My Hair Is Falling Out

[thestrangequark]

I'm not usually the kind to share serious problems on the forum (at least not until after the fact), but right now I need an outlet. I'm so frustrated. I am upset, angry, and irrationally embarrassed. Since my hospitalization last month with diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), I've mostly regained my health. My blood sugar has not been as well controlled as it usually is, though. For 13 years I've had pristine control of my blood sugar, I've maintained a healthy weight, I've stuck to my diabetic diet, I've exercised -- I've never had a problem like this before. I'm trying so hard to keep it in control, but it seems like my insulin resistance has changed completely so that the amount I'd normally take to lower my sugar or to counteract a particular meal is no longer sufficient. I keep getting highs for no reason (fasting highs despite plenty of insulin). And now my hair is falling out.
It's not coming out in clumps or anything, and everyone around me says it's not noticeable. But just running my fingers gently through my hair leaves a considerable amount of hair in my hands. My scalp is tingling too. Sometimes it's very mild, but at other times it almost feels like it's burning. I know it's the DKA - I guess a delayed reaction. I also know that it ought to stop when my blood sugars are back under control, that I won't go bald, and that what hair I lose will grow back. But all of this fails to reassure me when I look at my pillow in the morning and see it covered in hair. I have a doctor appointment Thursday (I can't get anything sooner because I don't have insurance so my options are limited, plus, I can't miss work).
I just want it to stop. I keep crying out of the blue. I can't focus on anything else because I can feel it. And despite all the information telling me it'll never happen, I can't help but be terrified of going bald. Maybe I'm too vain, but I'm more upset about losing my hair than I am about what's causing it. What's worse is that I foolishly (and I know it's foolish), feel embarrassed about it, so I don't want to tell any of my friends or family.
All my life my hair has been a security blanket -- when I felt ugly, or fat, or awkward, I always had beautiful thick, shiny hair. The thought of losing even a little of it makes me feel ill. I know I shouldn't be so upset -- it's not the end of the world. Worse things have happened. Worse things have happened to me. But I am frustrated. I'm sick of being sick. I am sick of shitty things happening to me. I was born almost deaf and had to have over a dozen surgeries to correct my hearing. I grew up with an alcoholic dad and a mentally ill mom who feels she can trust only me, so comes to me when she feels depressed -- suicidal. I saw heroin rip through my family when I was 10. I've experienced real poverty. I've been abused. I got juvenile diabetes at age twelve. I developed bipolar disorder. And everyone always comments on how happy I am -- how I go through everything with a smile, how I never complain. Well I'm sick of it. And I don't want to lose my hair. I wish some one who has gone through this could come and tell me I needn't worry -- my hair will be just fine. I want some one to tell me it's going to be okay.

Sorry about the whine fest, I just needed to get it out.

 

[Amaris]

It's okay. It really is.

First of all, you are the type of person that would be beautiful with or without hair. Secondly, I don't think you will lose your hair. Several members of my family have had severe bouts with their diabetes and lost some hair. Myself or my own mom, for example. My hair is getting thicker again, and her hair has been getting thicker once more. So if you're that worried, keep in mind there is hope and that it really is only temporary.

I think the reason it bothers you so is because the diabetes was under control, you could move on with your life, albeit cautiously. Now it seems this old canard has chosen to rear it's ugly self again and try to dominate your life, and you can see it happening. All I can tell you is that it is temporary, and you will regain control again. You've too much life left to live for this to bring you down.

J.

 

[Emher]

Feel free to whine away! Lords knows I do all the time

I can't say I know exactly how you feel but a bit. There's a pretty big chance I'll lose since I have my dads looks, but I do have grandfathers hair type. So I'm keeping out hope that I'll get to keep it. I have however noticed in the last years that it is getting thinner up top, so the chance of it staying is diminishing. I'd rather it go gray then go away. So I totally understand that part of vanity.


Hope it goes back to normal soon and you'll be feeling better

 

[JuanBolio]

My hair has been falling out since I turned 18. I had really nice hair, too. I'm 25 now and have the hairline of someone twice my age.

Welcome to my world. Fear not, though - there are solutions.

 

[thestrangequark]

^It's different for women than for men.

Thanks, J., your post is exactly what I needed to hear.

 

[JuanBolio]

^It's different for women than for men.

If you mean it tends to fall out in a different pattern, you're correct. If you mean its more frustrating and embarrassing, you're incorrect.

 

[thestrangequark]

^I disagree. I know it's hard for men to lose hair, but I guarantee it's harder for women. If a bald man passes by the average person doesn't have a second thought. If a bald woman passes by it's a completely different story.

Maybe I shouldn't have even posted this. I just felt the need to vent. I already feel shitty enough, I don't need people telling me that hair loss for women isn't more painful than it is for men.

 

[RandyS]

^I disagree. I know it's hard for men to lose hair, but I guarantee it's harder for women. If a bald man passes by the average person doesn't have a second thought.

That's completely true. Women do NOT give bald men a second thought.

Or a first one for that matter.

