Alopecia World
Erin McLemore
35, Female
Maize, KS
United States
Profile Information:
- Relationship Status:
- In a Relationship
- About Me:
- I'm a little bit weird...
My Alopecia Mini-Story / Other A-I disorder:
I have alopecia areata. I got my first bald spot in the fourth grade. It was about the size of a grapefruit. It immediately grew back. Two years later, I began loosing it again (right about the time 6th grade started, thanks immune system). I lost pretty much all of the hair on the top of my head, as well as lost my eyebrows from time to time. My bald spots always began immediately growing back. I haven't had any bald spots since then but the hair on the very top of my head never grows any longer than 3 or 4 inches. Just long enough to lay flat and blend in whether the rest of my hair is short or long. It's extremely thin, but I'm thankful for it. It's taken me over a year to grow 3 inches, which is about half the rate of normal hair. The only lasting effect alopecia has given me is the "dimpling" or striped tiny ridges in my nails. I first notice them a little after my first bald spot, before we even knew they were an effect of alopecia.
I've been to four NAAF confrences: Norfolk, V.A; St. Louis, MO; L.A; and Minneapolis, MN. Hopefully I can save enough money to attend the 2010 conference in Indianapolis, I.N.
Recently I was able to meet a girl with universalis my age here in my town who had never met anyone with alopecia before and her lack of knowledge about alopecia was alarming since she lost all of her hair when she was just a toddler. She didn't know it was genetic and she was born with it, that it is an auto-immune disease, or that there are three types of alopecia. In fact, she told me that I startled her when the first thing I had ever said to her was asking if she had alopecia. Meeting her by chance has inspired me to be more active online and to help spread more awareness. I was very fortunate to be able to attended confrences and support groups pretty much right after being diagnosed, and I take it for granted sometimes.
I'm an amateur photographer and I've done a couple photos about or relating to alopecia.
I have another auto-immune disease called hypokalemic periodic paralysis which is basically cause when my muscles get tired or sore and my immune system thinks the muscle are trying to harm the body or thinks they are "foreign matter" and it shuts down the achy muscle until it's no longer a "threat", causing temporary paralysis. It's also a fairly rare disease with no cure yet, and the only treatment for it is taking potassium during an "episode" as well as taking potassium and vitamin supplements for preventive measures. At one point my doctor had me on prenatal vitamins because they really help prevent attacks and it was so embarrassing to have to tell every new doctor why a 14 year old is on prenate. They ALWAYS would look at my stomach first.
About Me:
Anywho, other than that, I'm a typical 20 year old college student. Like I said, I enjoy photography, history, and movies. In the past year and a half, I've taken up video making/editing and I actually used to be very popular in a certain community on Youtube until I pretty much pissed a lot of them off for a decision I made regarding my personal life and lost a lot of viewers. In the past two months, I've taken up yoga and I'm loving it. I used to be a competitive swimmer before my hkpp decided to rear its head which forced me to stop. Yoga has, so far, been an exercise that works with it. - Do you have alopecia?
- Alopecia areata
- Are you age 18 or older?
- Yes - I am 18 or older
Brittany
Thank you! ^-^
That photo was taken at the Marriott Downtown Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky during the 23th NAAF conference in 2008. Me personally I'm a nikon fan! lol
Have a wonderful weekend!! ^-^
xoxo
Brit ^-^
Jan 31, 2010
Brittany
xoxo
Brit ^-^
Jan 31, 2010
Brittany
I totally understand this year will also my first conference as an "adult" as well. When I went to the 2008 conference I was only 16 and my mom put me into the teen group. I really had fun in the teen group. I think it will be also very weird for me.
xoxo
Brit ^-^
Jan 31, 2010