Olivia said:

Hello everyone,

I can honestly say this is by far the best forum I’ve found since I was diagnosed with vitiligo (2 years ago). Let me start off with when I first noticed it…

Oct 2005 – Right around this time I was drinking quite heavily. I had just turned 21 a few months before and decided that it was my time to party and go crazy, although I’d been drinking moderately since the age of 17. I should also mention that my mom had surgery the summer of 2005 and she was in the hospital for 27 days very sick. I would wake up at the hospital with her, go home and shower, then go to school, then go to work and this was my life for 27 days, non stop. I’m a big mommy’s girl and this took an emotional and mental toll on me, more than a physical one. I first noticed a reddish spot, almost like a bruise or a hickey under my lip one morning (this was sometime around October). I won’t lie, I had drank quite a lot the night before so I thought maybe it was just a weird effect from a hangover. About a week later, that same reddish spot started losing pigment and from there it progressed.

I went to a general doctor about a month into it and he diagnosed it as a fungus (which I read from previous posts) was the initial diagnosis for a lot of us. So he told me to use an over the counter cream, which I did but it had no effect.

April 2006 – I went to a dermatologist and he told me I had vitiligo. By then, the 1/2 inch spot had grown to about 1 – 2 inches still under my lip, progressing to MY LEFT side of the chin. He was quite dismissive and told me it had no cure.

I should mention I’m from southwest Texas and it’s a desert landscape. We get about 300 days of sunshine a year.

Oct 2006 – I moved to Denver in August 2006 for education purposes and by this time my 2 inch spot had progressed to the left side of my chin but had not progressed further. I should mention however that it did progress quite slowly, compared to others. I found out about a dermatologist in Minnesota right around Oct 2006 so I made an appointment but he’s quite renowned and was booked until June 2008.

I left school and I left my job in Denver and moved to Minnesota just last summer. I have been doing the NUVB treatments 3 times a week since. He saw me 6 weeks after treatment and progress was minimal, almost none, but we kept hope because we saw 2 or 3 tiny grains of pigment on the small spot I had developed of MY LEFT side of my neck. I had also already developed a small white streak by MY LEFT ear. So it seems to stay to the same side and I’m lucky it hasn’t progressed as rapidly.

12 weeks into my treatment, the spot on my neck was 90-95% gone. I’ll be more than happy to post a before and after picture of it.

It’s now been about 9 months since I started my NUVB treatments and the spot on my chin is still there. I’ve had some repigmentation on it but nothing major. My neck is still 90-95% repigmented and the streak by my left ear is almost gone.

I believe my consumption of alcohol played a big role but I also believe it was stress. There is no history in my family of vitiligo, from my dad’s side nor my mom’s. I also believe nutrition plays a big role. I’m of Mexican descent so I consume spicy foods, I don’t enjoy a meal unless I’m drinking a soda, and I eat lots of red meat. It’s horrible I know but I hope to hear from someone and find out what you think.

I am doing the following:

NUVB treatments (3 times a week)
Ginkgo Biloba (120mg daily)
L-Phenylalanine (1000 mg daily)
Elidel
Dovonex
Herbalife Products – Nutritional Shake, Herbal Tea Concentrate w/ Herbal Aloe (herbal tea) , Schizandra Plus ( 2 tablets daily), Cell Activator (1 capsule a day), Multivitamin (2 tablets daily).

***I started taking Herbalife products because some family members of mine started taking them in hopes to lose weight. My aunt, being one of them, was talking to a couple who sells the products and they told her about a man in California who had vitiligo and had seen MAJOR improvements just by taking these products. I don’t want to say I’m pessimistic but I don’t make a lot of money and everything can be costly so I always do my research before spending my hard earned money. I was given this man’s number and I personally called him (and yes I checked the area code to make sure I was calling a California area code). He was quite honest with me. He said he’s been using the products for 5+ years now and is about 85-90% recovered. He tells me his case was very severe, throughout his entire body and that by the time he started taking Herbalife products he’d had vitiligo for 15+ years.

Just to make things clear, I started using Herbalife products a year ago this month. Right around this time I had noticed a faint dime-sized spot on my RIGHT arm that went away within a month of taking the product, but honestly I never fully lost my pigment in that area.

I stopped taking Herbalife products right around October 2007 and after about two months ago, I stopped seeing results (keep in mind that by then I was in my 4th month of NUVB treatments). I just went back to Herbalife products in late February of this year and I’m starting to see SOME small traces of pigment come back. I’m still doing NUVB treatments 3 times a week but I believe I may be headed in the right direction. Progress is quite slow to say the least, but at least it hasn’t spread.

Oh a quick note (I know this is probably going to take the cake as the longest message) but my aunt started selling the Herbalife products earlier this year. She actually went to a Herbalife convention late last year (or maybe early this year) in Denver and she saw the before and after pics of that man who’s used the products for 5+ years. Unfortunately I have no pictures to show you guys of him, and I would have really liked to have been there but again, I’m now in Minnesota.

Any questions, comments, or concerns, PLEASE reply! I’m eager to hear from someone regarding my case.

Oh and quick question? How do we go about posting pictures or seeing pictures posted?

