pratikdbl

Thanks both.

@96tehtarp,

I am not in contact with my sister (actually my friend's sister) as I haven't returned to my home country since a long time. I am only inquiring for a doctor to whom I can show her history and get some advice from that doctor. And thank you for that link. I will try finding information from there.

@olddoc,

My sister is in Nepal. And yes, actually I am looking for a doctor in Bangkok for getting a second advice. We are also consulting with other doctors in Nepal.

Dear all,

Its an emergency.

My sister back in my country is diagnosed with swine flu recently. She is in critical condition. Doctors says the injection against the disease is not effecting her of any kind. She was diagnosed with pneumonia some weeks back. Now this new news is a sudden and alarming.

I want to show the report of my sister to doctor in Bangkok. I have asked my parents to send me copy of all the reports till now. Please suggest me the best doctor here in Bangkok with whom I can consult with.

Thanks and waiting for you prompt reply.

I will be bringing my partner too with me.

I am in!!

Thanks Sheryl.

I cannot go directly to Hashimoto's disease as her diagnosis is still in initial phase. We are treating her thyroid with the specialist. Let's see what happens in her next test.

Right now, we are happy as her pigmentation is seen in most of the places, though its still long way to go. So, we are assuming that whatever medication, meal and exercise she is in, should be in right direction.

Hoping for the best...

Btw, sorry for late response as I was busy with my deadline at office.

My wife got her blood report. Her B12 is normal but she has high iron deficiency. So, she has recently started medication for that too. However, she has stopped having medicine for thyroid from her doctor's suggestion. Her thyroid is fluctuating between hyper and hypo.

The good news is she is getting few signs of pigmentation in her unpigmented areas. A small brown dot has appeared in white areas and it is increasing its size slowly. I use to take pictures of those areas and seems their size is becoming smaller...

An update.

We visited Dr. Natta at Ramathibodi. We found her very good and supportive. Thanks Sheryl for telling us to meet her.

She also diagnosed vitiligo and suggested us to use protopic for 2 weeks followed by 2 weeks treatment by steroid. She has added vitamin C and vitamin E capsules. She has also prescribed psolaren (i guess) to be used before going for sun therapy. This treatment will be done for 8 weeks. If no sign of good result then she will start phototherary in hospital itself.

Ok Sheryl..thanks

Thanks for the info dingdang..

Hello dingdang..thanks for your opinion. As said earlier..we will start by checking vit B12 and copper test first. Lets see what's the result.

Dear Lost in LOS..we don't think it is tinea versicolor. Initially our doctor diagnosed this disease but later three doctor has already told it is vitiligo.

I don't think there is any need to check them all unless she shows clinical signs of deficiency. the B12 should be checked because low B12 is often associated with vitiligo. Some studies (not of scientfic standard so evidence not solid) have also suggested an association to low levels of folic acid, copper and Vit C (although the latter is very unlikely unless she eats no fruit). I am not aware of any association for the other vitamins/minerals mentioned.

If it were me I would just test the B12 and copper, and then take a good high potency mutivitamin/mineral supplement that includes the full RDA of all B vits, C, zinc and folic acid. . Which she should do anyhow if she is on a vegan diet.

There are also some reports that gingko balboa is helpful. No solid studies on it but unlikely to do any harm.

Ok Sheryl..we will start with B12 and Copper test..

And about Gingko..yes I also read about it. My wife used to drink (normal) tea every day. And now she has stopped (for vitiligo). We found Gingko tea as its replacement at Tesco.

By the way, can she start multivitamins without consulting doctor??

Thanks

Oh..ok Sheryl. Then better we check them one by one.

I just checked with St. Louis Hospital for the price for checking few vitamins and minerals. The prices are below.

1. Vitamin B12 - 950B

2. Vitamin B2 - 1600B

3. Vitamin B3 - 2600B

4. Copper - 500B

5. Zinc - 520B

6. Folic acid - 650B

We will start with Vitamin B12 first.

Does anyone know if there is any package for checking these vitamins and minerals in any hospital here? Package should cost less.

