My hair loss started almost 5 years ago. Initially they were small patches.I immediately consulted a dermatologist, who didn´t pay too much attention to the issue.As patches were becoming bigger and bigger, treatments also were modifying (I started with rogaine and local creams with corticoids, then I went with diphenciprone, and finally were corticoid pills, at increasingly high doses)But my hair went on falling more and more. As side effects were so annoying, I decided to suspend all kinds of treatments. By this time, I was almost hairless. So, I decided to shave the little remaining hair (2009)That day, something happened . I believe that the fact of not seeing my hair falling everywhere was positive.I thought "this is the worst thing that can happen", and from then on I started trying another kind of natural solutions. I tried with homeopathy, ayurvedic medicine, etc.,etc. So, I discovered my intolerance to gluten (currently I have a gluten free diet since 2009, and I´ve solved all my digestive problems); I started to exercise regularly, eat healthier and have a natural lifestyle.I´m still bald, but I feel healthier now, without hair, than 5 years ago, with my head full of hair. On the emotional impact of hair loss in my life, I must say that there were very difficult times, especially at the beggining of Areata. My self-esteem was very low; I thought: How can my husband be with someone like me? I felt I looked like a monster. I wept every day, and was very sad. I felt nobody could understand what was happening to me.The early days of wearing wigs were also difficult. I felt everybody stared at me.Then I was getting used, and now I feel that it is already part of myself.I found that what works best to me is not hide my hair loss. Everyone knows that I wear wigs, even those I just know.By this way dissapears the anxiety that can generate me the fact that people realize that it is not my natural hair.When I tell people that I wear wigs, I also tell them about Universal Alopecia. I discovered that there are many people who don´t know the disease. Perhaps some day I encourage myself to go out without my wig.By now, I only do it at home, and usually with a scarf on my head. Of course, sometimes I miss a lot my hair, but can say that I learned to live with alopecia. I learned to love me, as I am now, and above all to enjoy each thing that life gives to me (already not postpone anything for when my hair come back; it´s very likely that this does not happen, so I will try the life that I had in luck worth really be lived). So, here is a summary of my last 5 years. There is much more to say, but I´ll do so little by little, not to bore you. Thanks for allowing me to join to Alopecia World.