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elimination diet stopped my hair from falling out
Hello all,
I hope that this information will be helpful. I had aa once 14 years ago. I had a couple of small patches on the back of my head, I got the cortisone shots and it went away within a year. 2 months ago I noticed a patch on the side of my head. I went to get the shots but they weren't stopping the hair from falling out. Everyone kept telling me to relax and that stress probably caused this. But I didn't feel stressed out and that just didn't ring true to me. My hair falling out is what was stressing me out. I searched all over the internet for a cure or anything that would help. The more I looked for a cure the more depressed I became because every site said there is nothing to do but to accept it, that aa has a mind of it's own. Every day the hair would continue to fall out. The patch on my head is 3" by 2" some may say that isn't that big but I have a small head! And it wasn't stopping. I started looking at other options and found a naturopath in NYC. He was confident he could help me. He said auto immune disorders are commonly linked to food allergies. He put me on a strict elimination diet and after 7 days on the diet, my hair stopped falling out completely. But not only did it stop falling out, my scalp felt normal again. Since it had started my scalp was always itchy, burning and irriated, I couldn't forget about the aa even if I wanted to. I didn't have any other symptoms (felt great) so I had no idea that it could be a food allergy. I started the diet 2 weeks ago, so I haven't reintroduced any foods yet so I dont know what was causing the problem. If anyone would like to try this diet, here is what I did.
Foods to avoid:
1. glutinous grains: wheat, rye, barley, and oats including flours
2. all dairy
3. eggs
4. corn
5. soy (tofu, tempeh, etc)
6. peanuts (make sure to look on packages of other types of nuts that they weren't packaged on the same belt as peanuts) I found that most nuts are packaged with peanuts, so avoid these as well.
7. citrus fruits (oranges, grapefruits, lemons, limes)
8. yeast
9. refined sugars
10. highly processed food, chemicals, additives, preservatives, artificial coloring, flavorings
11. caffeine (coffee, tea, chocolate and soft drinks) even decaf coffee has some caffeine in it so this should be avoided as well. herbal tea is ok
*You may have white rice, brown rice, quinoa, rice pasta, meat (no cold cuts, hot dogs, nothing processed), chicken, fish, among all of the other vegetables and fruits. To give my food flavor I cook with a lot of salt and pepper and garlic.
It is important to read the labels of any foods you eat during the elimination period. These ingredients are included in many food that you wouldn't necessarily think of. For example, many drinks and snacks are sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup, which comes from corn. Likewise, anything containing the following words probably contains wheat flour: stabilizer, starch, malt, flavoring, emulsifier, or hydrolyzed plant protein.
After the elimination diet, you introduce one food at a time. You consume a lot of the that food to test it's reaction. Once you have identified which foods you react to, avoid eating those for six months. After 6 months, you may retest the foods by introducing them.
(cures, treatment, helpful info, optimisim. alopecia, hair)
I hope that this information will be helpful. I had aa once 14 years ago. I had a couple of small patches on the back of my head, I got the cortisone shots and it went away within a year. 2 months ago I noticed a patch on the side of my head. I went to get the shots but they weren't stopping the hair from falling out. Everyone kept telling me to relax and that stress probably caused this. But I didn't feel stressed out and that just didn't ring true to me. My hair falling out is what was stressing me out. I searched all over the internet for a cure or anything that would help. The more I looked for a cure the more depressed I became because every site said there is nothing to do but to accept it, that aa has a mind of it's own. Every day the hair would continue to fall out. The patch on my head is 3" by 2" some may say that isn't that big but I have a small head! And it wasn't stopping. I started looking at other options and found a naturopath in NYC. He was confident he could help me. He said auto immune disorders are commonly linked to food allergies. He put me on a strict elimination diet and after 7 days on the diet, my hair stopped falling out completely. But not only did it stop falling out, my scalp felt normal again. Since it had started my scalp was always itchy, burning and irriated, I couldn't forget about the aa even if I wanted to. I didn't have any other symptoms (felt great) so I had no idea that it could be a food allergy. I started the diet 2 weeks ago, so I haven't reintroduced any foods yet so I dont know what was causing the problem. If anyone would like to try this diet, here is what I did.
Foods to avoid:
1. glutinous grains: wheat, rye, barley, and oats including flours
2. all dairy
3. eggs
4. corn
5. soy (tofu, tempeh, etc)
6. peanuts (make sure to look on packages of other types of nuts that they weren't packaged on the same belt as peanuts) I found that most nuts are packaged with peanuts, so avoid these as well.
7. citrus fruits (oranges, grapefruits, lemons, limes)
8. yeast
9. refined sugars
10. highly processed food, chemicals, additives, preservatives, artificial coloring, flavorings
11. caffeine (coffee, tea, chocolate and soft drinks) even decaf coffee has some caffeine in it so this should be avoided as well. herbal tea is ok
*You may have white rice, brown rice, quinoa, rice pasta, meat (no cold cuts, hot dogs, nothing processed), chicken, fish, among all of the other vegetables and fruits. To give my food flavor I cook with a lot of salt and pepper and garlic.
It is important to read the labels of any foods you eat during the elimination period. These ingredients are included in many food that you wouldn't necessarily think of. For example, many drinks and snacks are sweetened with high-fructose corn syrup, which comes from corn. Likewise, anything containing the following words probably contains wheat flour: stabilizer, starch, malt, flavoring, emulsifier, or hydrolyzed plant protein.
After the elimination diet, you introduce one food at a time. You consume a lot of the that food to test it's reaction. Once you have identified which foods you react to, avoid eating those for six months. After 6 months, you may retest the foods by introducing them.
