Ran out of the herbs

I took the He Shou Wu this morning. I only had two pills left. I should receive a shipment today. I was depressed by how much was missing this morning that I took some prednisone. It didn't help, but I don't have any more Chinese herbs to use. I drank the aloe vera. It is difficult because now I have bald spots on the top of my head. I will probably be completely bald within two weeks. That is disappointing because I still have three more Saturdays to teach class at the pool. Wearing a wig to the pool is pathetic. Even wearing the volumizer seems stupid. I don't mind my wig so much, but I'll miss my eyebrows if they go away. Hopefully the Chinese herbs will have built up enough in my system that it will end the inflammation and encourage new growth. Hopefully.

More spots...can I keep hope alive?

I like having hair. I've had it for 33 years. Mine is falling out daily, but I'm taking measures to correct my body's rejection of the hair. However, it is easy to lose hope when more bald patches show up daily. This morning I noticed that areas of my scalp were red. That indicates inflammation. Either the aloe vera isn't calming the inflammation or it just isn't calming it enough yet. At any rate, I can see how easy it is to get discouraged. I still have 2 more months before I should even start seeing results from the Chinese herbs. That seems like forever IF they work for me. I think the website said there was a 60% chance of regrowth. That is pretty high, but with my luck I could easily be in the 40% that does not regrow their hair.

More fell out

I'm not expecting the natural cures to work immediately. But it would be nice if less and less started falling out. I'm drinking an increasing amount of aloe vera. I just keep reminding myself that my exzema didn't go away the first time I ingested coconut oil or put it on my skin. Over time I noticed an improvement and it has been clear for over a year. It is still discouraging to have to deal with hair falling in my food and clogging my drain.
I got another compliment on my "hair." Someone I never met in my neighborhood told me my hair looked nice. I'm grateful for cheap, good looking wigs from Paula Young.

So many compliments on the wig

My mother told my aunt about my hair loss. She relayed this story to me. My aunt would rave about this one woman's hair until she told her, "Stop. I've lost my hair. I wear a wig." What did my aunt do? Went out and bought a wig! She wears them on occasion despite having her own hair. Well, I've noticed an increase in compliments while I wear my cute, short bob. It is definately frustrating because I don't want the wig. I don't like the compliments because I feel like I'm lying to people. At the same time, I don't like patchy bald spots and the wig is the easiest way to cover them up and move on with life.
The falling out phase of alopecia universalis is the worst. It is inconvenient. There is the uncertainty of whether you will lose it all and adjust to being bald or if it just temporary is frustrating.

Wishful thinking

Ok. I lost a lot of hair yesterday. It did not seem like less. I tend to make those comments like the condition is improving right before it seems to get worse. However, I'm not expecting results from the Chinese herbs and aloe vera for at least another month or two.

A little less

Yesterday there seemed like a little less hair loss. I'm not counting hairs. That would take too long and be too much of a painful reminder. When I brushed through my hair yesterday, it just seemed like less came out. However, that could be my wishful thinking or the general progression of the disease. I really have no idea. Perhaps more body hair and less scalp hair fell out yesterday. This morning, it seemed like fewer hairs were coming out in the brush. However, I had just put aloe vera on the bald spots and it could be that the hairs that needed to be removed were sticking to the aloe gel.
I get to teach swimming again today. I will do the same thing as last week. Put on the volumizer into a pony tail. I just hope that the front hairs hold on long enough to allow me to clip the volumizer in for the next four weeks. I'm getting a spot near the front of my scalp and it could easily fall out before then.

Acne is still there

I made the decision to discontinue prednisone without my doctor. I was tapering off the drug and getting acne. There was no slowing in the hair fall out. Yesterday, I didn't take the prednisone and I suppose there was more hair fall out, however, it is difficult to tell. I have a greater area that is being affected now and more spots that are bare now.
I have found a way to enjoy my showers more. I brush out my hair before going into the shower. By removing most of what has fallen out before going in, I reduce the amount of hairs that clog the drain. There are still a lot of hairs that come out in the shower, but it is more manageable if I brush first.
Still using the aloe vera shampoo and still no have hair falling out. I like natural alternatives, so I will continue doing that for a few months. The odd thing about this disease is that for some people it just goes into remission, making it difficult to tell if the treatment worked or if the disease was going into remission anyway.

