Incredible Disappearing Chin Hair? Hormonal Changes?

[domesticactivist]

My (female) partner is not diagnosed with celiac or gluten intolerance (no tests done) but when we started going gluten-free she felt much better and her eczema started healing. It's been about two months and we just cleaned our kitchen out entirely so cc is decreasing, we believe.

This week her back has broken out really badly with acne, and the most curious thing is her chin hair seems to not be coming back. Over the past couple years she's had more and more chin hair that she plucks or shaves. It is coarse and normally comes back almost immediately. But it has been several days and she doesn't have any coming back! Have any of you experienced this or heard of this? We wonder if her hormones are rebalancing now that she's gluten free.

[rosetapper23]

From information I read about five years ago, women with celiac can have trouble absorbing female hormones if they eat gluten. That's one of the reasons we have trouble with infertility and miscarriages (which I had a strong history of). The article I read cautioned women with celiac who go gluten free to be vigilant about breast cancer because if a woman has a very small cancer that is estrogen- or progesterone-receptor positive (in other words, the cancer is fed by these hormones), the flood of hormones that can now be absorbed and utilized after following a gluten-free diet can cause the cancer to grow very quickly. Thankfully, I read that article--I had been gluten free for about two years by that time, and I became super-vigilant about breast lumps. One developed shortly thereafter, but it didn't show up on a mammogram. I insisted on an ultrasound, and it turned out to be a large, invasive tumor. It was both estrogen- and progesterone-receptor positive, so apparently the flood of hormones that resulted from my strict adherence to a gluten-free diet allowed the tumor to grow very quickly. Your partner's hormonal changes may indicate that her body can now absorb estrogen--she needs to be very careful and vigilant now.

From what I now know about cancer, I know that iron anemia and other nutritional deficiencies can cause low cellular oxygenation, and that causes cancer (which thrives in an anaerobic environment); however, as long as a woman with celiac continues to eat gluten and her villi are too damaged to absorb estrogen and progesterone, the cancer can't be fed and grows slowly. So, even though celiac probably caused my cancer, it protected me for a number of years. However, going gluten free resulted in out-of-control tumor growth. Of course, I'm extremely thankful that I now know I have celiac, since I was a very ill individual before going gluten free, and I would never consider eating gluten. Being knowledgeable about celiac disease can save lives. Your partner should do breast self-examinations on a regular basis.

[starrytrekchic]

Malnutrition can lead to increased body hair, but AFAIK, correcting the malnutrition won't make it go away. More likely, she's just going through a natural hormonal shift (not due to gluten free). Hair growth goes through cycles, and sometimes it simply comes in more quickly and thicker than other times.

[domesticactivist]

Wow, rosetapper23,

Thanks for sharing your story. I'm glad you were able to get a quick diagnosis and treatment! We're now researching polycystic ovarian syndrome as it has a hormonal component and responds to gluten. Some of the description seems to fit her pre-gluten-free, and one of the symptoms is hairiness!

[rosetapper23]

Yes, PCOS does also fit the symptoms--good luck!

[julandjo]

I have PCOS and it has absolutely responded to my going gluten free. I now have a normal cycle (they used to average 45-60 days long), my facial hair has decreased a lot, and I'm finally able to lose weight. No matter what I did before I couldn't lose weight - both a hallmark of PCOS and of being malnourished (and thus constantly hungry) from Celiac. That sounds like a definite possibility for her!

Also, REALLY good to know that about breast cancer. I had no idea.

[eatmeat4good]

I found all of these posts very informative.

To the OP: I cannot say for certain that it is gluten related, but I had three wiry little devil hairs on my chin and they are not there anymore!

[ravenwoodglass]

From information I read about five years ago, women with celiac can have trouble absorbing female hormones if they eat gluten. That's one of the reasons we have trouble with infertility and miscarriages (which I had a strong history of). The article I read cautioned women with celiac who go gluten free to be vigilant about breast cancer because if a woman has a very small cancer that is estrogen- or progesterone-receptor positive (in other words, the cancer is fed by these hormones), the flood of hormones that can now be absorbed and utilized after following a gluten-free diet can cause the cancer to grow very quickly. Thankfully, I read that article--I had been gluten free for about two years by that time, and I became super-vigilant about breast lumps. One developed shortly thereafter, but it didn't show up on a mammogram. I insisted on an ultrasound, and it turned out to be a large, invasive tumor. It was both estrogen- and progesterone-receptor positive, so apparently the flood of hormones that resulted from my strict adherence to a gluten-free diet allowed the tumor to grow very quickly. Your partner's hormonal changes may indicate that her body can now absorb estrogen--she needs to be very careful and vigilant now.

From what I now know about cancer, I know that iron anemia and other nutritional deficiencies can cause low cellular oxygenation, and that causes cancer (which thrives in an anaerobic environment); however, as long as a woman with celiac continues to eat gluten and her villi are too damaged to absorb estrogen and progesterone, the cancer can't be fed and grows slowly. So, even though celiac probably caused my cancer, it protected me for a number of years. However, going gluten free resulted in out-of-control tumor growth. Of course, I'm extremely thankful that I now know I have celiac, since I was a very ill individual before going gluten free, and I would never consider eating gluten. Being knowledgeable about celiac disease can save lives. Your partner should do breast self-examinations on a regular basis.

Do you by any chance have a link to that article or can you tell us where you might have read it? I know celiac can mess with our hormone levels and would be very interested in learning more about this and whether this applies to our own naturally produced hormones or whether it is more hormone therapy or BC pill related.

[rosetapper23]

The article came out in one of the quarterly newsletters of the Gluten Intolerance Group of North America (www.gluten.net), and it would have been published between April 2006 and October 2006.

[ravenwoodglass]

The article came out in one of the quarterly newsletters of the Gluten Intolerance Group of North America (www.gluten.net), and it would have been published between April 2006 and October 2006.

Thanks. I wonder if that risk goes down once we go through menapause. I'll check it out.

[anabananakins]

I was going to mention PCOS too. If you're focused more on fresh foods you might have lowered her carb intake and that helps manage the insulin resistance which triggers PCOS which has icky symptoms like hair growth.

I personally haven't found that going gluten free has done much directly for my pcos, but I do find it easier to eat less processed carbs since there are so few I can eat (I'm not a fan of most processed gluten free stuff) and this is helping me lose weight which should eventually help the pcos.