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Officially diagnosed now
I was diagnosed over the internet through photos I sent, but today I finally saw a specialist in Paris who told me what I already knew.
When I got off the train this morning my stomach dropped - I was sick and scared- even though I knew I was just going to get a confirmation.
However she was so nice, and so calm and undramatic about my hair. She didn't prescrible anything internal to take (I am grateful!) - I am only going on Minoxydyl and topical cortisone treatments. Then she wants to do more exporatory bloodwork to check out the autoimmune factors, but even there she was very mellow. And she took her time, which apparently she does with everyone b/c she was running an hour late...
So here I am on the train home, and the only real "issue" now - ridiculously minor - is she said to leave my curly hair curly. No more Brazilian straightening - she even said this could be what caused it - at least partially!! Crazy crazy. No more blow-drying it to straight. But I can keep the highlights. She said to treat my hair as if I were African, with cocoa butters, and oils, etc. I like that (and no I'm not African, and I can't say African American b/c I don't live in the States.) She says she is seeing more FFA b/c of the straightening, especially among Africans. You may not think about it if you've got straight hair, but there is a real pressure for us curly-heads to fit in - I grew up with my mother always saying "what are we going to do with your hair???" It's a THING, and it effects your image, and who will hire you - everything.
So I will be a frizzy-haired Who (as in my screen name) and we will see how it goes. It may be a pain to rub crap in my scalp every night but there are much worse things.
Oh - and no more nail polish (eczema). Continue AIP diet but watch for vitamin deficiency. And voilà that was all. I feel lucky, relieved, and again, grateful. Will my hair continue to fall out? Je ne sais pas (I don't know). She said it could stop, that it seemed to be slow (since the loss has been over two years) and it was good that I came in now.
So again, the only thing a teeny bit worrisome is the underlying autoimmune "something".
So I'm glad I went.
- Half Baked Who
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Halfbakedwho on
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Thanks to both of you! No I'm not itchy, and like I said, I could just be paranoid. I'm on vacation (in France vacation is a long, drawn-out thing lasting a month) and trying to relax and think less about it. I am a lot less perfect on my diet, but again, vacation. I am going to try to take care of my curls. They are not easy. They give me a "look" of a certain kind - an eccentricity that I don't want to assume (because people associate hair with one's thinking, this is well-known - no I don't know what this means for us in FFA, but maybe it's one of the reasons the barristers in England still wear wigs??)
New quote for us (en français) "Faire face"... means... "Face it"... "it" being every damn thing. An 80 year-old man just said that to me about his mother and his inherited heart condition. Et oui as we say here.
Take care everyone, -
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Permalink Reply by diana on
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a month of vacation.... that is fantastic and i'm sure will help with relaxation and remove some of that stress. i am moving to France. lol.. I live in Canada close to Niagara Falls. I do get 4 weeks holiday but take them scattered through the year...although i should be retired by next year - turning 60 in December, so that will be one thing off my plate. I would kill right now to have curly locks... would help with covering those missing areas. embrace them as i'm sure you will find the right look for you that will also look professional at times then relaxed when not working. yes we are "facing it"... can't do anything but. it is what it is. great that you are not itchy, so that is a bonus! hoping your eczema is also better!
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thank you, I am trying. I forgot how crazy-curly my hair is, and people who haven't seen me all summer are surprised... I am rocking my ethnicity now ; )
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I am not convinced that sunscreen is involved here. I'm olive toned and rarely used sunscreen in my life. I had a thought recently. I have frizzy curly hair, so for years I was using frizz calming products. These all contain silicone agents like dimethicone. This can easily get absorbed into the pores and hair follicles and enter our blood stream. Could long term use of these types of products which are in many shampoos, conditioners, and hair styling products be the root cause??? Somehow turning on an autoimmune condition?? I am no longer comfortable trusting manufacturers when it comes to beauty products and their ingredients. It's really now the consumers job to research before you buy. Very difficult to do this with food and skin care/hair products. I've used the Skin Deep website from the environmental working group to do some of this research. You should check it out if you never have. Eye opening. http://www.ewg.org/skindeep/?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI2ubpwOH31QIVSLbACh27...
So frustrated and angry that we have to deal with this. -
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This is interesting. I too used a lot of Tenax in the 80's and other crap. Now I'm using things without silicone, sulfates, alcohol etc.
I am feeling very lucky - my only hair loss has been the famous "band" around the face. My hair is now growing back in the white patches on the sides, near my ears. No eyebrow issues or any other hair loss.