Nothing new

I wish I had more to say. Still losing tons of hair. I'd say I'm down to about 40% of my scalp hair now. What is interesting is that in the bare areas, there are some strands holding on. I don't know how or why. The fingernails are still mangled and I'm coating them with hardener so that they don't split and hurt. I'm still doing the aloe vera juice and shampoo along with the He Shou Wu hair growth complex. Not anticipating results for at least another two months. Although it would be nice if my hair fall out slowed down. At least my wig looks nice. At least I don't have to go to work everyday. I'm trying online methods for generating income. Affiliate programs. Nothing too difficult or exciting.

Didn't take Prednisone this morning

The prednisone is not effective. I'm losing more hair than before and it is giving me acne on my face now. I did not take the dose this morning. I could handle acne on my back, but I'm 33. I should not be breaking out with zits. I'm continuing with the aloe vera and He Shou Wu treatment though. I found a website that detailed some success stories with He Shou Wu that made me more confident in it. Although, I doubt I'll see results for two more months. I'm disappointed that the aloe vera hasn't seemed to help, but I keep reminding myself that natural treatments take longer.
My nails look bad this morning. I was ever so hopeful that something was improving. Oh well.

Prednisone isn't stopping it

More bald spots were apparent this morning. I'm not holding much hope out for the prednisone to control it. Interestingly enough, there are some strands of hair that have stayed in place where I received the steroid shots, but I don't know if it is enough to justify getting more shots because more is falling out. It is a game of cat and mouse. You can keep injecting cortizone, but other areas will go bald. I do still have some hope in the the herbal remedies. They aren't suppose to work immediately. I did use coconut oil to get rid of my eczema and angular chelitis. However, it wasn't immediate. In fact, I had to get a prescription for the angular chelitis, but I didn't have reoccurance and I haven't had an eczema outbreak in over a year. So, while it may take 3 months for the Traditional Chinese Herbs to work, I'm going to give them a try.

Disappointment and Relief

I got fired from my job on Friday. I didn't love it. The mistake that was made was not entirely my fault, but I received the full blown punishment in the form of a termination for it. But, I am relieved that I don't have to go there again. I have a wig that is comfortable and no one needs to know that I am getting more bald patches on my scalp. It completely matches my hair color and sometimes I let the tufts of hair that I currently have hang out. I don't think that I'll do a lot of different color wigs, maybe different styles, but I'm most likely to stay in the same color that my hair naturally grew. I don't know why. I don't deal well with change.

New wig on a first date

I wore the new wig on my date tonight. Looked super cute going out. However it was the Paula Young comfort wig, which says the liner is supposed to stick to your scalp. My scalp isn't bare. When I got home, my wig had shifted around and looked a mess. Oh well. It was more comfortable than the hairband headpiece. I can't stand hairbands. My date told me we should go out again so he either didn't notice or didn't care.

Brushed a ton out this morning

My sister asked me the other day after I told her I'd lost about half of my hair when I was going to buzz my head. She made the comment because she buzzed her head after losing about that much. The difference is that I have to lift up chunks of hair to see the bald patches, whereas during her loss they stared her in the face. I can still look in my mirror and smile without seeing the bald patches. I know exactly where they are, but as annoying as it is to lose the hair daily I'm going to keep what I have as long as I can. With my headband attachment, most people can't tell that half most of what they see isn't my own hair. I can see the subtle color difference immediatelly and know that it doesn't match.
After declaring that my nails were better, I noticed a crack on my third fingernail in my left hand. Oh well. Natural treatments will take awhile to work. I'm not holding out hope for the prednisone even though I'm taking it. It has been nice not having to shave my legs, so I can't complain too loudly about the hair loss.

