What happened to my hair?

The offices in the IT “tower” at  Navistar were so small  that our backs  were  to  the doors – so when someone walked in,  they were behind  you. After a while, you just got used to people scaring you to pieces and you kind of learned to ignore everything going on around you because I worked with some real jokers, that was for sure.

I had  given birth  to my third daughter that spring  and had returned to work  with my breast pump, so my door was shut  a few times a day so that I could pump milk as my daughter has NEVER had formula of any kind. After a short while,  I started just leaving my door shut to block  out all of the  interruptions and ignored everyone around me: you see,  I was in  my own little world. Brain fog is such an inconvenience and I was having a really hard time getting back  into work mode after maternity leave and just didn’t  want  to be bothered anymore. I was irritable, my boobs hurt and I was at my limit with the techs who just aggravated the shit out of me every.single.day.

One  day, I got  so involved with my job that I left the door open  and didn’t notice someone come  into the room, until he literally screamed “Oh my God!  Girl! What happened to your hair?”

I jumped and spun around and faced my work bff (a wonderful man who I am no longer in touch with) – his face was pure shock.  What in  the world was he talking about? Long  story short: the whole top of my head around my crown was completely BALD!  BALD! Right up there at the spot you can’t see in the mirror. What happened to my hair?

At the time,  my endocrinologist blamed it  on my thyroid disorder – which is, in fact, an autoimmune  disease, so my synthroid was  adjusted and I waited for my hair to come back – which took MONTHS! It was agony – I had to clip my hair up every day to cover this spot that had grown to the size of about 2  golf balls.  It was horrible and my scalp  was so red and irritated that it burned. BURNED! Weeks went by and I woke up one day and all  of my eyelashes were gone – just gone.

Around  that time, I completely cut carbs out of my diet and began  the South Beach Diet.  When  it was time  to add carbs, I stuck  to corn  and potatoes and  just avoided bread  of any kind because it  just  went  straight  to my belly,  of all  places. My hair grew  back,  my eyelashes grew back and I went back to what was considered “normal” at that time in  my life.

I’m telling  this story because this is what Celiac does to me. Hair  loss, severe cystic  acne,  depression, suicidal thoughts, violent  outbursts, uncontrollable rage  and  hopelessness. It took another 11 years to get the correct diagnosis, but  since then, my skin is clear, my hair is beautiful and my eyelashes are looking pretty and thick – not to mention the fact that I  now no  longer feel like  dying  is my only option.

I share my story because I want to bring  awareness to my condition,  especially since the world thinks that “Gluten Free” is just a fad. I’m here  to  tell you  that “gluten  free” saved my life.

I recently found an  infographic that pretty much summed up my life – take a look:

In the above  graphic, symptoms in RED were mentioned most often, but all of them were mentioned at least twice to make it onto this chart. Take a look.  Imagine if you had half of those symptoms listed.  Imagine  your life and your body turning against you – then try to tell me that gluten free  is just a fad.

Namaste.