Avixis Solution

[Mexican Trailrunner]

I'm also battling hair loss, and have been since May. Never really did get the Celiac rash but my scalp gets red, burny, and itchy in addition to the hair loss. Now that I'm gluten-free (only 2 months) it did slow a bit but if I get accidentally glutened it's back with a vengeance. Am taking multi vits with biotin.

Went to the derm doc the other day, he wrote a prescription for Avixis Solution 0.025%, 100ml. For 3 months you draw up 1 ml in a syringe, remove the needle, and apply to the scalp and hair roots and massage in and leave overnight. He says it's effective and will work within 2 months. He says it repairs the follicles.

Has anyone ever tried this???? Anyone ever heard of it???? I am in Mexico but I believe it's a German product and has been around for some time.

Anyone???

TIA

[WheatChef]

It's actually not marketed/prescribed in the U.S. at all. It's simply Estradiol, which is a strong form of estrogen hormone therapy. Estrogens in general suppress androgenic (testosterone/DHT related) hair loss such as male pattern baldness. If your scalp is getting inflamed/itchy/burning especially in any sort of relation to anything you eat then this is not the type of hair loss you are experiencing. From the sound of it, the multivitamins/biotin won't really help all that much in your particular situation. The key part is to determine exactly what's causing the inflammation of your scalp and remove it. Unfortunately for many celiacs the compromised immune system + altered intestinal bacteria aspects of the disease make us highly susceptible to a fungal infection known as candida. This infection can easily go systemic (affecting all of the body) in people with our conditions and certain dietary triggers will influence the severity of the infection. One common place for the infection to spread to is the scalp which is part of the reason why all of those "anti-dandruff" and even hair-loss shampoos are all simply anti-fungals. As far as topicals go, one of the most effective scalp topical treatments is called ketaconazole (-azole means it's an anti-fungal) which is sold under the brand name Nizoral in the U.S. and most of Europe. In the U.S. it is available over the counter in it's 1% strength form with a more successful 2% strength version available by prescription only.

A simple way to see if this is at all something that is effective for your type of hair loss is to use any type of topical fungicide containing either the ketaconazole mentioned above or miconazole or fluconazole, all 3 of which have been shown to be good treatments of candida infections. After a few days/weeks you'll either get a reduction in the inflammation which means it's working or technically you could get a temporary increase in inflammation as a result of the shampoo/spray which also would mean that it's working as the symptoms of a yeast infection sometimes worsen while the yeast/fungus are killed off.

The Estradiol solution you are using now might be temporarily effective in reducing the amount of hair loss done, however if my suspicions are correct (dermatologists most often are absolutely terribly inaccurate at properly diagnosing hairloss) then the administration of estradiol will actually weaken your immune system allowing the infection to eventually spread further. Androgenic based hair loss does not cause inflammation, you've got a different type of hair loss.

[Mexican Trailrunner]

WheatChef, thank you so much for taking the time to respond. Everything you say makes sense and feels right to me.

I have not started, or even bought, the Avixis as I just didn't feel right about what I read. I am familiar with ketaconazole, it's readily available here, and I will try it asap. The frontal area of my scalp seems to be most affected.

Again, can't thank you enough. I'll post follow-up here, hopefully this will do the trick. Maybe others will be helped as well.

Marilyn

[Mexican Trailrunner]

WheatChef, two points. . .I don't have any sign of dandruff, and never have since this situation started 6 months ago, and most of my current candida research for the scalp lists dandruff as well.

And the other is a question, do you think I need to follow a candida diet in addition to the topical application of a zole? Seems if this is candida it is not systemic but localized to the scalp only.

TIA

[WheatChef]

Hrm, the lack of dandruff is somewhat confusing. Are you saying that there's absolutely not noticeable skin shedding from your hair? I'm sure there could be cases of fungal scalp infection without severe dandruff but that also could point to other options. Did your dermatologist conduct a scalp biopsy? There is actually an awkwardly high number of immune system cells on your scalp, there is a possibility that your scalp inflammation is tied to your immune system's response to gluten and excessive immune response on your scalp would result in hair loss. Such a reaction would not just disappear overnight after having removed gluten from your regular diet, often times it takes a number of months for your immune response to die down totally from such a trigger, dermatitis herpetiformis sufferers often times take up to 6 months for their skin reactions to resolve after starting a gluten-free diet.

