Alopecia

After breaking down last night for the first time in a long time I felt like it was time to write about Alopecia and me.

I was first diagnosed with Alopecia when I was 7 years old, after mom noticed some small bald patches on my scalp. From what I can remember I went to a Dermatologist at what was then Trinity Medical Center in Carrollton. I had two creams we put on it, one was clear and we used it in the morning the other was brown, smelled yucky, and stained everything so much so that I had to wear an old woman's night cap. LOL. I look back at my second grade pictures and realize that man I really was losing hair, I had a good size spot in my bangs, I really didnt notice it at the time though and my friends didnt either. After the spots grew hair we thought everything was ok and it was gone.

When I was 21 I had been in a very stressful, very abusive relationship for nearly 3 years by then. That is what I noticed some spots, I flipped out. I remembered losing my hair back when but I couldnt for the life of me remember even the name of what I had. So I found a Dermatologist who again told me what I had and explained a little more about it. Alopecia is a Auto Immune Disease that has no cure, but it only effects my hair follicules. The Dr I went to this time was in Irving, he decided that I needed to try steroid shots in my scalp (not just one or two but 10 - 20) and he also gave me some other creams and topical meds. The spots I had this time were small but were scattered on the left side of my head, which my hair dresser and I thought wouldnt spread to the other side.(Will get into this more later). The steroid shots helped but it also helped that I ended that extremely volital relationship. You see Alopecia is said to be brought on by stress or stressful situations.

After the end of that relationship I moved back home to Lewisville and then I had to find another Dr to take over my treatments. I found a Hippy Dermatologist in Grapevine. I had one spot that was stubborn and didnt want to grow, it got larger and was the size of a softball on the left side of my head by the time treatment started working. This time the shots were numbering close to 30 or more at a time. This caused me to have migraines. I then began noticing thinning on my arms and small spots on the right side of my head, the Dr wrote me a script for an Oral steriod to help with this. Every thing grew back and I only had a small spot here and there after that. During this treatment time I meet Jimmy but finially had my hair back before we got married.

When I got pregnant with Jackson in Nov 2008 I noticed my hair lose was starting again. It began as a thinning and then I started noticing spots on both the left side and the right side. I just thought it was a hormone change and would talk to my OB about it during my appt. Well she said I could go back to the Derma if it bothered me that bad. I decided that I was going to wait it out and see if it was just hormone related. I was blessed with a huge head of thick red hair so I really covered all the spots well. After Jack was born I experience the normal after pregnancy hair loss but for me it didnt stop at 5-6 months like normal. My spots got larger. I set a goal of hair growth by Jackson 1st Birthday, August 4, 2010. Well I didnt have any growth just tons more lose, so much so that I was sweeping the bathroom floor 3 times a week. I was growing tired of picking it off of everything so I found a support group and decided I needed to eduacation myself more on Alopecia. People suggested going to see another Dermatologist, one that specialized in Hair Disorders. I thought I found one, well I was dead wrong. They only use shots and I decided it wasnt worth the pain or expense for me. They also had a few other topical suggestions but i wasnt willing to damage my scalp to attempt to get hair back.

As August drew to a close I decided I was ready to take the plung and shave my head. Some people thought this was a really drastic move but I new that it was only a matter of time, my spots were show through so much that it would effect my self esteem and my boys. So on a Sunday afternoon, surrounded by my best friends, my boys, and my best friends famiy I cut my pony tail off by myself. I needed to feel like I was making this decision and that I was winning and not letting the Alopecia beat me. After this Jimmy shaved what I had left off. It was so different and odd at first. I cried a lot in the first two weeks, I just plain missed my hair. I missed the person I was, I missed being me. Jimmy always was there to pick me up and tell me, "Babe I married you, not your hair". This really helped. I explained to Trenton what Mommy had and that I was perfectly fine but I just didnt have hair. He was completely fine with this and loved rubbing my head. He even stood up infront of his Pre-K class and explained what Alopecia was and that he didnt like people talking about his Mommy. My sweet boy, he is so wise beyond his years.

Since I shaved the first time I had to continue to shave two times a week for about 2 1/2 months then it went to once a week. That brings us up to now, i havent shaved my head in well over a month, I have lost all of my arm, leg, armpit, eyebrow, and eyelash hair. I still have some fussy patches on my head but not many.

So before you ask where I am in treatment (people assume Cancer) how about asking how I am or even tell my I have a pretty head. Because I do. LOL