Hair Loss?

[Sheltie Girl]

My daughter is 17 years old and was diaganosed with gluten sensitivity after dealing with 2 years of heartburn, throwing up after eating, diarrea up to 7 times a day, bloating, anxiety, what was thought to be OCD (loss of eyebrows, eyelashes, which we never seen her pull out, so we thought she was doing in her sleep). The list goes on and on. Our family doctor is the one who ran the initial blood test, showed positive. Went gluten free (entire house). Started feeling better, throwing up stopped. Still had loose stools, anxiety got better. Our doctor wanted her to go to GI doc. Got into one 2 1/2 months later. They did a blood test and scheduled her for bioposy within a week and half. Told her to eat gluten once a day until then. She instantly was throwing up right after a gluten meal. Within the first night she lost all her color, all her energy, etc. Anytime she ate gluten, she threw up within 15 min. The biopsy came back negative, along with their blood test. So they basically dismissed her. We have since had her gall bladder removed and she has been gluten free since August, 2010.

She has since grown back her eyebrows and eyelashes! But, she has noticed that after she does eat something with gluten, within a day or two, the skin under her eyelashes, eyebrows, pubic area gets bubbly and then wads of hair fall out. Her hair is thinning. Which is something she has really noticed. Is this from the gluten or is this from a lack of nutrients? or both?

Thank you for any input.

Patty

[mushroom]

Hello, and welcome to the forum.

I am so sorry your daughter has been having all these problems. And the GI docs are not helping things either. If I had my way, every GI would be sent to the blackboard to write 1,000 times:

Patients who have been gluten free will most likely test negative on celiac blood tests and biopsy.

A week and a half on gluten once a day is not sufficient to ensure a meaningful result on either test. Fortunately (and unfortunately) healing starts to take place as soon as gluten is withdrawn. For someone who has been gluten free for 2-1/2 months, she would need to eat the equivalent of four slices of bread every day for 2-3 months to render a meaningful test result. That is how long it would take for the antibodies to build up in the blood stream and for damage to occur in the small intestine which could be seen on biopsy. This makes me so angry, that they would put your daughter through this for what was virtually guaranteed to be a negative result.

I would trust the original blood work done by your family doctor and return her to strict gluten free immediately., no cheating! Gluten intolerance definitely can cause thinning hair - I thought I was going to end up with male pattern baldness (and I am female ). Your daughter's reaction to gluten has proved to any sensible person that she is gluten intolerant and she should strictly avoid it. And I like your idea of taking the whole house gluten free -- it makes things so much easier. Definitely have her family doctor check her nutrient levels - D, B12, folate, A, E and K, potassium, magnesium, calcium and zinc as she could be deficient in any of these.

Good luck to you all and I hope she continues to improve (and I am sure her hair will grow back if she totally avoids gluten) .

[Takala]

The hair will grow back. But she needs to stick to the gluten free diet, faithfully. (maybe ditch the soy, also.)

I hate to sound like a cosmetics ad, but she can have all sorts of nice thick hair again, but No Gluten. Haircoats that are thick, soft, and shiny in pets and animals is one of the first ways we assess their health - same with humans.

Since teenagers are prone to food cravings anyway, don't hesitate to stock up on safe gluten free treats she can eat, if temptation strikes, at least let there be enough gluten free food around to do some serious snacking.

Also, a gluten free B complex, multivitamin, calcium magnesium and Vit D is a good idea. Plus, avocados and coconut oil and olive oil, all good fats, help with skin and hair.

[SGWhiskers]

Since she sees a direct connection with gluten consumption, I would tend to simply blame the gluten and keep avoiding it. Other possibilities are vitamin deficiencies, hypothyroid, and alopecia areata (Open Original Shared Link).