Jump to content
  • Welcome to Celiac.com!

    You have found your celiac tribe! Join us and ask questions in our forum, share your story, and connect with others.


  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A1):
    Celiac.com Sponsor (A1-M):
  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Our Content
    eNewsletter
    Donate

Hairloss & Gluten


Glutenmeggie

Recommended Posts

Glutenmeggie Newbie

Hello,

I am Megan . I am 42  years old. I have Celiac . I have been diagnoised now for 2 1/2 years. I have tried very hard to keep everything under control. I have IBS & GERD as well. If I eat any gluten I vomit. In the past  month I do recall being " gluetened" at a resturant. Since then my hair has been falling out all over. My scalp at times is itchy and burning. My scalp is not red unless I am itching it. I have had blood work done and everything is normal. I am always under a lot of stress as a single mom.  I have been to two Dermatologists who have been rude and heartless. This is such and emotional thing to go through . I feel alone in this entire thing. Anyone out there ?


Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):



Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):



NoWhammies Newbie

Hi Megan:

 

I have not had hair loss associated with the celiac and gluten, but I have had it associated with the Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Have you had your thyroid checked? As you probably know, there is an association between gluten/celiac and thyroid disease.

 

When I was losing a lot of hair, I used Nioxin shampoo, which really seemed to help. I know it is frustrating. Hang in there.

Glutenmeggie Newbie

Hi NoWhammies,

I am using that shampoo right now. I have not looked into that Disease but I will now ;) Thank you !

Hi Megan:
 
I have not had hair loss associated with the celiac and gluten, but I have had it associated with the Hashimoto's thyroiditis. Have you had your thyroid checked? As you probably know, there is an association between gluten/celiac and thyroid disease.
 
When I was losing a lot of hair, I used Nioxin shampoo, which really seemed to help. I know it is frustrating. Hang in there.

MJ-S Contributor

I lose much more hair than normal when I have a gluten reaction. It gets better after a week or so.

Glutenmeggie Newbie

I lose much more hair than normal when I have a gluten reaction. It gets better after a week or so.

h i MJ_S

 

I accidentally had gluten a week before all this hair started fallling out. I also was bloated constipated head aches and moody. Do y ou  get any other symptoms ?

LauraTX Rising Star

h i MJ_S

 

I accidentally had gluten a week before all this hair started fallling out. I also was bloated constipated head aches and moody. Do y ou  get any other symptoms ?

As suggested by nowhammies, a doctors visit to check on your thyroid may be in order.  These are also symptoms of an under-active thyroid, so it would be a good idea to go get that checked out to make sure there isn't more than one thing going on that can be fixed.  Hopefully it is just from the gluten reaction, but best to be safe and check out with the doctor, too.

cristiana Veteran

Joanna Rowsell is a really inspirational young British Olympian who has suffered hair loss from a young age and it is really good to read how she has dealt with it.  I have always had fine hair but it  got really thin around the time of my diagnosis which I think may have been to do with being anemic.  I do feel for you as I know exactly how heartless and thoughtless people's comments can be.  It used to really hurt but I find that being open with people really helps and people have been very kind and supportive when it got to me.  BTW has iron been one of the checks you have had?

 

I have read a lot around the subject and there can be a link with celiac although I am not sure the experts know why.  But we need to keep off the gluten.   I think my hair is looking a bit better now, but I think I have to accept I will never have brilliantly thick hair!   Definitely have that thyroid check, though.

 

Hugs xx   


Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):
Celiac.com Sponsor (A8):



Celiac.com Sponsor (A8-M):



  • 4 months later...
sdaniel95 Newbie

I went bald by the time I was 30.  I wasn't diagnosed for another 20 years.  I thought it was genetics, but looking back, Gluten may have accelerated my problem. 

