A few weeks ago I asked over on Instagram if my readers would be interested in reading about an update regarding my alopecia areata. Overwhelmingly, you guys said yes, so here I am today. The last time I opened up about my hair loss was a year and a half ago, so I would recommend reading my last post on it if you want to know more about the backstory.
For those who are unaware, alopecia comes in many forms. It is an auto-immune disease (meaning my body attacks its own cells) that is currently treatable, but not curable. Specifically, I have alopecia areata, which is sporadic hairloss that often results in bald patches although some people have alopecia areata nervosa, which is the full form of hair loss in which they do not have hair anywhere on their body.
So here I am, three years later after learning about what my body was doing to my hair. Again, at the time I don't think I was stressed, I don't think anything majorly traumatic happened to me to trigger my hair loss. All I know is that someone noticed there was a lot of hair on the bathroom floor, and then my friends started noticing my bald spots (which I had noticed before but didn't think too much of then), and then one night I found a patch about three inches in diameter at the back of my head. This was obviously very scary, considering I have a family member who has the full form of it and my brother had lost almost all of his hair but then it grew back.
I went to the dermatologist, I got blood work done (which turned out normal), I was injected with a steroid to control my body from attacking my hair cells, and eventually my bald patches grew hair again. Every now and then, I would get small patches the size of a dime, and I would apply my topical treatment which always helped to grow my hair back. I would say that within the past three years, I have definitely come to terms with it and I've learned what to look for and how to manage it.
Now that it's been three years though, I don't know if I can truly say I have alopecia areata anymore... and the reason why is because it's been a very long time since I've noticed severe hair loss. My hair definitely isn't what it used to be; it's thinned out but for the most part, I feel like it's not even noticeable. I've been taking care of my hair in terms of treatments, hair masks, etc, but it's definitely been a while since either I or Beni, or any of my friends have seen a patch. Even when I do see a patch, it's so minor that I find it hard to apply my prescription cream and it seems to get better all on its own.
I'm not really sure what else to update you guys on other than I feel happy and content with where I am with my alopecia. If anything, the past few months have given me more stress and less time to do the things I want to do than when I started my last year of university (when all of this happened), but nothing has happened to my hair...? That's the thing with alopecia - no one knows what causes it and no one knows how to cure it. I think that's the most frustrating thing for me because if anything, I often worry about being too stressed or just wondering what might trigger it. It's a constant mind-game and it's not very pleasant.
I know there's nothing I can do about it, but it would just be nice to not have to think about it, you know? If you guys have any questions for me, feel free to leave a comment down below, reach out to me on Instagram, or even send me an email. For those going through this, just know that I know what you're going through, and even though my case may be different from yours, I'm here for you because I know when I was going through it, I felt very alone at times because no one really understood what I was going through. So, I want to be here for you because I know it's sad, frustrating, and difficult to understand why it has to happen to you and why there are no answers.
Until next time,
Nancy
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