Hi all,

This is my first post, quick history of my experience with this blight... I am a 45 yo male, with no history of alopecia or any auto immune conditioning my family. Around 8 years ago my eyelashes fell out. With no other symptom my doctors were baffled. Then, 3 years ago when I lost half of my eyebrow I was diagnosed with AA. My eyebrows were saved with intralesional corticosteroid injections and that is a battle that is ongoing to this day. Around 6 months ago, I discovered a small bald spot in my scalp behind my left ear. My derm injected it and hair started to grow back. Then other patches started to appear and they started to link up. The injections seem to be useless. Despite getting up to ten syringes in my scalp every 4-6 weeks, my hair is now generally thin (and thinning) and brittle and I have around 40% hairl loss with large bald spots on the sides of my head and a huge one at the back/crown. My eyebrows are also under constant attack.

Now, like many people in here I was not prepared to take this lying down and I have thrown all my resources into fighting it. I have read many posts in here and elsewhere, some success stories and some who have tried the same techniques and had no luck. I wanted to share what I know and hope that some of you might be able to add to this knowledge base since I have spent thousands on doctors in all fields and I fully intend to beat this thing.

There are two schools of thought regarding beating this condition and they seem to counter each other. Conventional medicine promotes the use of chemicals and the holistic approach attempts to heal with diet. I am attempting both but I know the promotors of the diet-based cures will tell me I am just adding to the problem by allowing myself to be injected with steroids or rubbing poisonous creams on my skin. 

1) DIET

The diet-based theory, which is put very nicely in Molly Vazquez book, and others works on the basis that our bodies are shedding hair as a device to tell us that something is very wrong inside. This can be combatted by eliminating gluten, dairy refined sugar and a bunch of other bad stuff from our diets and using the correct balance of relaxing exercise (like yoga) and getting lots of sleep. There are many people who take this theory further and promote a very strict version of the paleo diet that means you can eat virtually nothing. That isn't necessarily intended to treat alopecia but all autoimmune diseases. 

I have read posts on this site claiming success from a diet-based approach and when I asked my derms about it, some say it makes no difference and eat what you like while others say that while they don't believe there is any proof to support it, eating healthily and looking after yourself can't do you any harm. 

I changed my diet about 3 months ago and when my hair was still falling out after 6 weeks, I took on the even more strict paleo diet. But I found it was causing me more stress keeping up with it than any benefit I could be getting from following it. My current approach is healthy but not crazy.

2) EXERCISE

This is a funny one. I read a post from at least one person claiming that "over exercise" caused their alopecia. Apparently exercise like lifting weights causes stress on the body while things like yoga allow a workout while adding relaxation. Like most of us, I am constantly trying to figure out what I changed in my life 8 years ago that caused this to happen. Well one of them was that I got in shape. I still enjoy going to the gym and lifting weights because it makes me look good but I would stop in a heartbeat if I thought it would bring my hair back. I have done extensive searching on this subject but found nothing about it so if anyone has anything to add on this I would be grateful. What exactly is "over exercise" anyway??

3) SUPPLEMENTS

The next part of my journey involved getting a ton of tests done on my system. I read various reports that alopecia could be caused by heavy metals, or parasites or other autoimmune diseases or vitamin deficiencies. My personal results showed no abnormal thyroid activity or diabetes, no parasites and no heavy metals but I am deficient in Vitamin B12, Vitamin D, Testosterone and DHEA. I was told that testosterone treatments are dangerous (and see that the makers of many testosterone enhancing treatments now seem to be being sued) so I have done nothing about that. I have been prescribed a DHEA pill and I take it occasionally as I'm not sure it's a credible thing to do. But I am taking Biotin, sublingual B12 and Vitamin D every day. I also try to go outside as much as I can so the Vit D can form in my body.

I also went to allergy doctors and had banks of sensitivity tests. I am apparently sensitive to wheat and a couple of other obscure things but not much else. I have cut out gluten (along with many other things supported by the diet-based theories) as a result.

4) STRESS

Since I was first diagnosed with this I kept hearing that "stress can be a trigger" but there is very little else to support this. I know that some people can point to a life event like a divorce or death (or birth!) that seemed to trigger it. For me, when my eyelashes first fell out, I can think of things that might have been stressful or traumatic, but they are over now and my hair is still falling out! I also know that a lot of children and sometimes babies are affected by alopecia and they can't be stressed, can they?

Quite often when I admit to friends that I have this condition (I am currently able to hide it (just) with makeup and hats), many people say that they had it because they were stressed and when the stressful situation or issue was removed their alopecia ended. I also hear that a lot of people spent so much time worrying about it and fighting it and when they just accepted it and decided not to give a ****, suddenly their hair all grew back. Maybe there's a message in here.

Just by having this condition it's very stressful though, as anyone here knows, so personally I am attempting to alleviate stress with yoga, meditation and acupuncture. On a side note, the acupuncture doctor I am seeing says he will beat this thing in 3 to 6 months but I have to go once a week to be stabbed with pins and drink some weird tea concoction every day at home.

5) CHEMICALS

I am hitting my alopecia on multiple fronts as follows:

I mentioned the steroids already. I currently have half an eyebrow on the right side so I went to the derm and got shot up in the eyebrow and scalp, hoping that at least it helps the brows again. I am also putting Latisse on the eyebrows as apparently that can help.

I have also been prescribed Athralin (under the name Dritho-Creme) which you are supposed to rub on your bald spots for a few minutes at night and then wipe off and wash. It's supposed to cause irritation that tricks your immune system into attacking that and leaves your hair alone. I have been using this for about four weeks now with no success although I am finding my scalp is not very irritated so I have been upping the length of time I leave it on for. Anyone successful with this? Would love to hear.

I also went to a clinic and got some minoxidil cream. It is prescription strength (strong) at 12.5%. That one has to be rubbed on at night and left. I've only been using this for a week or so, so nothing to report yet. 

I read a post about a boy in Korea was cured of AA with the use of topical Calcipotriol ointment (which is vitamin D). This reported that he was virtually cured within three months. I can find very little else and no method of treatment, so if anyone has any info on this I would be grateful. 

For me, these are all the conventional treatments I have tried so far and I will update if there is any progress. Happy to hear of any other methods that have been used successfully. I haven't used squaric acid but read some reports of success (but painful?).

I also read yesterday of a trial at Columbia University of an arthritis drug which they believe will be effective against alopecia. The trial is due to end in 2016 which seems like an age away but it could be a great thing. 

CAUSES

I touched on this before when talking about exercise. I went through all the things that might have changed and remained during the development of my alopecia. I made no great dietary changes that I can think of, except maybe I drank more coffee. I did get a bunch of vaccinations that year, for Hep B and some others I can't remember as I was traveling to Mexico. I have always been a fan of vaccines and I get a flu shot every year. I read somewhere that people with alopecia hardly ever get sick. I don't. I am wondering if we have supercharged immune systems with nothing to do so they are attacking us. There is a book out there about some guy who went to south America and deliberately infected himself with a parasite in an attempt to reset his immune system. I think his conclusion was not to try it!

CONCLUSION

Ongoing really. Like many people here, I have turned myself into a lab rat to try to find a key for this thing. I would love to hear any input on what works, what doesn't, what people eat, are deficient in, any info that helps, and any useful comments or additions to what I have written. I am very happy to share any useful information I get. This condition sucks, it is distressing for us and for our families having to watch us struggling with it. So if I find out anything useful...you'll be the first to know.