Poke, poke, poke.

I don't talk about it a lot, because I didn't have many answers before now - actually, I still don't have a lot of answers - but at least now there seems to be an end to all these doctor's visits for the time being.

Most of you know that I realized I was losing a LOT of hair in the middle of last year. I had been steadily losing hair for several years before that, though, and had just accepted it as part of my genetic inheritance. My brother, who turns 27 this week, has been pretty much bald since he was about 23-years-old. My mom's hair started thinning out about 10 years ago. My dad just has regular old man baldness, though, so we just don't worry about his hair loss. Anyway, I just figured that since I'd always had fairly thin, fine, hair, that this was the time that it would now decide to become SUPER thin (in addition to turning gray) and that would just be that. Except that it all of a sudden started coming out in gobs and gobs and I was NOT ok with that.

So, I mentioned this to my primary care physician, who said that oh well and if I thought it was something I should check with my dermatologist. Never mind the fact that my thyroid had not been working as it should - which can cause hair loss - and that I had recently started thyroid replacement therapy - which can cause hair loss. So I make an appointment last fall with my dermatologist. He agrees that yes, my hair is definitely much thinner than a normal 30-year-old woman's hair should be, and so he ran blood tests on me to try and determine the cause of the thinning. A few days after I get the blood test done, he calls to tell me the results: Basically, most of the tests looked fine, except for this one test: The ANA. And it was positive. And what is this ANA test? It is the test which indicates that your immune system is going a little wacky and attacking itself, and is one of the first indicators they use in diagnosing a patient with Lupus.

Wha? I might have Lupus? Well, that, or Rheumatoid Arthritis. Or Scleroderma. Or any other number of autoimmune diseases and disorders.

Cue Freakout Here.

After doing a little searching on Dr. Internets, I discovered that - hey, thyroid disease can also cause a positive ANA test. Which makes sense, because we already know my thyroid ain't workin'. So I try to keep my freakout to a minimum as I wait for an appointment with my regular physician to go over my test results from the dermatologist's blood test. When I get in to see him, two weeks later, a) The test results that I had requested be sent to my doctor were not there, so that pissed me off, since I went into an appointment and he didn't even know why I was there and b) All he did was send me to the lab to get the SAME FUCKING TESTS done again. Woo. So more hours spent in the lab waiting to get needles in my veins.

Two weeks later I go back and he says - Hey, yeah, you've got this positive test, but no other signs of Lupus or anything. But these titers are high - which means I have a lot of antibodies in my blood, more than a regular person has - and so he wants to send me to a Rheumatologist just so they can "get me in they system," so to speak. So, off I go to the Rheumatologist. She asks me all types of this, that, and the other regarding my medical history, etc. And she asks me if I have joint pain or rashes or other things. And no, I don't. So she says I probably am fine, but since these titers are high she wants to send me for some more specific tests, like hepatitis, as well as some other antibody tests since I told her at some point in the not so distant future I'd probably want to have a baby. So, of I go, poke poke poke and give up SIX viles of blood.

So yesterday I go back again for my follow up visit. I do not have any antibodies that would complicate a pregnancy, nor do I have hepatitis. I still have these high titers - again, meaning that I'm just walking around in a sort of constant state of "reaction" to something - but since I"m not displaying any symptoms of an active disease, she'll just see me again next year. Or after I have a baby. Whichever comes first. I'm thinking next year. Anyway - I'm thinking, awesome. We're done with the poking poking. HA!

So THEN she mentions that there have been a lot of studies done lately on the effects of Vitamin D on people's immunity, and that she wants me to get my Vitamin D levels checked, because she suspects they are low. Which is funny, because I was watching Oprah the other day and a woman who complained of thinning hair was told by the Doctor on the show that she should get her Vitamin D levels checked. So off I go again to the lab to wait over an hour for them to poke me - yet again- to find out if I am low on Vitamin D.

I kind of hope I'm just completely depleted of Vitamin D and that they put me on a supplement or tell me to start tanning or something and then all my hair grows in thick and luxurious and I stop having these high titers and then they can quit poking me for awhile.

Anyway - that was a really long and winding story to just really end up with some good news at the end, but I've been stressing out about this since October, and not really knowing anything and not being able to explain anything to anyone, even Ben, has been hard. But I hope that now it's turning around and that in a couple of months I'll be the picture of health. Or at least the like, Polaroid of health. Or color by numbers of health. Something. :-)