If you have teenagers then you probably had “The Summer I Turned Pretty” on the tv at some point. In 2024 I lived the opposite when almost all my hair fell out and I was diagnosed with Alopecia Areata. This week I went in for routine bloodwork and it’s wild to me to say I am proud of myself.. for bloodwork results.

Let’s travel back to when I was getting my hair done at the start of 2024. My hairdresser told me something looked off on my scalp. She recommended I see a dermatologist for what looked like scalp psoriasis. So that’s what I did and that is what was diagnosed. I was given scalp shampoos and leave in treatments and told it should be fine in a month. Not only was it not fine, it quickly progressed into painful bald patches. The pain was caused by the sweat that was unavoidable because I live in Florida. So I couldn’t go outside. I went back to the dermatologist for the scheduled visit and it was clear that I was misdiagnosed. It was recommended I see the hair regrowth specialist doctor in the group- but she didn’t have an opening for 3 months. Due to insurance restraints I had no choice but to make the appointment and wait. In that waiting things escalated quickly. My hair started coming out in clumps. I was so confused and hated walking by the mirror. I carried on like nothing was out of the ordinary always wearing a hat. Working out was no longer an option because the sweat would make my head feel like it was on fire. Attending my son’s first baseball season was torture because of the heat, so I missed a few games and practices. I have never been much of a “girly girl”. I was raised by a single dad so I never had much influence in hair and make up so it’s not like I was feeling down about that aspect but seeing your hair come out and not understanding why really starts to take a toll emotionally. I got depressed. I went to a new general practitioner and told him what was going on. He prescribed antidepressants and recommended a therapist. Unfortunately, I developed the bad side affects of the medication and had to quit. So I also dealt with SSRI withdrawal. Thankfully it wasn’t long, but it was long enough.

So this is around the time we can insert the beginning of the heavy drinking. What else was there to do at this point! Prescribed antidepressants weren’t working, the dermatologist told me I had to sit and wait and my closest friends and family really didn’t know what to do or say. Being the people pleaser I was, I didn’t want anyone to know how this was affecting me so they wouldn’t be uncomfortable and kept it in while pouring a glass. “it’s fine, everything is fine” was my favorite wine glass to use. Everything was in fact- not fine. I finally saw the specialist and she performed a scalp biopsy, I had what felt like gallons of blood drawn and after 6 months of feeling like a giant science experiment, I had an official diagnosis of Alopecia Areata. So now what? I was prescribed a newly FDA approved medication for this disease. I had to jump thorough hoops with insurance and was finally able to start taking it. On day one I decided the antidepressants were a walk in the park compared to this immunosuppressive horse pill! If you’re not familiar with Alopecia Areata, as I was not, it is an autoimmune disease. The body mistakenly attacks healthy hair follicles causing sudden hair loss. It is not life threatening, thankfully, and most people can have this and it will clear up on it’s own. Since mine didn’t seem to be clearing up on it’s own and was diagnosed as “severe” it was decided that this medication was the best route to stop my insides form attacking my insides. I was told I needed to be on it for 6 months before I started to see results and should be back to normal by 12 months. I made it 3 months. As my immune system was slowly depleted, I had no energy and felt sick which were the obvious side affects. My stomach cramped and I continually felt nauseous.Now I wasn’t able to workout because I just wanted to sleep! Insert nightly boredom drinking. I gained around 15 lbs. I’m a petite person so it was very noticeable. All of this started shortly after my 40th birthday so everyone would say “welcome to your 40’s!” was this really the beginning of the end?! What I wouldn’t give to go back to those energetic 20’s and 30’s now! I didn’t know it yet, but that was not the beginning of the end and my 40’s were about to be my turning point, I would be ok and on a completely new path in just one more year. But man, that year was a hard one.

I needed to get to the bottom of this to stop it. So we go a little further back in time.. I was diagnosed with my first mental illness when I was 21 after experiencing a series of panic attacks. Generalized Anxiety Disorder and it’s common partner- depression. The panic attacks came out of nowhere and I would be convinced I wasn’t breathing and having a heart attack. I was prescribed medications but when you’re only 21 with minimal health insurance, you don’t exactly prioritize your pharmacy visits. I didn’t ever stay on medications or stick with the psychiatrist trying to help. When I was pregnant with my second baby at age 27, I had such a bad panic attack that I had to go to the ER via ambulance. My poor husband also thought I was having a heart attack and not breathing. I was fine by the time we got to the hospital but hated that my anxiety returned. When that baby was 6 months old I was diagnosed with PPD (Postpartum Depression). Never once did I want to hurt my babies, or myself, but I didn’t want to go to bed at night because I dreaded waking up in the morning to take care of them, and myself. Thankfully, I had an amazing dr who analyzed every word I said. I was put on a low dose antidepressant and to this day I wonder if it was a placebo and all I needed was someone to listen to me. I didn’t have any complications from the medication and went on to not have anymore depressive episodes until.. my hair fell out. The number one question every dr asked when I tried to get to the bottom of this was- what is stressing you out? I didn’t think there was anything out of the ordinary. I am a mom to 3 kids. I worked from home roughly 30 hours a week. I did what most of my fellow mom friends were doing. So I was confused. Why now? As I started to go down the rabbit hole I learned what ignored trauma can do to your immune system. I had been holding on to feelings of disappointment and anger probably going all the way back to age 17. Stress stores in your body if it is not dealt with and eventually it presents itself as a physical symptom. That’s what was happening to me. How was I managing the stress? You guessed it- Sauvignon Blanc. So now, fast forward to May of 2025. I finally have a dr that is listening to me and is explaining what I need to do to get back on track. I didn’t want to hear it but I had to give up the daily drinking. It was completely counterproductive to my anti anxiety meds and non meds plan. So, I did. I got back on my Peloton and like a chain reaction, my eating habits changed too. I started dealing with deep issues I had been stuffing down and ignoring.This meant pulling out a file folder from my closet with papers from my childhood I didn’t want to read, and then discussing them with a professional. It was wild how it wasn’t as scary as I imagined. I forgave myself for things that I did. I did see a therapist briefly, but also found podcasts and books to help me look deeper into myself. By the time I reached May 2026, my hair was back and I was back to my normal “average” 42 year old woman weight. In the process I became addicted to fitness and mental help- for myself. I have never felt better or been in better shape. I have a long road to travel since there is still a lot things to unpack (see what I did there with the strikethroughs) but one of my favorite quotes has been “The path to happiness is in the path, not at the destination”. I did just quote that from memory so it could be wrong but you get the point. I am traveling the path and I am thankful for my life as messy as it is sometimes. Another quote I have always had ironically in mentioned file folder is this:

All of this to say- my bloodwork was excellent. My thyroid number was a little off but we’ll recheck that and if it becomes an issue, I will get through it just like I did with this hair. This post has been in the draft stage for a while now. It’s personal and heavy. Mental health still has a stigma and I wish it wasn’t!

Anyone else out there have Alopecia in any form?

The Let Them Theory was a great listen for me when I wasn’t expecting it.