Alopecia aureata
 

I have this, or so the dermatologist says. I started losing clumps of hair in mid-july. I went to a doctor in late august, thyroid tests and blood count were normal.
I saw a dermatologist last week and he said this is what I have. It's autoimmune. It gets worse with stress. I am REALLY stressed out in summer! My job gets out of control and I'm scheduled more.

So now I'm going bald and I have patches of scalp that show and I actually bought spray-on-hair.
It works, but it sucks. It rubs off on my hands, ears, pillow case, etc.
It makes my hair feel like a brillo pad, but I keep using it because it covers the bald.
Anyone know of a better hair toucher-upper? I'm using GLH "Good looking hair"
The worst part is the more hair I lose, the more stressed out I get.

Today I got fed up with all the hair falling out and decided to help it along. I went to a hairdresser and got it ALL chopped off into a pixie-like cut. Almost like Halle Berry's hair or Demi Moore back in the day.
Thing is, now I need the damn spray on hair even more.
Suggestions...please?

A hat? A wig?

less stress? jesus, stace. i thought this thread was going to be about nipples. i don;t really know why. are you getting laid enough? i bet you're not. once every two weeks is not enough. buy a vibrator. and smoke more pot, and get the fuck out of food service.

I also would suggest wig or perky or funkky cap of some kind. Maybe some colorful bandannas.

Is your thyroid okay?

(You didn't get mange from the dogs, didja?)

My thyroid is fine, at least my TSH is fine. They didn't test for T3, T4, etc, but I figured maybe the TSH covers the overall function? Or maybe my doctor was an idiot- wouldn't be the first time!

I have signs of hypothyroid, like dry skin and fatigue, but I can easily lose weight and I'm not overweight at all, so I don't think that's it.

I'm pretty sure it is from stress and autoimmune seems right. I have a bunch of other autoimmune issues that started at times in my life when I was stressed- Multiple food allergies and gluten-intolerance, cysts in my uterus/ possible endometriosis, etc.

Yes, the best idea would be to REDUCE STRESS, but I have to make money and my job is kind enough to give me a week off every month for my period issues.

I've never heard of sex-therapy for har loss. Interesting concept!
Getting out of the restaurant business is probably the biggest factor in my recovery!

I am dreading the possibility of having to wear a wig!! I'd rather cover up the bald areas with a spray/cream/anything. What if I got the hair caught on something and it came off? And wouldn't it look like a damn wig? I'm not spending $800 on a human hair wig, so synthetic's my only choice.
(I hate hats and I can't wear one to work anyway.)


I'm calling out sick today. Probably tomorrow too. Then I have 9 days scheduled off anyways. I have to figure out the best way to cover this shit within the next 11 days.

Oh, and I asked the dermatologist about the possibility of mange or anything else I could've cought from the dog- he said no way. Besides, it's not itchy, red, inflamed, flakey, or anything. Nope, it's just falling out by the root- you can see the follicle at the end of the hairs that fall out. They call them "club hairs". A big sign or alopecia aureata or hair loss from trauma.

You know, I did get in a car accident about 3-4 months before this all began and that is a very real possibility of why my hair is all falling out. BUT, I didn't get hurt in the damn accident, and I've had much more traumatic things in my life (divorce at age 19, my current husband almost dying on a fishing boat, finding those emails my husband wrote to that other woman, working at the vet and bagging dead bodies, watching them use a saw to cut the head off a lab puppy to send to a lab for rabies testing, etc, etc.)

So, really, the car accident wasn't even all that bad!

Damn, am I rambling or what?

Just wear a wig while you're losing hair...It's better to have a wig rather, right!?

Sinead O'Conner pulled off the shaved head alright. What do you do for stress management? Running, cycling, or working out would be my suggestions.

I went to a wig shop and tried on about 15 wigs. Even the $600 human hair, hand-tied wig looked so FAKE to me. I'd rather quit my job and not leave the house until the hair grows back.
Thank God winter's coming! Hats are better than wigs :)

Stress management? I sleep. A lot. And I cry, bitch, eat chips, smoke cigarettes, take a nap, rinse, lather and repeat.

I used to go to the gym every day and I felt great, but I had to stop when I started waitressing.
Even light cardio before work makes me feel so drained, and after work I am too tired to even think about exercising.

I am naturally high strung. I was born that way. (My grandmother tells me some stories!) I have no stress tolerance. I belong on a farm milking cows and feeding chickens. Seriously.

I accompanied a friend to a few Alopecia support group meetings. There are three levels of ,Alopecia,areata, totalis, and universalis. I have seen people with all three.

I have also seen very good wigs. If you are unhappy with what you were shown, consider going to a different store.

Just remember, that unless it's a symptom of something else, Alopecia by itself is not life threatening and can be temporary. A lot of women get it. The support group in Philadelphia I went to was run by a woman who used to be a model.

