Question for Copaxone users
 

I was just wondering if anyone who uses Copaxone has noticed anything weird with their skin and hair while on the Copaxone.

Anyone notice that you can barely go 12 hours after washing your hair before it feels greasy and dirty again?

Anyone notice their skin feeling oily and an increased number of acne pimples, no matter what you do?

or a sensation of feeling dirty even if you've just taken a shower?

increased sweating??? (and even if you wash everything that sweats, you can still smell it!)

For the past few days, no matter how much I wash my hair or shower, I just cant get away from feeling oily and icky. Today I washed my hair around noon...around 5pm, I felt like I hadnt washed my hair, it felt like I hadnt washed my hair in days. It's an icky feeling...and the general sensation of feeling dirty and sweaty so soon after taking a shower is driving me nuts.

Am I just nuts, or maybe need to change my brands of soap and shampoo, or can this be a side effect of Copaxone???

You know, I broke out like mad within the first 2 months on Copaxone. My hair too seemed to fall out strand by strand constantly.

I've always had oily skin, so I've always showered a lot. I haven't noticed a change there, but the pimples, yes definitely.

Nearing completion of box 4 of C, and my skin's been nice for the last month.

during the first few months, I had oiley hair like a teenager, and pimples! wth! but as the months ticked off, I went back to normal hair, and clear face.

hope it gets better for you too. :hug:

me too. Became a teenager again for about the first month with all the pimples I got, LOL. :D Not sure about the hair part since I got it chopped about the same time I started the Copax.

For me, the oil problem has gone down. I've been on it for over a year now, and it's gotten better. Hang in there. :hug:

I have thought it seemed like my hair had a bit of a sticky residue to it since starting Copaxone, no skin problems though. Now if I blow dry my hair its not a problem but many times when I let it air dry it will feel sticky. I can't say 100% but I have my suspicions, lol.

my hair that has always been thick has thinned so badly since being on this stuff

Yep, I shed more than usual and boy, did I feel like a teen for quite some time.

I didnt think it was possible, but I felt ickier when I woke up this morning.

Just took my shower, and I'm still not feeling totally clean. (hair just feels weird)

I havent done any Copaxone for about a week or two (I know..I'm a bad girl) and I'm not planning on starting up again until monday. (going on a trip saturday) I've been trying to let my skin on my thighs and stomach to heal. I've got an injection site on my stomach that I did a little more than a week ago that's still itchy. (dull needles really blow!)

I've been on the C since last september/october, and have noticed that the zit problem seems to be almost as bad as when I was a teenager. I even cut my hair in the hopes that my skin would clear up. (my face was all zitty when I was a teenager till I had my hair trimmed)

I just am annoyed that even tho I cut my hair a little shorter recently, that's not helping the icky oily sensation in my hair. I'm starting to wonder if it's not oily hair, but a weird sensation on my scalp, and maybe fingers are not feeling things normally.

I just dont like feeling gross.

I looked up the side effects for Copaxone last night...and was amazed that there really are some side effects to C. A few that I'm wondering are related to a few problems that I've been having lately. It's making me wonder if I want to continue with the C.

Sorry, but I cannot answer question; appreciate all the posts on Copaxone for this is the only ABCR drug I'm considering.

I have a MS Rash dx by three MS Specialists; one at Johns Hopkins and two at the MS Clinic in Pittsburgh. A drug I take now controls this rash (not acne) for the most part. I wonder how I will react to Copaxone; I read it can be one of its side effects.

I was told to hang in there for it gets better after the first 6 months. I will try it and hope it works out... Yes, it does have lots of possible side effects IMO Erin.

Thanks Erin <3 :)

0357,

Can you do me a favor and explain this "MS rash"? What is it that you're using that controls it? Thanks!

I wonder if that's the stuff my sister uses. She has some weird skin condition that she's been trying to control. I think they finally found something that I think might be helping her. (of course, she doesnt have MS, so it might be another type of rash)

Thanks, 0357. I never heard of that before. Quite interesting!

Sorry to hear, however, that you have this problem. I certainly hope it clears up for you again.

Really appreciate you explaining that for me. :)

Hey Erin,

I had periods of months where I had alot of facial flushing and then lately my hair is very dry and I have noticed alot of hair loss as well.:rolleyes:

Nothing that you mentioned but just wanted to tell you about my symptoms with Copaxone.

Take Care

Adrian :)

I do find myself getting acne sometimes and my hair is thinning....but....I've always gotten a little acne here and there around 'that time' each month and the hair thinning, I see my GP this week and will discuss that, could be just a reaction to all those babies I had consecutively, lol ;)

If you read the fine print about Copaxone, there is mention to thyroid....always something to get checked out with your GP.

Best of luck....

Ah ha! I never noticed this in the fine print about C. My neuro (as I have said before) does monthly blood work on me, while on C, and thyroid is one he checks in this.

