Hair Loss Remedies for Thinning Hair on aromatase inhibitors?

My endocrinologist believes that these drugs will cause Bone loss, dementia and heart disease. He says that I will not die from BC but probably from one of the above mentioned conditions.
But like others, I worry the cancer will come back as metastatic.
How to decide (?)

I have been on Anastrozole for Six months now I’ve run the gamut side effects. My one is now I have trigger thumb and my fingers don’t work. Thumb clicks when it works and wakes me up at night with pain. so I decided to take a break for two weeks. It’s all such a personal decision but for me, I’m 73 years old and it has changed my life beyond imagination. I can’t even play golf anymore because my hands hurt too much. I’m going back to my oncologist to talk about next steps. 🙏🏻

It’s all about risks vs gains. I recently finished 5 years of Anastrazole and did have quite a few side effects. Most of them seem to be going away a bit at a time now after stopping meds. My friend, with breast cancer too could not take the AI due to horrible side effects involving heart problems. She had to stop and said five years ago she would just have to stay on top of testing for signs of returning cancer. So far, we both 5 years later are cancer free. I know it’s a tough decision to make. Talk to your oncologist, and get second opinions if needed. Once you make your decision, don’t second guess yourself. I do believe being positive after cancer is important to your well being. My prayers are with you.

There is no substitute for a good general practioner - I think you call them Primary Care Physicians, to help you assess the benefits/ risk equation. Once you get past 70 or so, most people have several problems and go to different specialists.

I used voltaren on my thumbs. It truly helped eventually the pain went away.

Hi Everyone. Does anyone know which of the 3 aromatase inhibitors (Anastrozole, Letrozole, or Exemestane) is least likely to cause hair loss/thinning? Thanks so much.

Hi Loraine, I only have had letrozole of those three and must consider myself lucky as I had no hair loss. My hair looked thinner but I think it is because it lost its bounce and went limp and flat. I do use Champo hair growth serum religiously and massage my scalp mornings and evenings with one of those rubber scalp massage brushes. Whether it helps I don’t know but maybe psychologically it gives me the feeling I’m doing what I can. Also being on high doses of vitamin D3 with calcium seems to help. I hope you are lucky and you can keep your hair but if not, when your treatment is over you will have it all back again.

I am on letrozole as well. For2 years plus. I have not had thinning that i knew, although i do recall possibly it is a side effect for some. I have lost my hair 2 in the last 3 years. I do know the first time it grew back nearly normal. This time we shall see.
Maybe the MODS will answer too, as they might have more info on all AI's.

I took 5 years of tamoxifen and never had any real hair thinning. I always had extremely thick hair. It had come back in, pure grey and white after chemo the year I started and very, VERY curly. I kind of looked like bozo the clown with white hair. Lol
Then after tamoxifen came anastrazole for 10 years, the curls started to tame and I did have some thinning. I feel like a lot of this is related to not having the normal hormones of a young woman. I also had osteoporosis by the time I was 50, and heart disease. My doctor told me since I started this journey in my 30s, I was essentially an old woman already.
I still have plenty of hair but my bun is as thin as my grandmothers was at 80, and all white. I guess that goes along with the glimpse of her I get in the mirror, where she reminds to be grateful to have lived 20 years past my expiration date.
What changes have you seen in your hair since starting hormone therapies?

I always had thick hair, but when I started taking Anastrazole my hair began to come out by the handful when washed, brushed, combed or just running my fingers through it. I was switched to Exemestane after three months of taking Anastrazole and the loss came to a halt. The thinning stopped and some growth is returning.
I now have some stiffness in various joints (they keep changing as to which joint), but I will put up with that not to have such thinning hair.