 

[JuanBolio]

I don't need people telling me that hair loss for women isn't more painful than it is for men.

IMO, it isn't. Sorry to bother you. I was just trying to let you know you're not alone.

Women do NOT give bald men a second thought.

Or a first one for that matter.

*nods*

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

Women do NOT give bald men a second thought.

Or a first one for that matter.

*nods*

Preach it, brothers.

tsq, I am so sorry you are having to go through this. I am definitely not one to talk, since I am bald by *choice* (I shave my head every morning in the shower), so I don't know what it's like for anyone to lose their hair against their will.

At the risk of sounding flippant, though, I think you would look just fine with or without hair. I mean, we've all seen ST:TMP, haven't we? Persis Khambatta looked very beautiful in that film, and bald.

 

[DBR]

Sorry to hear it.

My cousin's wife had some disease that caused her hair to fall out in patches (I don't know what the condition she had/has is called). I never saw her without a hat for so many years... I just thought she liked hats.

She appears to have gotten better, and has been hatless for many years now. It was only after years of her suffering that I learned she had this condition (my aunt with a very big mouth had told *everybody*, and I'm pretty sure she shouldn't have done that). If nobody ever told me, I probably would have continued to think she just liked hats.

I think it would be much more difficult for a woman to go bald than a man--especially in the younger years!

 

[Misfit Toy]

tsq - don't feel badly about venting. Sometimes it's the most healing thing that you can do.

Be well. You deserve it.

 

[Wrongway Janeway]

Do I ever understand!

I have some sort of genetic defect that causes my hair to fall out on a daily basis. My mom, sisters, and one of my nieces have this problem, too.

It's incredibly annoying to leave my hair all over the place...the floor, the counter, the sink, the bathroom cabinet drawer! And don't get me started on clogged drains.

The only good thing is that the hair always grows back.

I hope your problem is temporary, tsq. Because after a while it's no longer funny when people pull strands of hair from your clothing and say, "You're shedding! Hahahaha."

 

[HighteeHeller]

Though not for the same reasons i have this same problem. After months of stress(doesnt help the problem) and crying and worrying i decided to get my hair cut really really short. Though my hair still falls out at an alarming rate i dont notice it as much because of the length, and i dont have to clean the drain daily anymore.

Its a terrible feeling, and i'm sorry you are going though this.

 

[Lookingglassman]

Join a hair club

 

[Crusher Disciple]

tsq, I have never had an experience like yours, so I can't honestly say I understand what you're going through. But for heaven's sake, it you feel like venting, by all means, go ahead.

 

[thestrangequark]

^Thanks. And thanks Hightee, Wrongway, and everyone else who offered kind words. have been feeling a bit better. Sometimes it's easier to remember that it's a temporary thing, and sometimes it's not so easy.

Join a hair club

I don't know if I'm wrong, but I can't really see any way to interpret this but as a snide remark, and honestly, how dare you? Why do you see the need to come into this thread and make a rude remark to some one who is obviously having a hard time? What purpose does it serve?

 

[AstroSmurf]

^I disagree. I know it's hard for men to lose hair, but I guarantee it's harder for women. If a bald man passes by the average person doesn't have a second thought. If a bald woman passes by it's a completely different story.

Maybe I shouldn't have even posted this. I just felt the need to vent. I already feel shitty enough, I don't need people telling me that hair loss for women isn't more painful than it is for men.

No. I have to agree. I think it is more painful for women to go through this and you shouldn't feel guilty at all for posting this. Expressing your feelings shouldn't hinge on what other people might think. They are, after all, your feelings.

My mother has been doing hair for almost forty years now and has seen so many clients either loose their hair due to age or cancer treatment. She would be the first to say that women find the concept horrifying. Men can adapt where women have a much harder time with it. For a women, hair can be a key defining factor in how they feel about themselves. Up until a hundred years ago, the length of a woman's hair was a sign of beauty, health and status. My great great grandmother (who died when I was six) had never cut her hair her entire life! I remember watching her wind it all up in that huge bun she always wore. Even in her 90's it would pile up in the floor when she would take it down to brush it. She was very proud of it. She regarded it as an accomplishment. Changing that kind of social programming is very hard to do and it still lingers now in some ways. Women may cut their hair these days but it is still a sign of beauty, status and health.

 

[DanTheGrey]

Well, I know you're younger than my aunt was when her hair started to fall out, she was in her mid-30's. According to my uncle, she had a Picard hairline by the time she was in her 40's. The only reason I asked was that all my life she had pretty much the same hairstyle, perfect, unchanging, but my parents wouldn't talk about it. I only found out the reason last year.

Keep in mind this would have been in the late 1970's when it started for her, I can't imagine how she felt or what it put her through.

 

[tharpdevenport]

Diabetes runs in my family and no one in my family that I know of has gone bald because of it (though my mother has thinning hair and sometimes supplements it with real hair clip ons.

What are we talking about with hair lose? A few hairs each time you run your hands threw it, a lot each time, or just some hair sometimes you run your hands threw it?