More Dates

The irony is that while I've been losing my hair, I've had an increase in dating opportunities. Unfortunately, my self esteem is down a little and I'm discouraged. But my latest opportunity came by sending the wrong guy a message on facebook. While we have mutual friends, I'm not really sure I know this guy. It is pretty much a blind date. But one that I'm excited about after talking to him on the phone. I mean, we both think blind dates are low stress and fun because there is no pressure.

Removing handfuls of hair

Well, the good news is that after a couple weeks of drinking aloe vera my nails seem to be in better shape. They were brittle and splitting at the onset of the disease. But on inspection of my right nails, I didn't notice many divets and they felt stronger. My left nails seem to be holding up, but they still have a hardener on them. I'm encouraged by this because my sister said her nails were very pitted during her hair loss phase. I don't know if they are now that she has lost all her hair. She never tried aloe vera and prednisone.
The hair fallout is pretty bad at this point. All I have to do is gently pull my fingers through my hair and remove 20-30 hairs at a time. I'm not pulling the hair, just removing what is already loose.

He Shou Wu

I started on the chinese herb He Shou Wu on Friday. I'm really happy that they claim it takes three months to work. It is too easy to get upset when you don't see immediate results. It isn't a terribly expensive herb and there are vitamins in herbs, so I don't see too much harm. Whereas, the prednisone caused insomnia and acne and didn't stop the hair fall out. It seemed like I had a ton of it this morning.
I told my best friend last night that the hair she complimented me on was not real and admitted that I was losing it. She is going to medical school and encouraged the alternative of aloe vera because of its anti-inflammatory properties.

Swimming Today

I get to teach swimming today. I will wear my long volumizer in a pony tail. It will look awful for five hours and then I will go home and collapse. Only five more weeks until the session is over. Hopefully I'll keep the patch of front hair that long so I can clip in my volumizer.
The prednisone has given me a case of back acne. Either that or the synthetic wig irritated the skin on my back. More likely it was the prednisone. The new wig is short and does not extend to my shoulder blades. It looks awful, but I doubt the kids at the pool will take much notice. They will be more excited to be swimming.

The hair loss seems worse

The hair loss while I have been taking prednisone seems worse. I wonder if it is just the course of the disease, if the prednisone is not taking effect, whether I would be worse off without the prednisone or if by chance the prednisone is causing more to fall out as an adverse reaction. It is insanely annoying.
On another note, I ordered He Shou Wu, the traditional chinese herb used to treat hair loss. I like acupuncture and if I had an accupuncturist I trusted, I would go see one. I contacted one at the start of my hair loss who didn't sound confident in treating hair loss with acupuncture. She was a little pricey, so I didn't bother to go see her.

wigs in jeeps

Wigs don't do so well in jeeps. I went on a date last night and the hair blew all around. It is a synthetic wig, so it hurt when the strands got in my eyes. I had to hold my hair in place, which was not so fun. The date turned out poorly. I never told him that I wear a wig, so I don't know if he suspects it or not.
Tons of hair fell out yesterday, so I doubt the prednisone is working. I saw a website saying that there is only a 50 percent chance that it will, so I'm not surprised. There are a lot of things out there to try and if I lose my hair, I'll adjust. It is just the whole falling out stage that stinks.

Negative Comment

Many men love long hair on women. A man at work yesterday criticized my "haircut." He said my hair looked good long. Well, it was just a volumizer and it is easier to wear a shorter wig. I had cut my hair, so when he asked if I cut it, I didn't bother mentioning that I was also wearing a hair piece. He told me I had a Brady Bunch look now. I'm considering telling him not to comment on my hair again because I'm going bald and I don't really like the piece either, but I don't know what purpose that would serve. Just to cut down on embarrassment. People don't want to hear about your problems.

