STUPID QUESTION TIME: Do Any Of You Have Cats?

[qwanlee]

I know this borders on like asking if when you started balding did you see a blue car with California plates. Bear with me, there is a method to my madness or is it madness to my methods? Either way is good, I guess..

I'm trying to see if there is any association with T. gondii exposure. Read my other thread.

From the 4 cases I have put together of males that had cats three were severely hair handicapped. Also, do you think some of them act schizoprenic? T. gondii get into the brain and cause behavioral disorders.

Many factors in mpb but I wonder if cat exposure is one of them. In my case, I was dating a girl who had a cat and occasionally was around it and her. That was the year I started balding at age 17.

Just because you have a cat doesnt mean it automatically carries T. gondii either. It would have had to catch a mouse with T. gondii.

[jamesst11]

No, I definitely don't think so...There are MANY things that can cause severe stress to the body, which in turn can cause hair loss.. Women experience hair loss all the time, after pregnancy, for example... but in MOST cases they regrow their lost hair readily. MPB is different. It is genetic. It is caused by androgens and prevalence of androgen receptors and this has been scientifically proven. IF you happen to have a physiological stress WHICH induces hair loss, perhaps toxoplasma gondii, or whatever else you mentioned, you will loose hair, for sure. BUT people with MPB may have trouble regrowing it, while people without MPB, like women, will regrow it readily. They are two SEPERATE things.

[qwanlee]

No, I definitely don't think so...There are MANY things that can cause severe stress to the body, which in turn can cause hair loss.. Women experience hair loss all the time, after pregnancy, for example... but in MOST cases they regrow their lost hair readily. MPB is different. It is genetic. It is caused by androgens and prevalence of androgen receptors and this has been scientifically proven. IF you happen to have a physiological stress WHICH induces hair loss, perhaps toxoplasma gondii, or whatever else you mentioned, you will loose hair, for sure. BUT people with MPB may have trouble regrowing it, while people without MPB, like women, will regrow it readily. They are two SEPERATE things.

I mentioned the factors you talk about in the my other thread. Actually, parasites can CAUSE immunosuppression in the host. Females dont get infected as much because they have better immune systems. T. gondii study showed it raised test and cortisol levels in both males and females. Castration enhances male immune systems too.

So...if it is involved it is because it makes men and women manlier and lowers their immune response by increasing cortisol(self preservation).

http://www.ergo-log.com/toxoplasmagondii.html

Parasites are tricky dont under-estimate them.

Here is what JUST T. gondii can do to a host: ( advance notice: not pretty). There are of course other parasites and bacteria we have to deal with other than T. gondii.

http://www.polygenicpathways.co.uk/tgondii.htm

Do browse thru and you will see some of the molecules we use and have been mentioned for use in mpb.

[jamesst11]

You sound like a fellow biologist! Parasitology was one of my favorite classes. I don't know too much about it, but I'll check it out.

[Ziggyz123]

Wow very interesting thread. I actually took in a stray cat because he need help. He got mauled by another cat, is like half blind and afraid of his shadow, and a runt. So anyway, I had him until he got better, but he still lives with me. I had his litter box in my room because my dad wanted it out of his face and that cat also slept in my room. Coincidentally, I had burning and inflammation that happened in November with hairloss. I also got a rash under my armpit, was sensitive to cologne, and got a stye in my left eye. I thought I became allergic to pg in minox and had to quit.

My bio teacher actually suggested that I might have a parasite from the cat and coincidentally he had worms lol. I never looked into it too much but I will look into T. Gondii. Thanks

[Ziggyz123]

I read some stuff on it. Pretty interesting, but hairloss from toxoplasma Gondi doesn't seem to be a side effect that people report. Are you trying to say that the weakening of the immune system could be the cause? Is hair loss even one of the symptoms?

[topback]

My hair loss started when I got cats I think. I took in my neighbors half stray cats and that's when it became noticeable at least. I also have burning inflammation like Ziggy. I highly doubt its the case but my entire life all I've ever done is suffer consequences from other peoples irresponsible disregard other people. There white trash too so probably did have t gondii

[qwanlee]

Early age balding under 20 is NOT natural. The thing about T. gondii is from other studies they seem to prefer high testosterone hosts and organs. They do tend to go right for your balls. I dont know if they home in the hair follicles because of dht or not.

Just not that much info on where they go initially and where they reside. They need to radioactively tag them and inject them into animals and see what routes they take. I think they can go into all tissues though from the studies(fibroblasts, brain, endothelial, crotchal area , adipose,etc)

[qwanlee]

I read some stuff on it. Pretty interesting, but hairloss from toxoplasma Gondi doesn't seem to be a side effect that people report. Are you trying to say that the weakening of the immune system could be the cause? Is hair loss even one of the symptoms?

