I'll start my first blog by introducing myself I guess. I'm Davis, a 19 year old girl from Alberta Canada. I was first diagnosed with alopecia when I was 3 years old, I was getting my haircut and the hair dresser noticed a small bald patch in the back of my head. My mum took me to our family physician who told us about alopecia, and what it was. But we live in such a small community and it was so long ago, there wasn't much information on it. For the last 16 years, I've tried different medications, from herbal remedies including gross powdered veggie shakes and fish oil supplements, to creams and lotions and shampoos, and now finally injections. I've been to several doctors and dermatologists in Alberta and Ontario.
A lot of people would think that growing up with something like alopecia for nearly my whole life would be difficult and there were worries I would become self harming. But my family and friends have been extremely supportive, and because our community is so close that I was lucky to grow up in a positive environment and able to grow up to be who I am today. Which sounds really cheesy, but it's true. That's not to say there haven't been moments when I asked "Why me? What did I do to deserve this?" and when I wish everything could have been different and I could have a normal head of hair for once. But deep down, I don't wish that, because this is who I am, and I love me the way I am. It's just taken me a while to realize it, and to still realize it sometimes.
My case of alopecia areata is that I lose my hair in patches on my head. Sometimes it's mild and easy to hide with the right hair style, sometimes it's gotten so severe my hair line is several inches from my forehead. Recently (well, in the past few years) it's progressed to my eyebrows. I never really noticed my eyebrows had disappeared until somebody pointed it out at school one day. When my alopeica is in a severe stage, my eyebrows are completely gone, when it's more mild, like after getting some injections (Yes, I get them in my eyebrows too) they are just patchy, and we are thinking of giving up on them. I did try to draw eyebrows on, but I don't like the look and it took so much more time, and I've heard of getting them tattooed on (my cousin did because she has very fair blond eyebrows and wanted them a bit darker without paying for a dye job every 2 weeks) and anyway, I don't mind not having eyebrows, people don't really notice that much and when they do, they say I'm still beautiful.
There have only been 2 situations that were less than pleasant with my alopecia, the first time was in elementary school, around the age of 10, when a new kid pointed out that there was a HUGE patch of hair missing in the back of my head, and he laughed at me. I'd never had anybody say anything even close to negative about my hair before and didn't really know what to do. I kind of just stared at him like HE was the freak. So when I went home and told my parents, they said I should see what I can do to inform people that maybe haven't realized what I'm going through. So, I researched all I could about alopecia (still not finding that much) and wrote out a report saying what the disease was, what was thought to cause it, and my experience with it. I'd wanted to share it with the whole school, but for some reason that "just isn't possible, or a very convenient use of school time" (Our school principal was kind of a jerk... to everybody) So I just shared my report with my class, and since that year they've been really supportive of me.
The second negative encounter I had was just a few years ago I was 14 or 15, and much more sensitive about my looks (what teenage girl ISN'T?) A close friend of mine had an aunt that was battling breast cancer, and she was like my aunt too. There was a huge fundraiser for her in a local restaurant (now closed) and people were shaving their heads to raise money. I was a bit worried that maybe I shouldn't, I already have enough trouble hiding the huge spot in the back of my head (another severe stage) but I figured, this isn't about me, and if all these other women can go bald, so can I, especially for such a good cause. So I did it and it was emotional, there were tears of sadness and of joy, there was laughter too, not like "haha look at the freak" but more like supportive, shocked "I can't believe she's so brave, I wish I could do that" laughter (well, I only realized it was that kind of laughter because they told me so.) When I went to school the next day however, things were a little different. Don't get me wrong, my friends, and classmates I'd grown up with my whole life were incredibly supportive. It's just those darn new kids, who think they're better than everyone else. See, our school is very sports orientated, and thus we have a big hockey team. I think one guy is like in the NHL or something, but I don't follow sports, it could just be a kid with a similar name or something. Anyway, we get a lot of international jocks, and a lot from around the country, which means we get quite a few new kids every year. I hadn't thought about wearing bandana's or scarves or wigs or anything because really, I hadn't thought anybody would be mean... but while waiting to be let into the class room that day, one of the hockey guys was walking behind me, and when he noticed the huge bald spot he started laughing and saying mean things. It was so much worse than the last time, and I just started to cry. I really didn't know what to do. Our school doesn't have a bullying problem really, sure there is teasing and fun making, but a serious bullying problem? Not really. People think so, but it's just because we don't get the same influences in our school as the cities do. The whole class turned to the hockey jock and just stared, nobody was joining in his "jokes" nobody else was making fun of me, why was he being so mean? It's not like I could help what was happening. When he finally sort of calmed down, some of his team mates who I'd grown up with had it out with him, they got up in his face, surrounding him, and told him he wasn't being cool, to apologize, and such and such. I don't really remember, I wasn't paying that much attention to him anymore, my friends and some of the girls in my grade sort of separated us and were making sure I was ok.
That's really all I have time for right now. I apologize for any spelling and gramatical errors. Normally I would read through and fix them, but I'm in a bit of a rush today. I don't really know if this is the sort of thing everybody else writes in their blogs, but I would like to use this space to tell my story, if that's ok.