Discontinuing the onion juice

Okay, after putting the onion juice on my scalp and letting it get near the edges of the bald spots, I thought the inflammation is cooling. Not so bad. However tons of hair came out. It seemed like more than usual. It probably didn't have much to do with the onion juice at all, but I'm going to hold off on trying that alternative therapy again. I'm sticking with the aloe vera shampoo and 2 oz of juice and the prednisone. I don't feel the prednisone is working, but it was cheap and covered by insurance. I get to taper down the drug this week, so hopefully sleep will become more frequent.

Onion juice

I read a couple websites claiming that onion juice was an alternative treatment. I don't really believe it, but I don't have much to lose besides a few old onions that are doing nothing but sitting in my refridgerator. I blended them together and smeared the concoction on my head. My eyes watered like there was no tomorrow. I should have anticipated this. It isn't like I've never cut onions before. I don't think the prednisone is having much effect besides depriving me of sleep. If the aloe vera does work, it won't be for a couple months. So, I'm supplementing the alternatives where and whenever I can. I won't be going sunbathing again until the current burn heals if I do try that again. Too painful!

Up Early again

Well, maybe taking the prednisone in the morning doesn't make a difference. It is 3 am and I'm awake again. My hair is still falling out, so whatever the prednisone is doing isn't working or wasn't able to stop the damage that had happened prior to Thursday. I'll try again for some sleep.

More hair fell out...so...

I don't think the prednisone has taken effect yet. More hair came out in the shower and during the day today. I slept later this morning, so it was definately worth it to take the prednisone in the morning as opposed to before bed. Hopefully I will sleep soundly tonight.
Still taking the aloe vera, but I don't know if that is doing anything for me. Sunburn, who knows if that really works. I figure I'll be wearing a wig for at least a year. It will probably take that long for me to psychologically accept it. My wigs look a lot like my natural color. Everyone tells me how cute my hair is when I wear them. I've never had so many compliments on my hair as I get when I wear a wig. Well, it is my hair. I paid for it!

Ouch!

I read somewhere online that a sunburn acts kind of like a contact irritation and impairs the autoimmune response. So, since yesterday was sunny and I had time, I took a book outside and read next to the pool. It was a little chilly to be sunbathing, so of course I couldn't feel the effects immediately. I'm not in the habit of laying out a lot, so I wasn't terribly concerned about skin cancer, though I probably should have been.
The prednisone must still be in my system even though I didn't take the dosage at last night. I looked at the doctor's orders and it does say take in the morning. I still woke up super early this morning. Oh well. I should be okay. I taper down from the prednisone after 1 week. The insomnia shouldn't last forever.

Wrong side effects

I read that prednisone could make you drowsy and gain weight. I am awake. It is 3:45 am. I should be asleep. I don't even have to work today. Yesterday I woke up around 3 am too. I was able to doze off a little between four and five, but then I was awake again. I didn't have dinner last night. I had a bunch of cherries and lost my appetite. I don't know if it was the new medication or if I just have anxiety about being on a new drug. It could be because I got asked out by a bald guy I barely know. I'm not anxious about him being bald, but he probably doesn't know I wear a hairpiece. He shaves his head. Being male and bald is a little more common than being female and bald.

Woohoo!

No seizure this morning, so it isn't impacting the effectiveness of my seizure medications. I don't know that it is working just yet. I pulled a clump of hair out a few hours after taking it, but that hair may have been destined to fall out anyway because the drugs hadn't started taking effect. I'm still skeptical about whether it will work. Nothing worked for my sister, but she couldn't take the oral steroids due to diabetes. She didn't try aloe vera, but now she is comfortable without hair and has 2 toddlers to worry about.

Prednisone

I was prescribed prednisone for the alopecia. I know that a lot of people are wary of using this steroid, but I have taken it before for asthma and know how my body reacts to it. I asked if it would interfere with the seizure medications and my dermatologist said no. However, if you read websites, some report that it might interact with the seizure medication. I can't imagine that it would be worse than my bout of double vision and vertigo that I was having on my last seizure medication. I took the pill about half an hour ago. I still feel fine. No results to report so far.