FYI:  Being bald is a big deal when your 30, but lots of guys my age now (68) are bald...  No big deal now.  :)

greenbeanie Enthusiast

My hair fell out in the shower every day during my gluten challenge a couple years ago - enough to cover my hands when I shampooed and to clog up the drain, even though my hair is short. It was quite alarming. I am a woman in my 30's and was suddenly afraid of going bald! And I always had a rashy and blistering scalp too. If I remeber correctly, I think it stopped falling out after about six weeks gluten free...thank goodness! It took a good year for the rash to go away completely and stay gone. Of course, I was eating gluten every day for a month during the challenge, so it's not surprising that my hair kept falling out for so long afterward. Now, on the few occasions when I'm pretty sure I had minor cc, the blistering itchy scalp came right back, but only lasted a couple weeks. I don't have a clear celiac diagnosis and never saw a dermatologist (way too long of a wait for an appointment, and I wasn't willing to stay on gluten until I could get in), but I strongly suspect that the rash was dh. I had it lots of other places too, but the scalp was extra miserable (and very embarrassing when I had to go to the hairdresser).

I sympathize and hope your head gets better quickly! Hang in there!

w8in4dave Community Regular

I am also suffering from Hair loss and toe nail falling off, my finger nail started getting weird ridges in them , Dr. send me to a dermatoligest, he looked at my toenails said it looked like Lichen Planus, looked at my hair said it looked like female pattern baldness, EEeeeennnnnnnnnnntttttttt!! Wrong answer I was also complaining of no energy. Finally I went to the Dr. Just for the no energy thing and he did some vitamin levels, I was low on Folic Acid, hmmm that causes hair loss , nail problems and low energy. Go figure! Hope I get my hair back! 

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Get Celiac.com Updates:
    Support Celiac.com:
    Join eNewsletter
    Donate

  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A17):
    Celiac.com Sponsor (A17):





    Celiac.com Sponsors (A17-M):




  • Recent Activity

    1. - trents replied to SilkieFairy's topic in Celiac Disease Pre-Diagnosis, Testing & Symptoms
      4

      IBS-D vs Celiac

    2. - SilkieFairy replied to SilkieFairy's topic in Celiac Disease Pre-Diagnosis, Testing & Symptoms
      4

      IBS-D vs Celiac

    3. - knitty kitty replied to Jane02's topic in Gluten-Free Foods, Products, Shopping & Medications
      9

      Desperately need a vitamin D supplement. I've reacted to most brands I've tried.

    4. - Jane02 replied to Jane02's topic in Gluten-Free Foods, Products, Shopping & Medications
      9

      Desperately need a vitamin D supplement. I've reacted to most brands I've tried.

  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A19):
  • Member Statistics

    • Total Members
      133,338
    • Most Online (within 30 mins)
      7,748

    Erica Johnson
    Newest Member
    Erica Johnson
    Joined
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A20):
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A22):
  • Forum Statistics

    • Total Topics
      121.6k
    • Total Posts
      1m
  • Celiac.com Sponsor (A21):
  • Upcoming Events

