Alopecia World
www.alopeciaworld.com
Mom in search of advise for our 12 year old son
Last year we discovered small patches on our 12 year old. Within that week of noticing the hair patches, the following week he broke out in hives and had an allergic reaction to nuts. Before the allergic reaction Peanut butter was on of his favorite foods to eat. More testing showing thyroid levels were low, and within a few months he had almost full head hair loss and partial eyebrow loss. BUT a few months ago we took him off his thyroid medication, which levels appeared to remain normal without the medication, retested him for nuts and he was no longer allergic. And he had almost full head hair growth. He seemed to be doing great, but we recently moved out of state and within the last few weeks, we noticed new patches of hair loss on his arms, legs, and now they're appearing on head. In addition it seems his immune system (allergies) are acting up, his eyes are bothering him and noticed light skin discoloration on his face. This will be our 2nd episode,any words of advise. Common triggers, what to be aware of and look out for? Dr visits that can help? Best ways to support our son? Also is almost full scalp hair growth common in between episodes? Reading other blogs, I'm worried about new immune disorders that be triggered, new food allergies, or even lupus....any words of advise is appreciated.
Also what is your advise on support groups? We've discovered one locally, but our son has shared he needs more time to be ready before attending.
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by carebear42 on
-
Hi I don't have a whole lot of advice to offer, but was wondering if he was stressed with the first hair loss and if he may have been stressed with the move this time? When I went to my dermatologist, the first thing she asked me was what was stressing me out. So maybe talk to him to see if there is stress in is life? Once again I don't know a whole lot about this disease myself as I am still going through the process of losing my hair but I wish your son the best of luck and I hope things get better for him.
-
-
Hi,
My daughter has a week immune system as well...she had her first bout of alopecia at 4 and half and the hair grew back in full by the time she was 5 and half...she turned 6 this month and 3 days before her birthday, i noticed a new patch over her ear...to tell you the truth my heart is sinking and i see how my reaction tends to become her reaction to things...so I simply have to over play it and tell her its just hair...
to boost immune he give her a lot of organic honey, nuts and she takes a multi vitamin very morning...besides that not much can be done.
she is asthmatic as well and allergic to egg as a toddler which she has now out grown.
I hope your son feel better soon and please share your experience
-
-
Hello, I have twin sons who are 11 that have AA and the other AU. I had been wondering for the last year what could be triggering their alopecia. After many nights of reading and research, I made a connection to their allergies. This is a long story, as one of my son's has had AA since age 3 and the other twin just developed alopecia and lost all his hair on scalp and eyebrows in the last 2 years. I recently took them to an infectious disease specialist who tested them for lyme disease. I explained their medical history and a few days later after he got the blood work for lyme, he said something that was music to my ears!! I finally had an educated medical doctor suggest a theory, hypothesis for what might be causing their hair loss....he said he felt it was their many allergies and felt they would benefit from immuno-therapy. I had them tested for allergies in 2013 and the allergist quickly dismissed my thoughts of a connection. However, after reading allergies and auto-immune disorders are certainly connected. To confirm, I recently met a mom who had a 16 year old son whose hair all grew back after receiving allergy shots, but he also had the cortisone shots to the scalp. The mom and I were discussing and she in that moment made the connection but had thought the cortisone shots were what grew his hair back. She also has an 8 year old daughter who is totally AU and after our talk and my doctor's phone call, I called her to tell her she may want to get her daughter tested and carefully consider immuno-therapy. I believe the allergies trigger my sons immune systems and activate the predisposition for alopecia, as their paternal grandfather's 2 brother had alopecia. I am hopeful and recently went to allergist again, this time she was a little more open minded to the correlation. However, she suggested allergy therapy not on this basis alone but given the fact that they do suffer symptoms of allergies and one has asthma. She feels they will benefit either way and we have our fingers crossed that they might get a little hair as well :) I'm not telling you to do the shots, I'm not even sure if I'm going to do the shots as they are safe, but still there are risk. Your doctor can discuss these more with you, but I would tell you to take your son to an allergist to at least test and see if the allergens may be contributing to his overactive immune system. I pray for us all that we find peace most of all and healing for our babies!! If we can't find a cure, I pray that it all be well with my soul and that they grow up loving themselves. This is what I focus on most, building them up so that no one can tear them down. I also keep a happy and positive attitude about it always in their presence. They will never know how much I have cried myself to sleep or stayed up reading until I fell asleep. I know there are a lot of moms out there just like me. Please message me if you have any questions. We have tried a lot of different things from Elidel, DithroScalp, Cortisone shots in scalp, triamiclinone, minoxidil, jamaican black castor oil, pure coconut oil, rosemary w/olive oil, biotin, vitamin d supplements, magic treatments, saw a holistic doctor but didn't continue but tried gut cleansers, I tried gluten free diet for about 2 weeks :) shampoos, betamesalone, won't do the prednisone, have tried Luxiq foam, I tried Hair Infinity vitamins but didn't stay on them long, one parent on my facebook daughter tried clebetasol and she regrew her hair, my dermatologist won't prescribe, but I like that he is so cautious. They are not stressed- I do believe rarely for my kids this could possibly be a trigger with all the school test and homework. The only one that I thought we may have gotten results was Ditroscalp used for psoriasis and prescribed by dermatologist. Other than that, my one child's hair seems to come and go on it's own and I'm starting to make a connection that the hair falls out with spring and the pollen and all the things in spring he is allergic too. The one who is AU- NOTHING stopped or slowed his progression but the one thing is he is exposed to his allergen year around- Our family dog, yes, we found out he is allergic to pet dander. I didnt make the connection in 2013 when the allergist tested because I saw no real symptoms and figured it would be devastating to take their pet away. Well, now I am trying to build a fence to at least make him an outside dog until I find him another home. I hope this helps...please message me anytime or email me at ellisgresham@ymail.com if you would like to talk more.
-
-
Also, if you are on facebook there are lot's of support groups. CapKids, Parents of Children with Alopecia- most are private groups and once you join one, you will get pop ups for the others. I didn't realize there were so many Alopecians! Very good support groups. My son's recently went swimming at one of the member's of CapKids whose son has alopecia. They swam, ate and had a great time. You can also discuss treatments with other parents. I think it helps me more than them :) But I think they do get that they are not the only ones and I think this is important for them to SEE and understand so they don't go around feeling weird. They see that having this condition is quite common and all the kids are still healthy regular kids.
© 2024 Created by Alopecia World.
Powered by
