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DWL's Progress
Sorry for the length of this post. It's my last for a long while.
July 8, 2018
i read about Grand Genereux's theory in a post by Franko on the Ray Peat Forum. I immediately read and reread all of GG's works; I seriously began eating Low/zero Vitamin A on July 17. I've followed low Vitamin A for almost a year now.
My symptoms: Chronic pain status--
1. Right hip and leg pain-came and went throughout the first six months-gone by 6th month. (During early detoxing the pain in my hip and leg was so intense that I literally cried myself to sleep. My hip pain had never been this intense. Had I lived near a hospital, I'd have made an ER visit.,When I awakened the pain had lessened. This event made me realize that detoxing Vitamin A would be a challenge.
2. Chronic back and rib pain--mostly gone
3. Neck pain and stiffness-gone.
4. Liver/gallbladder pain--90% improved
Skin status--
1. Two psoriasis patches--one gone and the second greatly improved.
2. Most of skin is now silky smooth.
3. Small, dry skin areas remain on one ankle and one knee.
4. Strangely, during month 4 a deep sore developed on my left hand; it took 10+ weeks to heal.
5. Both forearms--dry and blotchy with many sun spots. Though not visibly bumpy, rubbing forearms gives a bumpy feeling. The forearm skin condition has improved about 30%.
Eyes:
I'm blessed with an early onset degenerative eye condition. A couple of years ago after being on a strict, four month, fresh grape juice fast, my retinas improved. Another diet change and six months brought a sharp vision decline.
Outwardly my eyes have changed on low A but vision remains POOR.
Eye status--
1. Dull, yellow-tinted scleras-now white and shiny
2. Irises--Very dark brown with what appeared to be patches of debris (muddy looking) covered much of each iris. These began dissolving during my four month grape fast and have cleared completely on Low A.
3. Dry eyes--now moist.
4. Vascularization-gone
5. A recent retinal checkup showed that a large cyst on one retina is gone. Retinas are still very damaged and contain much lipofuscin/drusen and scarring.
Misc
1. Most of hair has changed from gray to its original blonde color.
2. Fingernails grow quickly. Though stronger than pre-Vit A detox, they have vertical ridges and break easily
3. Digestion and gut--bloating. gas cramping are 90% improved. I can attend social functions and various events with ease.
4. Irritable bowel, constipation--improved but sluggish.
5. Tinnitus-no improvement
6. Fatigue- much improved--more energy and more motivation
7. Underweight-gained about 15 pounds at 6-7 months into the diet.
8. Memory-improved.
9. Painful tingly sensation in right hand when typing or scrolling through passages on cell phone-gone
10. Sleep-light, inadequate sleep changed to deep, refreshing, ample sleeo
11. Depression-greatly improved; laugh out loud occasionally!!
12. (What appeared to be) kidney and gallbladder stones passed several times during the first few months on low Vitamin A. These were quite painful. This has not occurred since the fifth month on low A.
In addition to the diet, the following seemed to work well for me.
Inclined Bed Therapy, red light therapy, rebounding, gentle body brushing, and donating blood (after gaining weight I qualified as a donor and have donated twice with good detoxing results).
Setbacks;
1. Stress and emotional upsets after deaths of two family members.
2. Felt horrible after peeling (to freeze) this year's bountiful peach crop (bare handed). Although I did NOT eat a peach, I now wonder if having hands In contact with raw peaches for much of three days caused excess Vitamin A absorption. Lesson learned!
I plan on devoting much more time to my health challenges in the future. Before taking a leave from forums, I'd like to thank everyone for sharing your knowledge and experiences on this forum. Bella, your positive attitude and words of wisdom have given me much encouragement; John Fry, thanks for sharing many articles and your helpful detoxing methods. I plan on purchasing a grounding sheet soon. Liz, your many experiences and tenacity to not give up have been helpful to me. Shelia, I appreciate your words of wisdom and empathy, Deere, your comments about nitric oxide (NO) were invaluable! I have wondered about a connection between Vitamin A and nitric oxide for many months (my journal says since July 2018),
My notes say that NO blocks alcohol dehydrogenase which helps break down Vitamin A. I briefly searched for my research to substantiate this to no avail.
