March 16th - Diagnosis

I was diagnosed with Alopecia Areata by a dermatologist today. It's a condition that causes unpredictable, rapid hair loss. It literally started overnight, out of nowhere. I noticed a smooth bald spot about the size of a half dollar on the back of my head Thursday night (March 11th), found another almost the same size the next morning, and noticed more and more smaller patches and lost hair over the next couple of days. I did a lot of research, and according to my symptoms came to the conclusion it must be Alopecia Areata.

I had an appointment and getting a diagnosis today was the first step to me really accepting this condition and beginning to learn to live with it. Nobody can tell how much more hair I will lose, or at what rate. It is completely unpredictable, and the course it takes varies from person to person. It is very possible all of my hair will regrow on its own, its possible I will lose all of it, or maybe it will regrow and fall out again, nobody knows. That's probably the most frustrating part of it, is just not knowing.

I had some treatment done today, a bunch of steroid injections directly into my scalp [ouch!] which will not prevent or cure the alopecia; it could help in speeding up regrowth, though. I honestly am not sure whether I am going to continue with the treatments. There's a lot going through my mind regarding that, and I feel it might be best for me, emotionally, not to pursue more treatment. For now I am going to wait a couple of weeks, start to adjust to this new part of my life, and get over the initial shock of what's happening before I make any decisions regarding treatment. I will keep everyone updated on my thoughts/feelings about that once I come closer to making some solid decisions.

In the meantime, overall, I'm really feeling ok about all of this. I am maintaining a very positive attitude and am not letting this bring me down. Not to say that there isn't a part of me that is very sad; I'd say I'm at about 70/30 right now of feeling ok vs. feeling sad. Not too bad, I'll take it! I have the most amazing people in my life right now who are giving me all of the love and support I need to stay strong.

I feel fortunate that, at this point, the hair loss is not very obvious with my hair combed down as usual. The patches are only very visible when I lift/part my hair. I have, however found some really cute hats I'm actually kind of excited about getting soon if I need them :) And the prospect of a bright blue wig with bangs sounds really fun!

I've even decided that if I end up with significant hair loss, for Halloween I will just shave it all down but keep some long in the front and totally rock the Tank Girl style...I already wanted to make a Tank Girl costume this year and this could actually make it the rockinest, baddest tank girl ever!

If you'd like to learn more about Alopecia Areata, there is a ton of information online, maybe start with this to begin with to learn the basics:
http://www.medicinenet.com/alopecia_areata/article.htm#3whatare

Feel free to leave comments or questions; I have absolutely no qualms about discussing this. Talking about it and having it all out in the open is making it so much easier for me to deal with.

Thanks for reading, Peacock out!