I was hesitant to even write about this but "its just part of it". Well 2 Saturdays ago I was putting my hair up half way and noticed a small bald spot about the size of a quarter. I knew my hair had been falling out (more than usual) lately; i'm talking having to clean out the drain every time I take a shower falling out. I guess I didn't think much about it because I knew that was part of pregnancy. But the more I thought about it I realized that my hair didn't fall out until about 4-5 months after I had Gage and I certainly didn't have bald spots. I texted my sister a picture and she said it could be hormones but she told me to just call the doctor on Monday. So I said ok and forgot about it...........until an hour later. Erik was sitting in the lazy boy and I went over to him and sat with him. I said, "just check my hair to make sure I don't have any more spots". So he started looking and I hear a big gasp. I thought he was joking....um, no. There was a HUGE bald spot by my left ear that is a little bigger than a baseball. I had him take a picture of it and as soon as I saw it I couldn't breath. I was freaking out. I texted Lindsay back and told her that this could not be normal and I wanted to go to the hospital. The crazy thing was.....I didn't know notice the bald spots. Lucky for me, I have LOTS of hair and its thick. Lindsay told me to call the after hours hot line but not to be surprised if the nurse acted like it wasn't a big deal.
So I called. 2 hours later a nurse called me back. She kept apologizing that this was happening and understood how hard it must be but I would need to wait until Monday to call my OB. Monday was Veteran's day but thankfully the office was open (I didn't have school). I got an appointment with a doctor at the OB office. After waiting for an HOUR the doctor basically said that the big spot was not normal and that we would need to go see a dermatologist. Ugh. Lindsay went with me so we went to lunch so that was a nice little break!
I got an appointment at the dermatologist on Tuesday morning at 8:30. My mom wanted to go because she said she needed to know what was going on too :) The dermatologist was AWESOME. He explained everything. I have alopecia areata. Basically it is areas in the scalp where you loose hair. My spots were imflammed underneath the skin which was causing my hair not to grow. First question was, "Is this caused by pregnancy"? He said there is no real known cause but it just so happened that I got it when I was pregnant. Next question, "Can I loose more hair; will it spread?" He said yes, I could loose more hair and it could spread to other places in my scalp. Not really what I wanted to hear but then I started thinking: There are millions of people that are going through things that are A LOT worse than loosing hair in a few spots. I know I have nothing to worry about it. If I continue to loose my hair, I will be getting a wig. I'm ok with that. I hope I don't have to but I am also thankful I am not losing my hair because of what so many people go through.....cancer.
In a nutshell, I have nothing to worry about. I was prescribed a $64 spray (yes....$64, that would have been $650 without insurance) that my sweet husband has to spray on my spots (I now I have 3) every morning and night. There has been no progress but I haven't lost hope. I go back in 6 weeks and if nothing has improved, I have to get injections in each spot :( Doesn't sound pleasant so I am hopeful the spray will begin to work.
I would appreciate prayers. It was hard at first but now I'm ok with it because "everything's gonna be alright" :)
I would post pictures but I'm not quite ready for that. I am hoping to have some before/after pictures with lots of improvements! Thankfully, you cannot see any of the spots wether I wear my hair up or down.
Thank you for your prayers.
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