Quote from RJC on May 25, 2023, 9:22 am

Hello all, I’m Rob, a 42 y/o male, with a history of overall good health, but have suffered from mild facial eczema and episodes of intermittent, acute severe abdominal pain for 10-15 years. I took Accutane as a teenager, and after discovering Grant’s research and info on vitamin A, I believe it is the source of my chronic issues. I wanted to share my story with the community to serve as another data point; hopefully it will assist others experiencing similar issues, and maybe help me with my condition as well.

Throughout my life I’ve been generally healthy, no major chronic issues other than mentioned above, with the exception of lower back pain which I keep at bay with regular exercise. I’ve always eaten mostly healthy by today’s standards - home cooked food, not a lot of restaurant/takeout/fastfood. I could definitely have benefited from more physical activity. I work in IT so mostly sedentary, but for the last four years I’ve been exercising regularly 4+ days per week. I do drink alcohol, at times in the past to excess, I smoked cigarettes for a couple years in college, and have recently taken up occasional cigar smoking, one or two a week. No other drug use, legal or illegal. In early 2019 I realized my overall health was declining due to lack of physical activity and excessive alcohol consumption. I stopped drinking for six months, even gave up coffee for several months, and started working out 4-5 days per week, as well as intermittent fasting. Since then I’ve kept up with the intermittent fasting and exercise, but I do drink coffee and consume alcohol, which recently is more days than not on average, which needs to and will swing back in the other direction. Other than the abdominal pain, I'd say I'm the healthiest and happiest I've been at this point in life. I now believe likely the worst thing I’ve ever done for my health is taking Accutane for acne as a teen in the mid nineties. 

Around the mid/late two-thousands, I started getting “attacks” of acute severe lower abdominal pain, at an interval of one to six months, but typically once every three months. The pain is below my belly button, and more to the left and center, not so much on the right. The pain begins as a mild nag, and usually within an hour or two progresses to severe debilitating non-stop pain, causing me to lie in bed writhing around until it subsides several hours later. At its peak, the pain will ebb and flow in waves from extreme to severe, and radiates to my lower back as well. During the bad attacks I will usually experience excessive belching. Occasionally when the pain is the most extreme it will cause me to vomit, not from nausea or upset stomach, but just from the overwhelming pain. I’ve tried: Tylenol/Advil/Aspirin, Excederin, activated charcoal, and Levsin SL (Hyoscyamine Sulfate Tablets) for the pain, all to no avail. In nearly all cases, the only thing that consistently relieves the pain is when I manage to relax enough, and ignore the pain enough, to fall asleep; after I wake, even if after only an hour, the pain has subsided to a dull ache. I will then feel uncomfortable for a few days after, in both my lower back and abdomen. Rarely, I will feel the onset of an “attack”, but after an hour or two it subsides and never progresses to severe pain. Early on, when I was trying the various meds listed above, I thought they were sometimes effective, but now I believe it’s chance/luck whether the pain will subside or progress to severe. Ten or so years ago, I did see two different GI doctors about my condition. They did blood tests, a CT scan, X-ray, and came up with nothing. One doctor prescribed the Levsin, which did nothing.

For at least ten years I’ve also had intermittent recurring mild eczema on my face, mostly around my eyes and on my neck. This is nothing like what Grant experienced, thankfully. I get patches of dry, red skin, which eventually flakes/peels off; sometimes it will get deep enough to crack and bleed very slightly. It does not burn or itch, just more of an unsightly annoying condition. I went to a dermatologist many years ago, and they prescribed some type of vitamin A (ha!) topical cream, which at the time I did try as I had not discovered Grant / vitamin A as I know now. My memory is a bit fuzzy on this, but it definitely did not help, and may have made it worse. I didn’t use it long, and never went to another doctor for this issue. I do use face moisturizer daily, and I’ve tried different brands over the years, none of which really help this condition. Before discovering Grant’s info on vitamin A, I thought maybe the skin issue was seasonal - it was usually worse in the winter, and the climate where I live gets cold and dry. I’m now pretty sure the cause is actually vitamin A, and seasonality due not to weather but my diet - fresh tomatoes/peppers/eggplant in the summer, and sweet potatoes and pumpkin in the fall.

