“This is horrible,” my wife, Edwynne said, as she looked down at her pillow and saw a large hunk of hair lying there. “My hair has been coming out a little for several weeks. But it has never been this bad.”
“What do you think is causing it?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” she replied. “A little has been coming out when I combed my hair. But this is a humongous hunk. It was on my pillow when I woke up. I haven’t changed anything like shampoo or anything that would cause this. My hair is just falling ou like crazy. Edwynne said shaking. “It’s scary because I don’t know why.”."
“That is strange." I said. " I’ve never heard of such a thing so I don’t know why either. “Perhaps you should call the doctor.”
Edwynne wasted no time. She called immediately, but the office wasn’t open. As soon as the family doctor’s office did answer the phone that morning, Edwynne made an appointment.
A few hours later, the doctor was studying her head and taking her history. After a while, he finally concluded. “Well, it’s pretty obvious that your hair is falling out. I don’t know why." then he suggested, “You should go to a dermatologist.”
Edwynne had the Doctor’s office call for her so she would get a quick appointment. A couple of days later Edwynne was sitting in the waiting room of the dermatologist. The nurse called her name and led her to the examination room.
“What’s your problem?” The nurse asked as she was taking weight and vital signs.
Edwynne explained that her hair was falling out and no one seemed to know why.
“Oh,” the nurse replied very knowingly. “The Doctor will probably tell you that you it’s Telegen Effluvium.” The Nurse finished her readings and then left Edwynne to herself.
It wasn’t very long before the doctor appeared. “How are you doing? Tell me what the problem is?” he said.
Edwynne explained how for some time her hair had been falling out a little at a time but that a couple of days before a whole hunk had fallen out on her pillow during her sleep. She explained how she hadn’t done anything different and so she didn’t know why it was falling out.
He studied her head and he studied the hunk of hair she had brought. He asked several questions and listened very carefully. “Telegen Effluvium,” he finally announced authoritatively. And after several minutes of answering questions, he sent Edwynne home.
It was late that evening before I saw Edwynne, and she was very pleased and excited. “Well,” she said. “The dermatologist knew just what it was.” She related her experience at the dermatologist’s office.
“And…?” I said with a questioning tone, “What is it?”
“It’s Telegen Effluvium.” She announced with great confidence and relief.
“And what is Telegen Effluvium,” I asked.
“It means your hair falls out—a whole lot at one time.” She started explaining.
“Yes. We knew that much, “I interrupted, “What is it? What causes it?”
“Well,” She explained. “They don’t really know the reason. It just happens to some people.”
“What can they do about it?” I asked.
“Well, nothing really.” She explained. “It just runs its course and sometimes it comes back and sometimes it doesn’t”
“Telegen effluvium.” I mused. Then, just to be sure that I had heard correctly, I added, “You are saying it means that your hair is falling out.”
“Yes.” She answered.
“And that they don’t know why?” I continued.
“Yes”
“And there is nothing they can do about it?”
“Right”
“Well just what do we know today that you and I and the Family Doctor didn’t know two days ago?” I asked.
“Well it has a name,” Edwynne replied a little defensively.
“Yeah. I replied. “It’s ignorance with a label. We still don’t know anything more today than we knew two days ago.”
“Well” Edwynne defensively started to explain. But she stopped and didn’t say much after that. I regretted I had said anything. Although I was right, I had unconsciously taken away the comfort she had gained from the doctor’s token explanation. She wasn’t quite ready to give that up.
I was disgusted with the Doctor. I thought he had really hustled her. He had just given her a label but he hadn’t really helped. At the time, I thought it was just a typical example how the medical indsutry cons us and charges us a fortune for doing so. (I have little respect for such things).
However, Later I realized that it is quite common in science to do that. Perhaps in life itself. Newton defined a relationship of orbits and masses–but he couldn’t really explain what created the relationship. Newton hypothesized that this was some force which he called “gravity.” But he couldn’t say what it really was or physically how it it worked.
Descartes criticized this explanation of creating action at a distance, suggesting that it was no more credible than attributing the attraction to supernatural spirits. (Descartes would have criticized magnetic force and most other theoretically described forces for the same reason.)
But time passed. The formulas worked. And people came to accept the idea that there actually is a force called gravity. Yet, in 400 years, no one has explained what it is. People were told to believe there is a force. Bt all physicists can really prove is the result. For most people, labeling the ignorance stops the search for other solutions.
Epilog Link to heading
Edwynne called the doctor a couple of days later and told him that her joints had begun to ache too. She wasn’t sure if it was connected or not, but she thought she would ask.
“Go to the hospital right away.” He ordered. He had her take several tests.
What was the ultimate diagnosis? Lupus, an autoimmune disease. Lupus can be a killer if it is not treated. For some reason the body’s immune system starts attacking the body. They don’t know what causes it, but they do know how to control it. That was a big difference. Today, Edwynne has her hair back. She is alive and leading a productive life.
Perhaps I hadn’t done so badly after all. Asking one more question saved her life.