Alopecia World
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Is positivity the cure?
Hi everybody :)
These are questions I'd really love your opinion on...
But first I'd like to give you the 411 on myself. I was diagnosed with AA October of 2008. I had just moved to a different region and 2 months later, I found a bald spot. It grew back with a steroid injection, but a month later I found another one. The following months I discovered more and more and decided I would soon be bald. I became depressed. I didn't understand why it was happening. I confided in a friend, who decided I should speak with a psychic. The psychic told me my hair was falling out because of my negativity. I had to change my way of thinking immediately, otherwise it would get worse. Her words gave me hope. I tried to tell myself everyday, it's going to grow back, but it was so hard when you see the hope wash away in the shower. After a few months, I learned to accept the possibility of me being bald. I thought, ok, if it grows it grows. Soon enough, it all grew back. Now, a year and a half later, I don't have any more spots.
However, I have been more stressed lately and I notice my hair is a lot thinner and falls out more. I check everyday hoping not to find that little spot, but I'm scared. They say when it falls out, it usually looks like an "exclamation point" but it just looks like i have no root, it's just white.
It's driving me bananas! So my questions are: when you were diagnosed, were you very stressed? Were you a "negative thinker"? Do u have a success story?
I wish the cause was known, and that this was curable. If only the government was spending money on curing diseases and not on war.
Thank you guys :)
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Comment by Rose Marie' on February 28, 2010 at 10:01pm -
There are many opinions about stress and how it relates to alopecia.
My personal view (I am not a physician) is that stress may exacerbate things but alopecia is NOT caused by it. I really dislike when people pass on that the person with alopecia can somehow control this with positive thought. This (in my mind) is an auto immune condition. Where you have no control over the outcome. Nobody really fully understands what causes it and nobody knows how to cure it. So, to say to you that you have some control over it frustrates me immensely. The thought that all those with alopecia are somehow flawed in their ability to deal with life and therefore stress is just plain wrong. Everybody deals with stress, but not everybody looses hair. I'm sure this condition has made you feel stressed, vulnerable and miserable and that would be very very normal. You have not made this happen to yourself and you do not have control over the course this condition will take.
I guarantee you are a lovely young woman doing your best to get on with life - please never blame you and your supposed negative thoughts for your alopecia. You did nothing wrong and by being a perfectly unstressed, happy person does not necessarily mean your hair will return.
I hope what I have said helps.
Rosy
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Comment by Yoshimi on February 28, 2010 at 10:30pm -
I think a time comes for people to think life over, more deeply. Its more easier when you think about it naturally, but sometimes it just shakes you up to thinking. To me personally, alopecia was something which forced to me wake up.
I think life nowadays has just too much negativity, and our body responds to it. And everybody is different so our bodies react in different ways too. Just look at the way you think about yourself, other people, everything in your life. And then think about the media and what it is saying to us.
Personally, I dont believe that physical things are disconnected, that they just happen randomly. Although at first the thought that alopecia is something which no one can predict its outcome cheered me up, later I began to think that maybe it isnt so.
I dont know for sure that positivity is a cure, but I think its what you believe and have faith in.. like the placebo effect I think. Because I am not going to wait for a medical cure that might never come.
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Comment by Clara S. on March 1, 2010 at 1:16am -
Every time I see my hair specialist now, he always tells me to "manage my stress levels". I always want to laugh when he tells me this because I really can't figure out how he wants me to do this since I really don't have much to stress about these days.(Of course, i don't think stress is good and we all should have our methods of dealing with stress)
Personally, I'm not really sure if there is a pattern related to stress or not. Sure, I was really stressed 6 months ago over a personal issue and since then I've lost way more hair than I ever did. But a year before that where I lost nearly 50% of my hair, I can't say for sure if I was overly stressed or not. If I was to look back over the years, there are times when I've had AA and wasn't overly stressed either. Mmmm or maybe my body just can't handle stress at all?? hahah :) Perhaps but come on, let's be real here, stress (even excitable happy stress :P) on all levels occur in daily life. It's not something that we can run away from but maybe that's where the positivity comes into play. I think it's important we not let this get the better of us. We should still have fun and not let it hold us it back. Bottomline is, I'm not sure if stress plays a factor. Perhaps it does, perhaps it doesn't. Who knows?? But hey, being positive isn't a bad thing either. I try to be at least! :)
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Comment by Mary on March 1, 2010 at 10:58am -
I get really ticked off when people say AA is caused by stress. The fact that a large percentage of Alopecians lose their hair in childhood disproves this! In my own case, I had years of a very stressful job and I also cared for my terminally ill mother for an extended period...and had no hair loss. My AA first appeared long after those stressful times. Maybe stress triggers AA in some people, but it doesn't seem to me that it's the major cause.
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Comment by lynne on March 1, 2010 at 11:39am -
i wasnt stressed before i lost my hair, i was quite ill which made my immune system weak which then made my hair fall out, nothing to do with stress, ive had many stressful yrs with family deaths and depression and had all my hair, so dont believe any doc that trys to say its stress, if it was stress then there would be a high population with alopecia, hope everyone's comments help u, x
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Comment by Aimee on March 1, 2010 at 5:21pm -
I had a different experience with a spiritual intuitive just a few weeks ago. My question was: Should I keep trying all of these different holistic approaches to grow my hair back? I've pretty much exhausted everything with western medicine (dermatology, endocrinology), but there are ENDLESS eastern medicine techniques (aromatherapy, polarity therapy, reiki, homeopathy...) My answer was: Stop trying to find an elusive cure and just ACCEPT. However, if I meet somebody who tells me about a technique, and that technique happens to resonate with me, than go for it. But, don't spend my whole life searching for an elusive cure because I'll live my entire life and never find it. That session gave me such comfort!
Yes, stress CAN cause alopecia, but as you can see from the above posts, it is not always the cause.
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Comment by JadeKiss on March 1, 2010 at 7:34pm -
Someone on the site had recommended I try acupuncture, and I gave it a shot, because it had worked for her. I'm not sure if this is the reason my hair eventually grew back. It's all so unclear. I just want to know.......why?? Is it side affects from 5 years of birth control(in MY case)? Is it my negative energy? KARMA?! Fate? I suppose I'll never know, but spirituality and the energy I exude and attract, in my opinion, will affect the outcome.
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Comment by Heather Bloom on March 2, 2010 at 11:29am -
I wouldn't take "stress" off the table. While I don't think it causes alopecia, it may very well be a trigger. Stress comes in many forms mental, physical and emotional. We may not even be aware if our bodies are under some sort of stress. For example, my alopecia manifested after a hormonal shift...i.e. stress.
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Comment by Rose Marie' on March 3, 2010 at 1:27pm
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Hi Heather
I agree with you with regards to hormonal shifts etc. causing stress on the body that you are unaware of. With that type of stress it is never implied that the patient can somehow control it. With the other type of stress often what health professionals talk to alopecians about is - how they are coping with life type of stress, and for some reason it is implied that this is somehow within the persons control to stop or start.
Hope that helps explain my position in this.
Rosy
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Comment by Heather Bloom on March 3, 2010 at 3:15pm
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Rosy, yes exactly. People always assume that it's the external or environmental stress that is being talked about.
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