First treatment started today - Also found a nice shampoo!

I did a little research and found a dermatologist who specializes in hair loss and today I met her. She thought it was funny when I referred to her dad as "the Big Wig" in his practice. She's wonderful. She took a bunch of pictures for comparison, which freaked me out because I can't see most of the areas. She said it's "very extensive Alopecia Areata". I started the injections too, and she gave me a steroid solution and a cream to use. Just wait and see I guess.

I also started using this shampoo called Proclaim. I started using it about 2 weeks ago after reading a blog here about using moisturizing shampoos/conditioners. I found it in the beauty supply store. I love it! My kids love it! I noticed a dramatic difference in the amount of hair loss almost immediately!

I went on vacation to Martha's Vineyard with my family and was gaulked at when I went swimming. That made me feel pretty bad, but whatever! I'll figure it out.
I'm trying to wear headbands, scarves...but i'm no trend setter and I feel kinda stupid! But some of them work!

The hardest part I think is at work. I'm a nurse, so I get pretty close to people. I'm not looking forward to that second glance shocked look from my patients or coworkers. I told my boss about my alopecia because I don't want her hearing some ridiculous rumor, she appreciated that.

Looking back over the past few months when all of this started, I realize that I was totally exhausted and over sleeping everyday until my hair started really falling out. Then that exhaustion, which I figured was me being really lazy, stopped and now I can't nap during the day. The bruised feeling along my scalp and the tingling has really reduced too.

I'm looking forward to not being paranoid and distracted by it anymore. To me it will be all or nothing! If I respond to the treatments, great. I will give it a reasonable amount of time. But if I don't respond then I will shave it all off and get a beautiful tatoo and a gorgeous wig! I might even get breast augmentation and say screw it!

Just thought I would share my thoughts after a long night at work!

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Comment by John M. on August 26, 2009 at 3:44pm
Hi Karen - how are you doing? I found your "sleeping" part of your blog quite interesting. I too used to be able to sleep like a log, and would often wake up craving more sleep. Never had an issue taking an afternoon nap when I could. As a matter of fact, one could argue that afternoon naps were one of my favorite past times. However, now after the AA, I also find it very hard to sleep at night and no matter how tired I am in the afternoon (you know how you can feel it in your eyes?), I can't take an afternoon nap.

All this coincides with me finding out I've got high blood pressure, which I attributed the sleeping patterns to the BP issue. But your post really caught my eye. Any other sleep pattern issues you've noted?

Cheers,

John
Comment by Karen on September 1, 2009 at 10:49pm
Hi John - I'm ok. Thank you for asking! Insomnia is not new to me. I've been an insomniac for years and I'm on medication for it. I do wake up now during the night and find myself feeling my head as if this whole thing was a dream only to realize that it's real. That's a huge drag!

I have always loved a good afternoon snooze. But just before a huge "shed" (I guess that's the term) I was sleeping way, way too much and too long. Then my hair all fell out and I physically felt better. No longer tired and flat. I felt worse just before the big let down.
And until about an hour ago, I was happy with the results of my first injections from last week. My hair loss has drastically reduced and I can feel a wiffle coming in certain areas, but not all. Then about an hour ago I started feeling that bruised sensation which preceeds a loss...at least that has been my experience so far.

Today was the first day I had an afternoon nap in over a month. But I only got 3 hours of sleep last night so I figured I was just tired. But now that bruised, bumped feeling is bugging me and I'm thinking sudden tiredness during the day is a warning. I will be keeping my eye on that "symptom".

How are you doing? It's been so emotionally draining too, right? Trying to keep a ray of sunshine thru the cloud! The weather up here isn't helping any either! It's getting chilly now and my head is flippin' cold! I hate that! haha

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