Alopecia World
www.alopeciaworld.com
AA for 3-4 years, Partial AU for 1-2 years. I have 100% regrowth on my scalp(not 100% pigment yet), rest of my body regrowth is coming along.
Lets start with this, a photo before I even knew what Alopecia was.
So mid year 2015 I noticed some patches of hair missing on my scalp.I just blamed my hardhat for it and never thought much of it. They progressively got worse until I had to shave my head in April, 2016.
April 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3dSN76TvZg&feature=youtu.be
I went to a Dermatologist got a bunch of topical creams and told it was fine and was from stress. Essentially they don't know why it happens and have no reasoning, so they blame it on that. After that I did some digging and went on a PALEO diet for 12-14 months(zero alcohol consumption). A solid 10 months at 100% compliance.
October 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bqUXBEIHNTE&feature=youtu.be
I also spent 4-5 sessions with a Naturopath, I added L-glutamine and probiotics to my diet. I had 80% regrowth of the hair I lost on my scalp. But the other 20% would not grow any hair and remained bald, so I still shaved my scalp.
December 2016
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzWeI1dzl0E&feature=youtu.be
I never had AU at this time. I got discouraged and just went off the diet all together and resumed consuming alcohol. About 12-15 months later and no regrowth, numerous blood tests, trips to the dermatologist, and now more hair lost on my scalp I also lost all the hair on my arms/legs/majority chest/partially in my armpits.
January 2018
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqkZ98-rx1Y&feature=youtu.be
I spent alot of time learning about Leaky Gut. So in this day and age an ad popped up on my Facebook for a leaky gut video. I watched the 90 minute video. After that I bought the E-book(The Plant Paradox - Dr.Gundry) for $11 and read the 300-400 page book in a 3 days. I decided why not, the logic behind the science in the book made sense. It explained why i had 80% regrowth on my paleo diet, but not the 100% I so dearly wanted.
So i started the diet, 5 days in, I had regrowth on my scalp in the original spot that I lost hair and has had ZERO regrowth since that initial falling out phase, until now! About 14 days in I noticed my scalp is fully complete with hair, although not all the pigment is there. It will come in time as I learned on my first diet. My arms, legs,armpits, chest have started to have hair return to them. All white/peach fuzz in color. As of writing this I am on day 38! I have followed the diet 99%. I sometimes get a craving for honey. Which isnt allowed in the phase I am in. These are the most recent pictures. I wont post the ones of my arms/legs/armpits/chest.. because the peach fuzz is extremely hard to see in a picture and the light angle has to be good. BUT THEY ARE THERE AND GROWING, which I haven't had a single strand of hair grow on before this diet after they originally fell out.
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Permalink Reply by 1975 on
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Yeah, I don't even try to talk about this stuff with anyone outside my immediate family anymore, because I'm sick of defending strict clean eating against any number of shallow arguments. Some of them even pity me because I won't eat garbage. What can I say to that? So, I just smile and nod, then listen to them complain about resolvable health problems.
Although I gave up on the super strict diet a couple years ago, I still don't eat any processed sugar or gluten, and virtually no dairy. Distilled alcohol is one thing I let back into my life... more than I should... and I think it's going to have to go again. Alcohol and dairy (especially liquid milk) are the two things that seem to upset my stomach the most, and seeing your success makes me ambitious to get back on the train.
If I can ask, what types of food upset your stomach the most? I'm curious to see if there's any common ground between us. Maybe we can start nailing some particularly bad offenders down... I'm not sure if that will help anything, but it can't hurt.
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Yes, I had a close family member so worried about me eating this way for the rest of my life. She doesn't understand that I don't care. Feeling/being healthy is FAR more important than the 5 seconds of taste satisfaction in my mouth and feeling like garbage/depressed for a majority of my life. I am never letting myself go back to that state. Exactly, I used to argue and then I realized...... you can't force people to change. You can give them your story and reasoning and they can do with it what they want. That took alot of mental stress off my mind with changing my mindset on that.
I drink red wine occasionally, the lifestyle actually recommends 6 oz everyday. That was one of the big things for me realizing this diet works. About 5 weeks in I started drinking red wine and was having an allergic reaction, so I stopped. Waited roughly 2-3 more weeks and drank the same kind of wine and didn't have the reaction. What gives? My gut was healing more and could tolerate it. In the past year I have not had a single allergic reaction that I got almost every time before I changed my nutrition from that wine. I do drink the occasional vodka/water, but any pop makes my stomach upset.