No magic here - I just listened to the lady who prescribed the Minoxidil, and packed away the blow dryer.
I wish I could give you this regrowth too. Please take care of yourselves. I send you my regrowth hair-vibes... seriously.
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I'm so happy to hear you have regrowth. What a blessing. I hope I can one day see the same result.
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I've been using New Wash by Hair Story for the past month or so and after reading Leni's post on EWG I thought to look at the ingredients- they have a very low EWG score so I think it is ok for me- I do know my hair has never felt or looked better since I started with New Wash, I literally have to just wash once and am done, no conditioner no rinse and repeat, I love it.
Halfbaked, after reading about your success with Minoxidil, I am thinking of trying it myself- as I am getting a lot of thinning on the top of my head and it is hard enough to disguise the the hair loss around the hairline much less trying to deal with the crown also!! I have my derm. appt. next week so I might as well wait and run it by her- one more week isn't going to make a difference! So it will be added to my list to talk to her about- Oh and that is awesome news that you are getting regrowth on the sides of your hair, yayyyyyy!!!!
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I didn't know it would work, b/c everyone said nothing works! I went to a different dermatologist today (want to get rid of some of these freckles) and she didn't even notice my hair! Back in June she would have. I also use Minoxidil 5% - the first nights it tingled a lot - I have also accidentally sprayed it in my ear (don't recommend this). In June I was looking at scarves... it's crazy - I cross my fingers that now that the school year and stress are coming back that my hair will stay on my head. Here in France, the summers are excellent, long and lazy, but we work horribly hard during the year. I am an anxious stressed out person with depression issues and the winters here are long dark and gloomy. We pay for these summers, where the sun sets at 10PM with 4PM sunsets in December. Sunrise at about 9AM... ok not there yet. Stay in the day. : )
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Pro active many of us were not as the dermatologists kept telling us there was nothing we could do - I think there was plenty we could have done if we had known - those of us that changed diets - altered the products we were using - and used minoxidil - have had better results - it just took a long time for us to eat, bathe, make-up, stress our way there and it is not a quick process to undo all these things
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hi joy... you're so right. we didn't get to this point over night and it will take time to get back hopefully to what we were health wise. don't know if our hair will ever get back to what it was. based on dr's, it's a no. but we have to be positive. i keep thinking that there is something/someone out there that will find the cure or the magic seed to regrow this stuff on our heads. or better yet we will eventually re-balance ourselves/bodies and it WILL come back without putting crappy chem's on our heads or in our bodies. here's hoping
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If you have not read the info on dermal rolling and dermal hammering it is worth reading - I am trying the dermal roller as I had used it previously for skin care but stopped when all this started - I have had regrowth where they took my biopsy - I really believe that no matter how our skin looks that there are still follicles that have not been destroyed - it may never be as think but any regrowth is worth having - the smoothness of our skin may be more from the clobestol (sp) as someone posted the other day that it thins our skin - no wonder it looks smooth! Check the paleo and compare to auto immune diets as well oddly similar to what the naturopath changed in my diet - many of those items I removed when it all started - also the lectin issue - I am removing some spices and tomatoes to see what happens and am now taking a probiotic - the Dr. Gundry info is interesting just for what he believes - I am sure other probiotics are just as good - thepaleomom has a wealth of info on how our gut works - was very informative - I do not think that I would go to that extreme at this point - 4 years out - but I am doing a little tweeking after spending the weekend reading and researching - unfortunately most of us have not been encouraged to do that - the vast majority of the dermatologists think we are crazy and just love those chemicals which also probably contain lectins - read all those sights and let me know what you think
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Permalink Reply by illustr8r on
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I have to say that the AIP Diet has been amazing for me so far- 2 months in. I feel radically better-mentally and physically. My hair is much improved- what's good (in the back) is great and what is thinner feels healthy and has body again. I now have these random regrowths of hair near my widows peak. They aren't broken or lone leftovers from the recession. They are new hairs. Is this happening all over-where I can't spot them in my close up mirror?? Lordy I hope so!
I've pondered Minoxidil but worried about the shed they talk about...maybe I will rethink it and only apply it to the long lost areas.
I've gone through all of my products and tossed the stuff that is on the bad beauty chemical lists too.
I'll see my Derm again next month. I wonder if she has even heard of the AIP Diet!?!
((hugs)) to all! :)
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