  • Posts

    • trents
      No coincidence. Recent revisions to gluten challenge guidelines call for the daily consumption of at least 10g of gluten (about the amount in 4-6 slices of wheat bread) for a minimum of 3 weeks. If possible, I would extend that two weeks to ensure valid testing.
    • SilkieFairy
      Thank you both for the replies. I decided to bring back gluten so I can do the blood test. Today is Day #2 of the Challenge. Yesterday I had about 3 slices of whole wheat bread and I woke up with urgent diarrhea this morning. It was orange, sandy and had the distinctive smell that I did not have when I was briefly gluten free. I don't know if it's a coincidence, but the brain fog is back and I feel very tired.   
    • knitty kitty
      @Jane02, I hear you about the kale and collard greens.  I don't do dairy and must eat green leafies, too, to get sufficient calcium.  I must be very careful because some calcium supplements are made from ground up crustacean shells.  When I was deficient in Vitamin D, I took high doses of Vitamin D to correct the deficiency quickly.  This is safe and nontoxic.  Vitamin D level should be above 70 nmol/L.  Lifeguards and indigenous Pacific Islanders typically have levels between 80-100 nmol/L.   Levels lower than this are based on amount needed to prevent disease like rickets and osteomalacia. We need more thiamine when we're physically ill, emotionally and mentally stressed, and if we exercise like an athlete or laborer.  We need more thiamine if we eat a diet high in simple carbohydrates.  For every 500 kcal of carbohydrates, we need 500-1000 mg more of thiamine to process the carbs into energy.  If there's insufficient thiamine the carbs get stored as fat.  Again, recommended levels set for thiamine are based on minimum amounts needed to prevent disease.  This is often not adequate for optimum health, nor sufficient for people with absorption problems such as Celiac disease.  Gluten free processed foods are not enriched with vitamins like their gluten containing counterparts.  Adding a B Complex and additional thiamine improves health for Celiacs.  Thiamine is safe and nontoxic even in high doses.  Thiamine helps the mitochondria in cells to function.  Thiamine interacts with each of the other B vitamins.  They are all water soluble and easily excreted if not needed. Interesting Reading: Clinical trial: B vitamins improve health in patients with coeliac disease living on a gluten-free diet https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19154566/ Safety and effectiveness of vitamin D mega-dose: A systematic review https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34857184/ High dose dietary vitamin D allocates surplus calories to muscle and growth instead of fat via modulation of myostatin and leptin signaling https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38766160/ Safety of High-Dose Vitamin D Supplementation: Secondary Analysis of a Randomized Controlled Trial https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31746327/ Vitamins and Celiac Disease: Beyond Vitamin D https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11857425/ Investigating the therapeutic potential of tryptophan and vitamin A in modulating immune responses in celiac disease: an experimental study https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/40178602/ Investigating the Impact of Vitamin A and Amino Acids on Immune Responses in Celiac Disease Patients https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10814138/
    • Jane02
      Thank you so much @knitty kitty for this insightful information! I would have never considered fractionated coconut oil to be a potential source of GI upset. I will consider all the info you shared. Very interesting about the Thiamine deficiency.  I've tracked daily averages of my intake in a nutrition software. The only nutrient I can't consistently meet from my diet is vitamin D. Calcium is a hit and miss as I rely on vegetables, dark leafy greens as a major source, for my calcium intake. I'm able to meet it when I either eat or juice a bundle of kale or collard greens daily haha. My thiamine intake is roughly 120% of my needs, although I do recognize that I may not be absorbing all of these nutrients consistently with intermittent unintentional exposures to gluten.  My vitamin A intake is roughly 900% (~6400 mcg/d) of my needs as I eat a lot of sweet potato, although since it's plant-derived vitamin A (beta-carotene) apparently it's not likely to cause toxicity.  Thanks again! 
    • knitty kitty
      Hello, @Jane02,  I take Naturewise D 3.  It contains olive oil.   Some Vitamin D supplements, like D Drops, are made with fractionated coconut oil which can cause digestive upsets.  Fractionated coconut oil is not the same as coconut oil used for cooking.  Fractionated coconut oil has been treated for longer shelf life, so it won't go bad in the jar, and thus may be irritating to the digestive system. I avoid supplements made with soy because many people with Celiac Disease also react to soy.  Mixed tocopherols, an ingredient in Thornes Vitamin D, may be sourced from soy oil.  Kirkland's has soy on its ingredient list. I avoid things that might contain or be exposed to crustaceans, like Metagenics says on its label.  I have a crustacean/shellfish/fish allergy.  I like Life Extension Bioactive Complete B Complex.  I take additional Thiamine B 1 in the form Benfotiamine which helps the intestines heal, Life Extension MegaBenfotiamine. Thiamine is needed to activate Vitamin D.   Low thiamine can make one feel like they are getting glutened after a meal containing lots of simple carbohydrates like white rice, or processed gluten free foods like cookies and pasta.   It's rare to have a single vitamin deficiency.  The water soluble B Complex vitamins should be supplemented together with additional Thiamine in the form Benfotiamine and Thiamine TTFD (tetrahydrofurfuryl disulfide) to correct subclinical deficiencies that don't show up on blood tests.  These are subclinical deficiencies within organs and tissues.  Blood is a transportation system.  The body will deplete tissues and organs in order to keep a supply of thiamine in the bloodstream going to the brain and heart.   If you're low in Vitamin D, you may well be low in other fat soluble vitamins like Vitamin A and Vitamin K. Have you seen a dietician?
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

NOTICE: This site places This site places cookies on your device (Cookie settings). on your device. Continued use is acceptance of our Terms of Use, and Privacy Policy.