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Dietary changes halting alopecia areata
Hello,
I am new to the site, but wanted to come on and ask if anyone else has had significant success by changing their diet and eliminating inflammatory or foods that you are sensitive to?
I suppose I should start at the beginning.... My mother and great-grandmother both had alopecia areata. I noticed my first spot almost 10 years ago when I was pregnant. Unfortunately I did not carry full-term and noticed that a couple more spots had started shedding. I went to the dermatologist, who gave me some steroid cream and eventually transitioned to the shots, neither of which were particularly successful. I started doing a significant amount of research about food and hormonal reaction, inflammation etc. At that time I eliminated wheat, dairy, sugar, rice, potatoes, and caffeine. I had a FULL recovery of hair within 6 months.
This lasted for well over a year, until I met my husband and decided to go ahead and eat whatever I wanted, which included all of the foods I listed above. Small spots started to pop up and continued to proliferate. I dabbled in eliminating foods again, but was never able to completely cut them out due to being young and lazy. Whilst getting my master's degree parts of my eyebrows fell out and much of my hair broke off.I ended up cutting it short and penciling in my brows. About one year after I graduated I became pregnant again and had even more spots come up, losing more hair in pregnancy than before. I also lost part of the eyelashes on one eye. It came back after the baby was born and then began to shed about 1.5 years later, when I was living on coffee.
A local doctor's office did a blood test to test for foods that I am sensitive to, as "allergic" generally involves an intense, immediate reaction. I found that I was sensitive to a number of foods, including coffee, which was the worst. Some of the culprits were wheat, gluten, baker's yeast, mushrooms, tomatoes, cane sugar, lemon, watermelon, bell peppers, cottage cheese....you get the idea. I immediately eliminated all of those foods and my hair began to grow back. I now have a full head of hair and my eyebrows are mostly intact. There was a brief period where I was eating sugary snacks like a fiend and two little spots popped up, but I immediately eliminated and went back to my diet and they have since grown in. It has been well over a year now. On occasion I will do the "follicle test" on hairs that have come out and they all have the healthy bulb at the end.
I also take Vitamin B sublingually, Emergen-C lite with MSM - which is supposed to promote hair growth, hemp oil-perfect natural balance of omegas, sublingual biotin, and liquid Vitamin D3. I don't take all of them every day, but stagger them throughout the week. The doctor's office also found that I was deficient in both D3 and biotin, the first symptom listed for a biotin deficiency is alopecia...
I would also go to the Dermatologist's office once back on my diet to give the existing spots a "boost," in conjunction with the dietary changes - the shots actually worked!!
I wanted to share my story. Keep in mind, I am one person in the world and none of the information I am sharing has been involved in countless clinical trials and been validated. My Dermatologist and other doctor's along the way have scoffed at my suggesting that my hairloss is dietary. They administered countless tests, but all of my levels (thyroid, hormone etc.) were completely normal.
In Western medicine, the process is healing from the outside in - shots, pills etc. I wanted to heal from the inside out and this has been a successful process for me.
I wish you all well in your journey with this. I remember the times when I was crippled with fear that all of my hair would fall out.
Much Love.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Elaine on
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I had all the blood work done to see if my AA was a food issue. My test came back not being sensitive to anything! That's good I guess but I was really hoping it was just a food change I needed to make. I did have a + ANA result. So I had more lupus tests done. I don't have lupus just AA which is nice to know. I have been taking all the vitamins you are taking plus some for years now. I don't eat meat so I take supplements for that too. I also cut out coffee and most sugar. Just started cutting out gluten about 2 months ago so we will see. In the last year not changing anything it is as bad as its ever been :( Add more biotin and it seems to have made it fall out more. Changing food may work for some people that are sensitive to it but for me I think I just have to let it run it's course. Good luck!