Have you ever seriously thought about it?

yes, I have. (The farm thing). I figured it would take more money than we have right now. We need to pay off our last few thousand in debt and work on getting a better apartment/ savings/ new car, etc. It's financially imposiible right now, but maybe in the next ten years...

I went online and did some research and found out that dying hair won't make this condition worse, and would even thicken my hair.
I bleached my hair blonde and added highlights. I feel more girly now. And it looks thicker and the contrast between scalp and hair is so small, that it looks normal! :D
I'm feeling a whole lot better. I had blonde hair for 7 years and then I went back natural. The smell of the hair bleach was so nostalgic. It reminded me of my party days.
Arsen went blonde with me. We are a very sunny looking couple now!
If I don't lose any more significant amounts of hair, this whole thing will be resolved. And since I have 9 more days off work and the busy season is coming to an end, there is hope. Yay :)

less stress already! wtg!

any updates?

didn't she say she quit her job? trading one stress for another in my book. could be a net positive, of course. I think I saw her say that in the cost to fence a yard thread.

She said she was doing good in her blog. I don't know if that is still the case...

I did quit my job!! :) I almost strted a thread, but for some reason or another decided not to. Since I started my blog, I take most of my life events, issues, concerns there instead of bugging you guys.

Quitting my job was a GOOD thing- a very, very good thing. All of my hair is starting to grow back- I can tell because now that it's bleached blonde, I can see the roots- it's definitely growing!

Arsen's making a lot of money working 65 hours a week and he says he doesn't mind and I don't have to work. It'll take us another 2 years to be where we want to be financially, instead of just 8 months, but it's worth it.

I got a job at an animal shelter one day a week, but I'm going to call and say I can't work there because I found a full time job mon-fri. That's a lie. I just really don't want to work outside in the snow and my allergies are getting worse from all of the dander and cats in the building. I worked there two weeks, it was an experience. I used to do that work when I was 21, but I guess 8 years later, my body's too old for it.

We decided to rent a huge house with my mother, her fiance and my little sister. We'll have our own private kitchen, living room, bed and bath. Plus, we get to share a huge yard that I'm fencing in. Yay!

I also found a band to play with. We've been getting together on Sundays. They love me. This is the first time I've ever been the lead guitarist. I was always rhythm guitar. I'm getting better and I have lots of time to practice.

Ever since I quit that friggin job, life's been going up and up and up. That place had me miserable and depressed and TIRED for 5 long years. Now I'm starting to remember how I used to be, the real me. No one deserves that kind of stress in their life. Please overtip your poor pity-deserving waitresses.

Congratulations, stacey! Well done! I wish you the best of luck in your Life Shake-UP---change is usually always good and most definitely inevitable!

:celebrat: :band: :keys:

Good luck! I hope the new house situation works out for you!

Good news for Stacey! Stress sucks massively, and does bad things to our bodies.

Just a word of advice, though, if I may be so bold: men are weird. We're great at wanting to fulfill that "me big strong man, bring home bacon, support wife" thing for awhile, but then we start wondering why the fuck we're working 65 hours a week and hating it while the Mrs. is playing in bands. Summary: be good to your hard working man so he doesn't cop an attitude. Tell him what a big strong man he is, and all kinds of other ego-boosting horseshit.

Trust me on this. We're infantile...

What Els said, PLUS bonus points for living with his Mother-in-Law. Seriously.

God damn it, we didn't get approved for the house. The owner looked over our applications and said we have too many vehicles and my sister isn't working and my mom hasn't been at her job long enough, so we can forget about that.

Oh well. We've decided to stay in this shithole apartment for another year or until we get the credit cards paid off and save some money. Then we'll get our own place or even look into buying a house.

We both quit smoking this week. We have extra money now that we're not moving into the house, so we're getting a nice treadmill and $10 a day in chocolates...

I feel very bitchy.

Too many cars? What the hell does he care how many cars you have, as long as none of them are up on blocks? Or do you have the car payments to go with them, so it is a financial thing?

Landlord probably thought Arsen looked shifty, and too few of you have jobs.

The car thing gives him reasonable, non-sueable justification for the refusal.

Hey, is this thread still up?!
anyone????:confused:

Hi neria:) The thread's still up if you want it to be. Is this something you have a particular interest in?

Welcome to the cellar by the way. Please don't feed the animals, especially in the Wolf enclosure *grins* very dangerous, she's been known to bite peoples' fingers clean off. And as for the Monkeys, they're usually pretty Happy just swinging about.

(Oh God, stop me now before I die of Punmonia)

I think someone made Stacey mad, so she quit going to the cellar. I have no clue what is going on in that front. But we can continue on with your experiences. :)

I'm back- and so is my hair:D

By the way,
my husband never gave me any crap about not working. I went through a kind of depression that lasted for about 6 months (while my hair was really, really short and sparse) I didn't want to leave the house too much and I was basically sleeping until 3 pm every day. He did say he wished that I would stop sleeping my life away and do something to make myself happy.
But he was always kind and never told me to get off my ass and get a job. He's been so good to me!