Spironalactone - do you take it, does it work?
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Deena_Bean
Posts: 906 Member
I've been reading about this drug and I'm curious if it's worth my time. I do have some hair loss and growth that I wish I didn't, but I really do not like the idea of taking drugs so I'm torn. Right now I only take birth control and some basic vitamins - do use women's rogaine on the top of my head (Pantene brand, actually), and it seems to help. I'm not terribly overweight, but still have about 20 pounds I'd like to lose. Do any of you have side effects? It lists common side effects as nausea/vomitting, stomach cramps and diarrhea. My stomach is pretty finicky as it is - lactose is an issue an some grains and vegetables cause bloating and cramps for me. I really don't need to make my stomach worse either, but I see the benefits in potentially taking this for the other issues. I'm torn. Ugh. Frustrating.
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I never had any side effects on Spironalactone. It did not help me regrow any of the hair on my head, but after a year I had gradually lost all the inappropriate hair (lip, chin, random stragglers on my chest) and.... all the other hair on my body. No leg hair, no arm pit, no arm hair, NADA. Yup none. I cannot say it was horrible. I stopped taking it simply because I wanted to regrow the hair on my head and didn't want to take a med that wasn't useful to me.0
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I've been on Spiro for over a year now. It has definitely helped with the unwanted hair (I had it growing in really dark on my hands). It also seems to be working much better for me than the Metformin did. As far as stomach issues go I haven't really noticed a difference. I have IBS so I'm super aware of changes. The Metformin about killed me but this seems to not cause anything out of the ordinary for me. It also seems to be what finally triggered the weight loss. I don't deal with hair loss as much so I'm not sure about that but as far as everything else goes it is doing what it's supposed to.0
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Interesting my sister who also has PCOS started this a few weeks ago, and I'm certainly thinking about asking my Doctor about it too. I can do without Metformin, as I'm on some herbal supplements that certainly are helping with insulin resistance, but the hair!OMG I'm stupid hairy! Feet, legs, butt, back, stomach, chest, face, arms, shoulders, even a few on my forehead of all ridiculous places! I've had laser removal on my chest for about two years and while I was going it worked ok
But just too expensive to keep up indefinitely. 0 -
Interesting that all of your hair stopped growing! That's pretty extreme. I'd love for most of mine (except on my head) to stop. Metformin I only took when I was going through IVF and it tore me up. I'm not insulin resistant, though, so I don't need it...was purely for the procedure. I'll talk to my doc this year at my exam and see what she thinks.0
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I was prescribed this today and would love to hear more experiences with it. I am not insulin resistant but have the other PCOS things.0
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I've been on it for almost a year now. I'm on a ridiculously low dose which I take twice a day and it takes a few months to start seeing results but I do believe it's working. My skin cleared up for the first time in my life, and I seem to have less plucking to do than normal. As my doctor says though, it's not a miracle worker, but I'm happy with the results so far. Two other nice things about Spiro, it's cheap and it doesn't interact with my thyroid med so I can take them at the same time. One obvious side effect: it's a diuretic, so drink lots of water.0
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My doctor prescribed it but I haven't been taking it long. I still don't get why she did when I told her I want to TTC. I don't see the point if it takes months to work. Last month I stopped it when my chart said I possibly ovulated then started it again once my period started. I don't want to risk the chance of birth defects.0
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I used to take it but it apparently can affect your kidneys, and my doctor ran some routine tests to see how my kidneys were doing on spiro, and the tests came back abnormal. So he told me to stop taking it immediately. The hair symptoms of PCOS are nothing compared to kidney failure0
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I took it for about two months. My hair was starting to get SUPER greasy, and I was getting huge gnarly black bruises all over for no reason. When I looked up side effects, I saw it is now marked as "known to cause cancerous tumors." I am the only person in my family who hasn't had cancer, and even though my doctor didn't seem concerned, the risk was not worth it for me.
Changing to a low carb high fat diet has done the most for slowing down my hair loss, reducing my facial/body hair, and helping my acne. I am down 70 lbs overall which has greatly reduced my symptoms. I take a chromium/biotin/cinnamon supplement, and I use Loreal EverStrong shampoo and conditioner. I make sure to never brush my hair when it's wet, instead using a wide tooth comb. I also use gentle hair accessories to minimize breakage.
The BEST thing I have EVER found for my acne are hydrocolloid bandages (blister bandaids). I'll have to post comparison photos, it's unbelievable. I swear those things are made of magic. I put them on any kind of blemish I get, and it works so good. They work the best on cystic acne, which is what I think a lot of us get. Here's a good article on using them with acne:
http://blog.pocketderm.com/how-to-heal-a-popped-pimple-overnight0 -
I took it a few years back. Smaller dose I believe twice a day. I was really bad with taking it constantly b/c of the twice a day thing. I didn't notice a difference with anything. I'm sure it was mainly because I didn't take it consecutively for long enough.
But I didn't experience any side affects either. All I can say is to try it out and if you don't like it, drop it. =p 0 -
I am about 5 days in and nothing weird yet. Haha, too early to tell. The 2nd day I did notice dry mouth that was insatiable and I think I drank close to 120oz of water that day. I typically range around 70-100oz a day when I drink water normally. So that is the only difference. I have also been watching my carb counts but staying less than 60g for the day.
I recently hit 95lbs gone overall but the last 3 months or so have had worsening pcos symptoms. Facial hair, cystic acne, bleeding every 18ish days, all the fun stuff. So my options were add oral birth control pill (mirena also in place), metformin, spirinolactone, or continue to watch/see.
I didn't want to do 2 birth controls with family history of breast cancer. Metformin was horrible when I tried it years ago, and I'm hairy....
Hoping this will help some
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I took it for a couple of years and the hair was a lot better. Now changed doctors and been off for a year and it's all back like crazy. Grr... I was down to shaving once every two weeks and now have to everyday, sometimes twice a day. No side effects from it besides needing to drink tons of water. Wish my new doctor would put me back on it.0
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I had 25mg last month and my new doctor upped me to 100mg last week. Besides making me super thirsty some days, the only other side effect I've had is headaches. With the 25, that went away after a week. So far, I'm on day 9 with the 100 and still having headaches, but they do seem to be lessening.0
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I had it prescribed to me alongside metformin, and the dehydration was too great for me for showing no noticeable progress or abatement of symptoms. I'm not insulin resistant either, but I had a weird thing I call food narcolepsy. Ever time I eat, I'll literally nod off/pass out for a few seconds at a time, usually, sometimes a few minutes if I'm home on the couch, etc. Every time. No matter what I eat, how great or how horrible. Adding the Metformin has balanced this out so well. I still can't eat a super carb heavy meal without the whammy, but whatever was going on with me, Metformin is helping. And yes, I've had all the testing for diabetes, sugar tolerance, insulin resistance, the whole nine...0
