Treating Hair Loss with Medication

Women who suffer from hair loss during menopause are bombarded with pills and topical medications promising to restore their once lustrous locks to their proper location. Unfortunately, not all of these miracle medications do what they say they will. But there is hope for women who won't take hair loss lying down.

Conventional Hair Loss Medications

A few hair loss medications have been shown to work effectively for menopausal women, though not without risky side effects.

Hair Re-Growth Medications
There are a few prescription medications for treating hair loss that have been shown to help restore hair growth at the top of the scalp. In clinical trials, as many as 80% of the participants saw noticeable hair-growth. These types of medications prevent the male sex hormone testosterone from converting into dihydrotestosterone (DHT) -the hormone that causes hereditary hair loss.

Hormone Replacement Therapy
Conventional hormone replacement therapy (HRT) for menopausal women is one of the most successful treatments for hair loss and other symptoms of menopause. As the name suggests, this treatment replaces hormones that a menopausal woman has lost to help contribute to an overall hormone balance and hopefully to help alleviate hair loss. HRT, however, has been proven to increase women's risk of heart disease, blood clots, breast cancer, and ovarian cancer.

Alternative Hair Loss Medications

A number of viable alternative hair loss medications have proven successful at treating hair loss.

Lifestyle Adjustments
Often, all a woman needs to do to combat hair loss is to introduce a few key lifestyle changes to improve her overall well-being. Simple changes -such as ensuring proper nutrition and adequate protein, and receiving enough rest and exercise -are a natural way to improve hair's condition and prevent hair loss.

Quick Adjustments: Nutrition

• Take a daily multivitamin
• Eat food high in protein and iron (meant, dairy, legumes, nuts)

Quick Adjustments: Stress Reductions

• Exercise regularly
• Cut back on a busy schedule
• Participate in an enjoyable hobby
• Talk to a therapist or counselor

Herbal Medication
Some women might find that lifestyle adjustments, though beneficial, are not all they need to prevent hair loss. These women might benefit from taking herbal medications to help prevent hair loss.

Some of the safest and most reliable herbal medications for treating hair loss are those made with non-estrogenic herbs, such as the maca root. These types of herbal medications stimulate a woman's body to naturally increase its own production of hormones, thus balancing hormone levels and helping to decrease and even reverse hair loss.

Learn More about Treating Hair Loss with Medication

For women who wish to learn more about how to effectively treating hair loss with medication, looking into herbal medications, and other treatments could be the right choice for rediscovering a full head of hair.

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