It’s been a while since I updated y’all on my battle my struggle the status of my alopecia symptoms. If you’re a new peonut reader, you can find the start of my story here. And some various updates here.
Saying that having alopecia areata is a struggle – or a battle - isn’t particularly accurate. For me, it’s just been a pain in the arse. But I’ve also been lucky enough to be able to cover up my patches on a day-to-day basis. Others aren’t as lucky.
And I’m grateful that my hair loss is only from having alopecia. It’s not some uncorrectable hormonal imbalance that’s making the rest of my life difficulty. It’s not from chemotherapy, or any other treatment for a potentially fatal condition. I simply have an autoimmune disease that makes me lose my hair. Bald is as bad as it gets. I can totally live with that.
Over the course of just over a year – with several steroid shots to the scalp (the ones behind the ears really hurt!) and multiple bottles of pointless ointments – my most annoying spot has grown out (hooray!).
There’s still a way to go. At last count, I have three patches on the bottom-half of my crown. These are all much ‘younger’ and ‘fresher’ than the one pictured above. That was the first spot identified. These others have come through much more recently.
Thankfully, it looks like new patches have stopped coming up, and those that are there aren’t getting bigger. If the example above is anything to go by, then it’s all up from here.
For the sake of documenting it, for myself included, below is an example of my current patches. Much smaller than the first, this one’s at the top of my neck and is only visible when I have my hair up in a super-high pony (then the others – on the sides – are super visible, too). I’m okay with that. What self respecting adult wears their hair that high anyway?
Looky there, you can see the bottom of the right-hand-side one in the same photo. Two birds with one stone. Nice.
So, the moral of the story update is this:
If you have alopecia areata, please know this: it gets better.
If you’ve just found a bald spot and are working your way through the Google hits for a better idea of what to expect, bite the bullet and talk to your GP.
I was where you are and I cried for weeks, researched wig stockists in my area, and wore a (really ugly) hat whenever I wasn’t at work. Once I grew a pair and talked to my doctor, I was better informed and far less worried.
The unknown is always scary. The humour comes later.
And you’re always welcome to email me if you have any questions: peonutty (at) gmail (dot) com
