Lupus Never Looked So Good

I posted a little while back saying that I was having a “bad day”.  It sort of turned into a bad couple of days.  One symptom of Lupus I notoriously experience is hair loss.  I’m extraordinarily lucky because I’ve got a seriously thick head of hair on me, so the only time I’ve ever had *noticeable* bald spots was when I was younger and newly developed Lupus.  But if, during a flare, you were to part my hair, you’d see the patches missing. 

But good news for me, it seems my symptoms have mellowed, which is great.  And in addition to less severe arthritis, milder anxiety, and less digestive pain, I haven’t seen any hair on my pillow or in my clothes (not more than a few strands) in the last two days.  woohoo!

But I also want to write about Alopecia because it’s one of the more visual symptoms of Lupus, and can be one of the more emotionally distressing especially in younger girls. 

We all lose a bit of hair every day, usually 50-100 strands of hair even.  That might seem/look like a lot, but it’s totally normal and essential to healthy hair growth.  The kind of hair loss I’m talking about it excessive, pulling out clumps of hair, and is related to your immune system attacking the skin on your scalp.  That is called Alopecia Areata.  The good thing about this type of hair loss, in comparison to Androgenetic Alopecia, is that once the immune system has suppressed itself, the hair will start to grow back.  

Alopecia can manifest in Lupus patients either as a symptom, or as a side effect of Prednisone or other immunosuppresives.  Ah, the fun in heavy drugs.