Hi All,

Today we got the report for thyroid and to our surprise, she has slight hypothyroid. As far as I know, vitiligo patients has hyperthyroid.

Also today we were not able to do vitamins/mineral test in our hospital. So, now we have to go to another hospital. So, dingdang, I cannot answer your question. As for Hypomelanosis guttate, I don't think that's her problem. The patches are quite large. Anyways, thanks for giving your thought.

We still think it is vitiligo and we are following the instructions/opinions from Sheryl and Tolley.

Hi Tolley,

Sorry for late reply.

You are right. We should find the source of this problem. So, we are doing various tests for thyroid, serum cobalamin and candida too. Thyroid has come positive. Today she has appointment for vitamins/minerals test. For candida we are testing in web with candida questionnaires and symptoms. Home test for candida is not so reliable although we did spit test and it came positive. She has stopped eating sugar and as for meat she will be stopping red meat but not chicken.

In parallel, she will be also using cream for few months as she has already started using it. We will see the effect of the cream and if it does not work at all, she will stop after consulting with the doctor.

Hmm..you right Sheryl. Thanks for pointing it out.

She will start eating meat again soon. Or may be B12 supplements if she still want to continue becoming vegan.

Yes Sheryl.

She is right now using protopic. She is diagnosed with hyperthyroid. Doctor has told her to make more blood test and probably next week she will start medicine for thyroid too. Now we will check serum cobalamin also.

Additionally, she is doing yoga in the morning and has become vegan for now and stopped eating sugar. If she is diagnosed with vit b12 deficiency, she will again start eating meat particularly liver meat.

I was in fitness first for about 18 months. The price is around 2200 Baht per month. If you pay by credit card it is around 2000 Baht. The place is good. But I think its a bit pricey. To lure you they will give many discounts (like joining fee, 3 books, bag and so on) but they won't give discount on your monthly fee at all. They will give trainer only for 3 days. After that if you want to continue with that trainer you have to pay.

Ohh..ok

Anyways, thanks Tolley

By the way, can you also tell me from where your naturopath doctor is from? Is he from Thailand??

Yes Sheryl. Hope so....

And Tolley, can you please explain what kind of vitamins she was prescribed. Any more you can explain us about your wife's medication, foods (what to eat and what not to), how to increase immune and so on. Please tell us anything you remember. It will be a great help for us.

Thanks.

Dear Sheryl,

My wife has started using Protopic. Lets see how it effects her vitiligo.

Last week, she did her thyroid check too. And yes you are right and thank you so much for suggesting us to check it. She has abnormal thyroid. This week we have appointment with thyroid doctor. We will check serum cobalamin too.

Thanks.

Thanks a lot Sheryl from bottom of my heart.

You really helped us and now we are ready to help fight this disease. If anything comes up, I will ask for your help again if it is okay for you.

Regards,

Pratik

Good idea...

Yes, it is possible to cover areas when out of sun. Because the patches are near her ears and in the chest.

I found from the web that some exposure is need to sun also. So, I am thinking of exposing to sun early in the morning (when there is not a strong sunlight) for 5-10 minutes without using sunscreen (or protopic). Do you have any idea about this? I remember that last doctor from Phyathai had told her to expose to sunlight early in the morning.

By the way, she has to use protopic twice a day.

Thanks a lot Sheryl for useful information.

We are from Nepal. But I don't think Leprosy is the problem. She feels sensation in effected area same like normal area of her skin.

But about hyperthyroidism, we are thinking of testing her blood this week. Her mother also has thyroid problem, so genetically this may be transferred to her too.

Starting tonight, after reading many articles and recommendation, we will start using protopic. Right now, her vitiligo is in small area. So, earlier the better. But now I am not finding a reliable site which says it is OK to apply sunscreen in the place where protopic is applied. One site says, sunscreen can be applied after 1 hr of protopic application. As the area of vitiligo is without melanin, we are afraid to keep this area unprotected by sunscreen. We will be meeting dermatologist every month or two to check if protopic has done any adverse effect.

Thanks.

Pratik