The zombie apocalypse has ended
On March 12 my hair started falling out and on March 14th my stylist told me I had alopecia and it looked to him like alopecia areata by the circular bald spots developing on my head. It turned out to be alopecia universalis, which means all the hair on my body fell out. After dermatologist and primary care, and lots of blood work later, I wound up at an endocrinologist who informed me that I also have Hashimoto’s Disease, which is a common form of hypothyroidism among women my age. Stacking auto immune deficiencies, the Hashimoto’s is treatable, the alopecia is supposed to rectify itself (or not).
If you have any of these issues – fatigue, weight gain, puffy face, hair loss – go to an endocrinologist – don’t waste your time on a primary care physician or a dermatologist. They know how to evaluate your entire being to get you on the road to recovery.
And on the road I am, the road to Spain that falls mainly in my lane. This is no lie, when I was married to my second husband, I got on a plane to Spain married to Gayne and sat down next to a guy name Zane. Is that wild? I thought it was and it gave me a bad omen. My marriage lasted five months.
Now I’m going to Spain under very different circumstances, with my family and with all my beautiful baldness.
The best thing about alopecia universalis is no shaving, no waxing, no worries. I’d like it to stay that way from the nose hair down – I really miss my hair, my eyelashes, my eyebrows. The rest the universe can keep.
My energy is what I missed the most – I don’t like being a slug and slug I was. Going to my exercise classes and thinking, how are these people doing this, where do they get the energy – especially because I used to be the one that hopped around like the energizer bunny. Now I just looked them as if they were alien creatures. But now my Synthroid has gone from .025 to .050 to .075 and I am feeling instantly chipperer, if not downright like my self.
So the zombie apocalypse has ended and off we go to Europe to take the healing waters of the nice and chilly Atlantic.