Comment by Roger on July 7, 2009 at 7:04am

Thanks for sharing your story Robert. I know the feeling. Ive had alopecia since 1986 on/off. Ive learned to cope with it after so many years now. Try to keep the chin up. I know it can be hard.

Im here if you wanna ask something or just talk.

Roger.

Comment by Joshua on July 7, 2009 at 12:58pm

Hi Robert,

Thank you for sharing your story. I am sorry to learn about yet another frustrating condition= alopecia is affecting someone else.

I have compile some information on my blog http//joshuablogspace.blogspot.com

You may click onto the label "Alopecia" to see a list of postings relating to alopecia.

Do keep in touch. Here's definitely a place to vent your frustrations and share your good news.

Joshua

Comment by Jeff W on July 7, 2009 at 11:39pm

Robert,
I totally empathize with your situation! I went through similar emotions as yourself when I first started developing spots. Mine started with a nickel sized spot and then more spots started to form. I also lost a small circular portion of facial hair, but I since I don't generally grow a mustache or beard it didn't bother me as much except for the fact that it seemed to indicate something wasn't quite right.
I went to a dermatologist and got cortisone shots and steroid creams, but they didn't help and if anything the problem got worse and developed many more spots. At that point I gave up on the treatments and like Aimee am letting nature take its course.

One thing I thing you should do is make sure there are no underlying causes that might be detected via other bloodwork. I had checked were thyroid and other hormone levels. Somewhere in the blogs and discussions on this site you should be able to find specific tests that you could have.

Now let me give you a little hope. My brother was diagnosed with Alopecia Areata about 2 years ago. He spontaneously recovered and all his hair returned with no treatment at all. Mind you it took a good year for full recovery, but that is the nature of this. I also seem to be on the rebound, but it is happening very slowly. My hair no longer seems to be falling out and most of my spots seem to have some (not very dense) hair growth. I've managed to keep the spots fairly well hidden by just letting the hair I have grow out and creative use of hairspray. Interestingly, one of the most encouraging things I've noticed is that some of the bald spots in my facial hair now has some growth as well. I still don't know if and when my spots might regrow, but in large part thanks to this site I feel I'll be prepared for whatever happens. I think you are already well on your way to having this in the proper perspective. Don't let this diminish your joys in life as they will persist even if your hair does not!
Best wishes,
Jeff

Everyone seems to be a little different, so nobody can predict the course your hair will take. There is still plenty of reason to believe that you will spontaneously recover as many do. As difficult (or impossible) as it may seem, try not to let this worry you too much as stress certainly doesn't help. I'm sure you have your family's support and you certainly will get plenty of support from this group.

Comment by Robert on July 8, 2009 at 5:22am

Thanks to all who have taken the time to reply to my post. I really do appreciate it and this website has been a great discovery to me.

Comment by John Killion on July 14, 2009 at 4:12pm

I've always been very healthy and active. About three months I began to lose my beard on my chin and my dermatologist diagnosed it as stress induced Alopecia, and said it would most likely regrow in a year. I didn't worry about it too much because I figured why worry about something I shave off anyway. But last Friday I went to get a haircut, told the barber to buzz me, and was instantly shocked to see several small bald spots on one side of the back of my head and one very large, very noticable one on the other side. I called my doctor and he said the only treatment that MAY work are the injections. I am loath to pump anything into my body but at the same time if there is anything I can do to slow or reverse this process I should consider it. I am a very fit 50 year old and this is my first experience with Alopecia. Any advice from you folks would be much appreciated. I am so impressed with the strength and courage you people display, your pride in yourselves, and your resilience. I'm so impressed that I now understand that if the worst should happen, and I lose all of my hair, I can easily live with it. Thanks.

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