Alopecia areata

[Bronwen]

Hello,

I was diagnosed with Alopecia areata just 2 weeks ago, when I suddenly had a huge bald spot at the back of my head. I'm not talking about a coin size spot - it's just as big as my hand.

My main blood test was good, so no signs of deficiency. Nobody in my family ever had any form of Alopecia so I also don't think it's genetic. I still wait for my hormonic blood results, so I cannot tell if I maybe have some problems with my thyroid so far. Anyway, my doctor already told me that there is nothing she can do for me and that nothing will cure the Alopecia. She gave me cortisone in the first step and wants to try out a freeze-therapy afterwards. Her only aim is to make my hair grow again, but she told me this could happen again and again...

Nevertheless, I am not willing to give up hope.
Doctors claimed nothing can cure cancer and people beat cancer with a plantbased way of eating.
I know my Alopecia areata doesn't have the same significance like cancer, but I don't want to believe there is nothing I can do about it when others fought their fight and became healthy again.

So I am curious...
Has anyone a longterm testimonial to share on this autoimmune disease with a plantbased diet?

[Vegankit]

I don’t have alopecia areata but I do have extensive diffuse loss over my whole head and have had it since my twenties. Eating this way made the hair that I do have healthy and thicker, but it didn’t grow hair where the follicles were dead. I hope for your sake it does grow back.

If your hair doesn’t grow back don’t fear wigs and toppers. Plenty of resources and support. Synthetic wigs look like real hair and the color and styles will make you look like you just had your hair done at a high end salon. Most people who wear wigs say their biggest regret was waiting so long to wear them because they were afraid of them.

Do some independent research on the treatments your doctor is treating you with. The results are poor in general and may not be worth the pain and expense. Ask her directly what % of patients grow their hair back to the way it was using these treatments.

[Sharky]

I developed alopecia barbae (bald patches in my beard), almost certainly a symptom of an autoimmune reaction, a response to a viral infection plus stress. The bald patches resolved and disappeared over the course of a few months. Other symptoms, like twitching and tingling continued for a long time. The one remaining visible sign is twitching in my calves, which has gone on since I first noticed it when putting on my shoes after running barefoot around a soccer pitch in August 2004!

My diet (WFPB) had no discernible effect, I took no drugs (I did consult a neurologist). Eat well, exercise, relax, and avoid heroic measures—that’s my advice.

[Bronwen]

Thanks for sharing your experiences.

@Vegankit I wouldn't fear a wig or topper and already have an expert at hand, but I was still hoping. He told me that there is a time period where my hair could regrow naturally if I am not seriously ill, but he wouldn't wait that long.

@Sharky I guess I have also stress - that kind of stress you don't feel but your body shows. At the moment I really don't get enough sleep and my days are switching between work and more work. I have headaches regularly, muscle twitching in my face, my legs, sometimes in my chest... Hope to overcome this situation but losing my hair doesn't make it easier right now.

[viv]

Alopecia areata is a very distressing autoimmune condition exacerbated by stress. I had alopecia areata years ago and I was subsequently diagnosed with Hashimoto's (low thyroid) and they often go together. The alopecia I had would spontaneously begin growing hair again after a few months. I had this happen about two or three different times.

I have been on the McDougall Diet for nearly five years now and I have a full head of thick, shiny, health hair. The alopecia never came back and I don't believe it will. In fact I never even think about it any more until I am reminded of it.

Stick with the McDougall Diet, find ways to reduce stress in your life and know that you are doing the very best thing you possibly can to live a long, happy, health life.

Viv

[viv]

btw, the twitching and tingling you feel in your legs could be a B12 deficiency. B12 deficiency can cause permanent nerve damage so very important to make sure your levels are up. I also get tingling and cramping in my feet and legs when I forget to take my calcium tabs. So I take B12 and calcium daily.

[Bronwen]

I was just diagnosed with too low B12 levels, so I quit the diet for now until everything is fine again. Then I will switch slowly back, so there is no stress for my body.

[Vegankit]

I was just diagnosed with too low B12 levels, so I quit the diet for now until everything is fine again. Then I will switch slowly back, so there is no stress for my body.

I have permanent neurological damage from low B12. I have to take megadoses of B12 to keep my level up and I get blood work annually now to check. My B12 problems date from when I was eating tons of meat and following both the American Diabetic Association diet and the American Heart Association diet both of which were considered healthy choices. I also took a vitamin pill daily with 100% B12 as well injections of B12. I was doing everything “right” according to my doctors and society at the time and yet my B12 kept tanking and I was on B12 injections for years.

I got my B12 under control eat the Dr. McDougall diet and a B12 pill daily. I couldn’t repair all the damage but I haven’t had any more problems develope. I think you’re making a big mistake not following this diet and taking a therapeutic dose of b12 to meet your needs. There’s always stress but not eating this way adds more stress to your body at a time when you need healing.

[Bronwen]

I think you’re making a big mistake not following this diet and taking a therapeutic dose of b12 to meet your needs. There’s always stress but not eating this way adds more stress to your body at a time when you need healing.

Maybe, but maybe not.
To be honest with only a few months of the McDougall programme I was feeling great. My doctor was fair enough to say, that these few months couldn't have caused the low B12 alone. This would simply be impossible in that short time. She also didn't force me to eat meat again and didn't told me a vegan diet would be bad at all. My problem is that my body doesn't want to absorb the B12 it gets. So I have to try to bring it in all forms to my body.

A second doctor told me that going vegan from day to another was stress for my body. Now I should try to fix my levels and then slowly get back to this way of eating if I want to, so that my body can get used to it over time.

I am no doctor....I am no expert...but this sounds logical to me.
I was a big meat eater before with only a few vegetables in my diet. For me it's not unreasonable that switching my diet caused stress to my body. On the one hand I cannot say if I followed the McDougall programme right. I was feeling great but I don't know if I got everything my body needed because I usually ate the same almost daily. So no big healthy variety like some others here. On the other hand, I need to be honest to myself. Eating healthy won't solve all my body issues. I actually drink way to much coffee, I smoke, I usually don't get enough sleep, I don't exercise....

I hope you get what I am trying to say. If I would stop my vegan diet now and then die the following week, then it wouldn't be just because I was missing some veggies. There is simply so much more I need to change in my life to become healthy. And for my diet this is no Goodbye, it's just a little break.

[viv]

Maybe take a break from the cigarettes before taking a break from vegetables.

[Bronwen]

If it would be that easy, viv ...