I discovered Grant and his research about a year ago. I dabbled with an ultra low VA diet (beef, rice, and beans) a couple times for a few days, but was not strict with it. I like and enjoy a variety of foods, and my wife is a good cook, so it's hard to stick to my "gruel" as I now call it. I did take note to reduce my intake of bright/dark fruits and veggies and dairy. Last year I became aware of diverticulitis, and my symptoms seemed to fit the criteria. I started taking note of what I ate soon before having attacks, and a couple times it was foods with seeds in them. I started avoiding seeds for several weeks/months, but then had another attack, so that theory was out. (Aside - recent research now shows that seeds are not likely the cause of diverticulitis.)

About six weeks ago, I decided to get serious with the ultra low VA beef/rice/beans diet five days a week, and then eat “regular” food on the weekends, while still avoiding the high VA foods. I do cheat with a few indulgences during the week - beer and whiskey (not together), (in-shell) peanuts, and hard pretzels. I followed the regimen for a solid four weeks, and after a couple weeks noticed my skin condition worsen on my face and neck; it seems this was likely a detox related flare-up. Then last Monday evening I had the worst “attack” I’ve ever experienced. The pain was more constant and extremely severe, starting around 10pm and keeping me up all night. Around 8am I went to the ER. By the time I was actually taken in and spoke to a doctor, the pain had subsided to the point I was able to function and speak intelligently. In speaking with the doctor about my history and condition, they were leaning toward diverticulitis. They did blood tests, which were all negative, then did an ultrasound and CT scan, which showed no indication of diverticulitis, but shockingly showed appendicitis! Despite my pain typically being center/left, which is most certainly was again this time, when the doctor pressed on my lower abdomen, it did not cause increased pain in the center and left, but did hurt when he pressed on the right where the appendix is located. Fast forward another twelve hours and I was waking up in recovery, minus one vestigial organ.

My best guess at this point is that the eczema flare-up and severe “attack” was a detox symptom of the consistent low VA diet for several weeks. The curious part is of course the appendicitis. The state of my appendix was not normal at the time of the hospital visit, but it was also (thankfully) not to the point of bursting. Could this have been caused by the VA detox? Unfortunately I’ll never know. Part of me wishes I had opted out of the surgery to see if the appendix returned to normal, but the downside of potential literal death got the best of me, so I went with the surgery.

As a rule, I am generally anti-establishment and anti-doctor/anti-big-pharma, especially since the Covid-19 fiasco. I’m always skeptical of anyone that has “skin in the game”, regardless of the subject. That said, I really like the surgeon who performed my appendectomy, especially after speaking with him during my followup visit. He was very candid, and spoke in plain no-nonsense language about my condition. He referred to IBS as “irritable bullshit” - because it’s a made-up diagnosis doctors label you with when they don’t really know what’s wrong with you. He stated he does not believe that chronic appendicitis is possible; there is not a lot of info out there on this, it’s pretty rare and hard to diagnose. One interesting thing he mentioned is that he found some of my organs had adhesions, or connective tissue, between them which they shouldn’t have been there, so he “disconnected” them. Could that be the source of my ongoing pain - “maybe” was his answer. He advised against any further tests at this time, such as scopes, MRI, etc., and advised against going back to the ER if I get another attack. He said hopefully my condition is cured, but if it comes back to follow up with him directly.

So now I wait. As of this week, I’m back on the ultra low VA diet  of 85/15 ground beef, brown rice, and black beans during the week, and easing that up on the weekends. I’ve substituted the beer/whiskey during the week with hop water. I also just discovered a great new podcast, the Quax Podcast (which Grant was a guest on, twice, I've listened to only his first episode so far). Through Quax I also discovered Dr. Garrett Smith and his VA detox regimen, which I still need to research further. I visited a local long-time well-established health food / supplement store this week and spoke with the owner, who unfortunately has not heard any of the VA as a toxin theory, and was somewhat dismissive of it altogether, insisting they’ve used VA as a successful treatment.

If you made it this far, thanks for reading! Finally, thanks so much to Grant for his contributions.

Rob