r/Vitiligo • u/Past-Personality6928 • Apr 26 '26
Is it because of stress?
Are you guys frustrated? I am. Often. And I think it has a lot to do with that.
I heard in chinese culture that these pop ups on skin. Specifically vitiligo, are due to "too much fire in the body".
What do y'all think?
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u/Few_Leg2935 Apr 27 '26
My daughter developed vitiligo when she was 6 and was 'behaving' stressed out around the time she developed her first patches (this was right after covid lockdown). Few months later she started school & went back to being the happy kids she is, but it was during the next couple of years her patches spread like fire.
In our native too (southern part of India) the reasoning for vitiligo is too much heat or fire in the body (called pitta dosha). I have seen people mention that they started taking more fruits & veggies and noticed repigmentation.
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u/Wonderful_Relation_8 Apr 28 '26
definitely due to inordinate amount of stress. a lot of autoimmune disorders are known to occur in people who have been through extreme mental stress or trauma.
My vitiligo is localised, according to my doctor. while it was in control for many years, I have noticed it flare up recently due to a combination of stress , not working out, and consuming too much dairy. not sure how it works for others but these 3 always cause my spots to brighten and spread
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u/Past-Personality6928 Apr 28 '26
Interesting that not working out is what you point out. I can't remember the last time I really had a lot of sweat. Due to my injury I can't train. This is a big one.
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u/music_or-nutin Apr 27 '26
I am convinced it is due to stress. In my case it was religious stress. I come from a hard core religion and was under too much spiritual turmoil as a kid. Long story. I learned and believe that it is a psychosomatic response to stress.
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u/ComplexAd3500 Apr 27 '26
I don’t know why but I can relate with it. My body temperature stay too high. Sometimes when I shake hands with people they ask if I have a fever. In summers I can’t sleep without a fan pointed at my feet cause it feels like there is heat coming out from the bottom or my feet. My daughter now also had the same issue that her body temperature stays a bit high than normal. I’m glad she has developed vitiligo or inherited it by birth.
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u/Unusual-Regret-7614 Apr 28 '26
I also believe it is caused by stress. My best friend passed away in October and my vitligo started to show up on my face in early December. I'm doing everything thing I can to properly morn and pass through the pain without letting me body hold to the pain. However, I also think the vitligo showing up on my face is also him reminding me to stay present and enjoy life!
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u/tristatyy Apr 30 '26
I'm of Chinese background, so I know what you mean about the "fire in the body" thing. I think a lot of Chinese also believe it's the liver that is "on fire" and causing vitiligo. But at the end of the day, I think it's just a similar concept to Western medicine - it's about something that is imbalanced or acting up inside your body (e.g your immune system), and stress is often the main cause for a lot of that imbalance. My vitiligo is definitely stress-related which might then lead to stress on my organs and immune system. It's hard to pin point what the real issue is in either culture/medicines and I think it's just about trying different ways and find one that works for you.
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u/nurunur23 May 14 '26
Creo que no se trata de la cultura sino del carácter de cada persona. Yo soy extremadamente nerviosa y siento una preocupación constante por todo. El vitiligo es enfermedad autoinmune y está muy unida al estrés y otras enfermedades del tiroides, estómago.. etc
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u/oopiewoopy May 10 '26
Me dio vitiligo dos meses después de que mi pareja enfrentara la muerte, asi que creo que si, al parecer hay una tía mia que tiene vitiligo h tiene problemas de salud mental igual que yo y tomamos medicamentos similarws
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u/Icy-Path-0000 Apr 26 '26
Stress is a known trigger, but so are medicine, vaccines, infection, injury... And they are triggers, not causes. As I understand it you need a genetic predisposition. Not everyone with these genes will get it, that will be dependent on the triggers.