Ziggy...not enough is known but things seem to add up. Many questions remain unanswered.

[qwanlee]

Re: James

Some background but common sense and the ability to argue against YOUR _own_(for robustness sake) hypothesis rules. It easy to fact find and hide from other studies which clearly show you are wrong.

Rule #1 dont fall in love with your hypothesis.

Rule #2: build a model with variables with high explanatory power. Like if it was a decision tree they would be the first split. Take a satellite view of the human body or if you are too zoomed in you will get lost in its complexity.

[qwanlee]

Wow very interesting thread. I actually took in a stray cat because he need help. He got mauled by another cat, is like half blind and afraid of his shadow, and a runt. So anyway, I had him until he got better, but he still lives with me. I had his litter box in my room because my dad wanted it out of his face and that cat also slept in my room. Coincidentally, I had burning and inflammation that happened in November with hairloss. I also got a rash under my armpit, was sensitive to cologne, and got a stye in my left eye. I thought I became allergic to pg in minox and had to quit.

My bio teacher actually suggested that I might have a parasite from the cat and coincidentally he had worms lol. I never looked into it too much but I will look into T. Gondii. Thanks

I was trying to find out whether protozoa can gain entrance into the body by the eye.
Bacteria and viruses can so just guessing I would say yes. But, I didnt find an answer to that for certain.

But..do you have "floaters" that look like parasites. I do. I noticed them along time ago. I can remember them even as a child. Did T. gondii stay latent(if its there) in my body to wait for higher testosterone to come along? Absolutely dont know...

http://www.justanswer.com/eye-health/2aaj3-floaters-eye-look-protozoa.html

[qwanlee]

https://en.wikipedia.org/?title=Toxoplasmosis

"Cutaneous toxoplasmosis[edit]
While rare, skin lesions may occur in the acquired form of the disease, including roseola and erythema multiforme-like eruptions, prurigo-like nodules, urticaria, and maculopapular lesions. Newborns may have punctate macules, ecchymoses, or “blueberry muffin” lesions. Diagnosis of cutaneous toxoplasmosis is based on the tachyzoite form of T. gondii being found in the epidermis.[22] It is found in all levels of the epidermis, is about 6 μm by 2 μm and bow-shaped, with the nucleus being one-third of its size. It can be identified by electron microscopy or by Giemsa staining tissue where the cytoplasm shows blue, the nucleus red.[23]"


About at age 10, I developed urticaria(hives) from the cat presumably. After, we got rid of the cat, I had no more hive breakouts. There was no hair loss. There was almost zero contact with cats up until age 17 when I developed the mpb.

I'm sure there are various allergic responses that trigger hives that have nothing to do with T. gondii so this was no guarantee that I was infected.

[qwanlee]

http://www.growyouthful.com/ailment/floaters-eye.php

Causes of floaters

Embryonic origin. The smallest spots are present in most people's eyes, and come from remnants of embryonic structures in the vitreous humour.

The result of injury, trauma or surgery such as a cataract operation. In some cases the sufferer had them before, but only took notice after the injury.

Degenerative changes of the vitreous humour or retina related to ageing.
(Me: as a child noticing them would be hard to accept as being age related)

Toxoplasmosis (parasitic infection by the protozoa toxoplasma gondii).

Congenital (less common).


Me: I cant be seeing a parasite(no way). You need microscopes to see protozoa. However, floaters can be caused by T. gondii

[qwanlee]

I just about vomit seeing people let their pets lick their faces or swap spit.

http://pets.webmd.com/news/20110114/bed-pets-more-dangerous-than-bedbugs?page=2

I cant find the page right now but even dogs carry a parasite which can cause blindness.
One guy let his dog sleep on the bed with him developed blindness.

[Ziggyz123]

I just about vomit seeing people let their pets lick their faces or swap spit.

http://pets.webmd.com/news/20110114/bed-pets-more-dangerous-than-bedbugs?page=2

I cant find the page right now but even dogs carry a parasite which can cause blindness.
One guy let his dog sleep on the bed with him developed blindness.

Hahah, I hear you on that one. As for the floaters, definitely remember seeing some not recently though. Just for shits, my bio teacher thought I might have had cutaneous larva migrins. Never really thought much into it, but as for t. Gondii, there were times when I would pick up random turds on my floor that were hard with my hand and put them in a bag.. That's actually one of the ways people can get t. Gondii so who knows. I did experience a boost of testosterone though and thought it was reflex hyperandro.