Cause of Vitiligo

Snow

Snow

Jedi Master
I do not know if I am allowed to ask a personal question, but I figured that in asking, it might also help other people who "suffer" from it.

A little background. I have a mild form of vitiligo and it started in my puperty with small patches of white skin under my arms (armpits) and other "sensitive" areas. I always compared it to Venice, which with the progression of years slowly sinks into the water, sometimes more, sometimes less, but still sinks nonetheless. Same with my Vitiligo, some years it grows faster and sometimes slower and even recedes a little bit, but never stops claiming more of my pigmentation.

I am living gluten free and am very strict about it, but has no discernible effect on it. I am still missing something. I also read some theories about acidity of the gut which could have an effect on it, something in the line of the body getting rid of the acidity through the skin and damaging the cells or make the immuun system go haywire. There might also be a mental (stress) factor to it (?)

Anyway, to get a better bearing where to go / how to heal, I thought it might not hurt to ask the C's.

The question(s) would be:

- What is the cause of Vitiligo / my Vitiligo? Is there a mental / spiritual part to it, or has it purely to do with the physical body? Are some people more prone to it (DNA make-up?)
- Would supplementing with bromelain (pineapple extract) have a positive effect in countering Vitiligo?
 
Re: Cause if Vitiligo

Hello Snow,

I summarized a talk of the last Autoimmune Summit here:

http://cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php/topic,36585.msg535205.html#msg535205

It is certainly food for thought from the physical point of view. Detoxing, doing EE and cutting down carbs will always help.

"When the body says no" by Gabor Maté could also help in resolving this puzzle. From the spiritual detective side, perhaps some dream work could help too?
 
Re: Cause if Vitiligo

I considered it to be an autoimmune disorder caused by inflammation. You say you're gluten free. Have you tried going ketogenic i.e. low carb/high fat?
 
Basically the melanocytes self destruct - leaving patches of non-pigmented skin. The mechanism sure points to autoimmune disorder. The conclusion of the cause on the mayo clinic website, states they do not know what causes it, but speculate that it can be triggered by a sudden trauma/high stress, exposure to certain chemicals or genetic predisposition because it tends to run in families.

When they say they don't know the cause, perhaps they have not isolated the gene(s) that gets turned on (or off) that cause the cascade of de-pigmentation? I suppose it could be caused by a virus as well.

An acquaintance of mine has suffered vitiligo since his mid 20's. No one else in his family has ever had the disease. He was taking a medication manufactured here in the states, but the last time I tried to get it for him, they had deemed it not profitable enough and stopped producing it! He said it only slowed the progression, didn't cure it.

It would be interesting to know if there is a cure for this and how to achieve it.
 
I know very little about biochemistry and stuff, but there is apparently a relatively new research into something called pseudocatalase. Anyone looked into it?

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2013-05/foas-gha050313.php
Gray hair and vitiligo reversed at the root

New research in The FASEB Journal suggests that loss of skin or hair color can be corrected by a new compound -- a pseudocatalase -- that reverses oxidative stress

Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology

Bethesda, MD -- Hair dye manufacturers are on notice: The cure for gray hair is coming. That's right, the need to cover up one of the classic signs of aging with chemical pigments will be a thing of the past thanks to a team of European researchers. In a new research report published online in The FASEB Journal (http://www.fasebj.org) people who are going gray develop massive oxidative stress via accumulation of hydrogen peroxide in the hair follicle, which causes our hair to bleach itself from the inside out, and most importantly, the report shows that this massive accumulation of hydrogen peroxide can be remedied with a proprietary treatment developed by the researchers described as a topical, UVB-activated compound called PC-KUS (a modified pseudocatalase). What's more, the study also shows that the same treatment works for the skin condition, vitiligo.

"To date, it is beyond any doubt that the sudden loss of the inherited skin and localized hair color can affect those individuals in many fundamental ways," said Karin U. Schallreuter, M.D., study author from the Institute for Pigmentary Disorders in association with E.M. Arndt University of Greifswald, Germany and the Centre for Skin Sciences, School of Life Sciences at the University of Bradford, United Kingdom. "The improvement of quality of life after total and even partial successful repigmentation has been documented."

To achieve this breakthrough, Schallreuter and colleagues analyzed an international group of 2,411 patients with vitiligo. Of that group, 57 or 2.4 percent were diagnosed with strictly segmental vitiligo (SSV), and 76 or 3.2 percent were diagnosed with mixed vitiligo, which is SSV plus non-segmental vitiligo (NSV). They found that for the first time, patients who have SSV within a certain nerval distribution involving skin and eyelashes show the same oxidative stress as observed in the much more frequent general NSV, which is associated with decreased antioxidant capacities including catalase, thioredoxin reductase, and the repair mechanisms methionine sulfoxide reductases. These findings are based on basic science and clinical observations, which led to successful patient outcomes regarding repigmentation of skin and eyelashes.

"For generations, numerous remedies have been concocted to hide gray hair," said Gerald Weissmann, M.D., Editor-in-Chief of The FASEB Journal, "but now, for the first time, an actual treatment that gets to the root of the problem has been developed. While this is exciting news, what's even more exciting is that this also works for vitiligo. This condition, while technically cosmetic, can have serious socio-emotional effects of people. Developing an effective treatment for this condition has the potential to radically improve many people's lives."
Click to expand...
 
Thanks for posting that article, POB. I did a quick search on PC-KUS (pseudocatalase) and found a crème is available for purchase on Amazon. They also sell tablets. Perhaps a cure for gray hair! :thup:

I also read this article , which uses PC-KUS in combination with Dead Sea Climatotherapy as a treatment for vertiligo.

