Coeliac and alopecia

[weee]

I have coeliac and my son has developed alopecia. He mentioned my diagnosis to his doctor who dismissed him telling him to grow his hair over his bald patch.. Surely the GP should be testing him for coeliacs?

[HiveMind]

Hi,

Is losing hair a sign of CD? This would explain a lot to me!

[Penel]

Coeliac disease is still an under diagnosed disease, many doctors don't seem to have a clue. If your son wants to be tested he may have to be very insistent, and arm himself with as much information as he can. Good luck.

This is one scientific article, I don't know there has been a lot of research done on the connection.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/126...

[lizzycoop]

Hi Weee, yes its connected.I was diagnosed CD at 50. At 9 I had alopecia, My doctors use this as a guide of how long I've had this condition. And all first degree relatives are advised to test for CD so your son has two reasons for insisting on the tests.

[tmoxon]

Hi Weee it is recommended that first degree relatives are tested as a matter of course anyway, I would ask your GP to test your son. The specialist I saw said the most common symptom of CD is no symptoms at all so it possible that your son doesn't have any of the symptoms but still has CD. Good luck with it

[weee]

Thanks guys, I suspected as much. I suspect the GP hasn't read the guidelines and is trying to save money.. Not impressed...

[DrTomOB]

In a recent questionnaire sent to 1,560 randomly selected members of the Swedish Society for Coeliacs, divided into equal-sized age- and sex strata, 2.3% reported alopecia. After implementing a GFD, 1.1% reported no change. All others reported no further symptoms of hair loss.

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/229...

[DrTomOB in reply to DrTomOB]

And it appears the 'type' of alopecia also is associated with CD. Blood obtained through the National Alopecia Areata Registry of the United States from 16 AAT (transient), 24 AAP (patchy persistent), 27 AT (total scalp hair loss) and 32 AU (complete body hair loss) AA patients, were screened for CD using the traditional blood tests anti-tissue transglutaminase and anti-deamidated gliadin peptide IgA and IgG antibodies (anti-tTG/DGP).

Titers >20 IU were considered positive and titers >30 IU strongly positive and suggestive of CD. RESULTS. Of 99 samples (females=64, males=35), a total of 9 (9%) patients (all female) were positive for anti-tTG/DGP antibodies and 4% (2 AT, 1 AU and 1 AAP) were strongly positive.

By type of presentation, anti-tTG/DGP titers were elevated in 15% AT, 9% AU and 8% AAP patients but in none of AAT patients.

CONCLUSIONS. Our results suggest that AA patients have a higher prevalence of CD-associated antibodies (9%) than the general population (3%). CD seropositivity seems related to the more severe forms of AA since the transient form does not appear to have an elevated risk for CD

Poster Presentation at the 14th ICDS Conference

[DrTomOB in reply to DrTomOB]

Hopefully this slightly more technical information will help your Dr understand your rationale

Good Luck

[weee in reply to DrTomOB]

wow, thank you for this. I have copied and pasted them for my son to read.. Hopefully he will go and get tested..

[Mia1057]

This makes a lot of sense of my hair loss which I must say I was blaming my thyroid on. Thanks for the explanation.

[Jacks]

Your gastroenterologist will be able to give you the correct blood test forms for your son, so give the department a ring unless you are due for a follow-up soon (when you can ask for them). Your son can then just take the forms to a walk-in outpatient phlebotomy (bloods) department and have the test done. Much simpler than via GP. My first degree relatives have been tested this way.

[weee in reply to Jacks]

Thank you, I think my annual appointment is due within the next couple of months, I must go check..