Every time I go into the clinic to give blood, they ask "Are you on thyroid medication or something?". I have to explain that no, I'm not on thyroid medication. :rolleyes: I am on daily injections of Copaxone for MS. "Ahhhh".

It does something to your thyroid???

How come my neuro never told me this. (at the time I started Copaxone, I couldnt see well enough to read the fine print)

Maybe I'll make an appointment to see my regular doctor (who is total eye candy... :D ) I wanted to see if I could talk him into a Rx for LDN since the neuro wouldnt give me one.

Try a different shampoo, perhaps?

I seem to lose the same amount of hair every time I shower (daily). I didn't really check before I began Copaxone. But now I have a little hair net for the drain, and I always pull the same amount off the net.

I have a lot of hair (it's thick but fine) so I'm not overly worried that I'm going bald, that's for sure.

If I see my part getting wider, well then we have problems!

Yeah...for 'giggles' one day, I was flipping through that yearly planner. In the back of it was all the fine print. Patient Information(probably the stuff even our dr's don't read, ;) ) pg 229...1/1000 "Endocrine:goiter, hyperthyroidism, and hypothyroidism" This is in the 2% of those reporting symptoms during the clinical trials....Apparently, it's OUR responsibility to read this section of the paraphenalia---according to the first page of Patient Information. The dr's are responsible for talking about IPIR's.

Now my stepmom was looking at my info one night. She noticed it{Copaxone} contains mannitol. That's supposed to slow the release of the meds through the kidneys??

Only panic syndrome and pounding heart, I cannot do it everyday, too much

My drugs:
Copaxone
Norco 7.5/325 5 pills a day for bad back
Elavil 20mg at night
Provigil 200mg beginning of day
Clonazepam .5 mg bedtime

Now, Prednisone for neuropathic/numbness flare up brought on by chopping wood of all things.

I'm 40, but feel like 80 on all these meds, it's sickening.


Dx'd in '92, 1-2 on K scale, hope it stays this way.

My dad is a Nurse Anesthetist. When he saw that C contains mannitol, he had to tell me about all the uses for mannitol...something about it opening the blood brain barrier, and it also is used to lower intercranial pressures.

If they wanted me to read all that information, they could have done a better job of using larger print, maybe add a little white space to it (hit enter a few times so there's a break in the paragraphs more often)

I guess I'll be making an appointment to get my thyroid checked. Anyone else know of any other things I should have tested while I'm at it???

Copaxone, check.
Elavil 20mg, check.
Clonazepam .5mg, check.

I'm on all 3 of these as well. It does kinda bum you to think about how many drugs we take, but that's reality of management of symptoms with a disease.

I wish they'd use larger print myself. They must be unaware of us MSers having trouble with fine print sometimes, no?

Other than thyroid, I'sure what else to get tested for as far as hair loss?

An ingredient in Copaxone opens the blood/brain barrier, Erin? Wow..Isn't that kind of the opposite of what we want?
Anyhoo..I have very long,thick hair, and was dx'd hypothyroid shortly before my MS dx. Earlier this year, I started pulling handfulls of hair off my head, almost on demand. I though this was odd, but then I remembered it was a symptom of hypothyroid. Since the fatigue from that and MS are so much the same, it took me awhile to even think of it, but that's what it was alright..Upped my med to 150 micrograms..

As far as C, I haven't been on it for about a year, but I remember saying that I was all for turning back the clock, but not so far back as teenage acne & oily skin..:)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mannitol

Just including a wiki link about Mannitol...

{snip}Mannitol or hexan-1,2,3,4,5,6-hexol (C6H8(OH)6) is a polyol that is used as an osmotic diuretic agent and a weak renal vasodilator. It is a sorbitol stereoisomer.

...

Mannitol is used clinically to reduce acutely raised intracranial pressure, until more definitive treatment can be given, e.g. after head trauma (although significant controversy exists over this use), and to treat patients with oliguric renal failure. It is administered intravenously, and is filtered by the glomerulus of the kidney, but is incapable of being resorbed from the renal tubule, resulting in decreased water and Na+ reabsorption via its osmotic effect. Consequently, mannitol increases water and Na+ excretion, thereby decreasing extracellular fluid volume.

Mannitol can also be used to open the blood-brain barrier by temporarily shrinking the tightly coupled endothelial cells that make up the barrier. This makes mannitol indispensable for delivering various drugs directly to the brain (e.g. in the treatment of Alzheimer's disease).

Mannitol is also used as a sweetener for people with diabetes. Since mannitol has a negative heat of solution, it is used as a sweetener in "breath-freshening" candies, the cooling effect adding to the fresh feel. In oral doses larger than 20g, mannitol acts as an osmotic laxative, and is sometimes sold as a laxative for children.{end snip}

well, if you have a neurological condition, such as MS, and you want a drug that's supposed to affect the lesions in the brain somehow, you're going to need it to get past the blood brain barrier somehow.