(cures, treatment, helpful info, optimisim. alopecia, hair)
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Comment by Jeff W on July 29, 2009 at 12:07am
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Tara,
I think alopecia can possibly be triggered by allergies or adverse reactions to any chemicals or medicines we put into our bodies, and the right diet may well help. Since the onset of my alopecia I did start trying to eat a more healthy well balanced diet and I think it has helped at the very least make my skin and hair a bit healthier in general although I'm far from cured. Of course, I've probably consumed at least a little of all 11 of your avoidance foods within the last 72 hours :).
Anyway - Welcome to Alopecia World and thanks for sharing!
Jeff
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Comment by Dana on July 29, 2009 at 12:10am
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I, too saw a nutritionist during my last episode with Alopecia and had regrowth with dietary changes, supplements and essential oils (whether it was coincidence or not I don't know) but it hasn't worked for me this time. Alopecia has a mind of it's own. I'm so glad that this has worked for you and certainly wouldn't discourage anyone from trying. :)
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Comment by Lee on July 29, 2009 at 1:52am
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I think Ide rather be bald, and drink my coffee ; )
On a serious note though, please refrain from calling it a "cure". There is no cure for alopecia yet. Also, Alopecia Areata is different from AU. My hair fell out and came back in patches 4 times before it ALL came out. It grew back everytime...untill I went AU. The chances of an AA persons hair coming back is a lot greater than that of an AU person.
Thank you for posting the info though. I just don't want people to get false hope. In my experience, false hope in a "cure" has dissapointed me much more than the alopecia itself.
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Comment by tara on July 29, 2009 at 10:31am
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Hi Lee,
Agreed about calling it a cure, I've changed my blog post title. You are completely right.
A nutritionist is different than a naturopath.
Here is some information on naturopathy.
http://www.naturopathic.org/content.asp?pl=16&sl=59&contentid=59
I realize this is not the answer for everyone but I'm sure this will help some people. Food allergies can cause all sorts of problems with our health and they are often not recognized by conventional medicine as an issue. And just to be clear this diet is not just a healthy diet, it's a specific diet to find food allergies. The foods that I eliminated were common foods that we eat that normally cause food allergies. It's extreme but it's a temporary diet to test whether that is what is causing the problem. For me something I was eating was causing this. It may have been all the diet snapple I was drinking which has aspartame in it, which is a toxin, and is known to cause hair loss. Now I will get to the bottom of this. I will keep you all posted and let you know what I figure out. And yes this diet has been a challenge but having my hair fall out was a lot worse for me. Plus I lost 8 pounds! Another nice benefit. I know that there is not one answer but this will help some. And in a disorder that really has no answers I feel the need to post this even if it just helps one person. And it only takes 7-10 days to know. My hair stopped falling out on the 8th day. So if you do it for 10 days and no result then it's probably not food allergies.
Here is a story they did about the link between auto-immune disorders and food allergies on Fox News with
Dr. Osborne
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFH1tX-a6jI
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Hey Aimee,
I totally understand, but the diet is temporary. It's a test to see if it's a food allergy. Rather than eliminating one food group at a time, you eliminate all the possible ones at once to determine if that is the problem. It's much quicker that way. Also, it could be more than one food that you are allergic too, so eliminating just one may not do the trick. Food allergies aren't necessarily forever, once you stop having it for 6months to a year you can try it again, and you may not be allergic to it anymore. I'm going to take the ELISA food allergy test to see if anything shows up on there, blood tests aren't totally accurate though. They can provide false negatives if you have a delayed food allergy but the positives (the things it says you are allergic to) are accurate. Believe me Aimee, I am missing hot dogs! And a lot of other things :) but I would miss my hair more. It's a personal choice for sure....
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Demm,
I'm aware of the different types of AA. I never said this will specifically help AU or AT. I simply put this out there in case someone who is dealing with what I was wanted to give it a try. I have nothing to gain from putting this online, except for getting some negative feedback apparently. It wasn't 2 weeks, it was exactly 7 days after I started the diet, exactly when the Naturopath said I should notice a difference. Ok, I'm exhausted trying to explain myself. I thought this would be uplifting to some that there are options but apparently not. My work is done. I'm excusing myself now.
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Comment by Kayreyn on July 29, 2009 at 5:53pm
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Tara,
I thank you and everyone else for posting what works for them. As you stated, this may not work for everyone, but it's working for you, and for that I am happy. Don't get discouraged in sharing your information, as it may help or uplift someone. That's how we learn. And if someone responds negatively, take it with a grain of salt, because you are definitely doing the right thing in sharing!
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Comment by JeffreySF on July 29, 2009 at 6:37pm
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If you were a vegetarian you might starve to death on this diet.
I'll take alopecia anyday.
Jeffrey
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I'de also like to point out ( and I think most of you agree) Doctors REALLY need to be trained on how to deal with this condition. I had a Dr. tell me " I will make your hair grow back." Hm...I wonder if I could sue him since he did absolutly nothing for me? They really give us false hope, and it's not right! Also, it would have been nice to know about AU when I was AA. I would have been better prepared.
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Tara... I wasn't trying to be negative, just realistic. I remember when I first developed AU, I tried so many things to treat it. $40 Gogi juice, Biotin, Steroids, creams, THREE MONTHS of PUVA, countless vitamins, ..and absolutly nothing has worked. To be perfectly honest, I wish I hadn't done anything because I wasted a lot of time and money on treatments that did nothing. If my Dr. calls me and says...he finally have a definite cure for AU, then I will try again. Otherwise, I'de rather spend my $ on wigs and eyelashes.
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