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Permalink Reply by Dominique Cleopatra on July 22, 2015 at 3:20am

I wish people with one spot, or a few spots, would realize that it is very rare that your alopecia will progress to total or extensive baldness. The people on here are all usually dealing with extreme cases of alopecia, which makes it seem like total baldness with alopecia is an inevitability, instead of an anomaly. I have had AA for several years and it has not progressed to totalis. Chances are your spot will fill in and you will keep a full head of hair.

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Permalink Reply by MTgirl on July 22, 2015 at 10:06am

Dominique - thank you for pointing this out and reminding me of this.  When this first started everyone kept telling me this and I really tired to listen but as this one spot keeps expanding it makes me more and more fearful that it will not stop growing.

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Permalink Reply by Debwp on July 24, 2015 at 9:06am

I can totally understand your fear MT, losing hair when this has never happened before is very frightening.  I have my AA under control, but I can only speak for myself, it always comes back when I am very stressed and for a long period, therefore, because I know my trigger, then my AA stays dormant.  The medical fraternity still don't have any answers other than rhetoric that doesn't help, the cortisone shots that I have had in the past didn't always work, what worked for me was cutting out the stress.   

Have you been experiencing stress recently?  Maybe you have or maybe something else has happened to trigger your body to attack itself, so if you can work out what that might have been, then stabilise your emotions with maybe meditation, more rest, better nutrition or just having a holiday away where you can 'switch off' for a while, which will allow your body to stabilise and for the treatment you are receiving to work.  Try to re-assure yourself that it is happening for a reason, find out the reason and you can eliminate that from happening again.

I have to check my hair on a regular basis very thoroughly, because it is always there, it will attack me when I allow myself to get stressed or upset.  So, if I come across a small bald spot, I am no longer fearful, because I know they will go away all on their own now, it is up to me to cut out the stress. 

You have support here MT, you hopefully fall into the majority where the treatment received will work for you, but more importantly, your health is in your own hands so try to determine the cause of this imbalance of your immune system, because I'm sure there will be.

Look forward to your reply and I hope this provides you with hope and support as it is a scary time for you.

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Permalink Reply by Pam D. on July 22, 2015 at 8:45am

There is nothing "normal" about this condition; there appears to be as many variations of how it progresses as there are people who have it. I thought I had a cycle figured out after the first 2 rounds of hair loss only to find this third round completely different from the first 2...3 months to lose it, three months to grow back, 5-6 months having hair, start all over again. This time, it started falling out last October, shed slowly, was gone in 2 two weeks around Christmas. I haven't had hair since then. I am starting to get my eyelashes and eyebrows back, but this is the first time I've lost them.

So, I think you have to be patient and see how it affects you. You may have to deal w/patches, it could progress further, it may not. We can all tell you how it went for us, but it will be impossible weeding out which case is most like yours.

Good luck.

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