Red, itchy, painful scalp with lots of hair loss

Hi,

I will be 47 in September 2008, and for the past year I noticed a huge increase of hair falling out, itchy, red scalp, etc. My hair was falling out in huge clumps.

My dermatologist did a scalp biopsy and tested for telogen afluvium (sp?) and genetic alopecia. They ruled out TA. I was told there was nothing I could do.

This didn't address the other symptoms, however, so I called my dr back and she simply said 'well, maybe there's more than one thing going on.' She decided to call it sebhoreic dermatitis (sp?) and prescribed Fluocininonide and told me I would have to use it the rest of my life.

It seemed to help for a while, but it really only keeps things under control. But I'm not even sure it does that. The itching and burning comes and goes, and flair ups come with increased hair loss. By the way, after starting the Fluocininonide the hair loss decreased to something more 'normal.'

Today, like so many times over the past year, it's flaring up again.

I have regular periods, so I'm nowhere near menopause. I do have fibromyalgia and CFS and am taking no medication for this.

I am moderately active as the fibromyaligia and CFS allows, and I am in the process of losing weight (healthfully) that I'd gained after the fibromyalgia ruined my life. Before the Fibro I was very athletic, a dance instructor/performer, and avid gym-goer. All of that came to a halt with the fibro/CFS.

My eating is very clean, and I am on the weight watchers program. The only processed foods I eat are healthy whole grain cereal, sugar free pudding, and pasta on occasion. Most of my diet is lean meats (mostly salmon and chicken, occasionally very lean beef or pork) and lots of raw or frozen vegetables, fresh fruit, whole grains, etc. And I buy organic when it's available. I eat 2 tsp olive oil daily with my salad as well.

I have about 40lbs to lose at this time.

The flare up today is so bad that I looked in the mirror at the areas where it's the worst, coincidentally the areas where my hair is VERY VERY thin. The scalp in those areas (crown and front of hairline/bang area) are very dark red, and maybe some odd color like red. It doesn't look right at all, and it's not healthy looking like other areas of my scalp.

The loss is mostly diffuse, but the very worst is in the crown (slightly to the right side of my crown area) and front hairline area.

I do color my hair, but I've never had any weird flare ups after coloring on a consistent basis. In other words, not every time I color does the condition flare up.

I would like to know what I can do, because my dermatologist doesn't seem interested in trying anything new or testing for anything else.

Oh, I did have blood work done for thyroid and other things, standard full range tests basically, and they were all normal.

Thanks so much in advance. I'm truly at my wits end. Tired of being half bald (half my hair is gone now), and tired of the horrible discomfort. :(