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Forget exercise… let’s have a massage

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I have never really loved massages. I mean, I like them but I don’t love them. I am way too hyperkinetic to lay down for a whole hour and a half while some masseuse rubs my body.

I mean, don’t get me wrong. I like massages, but just for a short time. After a while I usually find it hard to relax and I want to get up and do “something.”

But now with my new alopecia areata condition I have been instructed by my brother (the neurologist) and by my friend (the psychiatrist) that the most important thing for me to do is to relax. So, I have resolved to get a full body massage and RELAX.

Here in Cuba I have a personal trainer, Regina; she a beautiful and very funny woman that at some time belonged to the National Taekwondo team. At some times during my life here in Cuba she has really helped me to tone my body (although her skills always have to fight with my love for high-calorie consumption.)

Anyway… other than being an amazing personal trainer and person, she is also a great masseuse. So, this time, instead of an hour and a half of weight training I asked her to give me a massage not before I told her the reason: I needed to relax because I have bald spots caused, apparently, by stress and anxiety.

It help also that here in Cuba a 1.5 hour massage costs 15 dollars, that contibuted also to my motivation to try it.

So, during the massage I just set my mind in the “relax” mode, talked to her and laughed about her always funny stories. She told me that she could feel tons of accumulated tension in my back and shoulders, and she worked them hard. After an hour an a half I felt relaxed, light, and like nothing bad could ever happen to me. I felt great. Even when my hair grows back I will keep getting massages! I like them now.

Regina and me, a couple of years ago.

Regina and me, a couple of years ago.

Relaxing at the beach

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Sunday March the 10th, the next day after the discovery of the bald
spots I decided to go to the beach. It was a beautiful day and every Sunday a
group of friends go over there. So I figured out that if what I needed was toNothing more ralaxing.
relax there was no better way to do it than sitting by water to contemplate the
waves, enjoy the breeze and talk to my friends.

Sure enough it was really helpful. I first talked to my friend Yolanda and told her about the newly discovered problem. She told me about a friend that has the same thing: alopecia areata. In the case of her friends she has bald spots that come and go constantly depending on her level of stress. It was reassuring to know that those spots “go,” but not so reassuring to know that they may come back.

Then Francesca, another friend at the beach, told me about a friend of hers that also had a bald spot once, a really big one. “What you have is nothing compared to what she had,” Francesca said, and most important “the hair eventually grew back.” I thought at that moment that I would focus all my energy in that: in knowing and believing that my hair will eventually grow back.

And then there was Carlos, another friend that usually goes to the beach on Sundays and who is a psychiatrist (officially MY psychiatrist, now). He told me he has had several patients with the same problem, and that they all eventually recover their hair.

He also told me that he would prepare for me a concoction of Bach Flowers to help me relax. According to Wikipedia, these flower dilutions were developed by a bacteriologist called Edward Bach and are believe to have healing properties, primarily for conditions such as depression, anxiety and stress.

That day, the second day of my life with Alopecia Areata, was good day. I came back from the beach relaxed, optimistic and tanned!