19.8.08

Relationship stress

Then.....



Now.....



There have been news reports that the T.V. presenter Gail Porter's hair is growing back. In 2005 she split from her husband and attempted suicide. Shortly afterwards she was diagnosed with auto-immune disease alopecia.

The immune system protects people from bacteria, viruses, and toxins. Stress can cause the immune system to malfunction: it may become under-active and fails to defend the body against infection or hyperactive and begins to attack cells in the body. It's possible that a series of
stressful life-events triggered Gail Porter's immune system to produce T cells that attacked and destroyed her hair follicles.



Not sure about
her dog Missy though, but there is something called Canine follicular dysplasia.

The link below is to a Scientific American article on stress and the research of Janice Kiecolt-Glaser and her partner Ronald Glaiser.

The Danger of Stress

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