I've completely cut out dairy. I had some salsa and that was a war zone for my stomach, instant upset stomach. Beer, instant discomfort. I also had some sweet chili sauce and that caused me to break out in a decent amount of pimples on my body. I haven't tried much reinstatement of the foods that aren't allowed on the lifestyle as I want to fully recovery from coming off this long term antidepressant use.
That great that you are feeling motivated to get back on it. You can do it and you already know what to do!
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That list of food is quite interesting, because I'm absolutely miserable in similar ways after eating any of those too.
Wine -- itchy, hot, feeling swollen and generally uncomfortable.
Salsa -- serious burning sensation in the lowest part of my stomach.
Beer -- massive bloating, stomach ache. Can't touch it.
I haven't had sweet chili sauce in ages, so I can't say much there. But, it certainly sounds like we're in the same universe at least. Huh. I'm not sure if that's evidence of anything, but it might be. It seems like high acidity and/or a heavy sugar content are a common thread in those items.
Have you ever tried L-Glutamine supplementation? It's been quite effective for me whenever I wind up damaging my apparently fragile stomach with too much acidity. I used a lot to help with the rebuild process during my diet, and still do whenever things start to drift in a bad direction.
I made an enormous batch of really simple chicken soup with just meat and vegetables last night, so I guess I'm back on the path. We'll see what happens. Thanks for the encouragement!
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Lots of sugar and high lectin content. Tomatoes and grains are some of the highest lectin containing foods.
Yes, I have used L-glutamine on and off for the last 3 years. Most recently I have used it daily for the last 300 or so days at 5 grams per day. I distinctly remember going on it the first time and I woke up the first week with a pounding pain in my intestines. I now know that was my gut flora changing from bad to good bacteria and that was the chemical reactions going on in there. SOOO painful. Now I get none of that.
Do it! I would highly suggest reading that YES/NO list in the book I read. I cut out alot of foods I thought were healthy and they were truly causing issues.
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Those pictures are really impressive. You're doing a fantastic job!
I noticed in some of your earlier pictures that you were struggling with the areas near your neckline and around your ears. Those are also *by far* the worst areas for me and for many alopecia sufferers who find treatments that appear to work. First to go, toughest to bring back.
How are those areas responding now?
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Thanks, it’s been a long process, but it is worth it!
I’ll see this weekend. As I am going to dye it and see what looks sparse. Last time I dyed it was like 3 months ago and it was too thin on the back. Yea you are right. The first to go and the last to come back haha.
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Well I dyed and have made the decision I am going to grow it out now. It is thin on the back but everywhere else is good! It will get better and better each month.
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Nice results man! How long have you been the diet at this point?
I tried many diets, AIP being the last one that I failed on. At about 30 days I gave up as it became difficult to follow. Have you looked into the zero carb / carnivore diet. There are some awesome Facebook pages for this diet, and it removes all lectins as well, since its only meat. If anyone wants to say cholesterol will kill you, they should research more. A guy on reddit has completely regrown his beard which was 80% lost, from the carnivore diet. He scalp is recovering now as well. Search reddit for "alopecia carnivore diet" you will find his post.
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Oct 14 marked one full year, 8 months of this have been challenging with drug withdrawals.
The thing with meat is you actually do get those toxins(lectins) through the meat. What your meat ate is what you are getting through their meat. This is why there is such a push against antibiotics being used on animals as they then become less useful in humans as they have been taking them through the meat. So they changed the drugs or don't give animals antibiotics.
I just checked that out. That is impressive. I am going to stick with mine for the foreseeable future. As I know the long term medication I was on caused massive distress in my body and I am still not fully recovered from that.
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The latest pictures look really solid. You're definitely getting there!
You know, I kind of wonder if the specifics of the diet really matter that much. I've had success with a strict paleo diet (I guess you'd call it), you've had success with a zero lectin diet, buddy that JHen mentioned up there had success eating like a forest predator.
They're all elimination diets, and they all allow the digestive system to recover from decades of consuming the typical processed crap of a Western lifestyle.
Maybe that's the real secret here. Even after ten days back on a very basic diet, I already feel different... more alive and clear. My alopecia-affected areas are sensitive and itchy, and I can feel that things are changing.
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Thank you! Its coming along and I feel way better physically and mentally. So that's a huge positive!
That is the really interesting part. Because how our body is made is almost solely by the foods we eat. People often forget that. So it could be the fact of just removing the processed modern(last 50 years) worth of food from our diet.
There is more and more evidence coming out each day that the gut controls the body and its really encouraging to controlling health issues through nutrition rather than being medicated all our lives.
Yea, that is what made me want to do it. When I was still on my medication and just starting this nutrition lifestyle I felt soooooo good... never felt like that before in my life. Laser focus, great sleep, no energy drops, etc. That is awesome I hope the best for you!
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