Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Caroline (Taylor's Mom) on January 26, 2009 at 4:25pm

I totally understand! My daughter had Alopecia and has lost all of her her in 8 weeks. It's heartbreaking. And if one more person tells me "it's not the end of the world" or "it could be worse.... she could have cancer" I'm going to scream! It's easy coming from someone who has a child with a full head of health hair. I feel your pain. Good luck and know that you alway have a place to vent here! :o) Take care!
Caroline

Permalink Reply by Cindy on February 23, 2009 at 11:41am

I totally agree with you on this..I hate when people make those same comments to me..

Permalink Reply by Pamela Schlosser on February 26, 2009 at 4:47pm

HI Caroline,
I'm new to this group. My 10yr old daughter is losing her hair.She had thick long hair. I took her to the dr the next day and she said it was tracking.She is pulling her hair out. But she isn't. The pressure of the water fills the drain with hair. She is pulling hair out of her food at school and home. I brush her hair and it fills her brush x2. She has a pure bald spot on the bottom of her hairline, and it is now progressing to up to the ears ,in the middle of her scalp.The doctors want to take a piece of her skin and do a byopsi. Was this the case for you?
I'm just tried of the dr's telling me she is pulling it out.

Permalink Reply by Beth Breslow on January 26, 2009 at 4:44pm

Hi Kelly!!
I know the feeling!! My 2 1/2 year old daughter was just diagnosed with Alopecia areata. She too lost a huge clump of hair one day out of the blue and I never did find the hair...very bizarre. This happened about 1 1/2 weeks ago. Since then she is losing dime size chunks of hair around the top of her head. She is shedding hair like crazy. I've been trying to remain strong for my kids but today I just lost it in the privacy of my room. I feel helpless...i don't know if she's going to lose all of her hair....the dr.'s are useless. I can't get into a pediatric dermatologist until the summer. It's just awful....and my friends say it could be so much worse and i understand that but it's just hard to watch my innocent baby lose her hair....i wish it was me. I'm sorry I can't offer you any type of answer as to what is going on with your son. Just know I'm out there right along with you and we're having the same feelings :(

Good Luck, Kelly.

Permalink Reply by Kelly on January 26, 2009 at 5:21pm

Thank you guys so much !!!!! Feels nice to have a place to come to. I know I will spend alot of time here esp the next few months.

Permalink Reply by Margie on January 30, 2009 at 2:34am

Hi Kelly,

So sorry to hear about your son. My son is 9 and began losing his hair just this last summer. Gee, it went so quickly. Within a couple of months he lost about 75%. He was fortunate though as he wears his hair long and lost everything underneath. It was a huge loss but actually not that visable. I used an eyeliner crayon and colored his scalp each morning and it helps so there wasn't such a huge contrast between his scalp and the hair hanging down covering things. We were going to the doctor and he had great regrowth. Unfortunately as soon as he got full regrowth he started to lose the top. Now he is at about 75% loss again but this time it is very visable. Casey LOVED his hair. Hair is his security thing since he was a baby. Ironic isn't it that he would be one to lose it. But you know what....he has proven just how strong kids can be. He hates that he's the one losing it and asks "why me" occasionally but all in all he is so strong! sometimes stronger than I am. He is very athletic so I keep him extremely busy with his sports and that really helps to keep his self-esteem up. I pray things will work out fine for you son, but if you ever want to chat, just send me a message. This is one hard thing to go through both for the child and parent. I felt that I'm his mom and should be able to fix everything. It has shown me that I must be a real control freak :) It turned me into a little bit of a basket case for a while. But you know what, as time goes by it does get easier. We have the up days and the down days, but the ups are much more frequent now. Stay strong. Margie

Permalink Reply by Karen( Mom) on January 31, 2009 at 3:32pm

My 8 yr old daughter was recently diagnosed with AA. It is overwhelming and shocking to find out that she has something that you can't predict when or how much she will loose. I feel helpless and sad that she is loosing her beautiful white blonde hair. She on the other hand, doesn't seem to notice much at this point and thinks all of the hats, headbands are fun.
I do have a question for you, why do they say no fungus infection, so no Alopecia? Our blood tests showed nothing abnormal and we don't have fugus, I am confused why that means he doesn't have AA.
This site is a wonderful place for us to learn how to help our children.
Karen

Permalink Reply by Simone Mitchell on February 19, 2009 at 2:03pm

-Hi- I wanted to respond because I also have a 10 year old boy - he has alopecia, and has had no hair on his head since age 3. My experience is different since we have gotten used to it. I had many years of angst, and tried different treatments, and I can't say that I don't still get upset about it. People don't understand, unless they are going through it.I don't know what your son's diagnosis is, and if it is something that once treated, the hair will grow back? Anyway- I know how hard it is not to be able to fix it, as a mom ,we just want to make everything all better.When my son was younger, he once asked me if the hair fairy could come and grant him some hair. I still cry when I think of it.I am hoping for the best for your son,keep in touch-Simone

Permalink Reply by Cindy on February 23, 2009 at 11:41am

Hi Kelly, my name is Cindy and my 7 year old daughter has been living with AA for 2 yrs now. I know what you are going through and it is very hard. It takes some time to absorb it all and figure out how to help your child understand what is going on. UnFortunately, we can't control what is going in our childrens body and we have to rely on the doctors to help us and sometimes they have no clue either. The important thing right now is to be there for your son and help him cope and understand. I hope you find some answers soon..Cindy

Permalink Reply by Spot on February 24, 2009 at 10:44pm

I started with AA/T when I was 13, had AU by the time I was in my thrities. My daughter started with AA when she was 4, now going to be 17 she still has bouts. About every 3 months I take her to the hospital for steriod shots, they aggresively promote growth near the injection site.
KnNowing that she got it from me...hurts. Not something that I wanted to pass on.
My mother has lupus. Where will my condition go, in what direction will my daughter's?
How about my other 2 children? What about when they have kids?
Would suck to sit around and worry about all that.
I treat my daughter as any other dad would treat thier kid, though, being a retired Marine, my duaghter says I'm to strict.
Anyways, after the immediate shock of realizing what is giong on you just...go on.
Make the environment loving and supportive, as any family home life should be, and it all ends up working out.