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Hi All--

My original question was this: "Has anyone been officially diagnosed
with alopecia areata
(AA) or alopecia universalis - whether or not you've been dx'd with
celiac disease? I've noticed a lot of people post that they continue
to lose hair after going GF. Apparently, AA is an autoimmune disease,
but I haven't seen any indication that CD and AA are closely
connected."

I received almost 30 replies and several people were anxiously
awaiting information. This was a more complicated subject than I
anticipated, so please bear with me.

Alopecia areata is an autoimmune disease. Typically, if a person has
one autoimmune disease, they are likely to have more than one. Celiac
disease is also an autoimmune disease, so we could draw the assumption
that if you've been dx'd with CD, alopecia areata might be another
autoimmune disease you could suffer from. (This is being really
simplistic - it gets more complicated later.)

According to eMedicine.com at:
http://www.emedicine.com/derm/topic14.htm , "Much evidence supports
the hypothesis that AA is an autoimmune condition. The process appears
to be T-cell mediated, but antibodies directed to hair follicle
structures also have been found in AA patients with increased
frequency compared to control subjects." [This article is worth
reading as it gives much more information about the different possible
causes of AA]. Keep in mind that AA can affect any hair-bearing part
of the body - eyebrows, eyelashes, arms, legs, genitals, underarms,
head, etc.

In an abstract that a good listmate sent me (he sent 35+ abstracts!),
one described alopecia areata as the only symptom of one patient's
celiac disease. This patient lost hair when she accidently ingested
gluten, but new and persistent hair growth occurred when she resumed
the GF diet. [There were several abstracts that drew a direct
correlation between CD and hair loss or alopecia areata, but just as
many only suggesting a possible correlation. At least one abstract
reported a GF diet resolved gastrointestinal symptoms clinically,
serologically and histologically, but had no effect on the course of
alopecia. The conclusion was that when AA and CD are associated, they
present different responses to a GF diet and have an independent
course.]

As a number of you noted in your responses, there are various reasons
anyone might lose hair, which is what makes this issue complicated.
Alopecia areata occurs without gluten sensitivity, just as CD or
gluten sensitivity occurs without alopecia areata or hair loss. There
seems to be some type of correlation between AA / hair loss and
hypothyroidism or thyroiditis. Stress and viruses have also been shown
to cause hair loss.

When I posed my question, I indicated that I had an appointment with a
dermatologist [today] to try to sort out what was what with my hair
loss. My derm's opinion is that I have alopecia areata, probably
associated with my hypothyroidism, which is still not under good
control. That seems straightforward enough. Prior to going on a GF
diet seven years ago, sera and biopsies x 2, sent to Mayo Clinic for
evaluation, revealed that I was negative for CD. However, ingesting
gluten produces severe GI symptoms, pain and spiking liver enzymes
that require ER intervention. So, in my case, I do not officially have
CD if flattened villi and positive antibodies are the measurement;
possibly a subclinical form of CD presenting with mouth lesions,
hypothyroidism, osteoporosis, and now alopecia areata. The hair that I
have lost may or may not grow back as it's been gone at least 10 years
and I've been GF for seven of those years.

I'm not a physician, but from the information I've been reading,
people with CD may or may not suffer from alopecia areata. All hair
loss is not associated with CD. Alopecia areata has a fairly specific
pattern of hair loss that makes it somewhat easy for a dermatologist
to diagnose - and there are some treatments. I don't know if my
alopecia areata is connected to my gluten sensitivity or not - eating
GF hasn't induced hair growth for me. I can't give advice, but what I
did was right for me. I wanted to know if my hair loss was AA or
perhaps more closely related to my low thyroid levels - I can't get
any more GF than I already am, so gluten is not an issue.

Hope this information helps some of you...there are many opinions on
the subject and it does get confusing.  ~~Ayn in Alabama

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