Sunday, September 10, 2006

My hair is falling out!!!!!!!

I have noticed in the last month or so that my hair is shedding more so than usual. It is so bad that my husband has taken to torturing me almost daily of my impending baldness. As I have gotten older I'll admittthat my hair has thinned some and I know it will get worse as I age. My hair was baby fine as a child it will be the same as I approach my golden years. My Mimi (grandmother) always kept her hair beautifully coifed. She had snow white hair and it was very thin but she always looked great. Her stylist would brush her hair swept up from the back and expertly curl and pin her hair so it always looked full on top and in the front. I have watch my brown tresses turn gray, I remember finding my first gray at 21 years old and knowing that I would be prematurely gray. Mimi's hair had gone totally gray in her 40's and here I am at 42. I occasionally see glimpses of my natural hair color in between dyes and I mostly see little more than gray but not the pretty white of my grandmother. My gray hair is the wiry uncontrollable dull ugly looking sort that I keep dyed an auburn color. I was seriously thinking about not dying my hair anymore maybe all the dyes and chemicals are the cause of the massive migration on my scalp and there is always henna if I get desperate.

I was looking at some reviews for Rogaine I could always go that route but is it going to be like Propecia you stop using it and all the new growth falls out along with the rest of my hair. You know like a diet you lose 20lbs then go off your diet and gain back the 20lbs plus 10lbs more only in reverse. I was hoping that maybe it was something that I am lacking in my diet. I know I don't get enough dairy but I do try. I also had a theory that maybe the anemia had something to do with my hair loss but this was before I had my surgery. I'm fixed now so that's obviously not a cause. My husband was nice enough to put his two cents in the other night, it seems he has been discussing my hair loss with the nurses at the ER and they had a few suggestions needless to say I was not amused and I did not care for their answers. I wont repeat them they are too scary.

Surfing the web this morning I found this web site (Click on title for article), it may be the answer to my problem. Telogen Effluvium is the medical term for hair loss caused by stress like a surgical procedure. It can occur 1-6 months after the incident and last up to six months. I feel so much better now. I know my hair is thinning naturally and I can deal with that but it is scary when gobs of hair clog you shower drain every time you wash. It is very unsettling.
I will give this another month or so and if it does not slow down maybe I need to look at other causes but right now I feel confident that this is the problem and my body will eventually straighten itself out. I hope it is soon because I don't know how many more wig jokes I can handle, my husband thinks he is so funny.

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