I am going to order the crème for my friend, and as he is only an hour from the Dead Sea, I'll let him give the combination a try and see what kind of results he gets.

I did know that gray hair was caused by oxidative stress and an accumulation of hydrogen peroxide, but I never made the connection to vitiligo! Perhaps the mechanism is not so much autoimmune as it is toxic overload.
 
I would really like that this question can make it some day in a C's Session. I suffer from Vitiligo since three years ago aproximately, it has manifested rather irregularly from one year to another; the first year just some spots in the back of the hands appeared, small but many; the second was the worst, it extended to the neck and around the eyes and cheeks.
Since this second year i started with differente homeapatic treatments that seem to work at least to stop a major propagation. This third year, the condition seems to be stabilized (it has no reversed significantly, except for some spots in the hands that actually vanished, but has no continue the propagating either).

By now I'm using a method that recommends various supplements as Vitamins: C, D, E, B12; Folic acid along with Gingko Biloba and some antioxidants wich seems to work I think, along with the diet (though this method recommends some grains) and some homemade recipes for topic use like Ginger roots mixed with red clay to apply directly in the spots and the use of coconout oil and other natural remedies like spinach and celery juices.

Lilou said:
Thanks for posting that article, POB. I did a quick search on PC-KUS (pseudocatalase) and found a crème is available for purchase on Amazon. They also sell tablets. Perhaps a cure for gray hair! :thup:

I also read this article , which uses PC-KUS in combination with Dead Sea Climatotherapy as a treatment for vertiligo.

I am going to order the crème for my friend, and as he is only an hour from the Dead Sea, I'll let him give the combination a try and see what kind of results he gets.

I did know that gray hair was caused by oxidative stress and an accumulation of hydrogen peroxide, but I never made the connection to vitiligo! Perhaps the mechanism is not so much autoimmune as it is toxic overload.
Click to expand...

That´s interesting, I´m reading now the articles with excitement. I think I would search the creme to definitely give it a try. Thanks for sharing! :) :
 
I looked up pseudocatalase, and got this:

_http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7599386

They are using the pseudocatalase in conjunction with calcium and UVB treatment, and are reporting a 90% success rate!

Might be worth a look.
 
Year ago I had vitiligo. I'm not an expert about this but I can say how did I lived before and how I'm living now:

Before
diet: vegan (gluten, vegetable, sunflower oil) and also lot of Coca-cola;
stress: all day long;
place for living: in the building of 12 floors and lot of antenna;
friends: none;
love: zero;
touch: zero (I found this very important because I connect skin with insecurity and not loving yourself - maybe I'm mistaking);
without a family, feeling alone;
self oriented;
vampire with my self and also others;
I wanted to die, to suffer and didn't have a clue about meaning of my life.

Now:
diet: couple days ago I have started with paleo diet, but before I eat a lot of meat, olive oil, fish, sunflower seeds, still gluten in rise and paste but not in so many amount
stress: I can compare stress from this days from the ones that I have black outs when I was running my own vegan catering. Driving, cooking, purchase and every day deal with a vegan vampires;
living in the building but we are alone here and antennae is far away;
friends: two, really supporting and generous. We deal a lot of our problems together. Smile a lot!
touch: i feel loved, respected, filled and special;
much more OPD then before;
still learning not to be vampire to self;
so much new information
now I'm know where I'm going, what I have to do to came there (eventually) and with whom.

Off course now I have other problems, physically and mentally but that is another topic.
 
Short update:

Funny, that Facebook should remind me that exactly a year ago I posted a photo of my left hand with vitiligo patches. I compared that photo and my current state, I can now see that the vitiligo patches have grown smaller! Something I did or am doing is making a difference :D

So, what am I doing differently compared to a year ago?
-Switched to the keto diet (instead of Paleo)
-Supplementing with pro-biotics, vitamin D, magnesium, a hair/nail/skin formula, vitamin C and ALA
-Becoming more active (fitness)
-Stress factor: got a steady job and got through my divorce (and feel more at peace)

But I am not there yet, since I find vitiligo notorious for coming back when you least expect it.

To get a better "reading" of my body, I asked for a blood screening on: vitamin B12, folic acid and copper, since people with vitiligo (can) have a deficiency in these. Also have myself checked for thyroid issues, since people with vitiligo can have other immune deficiencies and the thyroid is the most common one in combination with vitiligo.

After the results are back, I can further tinker with my supplementation by adding B12, L-Glutamine and N-Acetyl-Cysteine (NAC). The last 2 should help with my intestinal lining.

I still wonder what the true cause of vitiligo is: (oxidative) stress, genes, allergic reaction (autoimmune), gut health or somethin else, since nobody can give a definite answer and everybody's constitution is different...
 
Happy to read your vitiligo is improving, Snow! :)

Snow said:
I still wonder what the true cause of vitiligo is: (oxidative) stress, genes, allergic reaction (autoimmune), gut health or somethin else, since nobody can give a definite answer and everybody's constitution is different...
Click to expand...

If you haven't read it already, maybe this thread might be interesting regarding vitiligo, too: Autoimmune diseases caused by an infection?
 
Thanks Mrs. Tigersoap! I quickly read the first posts and it is a *very* interesting lead, so I make sure to investigate it.

When I was young, my gut flora was basically destroyed by endless amounts of penicillin to cure inner ear infections, couple this with vaccinations (heavy metals and such) and you have created the perfect environment for a compromised immune system, candida, fungi and parasites. It may be the root cause for my vitiligo to start during the end of my puberty :-[

So many pieces to this puzzle and so fascinating to read and discover... :cool:
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom