Friday, May 02, 2014

My Experience with Alopecia and how I recovered from it

It was a very cold morning in December 2013. While brushing my teeth I noticed a small round spot on lower left side of my chin (beard area). All the hairs were suddenly gone from that area and it was a plain and white patch. I thought it may be a side effect of some pimple trying to grow up in that area. I put some cream and ignored it for couple of weeks. Slowly that area kept on increasing with occasional itching. I made a doctor appointment and I was diagnosed with Alopecia Errata. I even did not even know what this term means- I opened my iPhone, did a quick search and  I was shocked! Why and how this could happen to me?  





Here is my journey in dealing with in last 8 months:

- My doctor suggested to get the steroid injection in that area to stimulate the hair growth - which is the only potential cure for this disease.

- The affected area was growing and became 0.5 inch in round shape. I was going to my dermatologist every after 4-6 weeks and getting injections. Some hairs start to grow up but they were all white. 


- Doctor asked to apply 2% cream two times a day, I was feeling very depressed every time I was going in  front of the mirror. I have to shave my beard every morning to hide the white hair spot.

- I went to India on Vacation. One of my friend recommended a homeopathic  


What worked for me in helping 90% of my hair back


After- Me posing with my one year old Son.


- I stopped all medicines and made following changes in my lifestyle:


1. Started morning workout five days a week. As such I have been working out from long time, but I made some significant changes in the way I workout. Instead of focusing on how I look, I started to focus on how I feel after each workout. 

2. Tried few things to slow down my racing mind. First thing I did to stop multitasking. I try to do only one task at a time by completely focusing on it. This helped in reducing my stress level. This is Key- you need to find ways to reduce the mild stress that you may be going through. The irony is that most people do not know that they have been continuously under mild stress. A continuous stress actually kill your mind and body slowly and you do can not even guess in what form this will show up. 

3.  Balanced diet: Popular natural remedies include correcting and manipulating one’s diet to insure that proper nutrients are gained in order to stimulate healthy hair growth. In particular, vitamins A, B-complex, C and E are recommended, as are adequate amounts of other minerals, such as calcium, selenium, magnesium ,Fish oil, and zinc. 

4. No Alcohol and almost no Caffeine

5. Herbal Face wash: Conditioning hair and face with honey and olive oil. Both are helpful in treating scalp infections, soothing irritated skin and strengthening the hair shaft. Raw onion juice also is useful in treating scalp infections. Other soothing remedies include various treatments utilizing herbs such as rosemary, thyme, sage, lavender, grape seed oil, jojoba oil, evening primrose oil and peppermint oil.