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grapes' log
Ok, I understand! I’m just so desperate to feel better. 😂 Questions are below, you’re right, maybe they can help others as well on this forum!
How long did you have dry eye before you started the diet?
Do you know any details of your MGD - have you had your meibomian glands imaged by a doctor? For example, my glands are quite a bit shorter than they should be, and I have some that have completely atrophied. Any other diagnostics or observations from an eye doctor?
Also wondering how far into the diet did you notice improvement with your eyes? I believe eyes are tricky and slow to heal!
Thank you so much @grapes!! I really appreciate any details you can provide. ☺️
Quote from JMH on August 20, 2019, 7:51 amHow long did you have dry eye before you started the diet?
I have no exact idea, cause it wasn't officially diagnosed by a doctor as such, by the way I never heard someone here mentioning "dry eyes" disease, maybe it's more a Us thing. They just prescribed me stuff for cleansing eyelids. My first surgery for an eyelid cyst happened about 4-5 years after taking accutane, so about 15 years ago.
Quote from JMH on August 20, 2019, 7:51 amDo you know any details of your MGD - have you had your meibomian glands imaged by a doctor?
No I don't think I have had such an examination.
Quote from JMH on August 20, 2019, 7:51 amAlso wondering how far into the diet did you notice improvement with your eyes? I believe eyes are tricky and slow to heal!
It's hard to tell, cause the symptoms for me were cyclic I think, sometimes better, sometimes worse. Also it wasn't my biggest concern so I wasn't paying attention to it as much. And as I said after a slip off the diet the symptoms returned as strong as they can be, so I guess I cannot consider myself "healed". But I don't mind the diet so I just have to be more strict with it.
Because of the recent events, I had to postpone doing lab tests, but finally I could have done them.
Around April I have suspected that I was getting too much iron from beef, so I greatly reduced it's intake, replacing it with a mix of other animal protein.
Indeed my ferritin levels are high, at 252 μg/L , just above lab reference range. (20-250) It's unfortunate that almost the only protein with low/no vit A is high in another not so good thing.
My serum retinol is at 1,13 μmol/L - beneath the range (1,72 - 2,52) It's also a substantial decrease from my past test, around 30%.
Health wise, I did not really notice sustainable improvement since a year ago. So that can possibly mean,
- Retinol must be well beneath the range for some chronical issues to improve
- Accutane toxicity can still be high even if retinol is low / it's effects can not be detoxified, they are permanent
- High iron may prevent high vitA issues to improve
@grapes "Accutane toxicity can still be high even if retinol is low / it's effects can not be detoxified, they are permanen"
Show me evidence for that statement. The body can deal with much bigger issues, than some accutane. If you provide what it needs to regain balance again..
Hi Grapes, those are interesting hypothesis, and it seems like we are in such early stages of this new idea that guessing is appropriate!
I think that iron might rise in the VA toxic generally, and it may complicate things, I see it in one case I'm watching.
I was once told that we are new every 7 years, and so 7 years might be a good educated guess at when all the healing that can take place has taken place. But even that person who told me that (about the 7 year thing) might have been guessing, LOL!
I try to walk the line between acceptance that some problems might be permanent, hope that almost every problem can be improved, and happiness that perhaps new problems won't keep being added. I think it is very easy to be blind to that third one. I once heard of someone with 30 auto-immune disorders. yikes! I'll stick with my half a dozen or so that seemed to be trying to start up in my life.
Quote from Jiří on September 29, 2020, 11:45 am@grapes "Accutane toxicity can still be high even if retinol is low / it's effects can not be detoxified, they are permanen"
Show me evidence for that statement. The body can deal with much bigger issues, than some accutane. If you provide what it needs to regain balance again..
I hope you are right, @jiri ! That statement was just a hypothesis, based on the fact that I didn't see progress in health issues even though my serum retinol has reduced (as opposed to very good results in early stages of the diet) . As @lil-chick suggests, it may be too early to expect complete healing. But my long quest for health somewhat made me not being overly optimistic and expect all outcomes.
I'm under impression that even a small amount of beta-carotene, like that from one plantain banana, makes my small eczema patch flare at night. That eczema patch appeared after I started low vA, so it's probably kind of detox sign.
Previously that patch used to almost disappear when I stayed away from alcohol. Maybe experimenting with pork caused a set-back. It's crazy that after so many years on low vA I'm still not detoxed.
It's interesting that it would be possible to "monitor" carotene intox, but not that of retinol.