My hairloss is medically related. I am not going to call it "alopecia" at this stage as I have not officially been diagnosed but I chose "Other form of alopecia" on my profile because there was no "Unknown hairloss." I have a couple defined bald patches plus general thinning and I first started noticing it about 6 weeks ago, after a trip to the ER for intense pain.

Anyway, I am still in the discovery stage of what is going on. I have been displaying rheumatological symptoms off and on for 5 years and actually got a fibromyalgia and RA diagnosis 2.5 years ago. Well, you might be aware that in early stages many of these mimic one another, so it's easy to get a misdiagnosis until the symptoms become truly defined. I was diagnosed with Lyme when I went to the ER and treated but the symptoms have been going on much longer than when I think I was exposed to that. So far we have ruled out thyroid issues as that was high but within normal parameters, we've dropped the fibromyalgia entirely and are looking at other issues on the rheumatolgoical spectrum. Lupus is the next candidate up for consideration.

I go to a rheumatologist on Nov 24, hopefully armed with a battery of tests that my mother can order (lucky me she's actually Dr Mom). In the scheme of things, I've come to the "It's only hair" conclusion, and intellectually I've reconciled the loss but it does really bother me. At the current rate of loss, it could be completely gone by Christmas.

I will definitely be bringing up to him this hairloss as it is a symptom, but should I pursue treatment with him or look for a dermatologist as well?