But of course the patch didn’t stay this size for long, nor are we talking about just one patch anymore, and I’m desperately holding on to my hope. 

A few months after my diagnosis and I’ve lost a good 40% of my hair; and it continues to fall out at an excessive rate day by day.  Even now to this day, I still have only 60% of my own hair – but I know I will get it all back one day, and I must continue believing in that.  It seems that this is a never-ending lifecycle, for every strand that falls out; I’m met with a new shiny white one.

Not to sound patronising, but for the purpose of those of you who don’t know, there are different types of Alopecia, and I apparently have the most ‘common’ type called Alopecia Areata - this basically means I lose my hair in patches, rather than by being consumed by total baldness -and for that I am lucky.  I feel completely blessed that I have only had to endure this form of Alopecia, and have retained a proportion (albeit a rather small proportion!) of my own hair throughout this entire experience. 

As the months go on, I’m back and forth to the doctors on a couple of occasions, but neither time am I overly informed or questioned about the possible medication I could be on that may be having an adverse affect or even potentially causing my condition.  So I decide to take matters into my own hands, and start enhancing my detective skills – surely there’s got to be some reason why things aren’t improving?  I’ve tried the herbal baths, the Swedish massage, all your classic ‘de-stress’ type tools – and whilst I absolutely love to pamper myself (so I’m in no way complaining), these measures have still failed to have any impact of my hair situation and I’m convinced that this can’t just be stress related and I intend to prove it.

So one night, as I sit pondering the 'ifs' and 'buts' of my current hair situation, I decide there must be something triggering or contributing to my condition.  Something was making it worse, or atleast preventing it from improving, surely?

I decide to browse the internet - now whilst I fully appreciate that often in times of sickness or questioning symptoms one should not always seek comfort or answers from the wisdom of the google search engine - but something inside me was egging me on and I couldn't ignore it.

I only had to search for a few moments before I was swamped with endless internet sites that struck a very real cord with me and this is something that I feel I must include in this blog because this is a very serious warning for women and girls everywhere.  For whatever reason I decided to research the possible side affects of the contraceptive pill I was taking - Cerazette.  I was absolutely devastated and astonished to find myself trawling through forum after forum about the links between Cerazette and hair loss.  The sites & forums were endless, and the facts devastating.

So many women commenting on their experiences of hair loss and alopecia after having been prescribed Cerazette by their trusted GP.  They explained symptoms exactly as I had experienced, and what's worse, many of the women had found that even despite coming off the pill (after putting two and two together and finding it equalled hair loss) they continued to experience baldness, hair thinning or total hair loss despite months without the prescription.

I couldn't believe what I was reading - and I felt totally hurt, angry and resentful.  How could my doctor have not ever mentioned this to me despite my visits, and how can the NHS be allowing this pill to be prescribed, without providing patients with a severe health warning or an explanation of the risks associated to hair loss and alopecia when taking this drug. 

I knew my situation hadn't been brought on wholly through stress - I mean yes, I can be quite a hot head at times, as any of my family will probably agree, but I was no more or less stressed a year ago than I am today, so I knew there had to be another cause.  Now I can't prove this is the cause or that I had been conned into taking a prescribed drug that was not suitable - but I am convinced that Cerazette has contributed greatly to my ordeal.  Something needs to be done about this, and I intend to take this matter further than just this blog.