Yi at LDT, your YouTube videos are very helpful!!
lil chick, your honest interesting posts
add a lot of good to this forum! To all forum members, this is a great forum! Thanks to all for sharing!!
All the best,
DWL
@dswl
What an amazing set of results in "just" a year. I imagine more than a few people would have given up after the bad detox symptoms: "oh this BS isn't working -- what was i thinking?" Congratulations to you!
Excellent post, thank you for sharing all of this good info! Please do keep us informed! 🙂
I was thinking about the peaches and remembered that for about a year, maybe more, in my 40's I was applying HENNA (orange-red all-natural dyeing herb) once every 3-4 weeks for 3-4 hours. A nice big moist plop of goose poop on my head, and often with heat added too.
I wonder if those orange-red colorants added to my load. And now I wonder about dyes in general, natural and otherwise.
Thank you DWL for the update. Sincere condolences regarding your family members. Worry/losing loved ones is so stressful. I sometimes get into that 'catastrophic thinking' when my hubby has to go to the hospital for heart issues (congenital issues initially). The worry all seems to derail my overall health. Hopefully eating low A will help us cope better in times like these.
It's encouraging to read how you are doing after a year. I agree with Josh. Many people might just have decided low A wasn't working for them. Your feedback shows it really can be a slow process. I think we're all more prepared for that from reading each others' experiences.
I keep up with the Ray Peat forum as well. Not happy to read his reply to all the positive feedback posted about low A diet...(kind of suspicious to me).
I've been there with the hip/leg pain... surprising how excruciating it can be! I think because I took cannabis oil for a year before I discovered Grant's work, I was spared the big hip pain detox. Taking cannabis oil wasn't all wonderful though as I had loose bm's for about 5 months and it caused dry mouth as well. I'm glad I don't have to take it now but I still think it's criminal that it was demonized for decades as it really did help keep me functional. After 5 months eating low A, I still get occasional days of limping due to discomfort (in both hips oddly) but this happens less intensely and less frequently now. I like to think remodelling is going on when this happens.
Good to read about your psoriatic plaques; one gone and one improving. I have a small plaque on my right forearm that has been there for months. Not painful or itchy and not a big deal at all. I still have been trying different substances under bandages to see if something will hasten its departure. (I just use a small round bandage. The bigger rectangular ones cause that Koebner phenomenon). Topically, I first tried castor oil for a week, then cannabis oil for a week. Now I'm trying PreparationH. 🙂 I'll bet it is just not a priority with my body right now and may take a year or so to disappear. It started as a patch of eczema.
My dry, sometimes very itchy eyes come and go too. Not sure if this is seasonal allergies or detoxingA ..maybe a bit of both.
My fingernails are growing super fast too but they are still weakish and they still have those vertical lines.
I have way more energy and I notice I'm instigating chatting with neighbours more. My mood seems more positive. I read on the RP forum one commenter said they thought VA had made them an introvert. I think it might have been the same with me!
Regularity has been a problem for me too. I started taking psyllium powder last month which I put in 'oo' size capsules using a 'cap-M-quick' device and take 2 with each meal which helps keep me fairly regular. Hoping one day my digestion will improve and I won't need them. I also just started taking zeolite in capsules (just 2 'oo' capsules/day). Initially my urine smelled more and was foamy but not noticing that as much after a week.
My body skin is much smoother than it has been but still many tiny (hardly noticeable) plugged pores on my face. I have noticed new patches of seborrheic keratoses on my scalp though in the last 2 months that I can almost scratch off. I suppose VA coming out through my scalp hairs!
Interesting to read about your experience handling peaches!
Take care and best wishes to you too, DWL.
@ lil-chick Interesting too your comment about henna pigments!
Again thinking of the peaches and wanted to share an idea.
