Comment by Jason on September 14, 2013 at 4:23pm

Molly's book is good for recognizing the impact that food has on the body. She is a raw vegan and believes in the power of raw food. Luckily, it helped fix her underlying cause but that is not the case with everyone. If you want a summary of her book it is this -- 1. Enjoy life-- put alopecia out of your mind, 2. take care of your body (exercise and diet) 3. diet -- avoid gluten, sugar, dairy and stick with organic fruits, vegetables, and grains. 4. she saw a chiropractor that she believes helped reverse her alopecia. Personally, I would save your $ on the book. I would certainly focus on diet but I would also try to work with a functional medicine doctor who can specialize in functional lab tests to find the underlying cause of your daughters AA. It's expensive but can be very worth it. There is a reason is occurred, just need to work with someone to find the underlying cause because even though diet it helps, its not always 100% efficient at eliminating disease. Good luck.

Comment by Mayo on September 14, 2013 at 5:51pm

Thanks Jason. That's great help. My daughter is already so afraid of dr's (from so many visits as a baby for her intolerances and digestive issues) so I'm nervous to keep taking her to different doctors. I 100% agree with you that there must be an underlying cause even though I know genetics play are part for her (recently found out AA is on in my husbands distant family and same with my family.... Who knew before?!) by functional medical dr do you mean a gp who has also a degree in alternative/ holistic medicine? Also did you find your underlying cause? Thanks again so much for responding. I really appreciate it. Xx

Comment by Jason on September 15, 2013 at 12:10am

No problem. I have not found my underlying cause yet. I know a lot of people that have grown back their hair through diet. I have rotated diets (autoimmune pale diet, raw/vegan,) and avoided gluten, dairy, soy, and none has had a dramatic effect on my AA. I know there is some other imbalance that diet has been unable to fix. I would not recommend a GP because they treat the alopecia like a skin/hair problem. The problem is within, not on the outside. The imbalance occurs on the inside. Every disease starts with inflammation so eating a very anti-inflammatory diet can only help. I recommend using a naturopathic doctor or search for functional medicine doctors in your area. They don't treat the symptoms of hair loss, they find the reason WHY it's happening. I just started seeing a naturopathic doctor last month and have been doing some functional lab tests to get to the root of the issue. I recently competed a stool analysis test (80% of our immune system is in our gut) and a hormone balance test. I get those results later this week so we will see what happens. There is a way to fix this for myself, your daughter, and everyone else who has it. Can't accept it for what it is because it's not who I am or who your daughter is. Once we find the underlying cause, the hair will come back. The body is made to heal itself. So I am working with a doctor and using these tests to find a solution and an underlying cause rather than simply treating my hair loss with steroid shots that do NOT work as a long term solution... best of luck to you. I hope this helps.

Comment by Jason on September 15, 2013 at 12:19am

I have also tried a million supplements as well. Let me recommend a plan to maybe simplify things for you.

1. Improve your daughters diet as much as possible. I know it will be tough since she is young. Vegetables, maybe mashed. Try to stick to organic if possible. Research the "dirty dozen" and always get those organic.

2. Supplements - multivitamin, probiotic, fish oil are the main 3 ... stick with those as a great base.

3. see how that goes for a while and try to reduce stress if possible. After a while if you see no improvement, I would then go the route of finding a naturopathic doctor to do some functional medicine tests.

4. Some people have seen "squaric acid" and onion juice produce results because it acts as an irritant and allows your immune system to relax. I have not used these before but it may be something for you to look into further down the road. Remember -- anti-inflammatory is important. Stress/processed food is all inflammatory. Stick with alkaline diet and basic supplements to ensure she is meeting all her nutritional needs. After a few months, you will know if it has been helping or not. We just need to keep working hard to find what went wrong in our body... it's not impossible at all. We can do it! :)

Comment by Mayo on September 15, 2013 at 7:50am

Thanks Jason. Yes we are seeing a naturopath and I'm just in the middle (day 2 of 3) in collecting her stools for a stool analysis test. I have given her fish oil from about 4 months of age andI've always been very strict with her diet (very limited sugar, processed foods, only organic etc) so taking out gluten isn't a big deal for us. I've been making paleo desserts (coconut slice etc) if we have a function and there will be temptation for my daughter (don't want her to feel too left out). She is really good at eating her veggies ( through sheer persistence and me pulling my hair out but I think it's paid off!) and I only buy organic meat. Yes, I know of the dirty dozen so we make sure those fruit/ veg are only organic otherwise we go with out. I really hope you find the answers your after. Please keep me informed with how you're going. And thanks again for all your insight. Do you have a feeling that you know what's causing your AA? How long have you had it for and how much hair is missing f you don't mind my asking? Ps. Totally agree with treating the cause and not the symptom.

