Help! Is Tecfidera causing my hair loss?

Here is My Question:
Hi, I have been taking Tecfidera for 11 months now and have noticed my hair has become really thin! It has become more noticible recently and hair fall has been happening throughout! I have been taking hair vitamins since I started taking Tecfidera as I read that people had experienced this as a side effect so I thought that this might help to combat this! My hair used to be thick and shiny but now has no life to it and gets tangled all the time! When I asked my ms nurse she said that this is not the cause of Tecfidera and I should be grateful. I am grateful but at 33 I do not want to loose all my hair!

Answer:
Hair thinning is very common in the general population and probably more so in MS patients. The cause is usually not medication with the exception of certain steroids, chemotherapies and Aubagio. Please refer to prior posts on this site about the causes of hair thinning to see if any of these causes apply to you. If this remains a concern after looking into these other possible causes, rest assured that hair thinning as a result of medications usually reverses with continued use the medication after 6-12 months. If this is not the case, you may need to consider an alternative disease modifying therapy.

Revere (Rip) Kinkel MD
Director of the Multiple Sclerosis Program
Director of Hillcrest Neurology
Professor of Clinical Neurosciences
University of California San Diego