Alopecia areata?

I am a 41 year old female. And last year I had several bald spots about 1 inch in diameter.  I was on psych meds and under stress at the time. I figured these were the causes. But, I cannot be sure. The did finally go away.
Now, I am on no medications what so ever and now have one on the top of my head that I cannot hide. The others before I could hide. Being a woman this causes a bit of a problem with my self esteem. And since I have had issues with self esteem and bipolar all my life, the last thing I need is to deal with this.
Is there anything that I can do? What could possibly be causing this to happen?
I read that this usually happens to people younger than myself. I guess I'm one of the few that it happens to when older. I also have a bald spot on my left inner thigh and on the inside of my right ankle. Could these spots be related to the scalp?

[Caryopteris]

If you want to read about the connection that has been made to alopecia and Celiac disease, go to the search engine Pogofrog.com.  It is a search engine made for doctors, so you won't get any silly consumer sites - just the ones with real medical studies.

Into the search box, type alopecia and celiac disease.  Then a list of studies linking the two problems will come up.  In one article I read, a certain institution had a child who had problems typical of celiac disease, so he was tested for celiac disease.  He was positive.  They started him on a gluten-free diet, and his alopecia went away completely.  They were shocked.  They had several other kids there with alopecia, so they tested them for celiac.  They were all positive.  Putting them on a gluten-free diet ALSO cleared up their alopecia.  

And yet our government has a food pyramid that lists GRAINS like wheat, rye and barley as what we should be eating more than anything else.  Why would they say that when now 1 in 120 or 130 people has a problem with gluten (a protein in many grains)?  Apparently it's because that's what we grow here in the US.  

Celiac disease causes both nutritional deficiencies (from poor digestion/absorption) and then autoimmune diseases, like lupus, thyroid disease, and apparently alopecia areata.  It is hard to recognize because it can cause different symptoms in different people.  Some may have diarrhea, others constipation, some acid reflux/heartburn, some skin problems, some migraine headaches, and on and on - 250 different possible symptoms.  It's not as common as diabetes, but it's getting to be very common.  The only race that has escaped Celiac disease in their genes are Asians.