Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Mary on August 24, 2009 at 6:23pm

Hi Aimee,
Thanks for replying. So you have heard of someone having celiac and alopecia and the gluten free diet grew their hair back?

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Permalink Reply by Diana Hastings on August 30, 2009 at 5:34pm

My daughter is celiac and she was not diagnosed until she was 30 yrs old although she had bowel probs for years but the docs just said this was colic when she was small and IBS as she grew older. I have had the blood test for celiac and this was negative although apparently this test is known for 'false negative' results and you only really find out by having a bowel biopsy-type test (not too pleasant) which I certainly wasn't offered and my daughter only had when she had such severe food poisoning whilst travelling, that she ended up in hospital in Melbourne. Australia is more celiac aware than England! I knew nothing about the condition until my daughter was diagnosed but, having done some research since, find that the symptoms are not always the same and in fact don't always even show themselves very much in some people but, if left untreated by diet, this can lead to - guess what - auto immune disorders developing.

Sounds like a link to me. Although I have'nt gone gluten free yet myself (like you I love some of the 'wrong' foods) it may be worth a try. Especially as the shops stock lots of gluten free things nowadays.

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Permalink Reply by Mary on August 24, 2009 at 6:21pm

Hi Sandy,
While I think a gluten free diet is beneficial no matter what ailment you have I won't be going gluten free. I love my gluten!! My AAU son heard from his roommate about his family's friend who had alopecia and when diagnosed with celiac, began a gluten free diet, his hair grew back. It breaks my heart for him to be hopeful because obviously I don't want him to be disappointed. I know he has accepted the condition, but I guess from time to time you hear something and want to try it. I know he doesn't have celiac, because his diet consists of mostly gluten products anyway. He has a terrible diet, always has, even as a baby, was very wierd about smells and textures. Couldn't get him to eat veges, pasta, eggs, meat. It's a shame because now as a young adult he's trying to eat normally when he is associating with his peers and it's an effort for him to try different foods. I think it's mind over matter. We think the lack of different foods and nutrients couldn't have helped his immune system, not that his diet gave him alopecia but it couldn't have helped his immune system. He'll get blood work done. He does have severe allergies. I told him he should email the man with the celiac (out of state) and find out the whole story. Who really knows what was going on with him. I just wanted to ask about it because my son said he googled celiac and alopecia and found something. I couldn't find anything on it. Thanks for replying. I hope things are going good for you.

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Permalink Reply by Tuesday on August 26, 2009 at 10:46pm

To be honest, I don't think gluten-free diets will solve all cases of alopecia. I actually ate mostly gluten free diet for years and THEN i developed AU. My son has a lot of bowel issues so we've returned to a mostly gluten free diet and a raw vega diet, to be specific and I don't notice any difference. Just my own anecdote but I feel if it was the cure, we'd all have hair by now.

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Permalink Reply by Georgie on August 30, 2009 at 11:49pm

Hi everyone. I've posted a few things here and there about my gluten-free journey. I've been gluten-free since March 2009. Prior to that I've been low thyroid since 2002. The AA began in 2007. We decided that I had to go gluten-free because of my thyroid....which wasn't labeled Hashimoto until March 2009. It fluctuated a lot. I'd feel good....and then great....and then not so great...and that's probably when my hair would fall out. We did blood-work and there was a high antibody count and I also was crazy low on iron. Obviously the antibodies were doing some bad stuff...like attacking my skin...and causing the hair loss. The antibodies were the result of a stressed stomach....one that obviously was bothered since I also did an allergy test and some allergens popped up....like dairy. So, since my body was not absorbing nutrients that it needed due to a stressed stomach (and no, I did not have telltale symptoms except for a bloated stomach area and people asking me if I was pregnant) and I already was diagnosed with Hashimoto and AA it made sense that gluten would also be part of the autoimmune cluster. Clusters consist of 3 or more.

Going gluten-free was both up and down. It boils down to a healthier and simpler way of eating. It requires some studying in advance before eating out....but it's not deprivation. At first I thought it was. I've learned to replace rather than remove things from my diet. Honestly, I don't miss bread and cake. And I've tried enough gluten-free crackers and cookies to know which ones taste closest to wheat ones. I've found a good pancake substitute....and brownies, choc. chip cookies and recently I made cornbread. It was perfect. Even my husband liked it. Sometimes it's hard that I cannot be so "impromptu" when dining out....but that's ok.

So, has being gluten-free helped? No new bald patches since Easter. I've done some recent shedding but it seems to be ok at the moment. I also think my acne has cleared up. Definitely more energy that before. The best result of all so far was losing 8-10 lbs. My pants fit awesome. I reach for more fruit, veggies and nuts than ever before. I don't need sunchips to survive! But I do miss them. It's for the best if it means keeping the hair on my head. But, it's too soon to tell. I wonder what will happen to me in the next few months?

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Permalink Reply by emmettbrown on October 30, 2011 at 7:55pm

I had a similar experience where I had a bout of alopecia areata - I lost all my facial hair and then lost a good bit of the hair on one side of my head. Around that time, my mom had some genetic testing done that identified a gluten and dairy intolerance. Since the doctor said celiac disease is hereditary, I tried a gluten-free and dairy-free diet and discovered that it was key to my hairloss problem. My hair on my scalp has all grown back (facial hair never came back), but if I have any milk/cheese or gluten, my scalp and eyebrow will itch in the spots that went bald and hair will fall out rather rapidly again in those areas. Here's a link for information on the connection between AA and celiac: http://celiacdisease.about.com/od/symptomsofceliacdisease/a/Alopeci...

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