Alopecia World
www.alopeciaworld.com
I need some help trying to define which alopecia I have, and also would like to hear some positive stories
So, I know I have Alopecia, but I'm not really sure which one. I was told that it's areata, but I've been losing hair all over my body. I've lost all the hair on the top of my head one of my eyebrows, and half of my eyelashes just on my head. On my body, there are very small scattered patches of hair on my arms and legs. To me it looks like I'm in the process of Alopecia Universalis, but it's a very long process. It took three years to lose all of the hair on top of my head, and another three years to lose most of my body hair. But with my eyebrow, I've had half of one of my eyebrows missing ever since I was about 8 or 9, and just recently, in the past year I've been losing more of it. I'm 20 now, turning 21 in three months, and besides my eyebrow, my Alopecia has been going on since I was 14, so about 6 years. I've tried to get it to grow back, with the steroid shots, and they made me gain weight like crazy, and the moment I stopped it all fell out again. So I want to find other treatments that aren't as damaging.
Also, I wanted to hear from people who have had their hair grow back. What treatments did you use? If you didn't use any treatments, do you know of anything different you did with your lifestyle, something that may have helped it come back? Also, how long would you say it took to come back?
I've been feeling very upset about it lately, especially when I have dreams where I have a full head of hair. I've noticed in those dreams, when I have hair in them, I'm constantly touching it, brushing it and playing around with it.
I've also had this obsession with brushing hair, I always brush my sisters' hair and style it for them, same with playing with my cousins and their dolls. Do any of you get like that with other people's hair?
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Hayley on
-
Hi Christine,
By the sounds of it you still have Areata which is what I was diagnosed with as well despite having at one point having a completely bald head and losing patches of body hair. If the title really concerns you I'd recommend talking to your doctor because I'm just some girl on the internet trying to figure it all out too.
In May 2013 I lost my first patch of hair and by September I had so many patches I decided it was best to shave it all off so I didn't have to hide it anymore. Treatments were unsuccessful, I spent my whole summer terrified and stressed and by December I was completely bald and wearing a wig to work everyday. In February I went to Mexico and left my wig behind so I didn't have to worry about it and I knew no one would know me there anyway. I know this sounds insane but that week away my hair just started growing out of nowhere...mind you to a stranger I was still bald but to my trained eye I was covered in beautiful, soft, miraculous peach fuzz. Going home I gave myself one more month with the wig and then forced myself to put it in the closet. It does not grow fast, it does not even look like human hair at the start! It takes so much time once it starts but it gets there. I couldn't find a current picture but my progress is below and if you wants to see my still slightly patchy new pixie cut feel free to check out my instagram
Here is what changed in the past year:
-Got rid of gluten: I don't eat it, I don't drink it, I don't put it on my hair body or face. I make a few exceptions for medications
-I relaxed, I meditated, I talked about my feelings (mainly to a camera on youtube), I looked up pictures of beautiful bald women, I watched Kayla Martell compete in beauty pagents and Kevin Bull rock ANW ...basically I calmed down and reminded myself I was okay and I was still 'good enough'
-I took off my wig and stopped causing so much friction against my scalp also letting the sun and air reach my head...vitamin D
-Around the time my hair started growing I took a low dose of Biotin to speed up the growth (be careful high doses can cause acne)
I also hear a lot of people see results from avoiding dairy and soy however I didn't want to cut anything else out of my diet because gluten was a challenge itself and I wanted to ensure I was getting enough nutrients and calories...I'm now considering reducing these items but haven't yet
-
Permalink Reply by Recovered Alopecian on
-
Alopecia areata itself has 4 distinctive types : Aloecia Areata Monolocularis (single spot on head); Alopecia Areata Multilocularis (multiple spots on head); Alopecia Areata Totalis (complete hair loss on head); Alopecia Areata Universalis (total hair loss all over the body) and Alopecia Areata Barbae (hair loss on facial hair).
Alopecia areata usually starts from single spot, progresses to multiple spots before reaching the advanced stages of totalis and universalis.
Fortunately I was introduced to pro-alopeciata and regrew hair while still in monolucularis stage. The treatment causes heaty sensation when applied but the result is promising.
© 2024 Created by Alopecia World.
Powered by