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Permalink Reply by Jaclyn on
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I've noticed my hair stopped falling out (abruptly!) and started to regrow after adopting a Primal/Paleo diet. It was a hard adjustment at first, getting used to eating a new way, but now I love it. I don't miss grains at all, and I feel so much better eating this way. I'm *sure* there was something in my diet before that didn't agree with me. I don't think whatever it was "caused" my alopecia, but I think eliminating the inflammatory foods has just helped my body to work better and fight harder.
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Yeah basically no grains, dairy, soy, sugar, legumes or processed foods. (Sounds TERRIBLY restrictive, doesn't it?!) Just lots of meat, fish, eggs, veggies, fruit, nuts, seeds, and LOTS of healthy fats. If you decide you're interested in giving it a try, I'd be happy to share lots of resources, recipes and tips.
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Permalink Reply by Louis on
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jaclyn, is this diet similair to a anti-inflammatory diet? I have recently started eliminating gluten and other things like caffeine, red meat, dairy, and other pro inflammatory foods from my diet but it is proving to be EXTREMELY difficult for me! any suggestions on what to eat would be nice! I find it hardest to mantain the diet when im on the run and not able to fix my own food. What or where can i eat when im out and about with my family and dont have time to drive home or prepare my own food? Salad seems to be the only option and i know that i cant even eat most salad dressings that are available. Im also really unclear about what i can eat and what i cant sometimes. Its very aggravating, especially to a guy who LOVES to eat!
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The diet I follow still contains lots of red meat - I haven't found it to be inflammatory in my system at all, but I have read that different people react differently to certain things. (Like lots of people with AI issues can't really handle eggs, or nuts in large quantities. I can do eggs, but even moderate amounts of nuts make me react like I've eaten gluten.)
We do a lot of bulk cooking, so we always have stuff to pack. My husband takes a salad for lunch every day, with a big portion of leftover meat. We have found one local brand of salad dressing that is sugar-free, but otherwise we make our own. We also keep lots of easy snacks around - nuts (especially Macadamia nuts, as they're high in healthy fats and help you feel fuller for longer), dried fruit, Larabars (or homemade versions), etc. For eating out, we often order bunless burgers with salad or steamed veggies. It takes a lot of getting used to, but once you get into the habit you hardly think about it.
If you're interested, here are a few websites I've found VERY helpful, as well as one of my Pinterest boards full of recipes:
http://whole9life.com/category/whole-30/ (This one is AWESOME for explaining why to eliminate certain foods and include others! My husband and I did this 30-day plan and it honestly changed our entire relationship with food.)
http://pinterest.com/jacster/whole30-recipes/
http://nomnompaleo.com/
http://www.marksdailyapple.com
http://www.theclothesmakethegirl.com/category/recipes/I really hope you find something helpful in there. I'm always happy to answer questions!
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Permalink Reply by pterese on
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Hello,
I would love some resources for my seven year old. This is happening very fast for us and I am really struggling to keep it together. I have had her on a non GMO, no grain, organic, low sugar, no dairy diet for about a month. Hair is falling with each brushing and shower. We do all the right supplements. Trying everything to save her hair.
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Permalink Reply by Adrian Coe on
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Wow could you please email...this vitamins list to me...adrianrezults@hotmail.co.uk
thankyou adee
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Permalink Reply by asdf234 on
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Hi,
Like you, I went the diet and supplement route. I was too overwhelmed to design something on my own, so I hired a consultant.Here's the story: I have AA. I realize, looking back, that I had a few symptoms as a child, but nothing I couldn't hide and it went away. Now I am 43. I started losing my hair in January. A giant bald spot opened up along the part in my hair. Smaller spots were popping up on the sides. Toward the end, a big spot opened up on the back of my head and it was thin everywhere. As soon as I saw that big bald spot, I went off gluten and dairy, but my hair still kept falling out.
My initial AA diagnosis was made by a regular doctor. He did a bunch of tests. He told me there were no sure fire remedies and referred my to a dermatologist. I did a search of the normal therapies, their odds of a cure, and possible side effects. I did not want go that route. My friend knew a supplement specialist and I decided to give him a try.
