I am very thankful but sad to find out that I am not alone. I wish everyone that is suffering from this terrible emotionally draining disease all the best. AA is truly a roller coaster ride. I am 40 and will be on the ride for the rest of my life. Here is my story….
Part I: The adolescent:

I was 13 years old and diagnosed with a tumor on my thyroid. I was lucky, it was found quickly and when part of it was removed it was diagnosed as a benign tumor. (But we all know that there is a connection between thyroid disease and AA) Around 2 months later I was lying on my bed and my very hair conscience brother noticed a golf ball size void of hair at the very top of my head. I was a little freaked out. Over a few weeks the size of the bald spot got a lot bigger, like the size of two silver dollars, but then it stopped growing larger. A few weeks later I told my mom that the hair on my legs was falling out. I was 13 and maturing fast, my legs were VERY hairy. A strange thing was happening to me and I was getting scared.

My mom finally took me to the doctor. They blamed the hair loss on “Postoperative Stress” from my Thyroid operation. I was a very brave kid, doctor’s and needles, and operations did not scare me. The doctors were definitely wrong. Years later I was able to obtain the notes from that doctor, in the file it says “patient complains about hair loss, reason unknown” This was in 1985, are you telling me AA was not known at this time? It would have been nice to put a name to something that I thought was just happening to me.

I remember to this day how mortified I was watching a video of my friend’s 13th birthday party. I saw myself doing the limbo and as I was coming back up I saw the spot on my head the way everyone else must see it, just plain weird. After I saw that, I asked my Dad to get me a piece to cover up the spot. We went to a downtown barber shop for men only that specialized in small pieces. Two things I vividly remember. 1. There were men’s magazines in the waiting room (for a 13 year old, all I can say is wow!) 2. They showed me how the piece would clip on and stay on even if I was very active. I remember those clips and thinking that I couldn’t go through with putting on a piece of hair and hiding who I was.

Here is the uplifting part, after that summer I was going into High School. During the summer *All* the hair on my head grew back. Just in time to avoid the bullies in high school. The hairs on my legs were very patchy, but I was able to deal with that. My mom told the doctor’s that the hair grew back and they made her believe that it was due to my thyroid medicine being changed from thyroxin to Synthroid. Doctor’s just love to guess, don’t they!

At last my problem is gone…..or so I thought!

Part II: The Man with what?

Back in 2003 I noticed a very small bald spot on my beard about the size of a dime. I liked growing a nice beard during the winter so I was a little upset. I really didn’t think about it much. A few weeks later for lowering my cholesterol my doctor put me on Lipitor. About a month later my hair started falling out. Not in concentric circles but in a very diffuse pattern, a little all over the place. What was happening to me? I was grasping at straws. It couldn’t be the thing I had when I was 13? Could it? I was in denial, I could only think of one thing and I researched that Lipitor had a side effect of hair loss. My GP sent me to a dermatologist to see what he thought.

He told me that it was not due to the medicine and that I had AA. Actually it was AU. I lost hair on my beard, my head, my legs. It certainly was universal. I wanted to yell and scream at him. I couldn’t believe my ears. I have a disease. I had the disease since I was 13 and I just didn’t know it.

I put my story down in words in 2003. Below is how I was feeling about my status of AA. As of right this minute, I have AU….not one hair on my body! It is interesting to look back and see how I was feeling as the AA progressed.

Since 2003 I have won and lost some battles with this disease.

For my head, The onset of the diffuse hair lose stopped, grew back, then started to fall out in a typical AA round pattern. I have lost at one time around 25% of my hair. In 2005, after many injections to the affected areas it seamed to go away. Now in 2008 I see a small spot at the nape of my neck rearing its ugly head. I am afraid that the cycle is going to start all over again........all gone now

Remember that dime spot on my beard? Well almost all the hair is gone from my neck, chin, and half of my mustache. The hair still grows pretty good on my cheeks. I have a pretty heavy beard when it grows normally. So I keep a small foil electric razor in my car so I can shave 2-3 times a day. If I don’t shave the beard looks really bad. Soon I won’t have to shave at all. So it is!!

Arm and Legs: One night I noticed a small bald spot on my arms. I told my wife that this was new and never happened to me before. Two days later I woke up took a shower and noticed that my arms were completely bald. I have some new hair growth….It will take years for my arms to look normal. Still none.
New for 2008: Eyebrows. My right eyebrow is slowly going away. I had shots in it once and I am getting them again soon. What do you do if only one falls out? Shave the other one? Walk around with one? Put on glasses to hide them? Update……..they are both gone.

My eyebrow falling out is scary. I have been able to handle most of what has happened to me pretty well. But if it falls out I am going to be devastated. I am not a vain man, but I don’t want to be stared out.
Update, I was a brave man and made a great decision and had them tattooed by a very talented woman. I went a year with Eyebrowz makeup. This is so much better!!!!!

I am fortunate to call a wife a woman who has loved me since she was 17 and I was 20. She has been with me through this new battle with AA/AU. She is my rock. Without her, I couldn’t deal with this disease. We have an 8 year old son named Zacharie. He has a little sister 3 year old sister named LIlah. Thank goodness there are good things in life to look forward to. I am a proud dad. One day when my son was 5 he was asking my wife what her can of shaving cream in the bathroom was for. She said that women shave their legs. He got this weird look on his face. And then he looked at my bald legs and all he said was “Huh” Meaning, daddy must shave his legs too. He didn’t say it, but he thought it. It is a little disheartening knowing that my little boy looks up to me and in some ways wants to grow up and be like me. He was a little confused when he looked at daddy’s shinny bald legs. Then as little kids do, he forgot about it and moved on. I pray that my children NEVER face this disease.

This is the first time I have reached out to the AA community. I am really happy to find a group of people I could relate to. You guys must be very strong. I can only try to be as strong as you and not let this thing rule me. I have to rule it.
Well that is my story. It felt really good to put the words down. You guys inspire me.
Craig, Southampton, PA