iron was 85, so my iron has clearly dropped in the last year but my doctor told me it’s not low enough to cause hair loss, although before my blood test in August, I did start taking iron tablets as I heard ADHD meds can affect iron which makes me think my iron was even lower before my test, I have another blood test this week but I don’t know how helpful it’s going to be considering I’ve been off the medication five weeks at this point, it was meant to be weeks ago but it got delayed

Long story short, I tried methylphenidate/concerta, I noticed hair loss within 2 weeks, got my dose doubled a month later and the hair loss got worse, it also make me extremely angry all the time so I got switched to elvanse/vyvanse, felt so much better BUT the hair loss didn’t stop, got put up to 50mg and I feel the hair got slightly worse so last week I got told to finally stop it because ‘ it clearly doesn’t agree ‘ with me, I’ve been offered strattera and it’s my last and only option because there are only 4 adhd medications legal in the uk and intuniv was described to me as having ‘ nasty ‘ side effects plus it isn’t suitable for me as I have low blood pressure

It’s day 6 off elvanse and today was the first day in a long time that it looked like I had lost less hair, still was bad but definitely less so I’m thinking that proves that is was the stimulant medications

I wanna make sure I do everything right so I can minimise side effects with strattera, I’m giving it another month to let my hair settle and not piss off my body anymore from all the switching and stopping

Anyone have any advice on how they minimised side effects? I seem prone to them so wanna ask in advance 🙃

Hair loss on xaggitin and elvanse?

So I started on 18mg of xaggitin xr 3 months ago and after a few weeks I noticed my hair was shedding more, my dose was then doubled to 36mg and it got worse, i went to the hair dressers and she confirmed it was shedding more than it should, I also felt awful and angry all the time so I got switched to elvanse 30mg

I did stop the xaggitin XR for 5 days before starting elvanse and mentally I felt better on elvanse but I think the hair loss is worse but I was told by my prescriber it can take a month or so for the old meds to stop affecting the hair, then the pharmacist from my GP Called and told me it can take up to 2 months, it’s now been 6 weeks and there is no change, if anything it might be slightly worse, it’s making me feel awful considering I lost around a third of my hair last year as I lost weight quickly and went through telogen effluvium which stopped in December and I have had a ton of regrowth since but it’s all short compared to the rest of my hair

I’m stressed and upset because my hair is thin as it is and getting noticeably worse but the meds have already started to change my life and I feel like they are the right ones for me, I had blood tests which were unrelated to the ADHD meds and my iron was lower than last year despite taking from iron supplements a month ago ( I read online how adhd meds can affect iron and make it low ) but my doctor said it wasn’t low enough for it to cause hair loss and was in the normal range

my blood pressure before the xaggitin was on the low end of normal, it didn’t change, and then on elvanse it went a bit higher but more so in the middle of the normal range so I don’t see how it could be constriction of the blood vessels unless my blood pressure was high or significantly higher than before, I’m being sent for more blood tests in 2 weeks to check other vitamins that cause hair loss if deficient but if they come back normal then my GP has no clue, I’ve been reffered to the hair clinic but I was told it’s a long wait it could be like a year which won’t do at all

I’m taking pumpkin seed oil, drinking collagen, eating a ton of protein when I take the meds, I stay hydrated and I take multivitamins and some extra supplements including iron every day, there has to be a reason for this hair loss and some sort of solution, I’ve been losing my hair for 3 months now and I am miserable every single day because of it

Has anyone else experienced this? If so did it go away on its own or did you find any cures?