Last Updated on 2nd November 2024 by Caroline Haye
Is digestion a factor?
I have often read that stress can trigger vitiligo and used to find this concept rather mystifying. Of course, it stands to reason that stress is likely to weaken the immune system and therefore increase the likelihood of developing a variety of illnesses. But why should it lead to vitiligo in particular? Of course, the link between vitiligo and stress might vary from one person to the next. But in this post I want to touch on the subject of digestion as a factor because this has been an important part of my own vitiligo story.
Somewhere in the back of my mind was the idea that a sudden shock or trauma can turn a victim’s hair pure white overnight. (This could, in theory, happen at the follicular level, but of course it wouldn’t become visible until the roots had grown through!) But, as far as I know, this urban myth makes no mention of white patches on the skin. In any case, a sudden shock isn’t quite the same thing as stress, which tends to be a protracted state of nervous tension caused by some relentless daily pressure. Although some people are generally luckier in life than others, all of us suffer periods of intense stress at some time or another. So why do some develop vitiligo when most do not?
Stress has a major impact on the digestive system
I’m guessing that one possible answer to this question is that some people have a predisposition to digestive problems; and these weaknesses in the digestive system are highly sensitive to stress. Stress, especially prolonged periods of it, acts like a trigger to poor digestion. This causes malabsorption which, in turn, leads to a toxic colon and nutritional depletion. A weakened immune system then results in a variety of symptoms and syndromes. IBS, chronic fatigue, allergies and auto immune conditions, to name a few… and vitiligo.
If there is even a chance that this theory is correct, it obviously makes sense to remove as much stress from your life as possible. But, sadly, stress is rarely optional. We don’t have total control over the ups and downs of life. And we can’t always control how our body reacts to these. Sometimes, in fact, the more I suppressed my outward response to stress, the more my innards seem to react. So, putting a brave face on things could actually make matters worse!
Self-help can improve stress, digestion and skin
The good news is that you can protect and strengthen your digestive system so that it copes better with stress and also replace lost nutrients to enable the body to recover from the ravages of malabsorption.
My personal experience supports this conclusion completely. I suffered from “tummy troubles” ever since I was a baby and started developing vitiligo from a very early age. This continued to spread throughout my life (and with it, so did the IBS symptoms, arthritis, chronic fatigue and allergies.) By the time I was 50, roughly 80% of my body had lost its pigment. I was also in a generally poor state of health. Interestingly, up until that point, my life had been no more stressful than the average person’s. But I was always aware that my digestion was the first thing to suffer in stressful situations. I used to feel it knotting up whenever I was under any pressure.
It wasn’t until I came across a particular nutritional treatment that I regained virtually all of my lost pigment. This process was dramatic but took a period of 1 – 2 years to complete. Fortunately, my unexpected re-pigmentation (and corresponding better general health) has proved permanent. And it even continued throughout some of most stressful years of my life! Which just goes to show that the key to curing my vitiligo was not, in fact, the avoidance of stress. In reality, I believe it was the therapeutic power of nutrition to protect, heal and replenish my digestive and immune systems.