Shane said my thyroid was low and that I had a problem with candida overgrowth. Also, he recognized that the stress I was under from the extreme hairloss was not helping. He prescribed supplements that greatly improved my ability to cope with the situation. Before I started those, I woke up with tears in my eyes every morning. Just getting through the day without crying in front of my kids was hard. After I started taking them, all those comforting things that I kept trying to tell myself, started working. I didn't cry anymore and was able to relax.
The first month, he just worked on strengthening my detoxing organs- (you get rid of toxins with liver, kidneys and skin). He prescribed supplements to specifically improve the health of my skin-like 10 different things. My hair kept falling out during that month.
Once he felt I was strong enough, he started me on the candida detox protocol. It is like 6 different supplements and basically switching to a paleo diet (without the artificial sweeteners, agave or dairy that paleo diet normally allows). The first couple days, I felt like crap. He said that was normal. The candida parasite in my intestines was being killed off and the toxins released from the die-off gave me a headache and lethargy. He said without the month prep, I would have been in bed with flu-like symptoms. Right after I started the candida detox, I noticed that my hair quit falling out! YAY!!!
I have been on it for another month- and my bald spots keep getting smaller and smaller. (I shave my head because it's easier to move on with my life with it shaved.) Every time I let it grow to a quarter inch, I can see there is more hair growing. It is still a little too thin to use, but I like the direction this is going. I have more energy. Over all, my life is better. For me, it was totally worth it. The whole protocol (including his consults and supplements) has probably cost me about $600. I know AA often goes into remission on it's own- but I feel stronger and have more stamina than before this started, so I still think it was worth it.
You can look up candida protocol on line- from what I have seen, there are a lot of charletons and misinformation out there. I trust this guy for a few reasons, but one is because he doesn't sell any supplements- he just tells me the dose, the names and brands that work best and I find the best price on line. I pay him a consultation fee- so there's no kick backs or ulterior motive for prescribing more supplements. I would not try winging a candida detox on your own. Like bacterial infections, candida can become resistant to whatever you try to poison it with the first time. If any is left alive, that repopulates your body and the same therapy won't work again. Diet alone won't get rid of it, because it is linked to your blood stream and it can feed off blood sugar. As long as you are alive, it will survive. The diet is not easy, but I was motivated. I ate only meat, salads, summer squash, cauliflower, eggs, and almonds. I drank almond milk and water. I ate goat cheese. No preprocessed foods. No microwaves. This extreme diet is only for a few months. Then I can ease up and eat some carbs occasionally. Hope this info helps someone else. Contact me if you want more details on my supplement guy, I know he does phone consults.
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Can you please send me this specialists contact information? My email is Lrios428@gmail.com. I have had Alopecia for about 2 years now. I lost about 90% of my head hair (and probably about 10% of my body hair) intially. It has been growing fantastically for the past few months, but has recently begain falling out again. I went and got tested for candida overgrowth yesterday (along w/all my vitamins, autoimmune diseases, etc.). Whether I am diagnosed by my doctor though, I'd be interested in talking to him. Thank you.
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Hi ..... This is nayeem..I'm 26 nw.I have alopecia are at a from past 20 years... I have also gone through the Same struggle like your s..frusted enough... Recent lay I'm see these blogs of paleo diet.. And I feel that i must try out... As I read that it is given generally that nuts,gluten diet to be avoided...But iI'm confused exactly Wat to eatand wat not..can pls give me the list if possible...and I do no which food is triggering the alopecia for me..how do I track it...and wat all tests should I get it done.. pls help dear..
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Hi! Yes, I would love contact I formation for tge supplements Guy. THanks so much! Faten
313 663-3366
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Hi, may I have the details of the specialist you went to? The one that helped?
Thank you so much. Email would be great, hina@floatinglens.com.
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