About a month ago, our almost-8-year-old’s hair started falling out.

Initially just a little bit more than usual coming out when brushing her hair in the morning, but soon it was more than just a little bit. Much more. Soon, things were starting to thin out all over, and very definite bald patches were beginning to appear.

It is definitely falling out, rather than her pulling it out. She is an anxious child but there hasn’t been any one thing in particular that we can pin down as causing more anxiety/worry than usual for her.

This has brought with it all the feels:

• the usual phone anxiety/losing-the-will-to-live when it comes to ringing the Health Centre to try and get an appointment
• the stress as we were told it’d be another week before we’d get a call back from the GP (“She could be BALD by then!”)
• the fretting, as we went over everything in our minds to try and work out why this has happened
• the guilt — was there something we did or didn’t do that caused this? Was it because we got a new dog? Was it something we said that worried her?
• the worry over how she’s going to react, whether the kids in her class are going to say something to her
• the panic over how things look like they’re going to get worse before they get better…

And so on.

The GP said we may never know what’s behind it. Their treatment was to prescribe steroid cream to put on every evening and wash off in the morning (which, needless to say, is causing more hair to come out) for the next 8 weeks and, well, fingers crossed we should start to see some regrowth on the bald patches. “Should”.

And while we’ve been freaking out about it over here? She’s been fine about it, taking it all in her stride — at least on the surface, anyway. She thinks it’s a bit weird, but it doesn’t appear to be bothering her yet, and it’s a great excuse to wear the cool new hat I crocheted for her, or one of the gazillion tube bandanas she picked out that can be worn 50 million different ways… It’s all fine in her wee world!

Right up until the first comment comes her way from someone at school, which will send this house of cards tumbling to the ground.