My mom lost her first child, a boy, when he was just 1 year and 8 months old. With a two year old of my own now, I cannot imagine what that was like for her. Nobody should ever go through the pain of losing a child. It was something we have had to work through as a family, even though I was not born until 2 years later.
I was told about my brother very early on, so I knew what he looked like, and how happy he made my parents. I knew what his first shoes looked like, and I always wondered what it would have been like to have an older brother in my house – how much fun it would have been.
When my brother passed, my mother told me that she had lost all of her hair in the middle of her head. As I was growing up I would see her struggle to get her hair back. She tried everything she could think of on the market – all the popular stuff, and some not so popular ones suggested by doctors. She did clinical trials and had her scalp examined under a microscope but nothing worked.
We were beginning to think that hair loss from stress or trauma could not be recovered that there was no hope. The monkey wrench in this scenario is that her sisters who have not had the same stress also lost their hair as well.
My grandfather, it appears, had passed the bald gene to them, which means that my mom would have probably lost her hair anyway. It was a double whammy!
Hair loss from stress is real, even if you have genetic related factors when you go through trauma, you can lose your hair.
It’s hard to talk about hair loss from stress without getting a little bit scientific, due to it being a medical condition and all. Don’t worry this will not take long.
There are three types of hair loss that is associated with stress:
Trichotillomania – This is the urge to pull your hair from your scalp and other areas of your body that might have hair. Sometimes we do this because we are nervous, bored, stressed or tense. The thing is who knew there was a scientific reference for it?!
Telogen effluvium– This is where significant stress pushes a dramatic amount of hair follicles into the resting phase. With hair combing and washing all of the hairs will fall out over a few months.
Alopecia areata – This is probably the one that we have been most familiar with and severe stress is considered a possible cause. With Alopecia, the body’s immune system attacks the hair follicles which causes stress.
How to deal with stress related hair loss
See a doctor
It makes sense to get a proper diagnosis before making any assumptions, so seeing a doctor is the first step. If your hair loss is stress related, then the doctor might have some immediate help that you can make use of.
I’m sorry my sister, I will not be the one to encourage your Mom to do yoga. Weight exercises are best for your Mom especially at this age because this is when we begin to lose bone mass and weight training helps with retention of it. Plus weight training is relaxing to some of us. Lol great article!
I’m sorry my sister, I will not be the one to encourage your Mom to do yoga. Weight exercises are best for your Mom especially at this age because this is when we begin to lose bone mass and weight training helps with retention of it. Plus weight training is relaxing to some of us.Lol great article!
Sorry to hear the loss your family has endured. I love yoga and think it is good for mind, body, and soul. I did a yoga/pilates mix and let me tell you, I worked muscles that I didn’t even think I had. I have done hot yoga and that was awesome, I will have to revisit very soon. I am actually currently dealing with physical trauma and emotional stress. My hair became very dry and brittle. It took a long time to recover and that is with lots of TLC and natural & organic products. I have a small amount of hair loss at my temples with the left side starting to fill back in with fine hair (finer than my normal strands). I am still waiting on the right side, ugh!