Alopecia?

[3groovygirls]

Hi everyone!

My youngest daughter has Celiac. She is HLA-DQ2 positive. They also think my middle daughter has it but she hasn't be tested yet (that's Monday). Recently I noticed a bald spot on my oldest daughter. (I have 3!) I took her to the dermatologist and she has Alopecia Acreta. I googled it and it said this too can be a sign of Celiac. Does anyone else have this? She has NO other signs! At all. My younger two are both super skinny, super small, off the charts tiny. My oldest has always been normal, but yet, now she has Alopecia. I'm going to ask our GI doctor on Monday, but was curious what you all thought or had heard.

LInda

[swalker]

We went looking for a cause when my twenty-five year old daughter found a quarter sized bald spot.

What we ended up finding out was that the hair loss was a result of the low thyroid she has from having an undiagnosed wheat intolerance.

[ek327]

alopecia can be autoimmune--as we all know, if you have one autoimmune, you may have another. (ie. celiac, type 1 Diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, etc). I have a small area noted in the past couple of months of alopecia. I also know someone recently diagnosed with celiac disease who has had alopecia since childhood. can definately be related. Interestingly, some studies have shown that even in severe cases of alopecia, hair sometimes regrows after going gluten-free if celiac also positive.

[pwalasik]

Hi

Just met someone today who's son was diagnosed with Celiac and his only symptom was alopecia. You could have a genetic HLA typing blood test (usually covered by insurance companies if there is a 1st degree relative with celiac- please check). If she doesn't carry the gen then no problem but if she does then I would follow annually with blood tests and a possible gluten free challenge.

Good Luck

[Crimson]

Oh do I feel for you guys!

I'm not fully diagnosed, but I did have Alopecia. Starting at age 17 I started losing hair in quarter size circles...starting at the crown a bit toward the back. Then all over! At that time I lost half of my hair. I would continue to loose hair here and there for years due to "stress". I would always have spots of hair growing in and falling out. Not surprisingly it got much worse the year after high school when I worked at Little Caesar's Pizza. hah *this kind of makes me laugh and kind of makes me angry now. That same year this started, I was in the hospital because my gallbladder was swelling up and I had some kind of kidney issue. Again things that disappeared when I quit eating wheat*

This disappeared after I quit eating wheat three years ago.

Looking back a wheat allergy is obvious.

So, yes, I think this is highly possible. I'm no expert but, the research that I've done says that Alopecia is auto immune and that one auto immune is usually followed by another. *not sure if that's the right way to say it.* But they go hand in hand.

[AloMom21]

My son was diagnosed with Allopecia when he was 8. He is now 13. He's the size of a 5-8 year old. I want to get him tested for celiacs, but his doctor isn't buying it. Celiacs runs in my family with Allopecia also. It is very sad to see him lose most of his hair on the crown of his head and many other bald spots as well. I do believe they could be related, and don't be afraid to keep on the doctors.by the way my son uses a hair mousse called Luxic-works great.hang in there. If anyone knows more about Allopecia & celiacs please let me know.