As a homesteader of sorts, poison Ivy is my nemesis. What I have learned to do (via youtube) is when I come in from outside I must take a FACECLOTH and soap and scrub the oils off with FRICTION (visualize trying to remove black engine grease).
I imagine that this habit has probably helped me with topical exposures of carotenes in the garden as well.
My sincere condolences DWL. I completely understand as I find myself still grieving my mom’s passing last year. I’m beyond thrilled for your improvements and wish you continued good health.
Quote from SheilaE on July 1, 2019, 11:09 amThank you DWL for the update. Sincere condolences regarding your family members. Worry/losing loved ones is so stressful. I sometimes get into that 'catastrophic thinking' when my hubby has to go to the hospital for heart issues (congenital issues initially). The worry all seems to derail my overall health. Hopefully eating low A will help us cope better in times like these.
It's encouraging to read how you are doing after a year. I agree with Josh. Many people might just have decided low A wasn't working for them. Your feedback shows it really can be a slow process. I think we're all more prepared for that from reading each others' experiences.
I keep up with the Ray Peat forum as well. Not happy to read his reply to all the positive feedback posted about low A diet...(kind of suspicious to me).
I've been there with the hip/leg pain... surprising how excruciating it can be! I think because I took cannabis oil for a year before I discovered Grant's work, I was spared the big hip pain detox. Taking cannabis oil wasn't all wonderful though as I had loose bm's for about 5 months and it caused dry mouth as well. I'm glad I don't have to take it now but I still think it's criminal that it was demonized for decades as it really did help keep me functional. After 5 months eating low A, I still get occasional days of limping due to discomfort (in both hips oddly) but this happens less intensely and less frequently now. I like to think remodelling is going on when this happens.
Good to read about your psoriatic plaques; one gone and one improving. I have a small plaque on my right forearm that has been there for months. Not painful or itchy and not a big deal at all. I still have been trying different substances under bandages to see if something will hasten its departure. (I just use a small round bandage. The bigger rectangular ones cause that Koebner phenomenon). Topically, I first tried castor oil for a week, then cannabis oil for a week. Now I'm trying PreparationH.
I'll bet it is just not a priority with my body right now and may take a year or so to disappear. It started as a patch of eczema.
My dry, sometimes very itchy eyes come and go too. Not sure if this is seasonal allergies or detoxingA ..maybe a bit of both.
My fingernails are growing super fast too but they are still weakish and they still have those vertical lines.
I have way more energy and I notice I'm instigating chatting with neighbours more. My mood seems more positive. I read on the RP forum one commenter said they thought VA had made them an introvert. I think it might have been the same with me!
Regularity has been a problem for me too. I started taking psyllium powder last month which I put in 'oo' size capsules using a 'cap-M-quick' device and take 2 with each meal which helps keep me fairly regular. Hoping one day my digestion will improve and I won't need them. I also just started taking zeolite in capsules (just 2 'oo' capsules/day). Initially my urine smelled more and was foamy but not noticing that as much after a week.
My body skin is much smoother than it has been but still many tiny (hardly noticeable) plugged pores on my face. I have noticed new patches of seborrheic keratoses on my scalp though in the last 2 months that I can almost scratch off. I suppose VA coming out through my scalp hairs!
Interesting to read about your experience handling peaches!
Take care and best wishes to you too, DWL.
@ lil-chick Interesting too your comment about henna pigments!
It’s a shame about Peat being so outright dismissive and the many people who are part of the RP community being borderline hostile toward those of us who have embraced this theory. It’s not very open minded behavior to say the least.
Update:
Time on low/no Vitamin A=2 years, 5+ months
A couple of weeks ago I realized that I no longer had a receding chin.
I had often wished for a face shape that would look nice with an easy to wear ponytail. Though my chin shape changed ever so slowly, my face profile now looks perfectly normal!!! I’m amazed!!
Though my low vision has not improved on low Vitamin A, I’m encouraged by the facial improvement.
All the best,
DSWL