Olivia said:

Hello everyone,

I can honestly say this is by far the best forum I’ve found since I was diagnosed with vitiligo (2 years ago). Let me start off with when I first noticed it…

Oct 2005 – Right around this time I was drinking quite heavily. I had just turned 21 a few months before and decided that it was my time to party and go crazy, although I’d been drinking moderately since the age of 17. I should also mention that my mom had surgery the summer of 2005 and she was in the hospital for 27 days very sick. I would wake up at the hospital with her, go home and shower, then go to school, then go to work and this was my life for 27 days, non stop. I’m a big mommy’s girl and this took an emotional and mental toll on me, more than a physical one. I first noticed a reddish spot, almost like a bruise or a hickey under my lip one morning (this was sometime around October). I won’t lie, I had drank quite a lot the night before so I thought maybe it was just a weird effect from a hangover. About a week later, that same reddish spot started losing pigment and from there it progressed.

I went to a general doctor about a month into it and he diagnosed it as a fungus (which I read from previous posts) was the initial diagnosis for a lot of us. So he told me to use an over the counter cream, which I did but it had no effect.

April 2006 – I went to a dermatologist and he told me I had vitiligo. By then, the 1/2 inch spot had grown to about 1 – 2 inches still under my lip, progressing to MY LEFT side of the chin. He was quite dismissive and told me it had no cure.

I should mention I’m from southwest Texas and it’s a desert landscape. We get about 300 days of sunshine a year.

Oct 2006 – I moved to Denver in August 2006 for education purposes and by this time my 2 inch spot had progressed to the left side of my chin but had not progressed further. I should mention however that it did progress quite slowly, compared to others. I found out about a dermatologist in Minnesota right around Oct 2006 so I made an appointment but he’s quite renowned and was booked until June 2008.

I left school and I left my job in Denver and moved to Minnesota just last summer. I have been doing the NUVB treatments 3 times a week since. He saw me 6 weeks after treatment and progress was minimal, almost none, but we kept hope because we saw 2 or 3 tiny grains of pigment on the small spot I had developed of MY LEFT side of my neck. I had also already developed a small white streak by MY LEFT ear. So it seems to stay to the same side and I’m lucky it hasn’t progressed as rapidly.

12 weeks into my treatment, the spot on my neck was 90-95% gone. I’ll be more than happy to post a before and after picture of it.

It’s now been about 9 months since I started my NUVB treatments and the spot on my chin is still there. I’ve had some repigmentation on it but nothing major. My neck is still 90-95% repigmented and the streak by my left ear is almost gone.

I believe my consumption of alcohol played a big role but I also believe it was stress. There is no history in my family of vitiligo, from my dad’s side nor my mom’s. I also believe nutrition plays a big role. I’m of Mexican descent so I consume spicy foods, I don’t enjoy a meal unless I’m drinking a soda, and I eat lots of red meat. It’s horrible I know but I hope to hear from someone and find out what you think.

I am doing the following:

NUVB treatments (3 times a week)
Ginkgo Biloba (120mg daily)
L-Phenylalanine (1000 mg daily)
Elidel
Dovonex
Herbalife Products – Nutritional Shake, Herbal Tea Concentrate w/ Herbal Aloe (herbal tea) , Schizandra Plus ( 2 tablets daily), Cell Activator (1 capsule a day), Multivitamin (2 tablets daily).

***I started taking Herbalife products because some family members of mine started taking them in hopes to lose weight. My aunt, being one of them, was talking to a couple who sells the products and they told her about a man in California who had vitiligo and had seen MAJOR improvements just by taking these products. I don’t want to say I’m pessimistic but I don’t make a lot of money and everything can be costly so I always do my research before spending my hard earned money. I was given this man’s number and I personally called him (and yes I checked the area code to make sure I was calling a California area code). He was quite honest with me. He said he’s been using the products for 5+ years now and is about 85-90% recovered. He tells me his case was very severe, throughout his entire body and that by the time he started taking Herbalife products he’d had vitiligo for 15+ years.

Just to make things clear, I started using Herbalife products a year ago this month. Right around this time I had noticed a faint dime-sized spot on my RIGHT arm that went away within a month of taking the product, but honestly I never fully lost my pigment in that area.

I stopped taking Herbalife products right around October 2007 and after about two months ago, I stopped seeing results (keep in mind that by then I was in my 4th month of NUVB treatments). I just went back to Herbalife products in late February of this year and I’m starting to see SOME small traces of pigment come back. I’m still doing NUVB treatments 3 times a week but I believe I may be headed in the right direction. Progress is quite slow to say the least, but at least it hasn’t spread.

Oh a quick note (I know this is probably going to take the cake as the longest message) but my aunt started selling the Herbalife products earlier this year. She actually went to a Herbalife convention late last year (or maybe early this year) in Denver and she saw the before and after pics of that man who’s used the products for 5+ years. Unfortunately I have no pictures to show you guys of him, and I would have really liked to have been there but again, I’m now in Minnesota.

Any questions, comments, or concerns, PLEASE reply! I’m eager to hear from someone regarding my case.

Oh and quick question? How do we go about posting pictures or seeing pictures posted?