Comment by Jason on September 15, 2013 at 9:22am

I had AA and then it spread to AT so I lost all the hair on my head. I think it occurred from vaccines but at the time of occurrence, I was very stressed, had a poor diet, little to no sleep as well. Did your daughter ever have vaccines? I have tried A LOT to guess about what the underlying cause is and it hasn't worked out yet. There are plenty of stories of people growing all their hair back once figuring out what the underlying cause is. I'm very happy you're seeing a naturopath, it sounds like your doing a world of good for your daughter. My AA started in Dec. 2012 after 1st semester in college. It hasn't improved since then besides white hairs coming through in certain parts of my head. I find out the results of the (2) tests on Thursday. What do you think caused your daughters AA? It's a very frustrating disease especially because hair takes so long to grow. Has diet made any improvements in her condition thus far? I am hopeful that these functional tests will reveal to us something that we can address. For the fist time in my life, I am hoping that something is wrong on the test (parasite, h-pylori, hormone imbalance, etc.) so I can fix what is wrong with my body. I have 0 symptoms and otherwise feel great, that is what is so frustrating. I've lost almost 40 lbs since my AA start from implementing very strict healthy regimen. That is enough for some people, hasn't been enough for me but I am confident answers will come. Can't accept it since it's not who I am or what I am supposed to look like so I am being as pro-active as possible. Congats to you for taking all the right steps to help your daughter, it's very commendable. You're definitely on the right track. Keep me posted as well, I'll be interested to hear her results. I find out mine on Thurs.

Comment by michelle on September 15, 2013 at 5:39pm

Alopecia Areta in its many forms is an autoimmune disease. The frustrating part is there is NO known cause. Currently there is NO cure. Depending on the severity (i'e., Alopecia Universalis) there are some treatments that help. A good paediatrician will rule out any other conditions related to hair loss. If it is AA a trusting doc to recommend treatments...or not. some docs do not like to treat toddlers. One other thought....your daughter will take her cues from you. Toddlers feel stress from parents. If you are worried then she will mirror your worry. Good luck:)

Comment by Mayo on September 15, 2013 at 8:45pm

Good luck with your results. I would love to hear them when you find out. My fingers are crossed for you. Well done with getting so healthy. That must be having some positive effect which I'm sure is helping your AT in some way....maybe just not aesthetically yet but I have every confidence that you will soon get positive results. We all know there is no 'quick fix' and for some people they are lucky and hair just grows back and the body sorts itself out. For others it's a bit more complicated but I don't think you should give up until you really feel ready to. I'm not sure what caused my daughters AA. I have recent,y found out it is in our family and I suffer with ankylosing spondylitis (autoimmune inherited from my mum) so I'm sure genetics play a part for her. It started when we took a trip to NYC to visit my sis and her family (I'm from Australia) so maybe stress if the travel was a trigger? I don't really know. I'm just focused now to get her digestive system sorted. If her hair doesn't grow back once her gut flora is working optimally I may try different options (topical ones like hair up? I don't want to go down steroid route... That'll just mess up her gut flora which I'm working so hard to improve). Best of luck Jason. I truly hope you get some answers you're looking for. Keep me posted on thurs. I'll keep you posted with my daughter too. So far (it's been 2 weeks being religious with GF, + probiotics etc) I've noticed no improvement itch her hair but I have a different child. She is much more happy, less sensitive, has a greater appetite, less tantrums etc so for us GF has made a huge difference to her behaviour. Noses no longer complaining of tummy aches etc so I think so far there is definitely an improvement with her GI system. Xx

Comment by Mayo on September 15, 2013 at 8:47pm

Hi Michelle,

Thanks for your comment. Yes I agree I'm sure my daughter would feel my stress. I am always very positive around her but I'm sure she senses my pain. Currently having a plan of action makes me feel better about it so lets hope this reflects positively on her

Cheers

Comment by Jason on September 15, 2013 at 9:04pm

That's great to hear! Sounds like her symptoms are going away. I feel like the trigger may be different for people. I know of a person that grew back all of their hair after simply taking a vitamin mixture. Clearly, they were deficient in certain vitamins which triggered their severe AA. "Hair up" and topical steroids don't work and you just end up wasting $ on products that are treating the symptom and not the cause. The stool test and hormone test are a good starting place for me and I have a few others that I may run with my doctor if there is nothing wrong in these tests. First time in my life I want something to appear wrong on a test. Keep me posted on her results and i'll reach out again after I hear mine thursday. Email me if I forget- jparker1178@yahoo.com. Talk soon!

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