oldmanofthesea
10-08-2009, 09:55 PM
Hello,
My name is Laura, I'm from the UK where all the hairloss sites are cold clinical and covered in adverts from oileagenous male 'experts' with bouffant hair promising miracle cures. So, I was overjoyed to find this full of honest women with inspiring stories. I would really appreciate some advice as I'm contemplating suicide (i don't mean this as an insult to all those women who've faced up to hairloss, I guess I'm just weaker than most and already suffered psychiatric illness).
I'm 26. I've always had thin lank hair from birth (must admit i'm jealous of all the damsels who started off with a thick head of hair!). so much so that I've always had to wear my hair a bit like queen victoria - up in a bun but loose at the sides to conceal the lack of hair at the temples. At the age of 18 I started shedding due to exam stress. Ever since then it has thinned gradually with occasional periods of regrowth.
I tried to ignore it though I often avoided going out to parties, certainly never swam in public and have never let anyone touch my hair. I instinctively thrash out if anyone pats my head. Now it's got so depressing that I really hate leaving the house, distanced myself from friends, loved ones etc. You can see scalp at the sides of my head, even though it's 'styled' to cover this part.
I don't know whether you have this species of pseudo doctor in the US, but in the UK the main avenue of enquiry is a trichologist. I've seen 3 in the past 2 months - 1 had no idea, the second was adamant it was early stage female pattern baldness (but didn't look at pictures of my thin hair in childhood), the third who I've seen was adamant it was chronic telogen effluvium (i've seen him a couple of times before). I also saw a wig maker who said it was thinner on top (possibly a vested interest). all my hormone tests have come back normal though my serum ferritin is low. I've been on the combined pill and anti-depressants since age 16, though constantly forgetting to take it for days at a time.
Any ideas on how to get a decisive diagnosis? Any ideas about the genetic component? my dad is bald as a stone, but I can look back at 4 generations of female relatives on both sides of the family all of whom died in their 80's with a thick head of hair - much more than i had to begin with. (several were unkindly nicknamed toilet brush-head at school!) I don't want to believe it's androgenetic alopecia because my hair is already so thin. Though i'm losing little short hairs as well as long ones which i guess is a bad sign. Still i'd like the truth and all the hair experts I've seen wanted me to part with large amounts of money for different treatments or wigs.
Also any tips about hairpieces? - i quite like the idea of having a 'normal' looking head of hair, nothing too glamorous! Is there any possibility that you can wear a lace wig or topper all the time so friends or lovers would never have to know! I'd quite like to move in with my boyfriend but I'd hate him to see me fluctuating between wigged and bald.
Sorry for ranting at length - this is the only place I feel like I can talk about it. (my two best friends and boyfriend are all afro-haired beauties who are very understanding but have always complained about thick unmanagable locks).
All the best,
Laura
X
My name is Laura, I'm from the UK where all the hairloss sites are cold clinical and covered in adverts from oileagenous male 'experts' with bouffant hair promising miracle cures. So, I was overjoyed to find this full of honest women with inspiring stories. I would really appreciate some advice as I'm contemplating suicide (i don't mean this as an insult to all those women who've faced up to hairloss, I guess I'm just weaker than most and already suffered psychiatric illness).
I'm 26. I've always had thin lank hair from birth (must admit i'm jealous of all the damsels who started off with a thick head of hair!). so much so that I've always had to wear my hair a bit like queen victoria - up in a bun but loose at the sides to conceal the lack of hair at the temples. At the age of 18 I started shedding due to exam stress. Ever since then it has thinned gradually with occasional periods of regrowth.
I tried to ignore it though I often avoided going out to parties, certainly never swam in public and have never let anyone touch my hair. I instinctively thrash out if anyone pats my head. Now it's got so depressing that I really hate leaving the house, distanced myself from friends, loved ones etc. You can see scalp at the sides of my head, even though it's 'styled' to cover this part.
I don't know whether you have this species of pseudo doctor in the US, but in the UK the main avenue of enquiry is a trichologist. I've seen 3 in the past 2 months - 1 had no idea, the second was adamant it was early stage female pattern baldness (but didn't look at pictures of my thin hair in childhood), the third who I've seen was adamant it was chronic telogen effluvium (i've seen him a couple of times before). I also saw a wig maker who said it was thinner on top (possibly a vested interest). all my hormone tests have come back normal though my serum ferritin is low. I've been on the combined pill and anti-depressants since age 16, though constantly forgetting to take it for days at a time.
Any ideas on how to get a decisive diagnosis? Any ideas about the genetic component? my dad is bald as a stone, but I can look back at 4 generations of female relatives on both sides of the family all of whom died in their 80's with a thick head of hair - much more than i had to begin with. (several were unkindly nicknamed toilet brush-head at school!) I don't want to believe it's androgenetic alopecia because my hair is already so thin. Though i'm losing little short hairs as well as long ones which i guess is a bad sign. Still i'd like the truth and all the hair experts I've seen wanted me to part with large amounts of money for different treatments or wigs.
Also any tips about hairpieces? - i quite like the idea of having a 'normal' looking head of hair, nothing too glamorous! Is there any possibility that you can wear a lace wig or topper all the time so friends or lovers would never have to know! I'd quite like to move in with my boyfriend but I'd hate him to see me fluctuating between wigged and bald.
Sorry for ranting at length - this is the only place I feel like I can talk about it. (my two best friends and boyfriend are all afro-haired beauties who are very understanding but have always complained about thick unmanagable locks).
All the best,
Laura
X