GAPS diet and alopecia and wellness by Molly Vazquez

Hi everyone,

My daughter has been diagnosed with AA aged 2 years. As you all appreciate it is very confronting and I have been through sooo many emotions. She's had it for 6 months now and continues to develop new patches ( she now has about 5 patches on her head- 4 of which I can cover). I feel I'm Now ready to begin talking about it on this website and I have to say... My hat goes off to all of you. You are all such inspirational souls and if my daughters AA continues or gets worse, I feel so comforted she will have this forum and I hope she develops the positive, self loving attitudes you possess.

She has had digestive issues since birth and continues to do so. We're now seeing a naturopath and we have her off dairy, gluten and she's taking fish oil, probiotics, zinc and colloidal silver. Im hoping once we get her gut flora healthy her AA will improve. After that long intro (sorry) I was wondering if anyone had tried the GAPS diet and did it do anything for them?

Also has anyone read Molly Vazquez's book, alopecia and wellness. What did you think of it? Is it worth a read?

Thanks again to all of you out there making us feel like we're not alone. I am so grateful to have found this forum and feel I have learnt so much already.

Many thanks

Jordana

Views: 5066

Comment by Mayo on September 16, 2013 at 1:06am
No worries. Thanks Jason. Here's to hoping you have h-pylori or a parasite!!
Comment by Mayo on September 19, 2013 at 6:19am
Hi jason,

how did it go? Did you get your results back today? Thinking of you :)
Comment by Jason on September 19, 2013 at 7:17pm

Hey! Thanks for thinking of me. So turns out I have blastocystis hominis (parasite)... it's pretty hard to get rid of. I had elevated testosterone as well. I'm going to run a adrenal stress test next. I think that it is significant that I have the parasite. The more research I do about it reveals that it feeds off of carbs. Doc gave me some herbs and homeopathic remedies to irradiate the bug. I do not have any symptoms (gastrointestinal) besides my hair loss. I'll keep you posted! Please let me know about your daughter too.

Comment by Mayo on September 19, 2013 at 11:46pm
Wow that is great (funny to say that but so good they found something!!) have you looked at the GAPS diet? I know you say you don't have any obvious GI symptoms but it must be doing something bad in there?? I REALLY hope this is the answer you have been looking for and you can remediate the problem and hence get your hair back. Please, please keep me posted. I feel like you are a life line, positive energy and hope for us. I am so interested in your progress :)
Comment by Jason on September 20, 2013 at 10:16am

aw of course, I really hope this is it too. The more and more I research it, I realize how difficult it is to get out. Antibiotics don't really work and herbs have had a difficult time getting rid of this bug. I also think about young kids like your daughter and a lot of people say that they may have lost their hair because of stress. Stress could be an issue but there is no way that is the reason for these little kids losing all of their hair. It has to be something like a parasite or fungus inside their body. It's the only thing that makes logical sense to me. I'm on a mission to figure out how I can get rid of this bug. I'll keep you posted on the other test as well and when I get re-tested for the parasite too. Please keep me posted on your daughters results, would love to hear them. Thanks for your kind words, there is definitely a way out of all of this. We just need to find out what it is for both of our situations :) Hang in there

Comment by Lisav on November 5, 2013 at 5:24pm
Hi Jason and Mayo

My 10 year old daughter was diagnosed with Alopecia a year ago. She had hair down to her bottom and lost it all in 6 weeks. To say I was in a state of panic is an understatement. She lost her eyebrows and eyelashes in January this year. I have always been interested in nutrition and I wanted to try to treat this horrible condition using diet. I read Molly Vazquez's book in February but was disappointed as we have always had a relatively healthy diet and she explains her remission through major life-changing. However I was willing to go the extra steps, cutting out gluten, sugar and dairy. My daughter has never had any health issues part from some sore throats and migraines before Alopecia. So when I took her to see a holistic doctor in London in March (we live in Luxembourg but I come from the UK) I was shocked to find out that she had leaky gut syndrome and high metal toxicity. We put her on a diet similar to GAPS only she was allowed dairy and she took supplements. She was retested in May and we had repaired the leaky gut and reduced her toxic levels. We continued with the diet and supplement regime however we were allowed to re-introduce gluten but no wheat or spelt. In August we went back and she was tested using functional bio chemistry. She was found to have a parasite. The testing is rather alternative, so when I read that Jason, you also have a parasite, it helped me to trust this diagnosis. We treated the parasite with black walnut and I was told that if we got rid of the parasite her hair would grow back. She has had patchy regrowth on her head and her eyebrows and eyelashes since September. She is also taking Chinese herbs, has had some sessions of micro physiotherapy and I took her away to the sun for 5 weeks so of course it is difficult to pin it down to the parasite but I believe it is that. Last week we went back and had her tested again. The parasite is gone but now they have found she is reacting to potatoes and is lacking in folic acid so we are now dealing with this. We have all come through this and have learnt to live with the condition. My daughter is psychologically very good at the moment. But I noticed recently that I have relaxed my research for a cure as we have moved into an acceptance phase. Because my daughter is happy I am less compelled to search and life goes on. It is as if acceptance is admitting defeat and I wondered if this is why a cure is never found. I am not prepared to accept defeat yet and I am sure we can piece together a way to beat this thing. Please keep me posted on your progress Jason and on your daughter mayo. Good luck!
Comment by Mayo on November 15, 2013 at 9:38pm
Wow lisav. Sounds like you have been doing a wonderfully amazing job. Even if clearing up her system doesn't improve her hair growth(which I can't imagine it wouldn't) at least you know she is in tip top condition internally. I feel like this is such a long journey for us. How did they test to see leaky gut was gone? I wonder if my daughter's has improved? I'm just sending off a hair sample to test for heavy metal toxicity. My daughter also tested positive to the mthfr gene which I think has a host of problems. It has to do with your body converting folate into a useable form... Folinic acid. I wonder if her frolic acid levels have anything to do with this gene??? Good luck and ill keep you posted. 6 weeks on gaps and no real hair growth yet (maybe some really fine white hairs but they're so fine) and no new patches so I'm still hopeful xx
Comment by Molly Vazquez on April 14, 2014 at 11:14am

Hey everyone,

I respect your opinions as I remember how skeptic I was during that time in my life of emotion pain and physical distress. BUT when I was 12 with Alopecia and my mom allowed me to become homeschooled I devoted my life and teenage years to figure this disease out so that when I got my hair back (and I did) than I could share it with everyone who feels exactly like I felt.  Heres my latest video: How I became Alopecia free and Why treatments don't work.     Watch: How I became Alopecia Free

Molly,

Author of Alopecia & Wellness: How I got my hair back and Optimistic health enthusiast

Comment by Mayo on April 15, 2014 at 1:03am
Hi everyone,

Just thought I'd give you an update on my daughters alopecia. We have been following the full GAPS diet for 7 months now. 3 of her 5 patches have grown in and the 4th is slowly beginning. As many others have said you don't really know if its just the diet or if her body was ready to heal but I think it's more than just a coincidence that she got no more patches and hair has regrown since we changed her diet. Well done Molly. I'm glad you found what was right for you and your body. It seems everyone's journey is very individual. I hope everyone the best on their quest to growing their hair back. My daughter has been battling Salmonella poisoning the last couple of weeks..... I'm so worries her hair may fal out again from the stress her body's going through (she's been very unwell) but fingers crossed it looks like its still growing :)

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