Alopecia World
www.alopeciaworld.com
There still is hope
A while ago i posted a thread asking if there is still hope. I was quickly losing all of my hair, and within about two months, about 65-70% of my hair was gone. I was devastated. I read hundreds of threads on this website wondering if it could get better. I was unable to find any article that was close to hopeful and almost everyone i read made me more and more depressed. Being in college, it was hard to focus and it was hard to still have hope. I was convinced i was going to go bald at the young age of 19.
However, a month ago my hair started to return. I have regrowth. It is growing in slowly, but it is growing nonetheless. I am beyond happy. (I know i shouldn't get too excited since it could just as easily stop, however i need to get my point across) This site is amazing, and the community is beyond helpful. HOWEVER, i think people need to realize that there is a huge selection bias in the posts on this website. People are more likely to post during a time of stress and a period in which they are having aggressive alopecia than if things are going well for them. I promised myself that if my alopecia got better then i would post something so here i am.
To who this may concern: It is not the end of the world and it may be hard to see that now, but if you are losing your hair it CAN stop and it CAN get better. Just because you are reading so many threads and posts about how it didn't get better for those people, that does NOT mean you are going to follow in the same path. I understand that: yes, it can get worse, and yes, you there is a chance you follow in the same path. However there is EVERY chance you don't. If you are reading this and struggling, know that the posts on this website are skewed in a way that shows more negative posts than positive ones. Just think about it: if you are doing well, would you post on here? Probably not, and that is why i am.
Sorry for rambling, but i just thought that if i realized this earlier, it would have made feel me a little bit better, and that is my hope. I hope i can make at lease one person feel better. There is EVERY chance your hair will grow back. I talked to a hair loss specialist and she said even if you have 95% hair loss, as long as you have some hair, the diagnosis is the same, and you can still grow your hair back. So just relax and realize that it is 100% out of your control. (I know that is soooooo much easier said than done, but still).
There is still hope for you.
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Hope4mySON on
-
thank you for your post. We need more posts like this
-
-
Hello - I got alopecia universalis 17 years ago - total hair loss. Pretty tough but got used to it and was very happy with my vacuum wigs. Four years ago I got breast cancer and went on a drug call exemestane. One and a half years ago my hair started growing. My oncologist has not seen this side effect with other patients (growing hair) so who know? I was shocked as I never expected to see hair on my head again. I have about a 3 inch growth all over and am still wearing regular wigs now hoping the growth with continue. My only complaint is that I have had a hard time adjusting to a different kind of wig because the quality is not the same of the non-vacuums, either human or synthetic. Just thought you might like to hear my story - Not sure how long I will have hair but am enjoying it nevertheless. Pam
-
Permalink Reply by Pam D. on
-
People have come here and posted about how their hair came back and gave their advice as to how they did it. I would like them to follow up and let us know if they still have their hair or if it fell out again; I'm not sure if they were in a remission (I have had two) or cured.
I sincerely hope you are on the road to recovery.
Good luck and please follow up.
-
-
I will reply. I was just lying in bed and thinking about how i never go on this website anymore (hypocritical i know). I still have my hair (knock on wood). Some spots here and there, but they are small and i do not care, since i have seen a lot worse. Anyways, i think this ties back to my original post. I used to go on this website all the time when i was losing my hair. i searched and searched and searched for a case like mine. And i searched for at least some sort of hope. I didnt see it. I felt like i was doomed to lose all of my hair. But i realized that is because the "successes" dont ever come back on the website. But believe me, there is still hope. It so unpredictable, however, just because you lose 99% of your hair, there still is a chance of it coming back. So, there still is hope, and i will try and update and be on this website more and more to spread this hope.
-
-
Hey kudos!
I had massive hair loss due to traction alopecia as well as alopecia areata. I was told by a few physicians that if my scalp was shiny in those areas, it was 100% chance that the follicles were dead and my hair would never grow back.
I think i remember posting a thread about this? Some folks were supportive, of my views of saying that i think these MD's were wrong. A few members came in and said, "I trust my doctor, and you should leave this to the experts"..
I will say they were right to a degree.. There are a lot of cases out there, that no matter what you, if the hair isn't going to grow? It's just not going to happen. We just have to accept that, as you also stated.
Alopecia Areata is very unpredictable, and true to form? Over a 15 - 20 year span? My hair would start sprouting in patches, fall out, grow out in other areas on the scalp, fall back out. Then it had gotten to the point where i started timing it. November 16th of every single year? I could depend on the hair fall.
I gave up, but not entirely. Last year, I tried a different type of carrier oil on my scalp, threw out all of the hair vitamins, base ball caps, cheap, ill-fitting, heavy wigs, as well as hundreds of dollars of hair products. I started doing Apple Cider vinegar rinses every 3 weeks vs. every week. Switched to a specific shampoo for "swimmers" and hard water and well water areas. (Kenra shampoo) And most of all? I just said screw it. I just want a healthy scalp.
Before November 16th rolled around this last year? I watched dead skin was literally sloughing off my scalp during scalp massages, as well as after shampooing/conditioning. Especially in the severe bald areas that were constantly tingling.
Next thing i know.. hair started sprouting in the shiny areas which was over 3/4th of my head. I had 1/4 of patchy hair fearlessly clinging to my scalp for dear life.
Those too, finally gave up the ship and abandoned me. But in their place, there was new growth. At this time? I have over 85% of hair. It bothers me that some patches grow slower than others. But i'm grateful, that they did start growing in regardless.
I began watching youtube. There are several ladies on their with stories of having alopecia areata from age 12 and are recovering. They too, talk about physicians even beauticians telling them their hair would NEVER grow back. Well, it's obvious to me, that an MD, doesn't make them more intelligent, it just gives these same flawed human beings the ability to spout bull crap with more authorities than others.
Kudos to your recovery, and keep sharing!
© 2024 Created by Alopecia World.
Powered by