Alternatively there also exists the possibility of a bacterial scalp infection which would cause all the inflammation you mentioned and like a fungal infection can occur with mild/no dandruff but I'm a lot less familiar with it's specific symptoms, additionally attempting to treat this with antibiotics first could end up making the condition much worse if it turns out that it was a fungal infection instead. I say attempt the topical treatment of -azole first, unlike the oral administration of -azole's, topical treatment is much safer on the body and generally doesn't require doctor supervision of liver function.

You wouldn't need to follow the diet if it is indeed just a topical problem, but it would help. Excess consumption of carbohydrates makes the body much more susceptible to malicious fungal infections and the "candida" diet attempts to deny the yeast their fuel, although some of the candida diets out there are a little um... overtly hollistic and have some not so well thought out additions to them. In general any ketogenic diet wherein over 65% of your calories are coming from fats with 25-30% coming from proteins will help stop fueling yeast infections anywhere on the body. A good simple place to look to see if the possible infection has spread to other parts of the body is to just check the back of your tongue in the mirror. Is there any white/yellow/green/orange stuff back there? If not then you're probably ok at just looking at topical treatments.

[Mexican Trailrunner]

WheatChef:

No, back of tongue and posterior oropharynx look normal.

No, not a speck of dandruff. Just hair falling out. The hairs are thin, and lack the bulb at the end.

Another curious thing is my skin (upper body only, especially arms and shoulders) gets a 'prickly heat' kind of feeling to it. Hard to describe, almost like a sunburn; kind of hot and cool at the same time. Trunk of body definitely has a slightly hotter than normal feel to it when touched. Thought it might be radiated heat from intestinal inflammation. Don't have a fever.

These above issues all seem to be tied to glutening. They come and go. If I get accidentally glutened, the scalp gets red, inflamed, only a little itchy, and there is an increase in hair loss. Then it subsides. It's possible it's not tied to gluten but some other ingestion because usually accidental glutenings are mysterious in nature as I am as careful as possible. Tho I'm still a novice at this.

Again, can't thank you enough for your wisdom and generosity!

Marilyn

PS: Derm doc barely glanced at my scalp, was not very familiar with Celiac and finally remembered the DH component. Very few Mexicans have Celiac.

[ravenwoodglass]

There is actually an awkwardly high number of immune system cells on your scalp, there is a possibility that your scalp inflammation is tied to your immune system's response to gluten and excessive immune response on your scalp would result in hair loss. Such a reaction would not just disappear overnight after having removed gluten from your regular diet, often times it takes a number of months for your immune response to die down totally from such a trigger, dermatitis herpetiformis sufferers often times take up to 6 months for their skin reactions to resolve after starting a gluten-free diet.

What is mentioned here is what happens with myself as far as my hairloss goes. In addition to gluten I am also both intolerant and allergic to soy. Even a tiny bit of either will cause my hair to start falling out. It takes me about 3 or 4 months to notice any regrowth after a good gluten or soy injestion. I also have to be very careful to make sure my shampoos and conditioners don't contain either ingredient. Because of the allergic reaction to soy products with soy protein in them will also cause a great deal of itching. I also have DH but the diet brought that under control in about 6 months and I haven't had a scalp outbreak of DH in years now. Luckily when glutened I now only get a couple of small blister usually on my face or hands.

[Mexican Trailrunner]

Thanks for your input, Ravenwoodglass. Looks like this hair loss thing is going to be a long road. It's inspiring to think all this might subside in the future with only minimal symptoms with accidental glutening.

I do have some regrowth but I'd say I'm losing more than I'm growing back.

I eat few carbs now, little soy (tho I will pay careful attention to that now that I've read your story), but I'm suspicious of the small amount of cheese/casein I do eat and will pay better attention.

M

[Mexican Trailrunner]

Well, my scalp issue must be tied to accidental glutening. Today the symptoms have tapered off to none. Takes about 4 days, 2 days of symptomatic burning, itching, inflammation, tapering off for 2 days until gone on the 5th day.

Thanks for all your thoughts and ideas.

Marilyn