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DiscussionLet's talk about it: Progress ReportsNew and jumping right in

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New and jumping right in

#1 · August 2, 2021, 4:55 pm

Quote from retannoyed on August 2, 2021, 4:55 pm
This will be long, but it feels good to write it all out and hopefully it will yield additional insight. Knowing what I know now and looking back, I was dealing with retinoid problems likely most of my life. I don't think I had true Hypervitaminosis A issues until probably three years ago or so. At the same time, I was dealing with iodine intake issues (kombu kelp is wonderful but it packs a tremendous iodine punch) but at the time, I didn't understand what was going on, just that things were rapidly going downhill. My hair began falling out and some of it became curled/frizzed/crimped. My eyes became very dry as well as other areas that should be more moist (skin, mucus membranes, etc). The psychological effects were the worst. A bit over a year ago, I wanted to sit down and paint, nothing fancy, just slap some paint on a canvas. After my supplies were gathered and ready, I sat and stared at the canvas and could not do anything else. Though I've painted many times before (nothing good, but usually recognizable things), my brain hamsters fell off the wheel and went splat- it was like sitting in a car, keys in hand, and suddenly realizing you did not know what to do next. Keys go in the ignition but how? The car needs started but how? That was scary. Last fall, I figured out part of my problem was my iodine intake and began steps to address that. Around February-ish or so this year, I also matched the rest of my symptoms, with considerable overlap, to Hypervitaminosis A and shortly afterward cut out as much vitamin A as possible. Diet got me into this mess (I love liver, the carotenoid-rich foods, and cod liver oil made a great salad dressing) so I changed my diet to start digging myself out. It's worth noting I have Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos, a connective tissue disorder. I used to have lots of pain and problems but I've managed to get that quite well under control thanks to supplements. This has been under control before I changed up things to address the iodine/vitamin A issues and six months into it, I have no ill effects. If I screw up and have a food with a good amount of vitamin A, my body is quick to chastise me (the recent attempt was beet greens. I miss greens).

Diet
This is what is currently working for me. Note that I am almost constantly adjusting, testing, adding, and eliminating. Since I am dealing with multiple issues, I have to balance as much as I can and so I do eat more retinoids than I'd like. The site myfooddata.com is incredibly helpful for nutritional information, helping me to balance my diet and keep my retinoid intake as low as possible.
-Vegetables: parsnips, potatoes, parsley root (when I can find it), kohlrabi (also when I can find it), turnips, beets (not gold beets), radishes, onions, garlic, pickles, cucumbers
-Fungi: I regularly eat portabella and shiitake mushrooms, no issues and they are good nutrient sources
-Fruit: Berries, bananas, kiwifruit (particularly the gold variety), apples, cherries
-Meat: All the usual meats, so long as it is NOT liver, rarely eggs (egg white is okay but that needs limited due to other reasons)
-Fish: Cod, salmon, tuna (not bluefin), sardines, shrimp, certain others. I love sushi and recently learned eel is VERY high in Vitamin A. NO MORE EEL!
-Spices/herbs: High salt diet required per medical issues, sometimes have trouble getting enough. No green herbs, major limit on chili powder and even bigger limit on paprika
-Sea veggies: Up to three sheets of nori here and there isn't a problem but that is my limit and I am cutting this back
-Beans: Beans are good (as far as I know)
-Nuts: Yes to all, but I mostly avoid brazil nuts as I get plenty of selenium in my diet
-Fats/oils: Let me just have this bowl of bacon grease with steak fat trimmings while I sip on this tall glass of olive oil.......
-Grains: Rice is fine though I try not to eat a lot of it as my body isn't thrilled grains in general. Oats are fine so long as they're gluten-free. Other grains used in gluten-free flours are fine
-Drinks: black tea, water, fizzy water (blue LaCroix for me), sometimes Fever Tree tonic water, aim for one cup of coffee with no sugar/creamer a day (per doc, helps gut motility)
-Have cut out all gluten, dairy, and yeast. May have to cut out corn or at least severely limit. Can't have coconut but coconut oil is okay (so far)

Why the fish? Cod is a very good source of iodine so I try to have a 5-7 oz fillet once a week. Salmon is high in vitamin D and canned salmon with bones is a good source of calcium. Now that I found sardines with skin and bones, I'll probably back off salmon even more and stick with sardines a couple times a week. Why not take a pill of vitamin D3? I've recently learned I react to the standard source of vitamin D3 added to pills and food which is made from lanolin. That alone explains some random symptoms that have popped up here and there.

Symptoms/What's improved

Body
-SWEATING, oh the sweating. The second-worst problem and part of what drove me to figure out what's going on
-Noticed sweating would get worse and worse, to the point I would get very sweaty just getting the mail
-Cold tolerance greatly improved but heat intolerance is my current enemy
-Night sweats were bad and interesting: I would wake in the middle of the night or the morning and THEN begin flushing hot and profusely sweating (hormone tests are perfectly normal)
-This improves when my thyroid hormones are in their optimal (for me) ranges. These also seem to improve/worsen throughout the day and seem to be in line with my body's Circadian timing
-Retinoids also affect this, possibly some other triggers

Hair
-Hair loss has slowed down
-Crimping/corkscrewing is reducing closer to the scalp; hair is growing in straighter
-Fewer gray hairs (I ran into one medical paper that mentioned arctic explorers of the past would often have more/earlier graying hair and it was surmised to be the excessive vitamin A intake)
-Hair texture on newer hairs seems very fine still, not sure if hair is growing back properly or at all. I've lost probably half the hair on my head. Rest of my body doesn't seem to notice anything happened
-Exam by dermatologist showed diffuse hair loss and hair biopsy showed "androgenic alopecia." Medical texts say this is consistent with Hypervitaminosis A hair loss and dermatologist agrees it's best to wait and see
-There isn't much out there on the specific hair texture changes (corkscrewing, crimping, etc) that can happen with Hypervitaminosis A, is there?

Skin
-Skin seems less dry though I live and breathe the Cetaphil cream tubs
-Wound healing slowed a bit, or more accurately, scar healing slowed. Wounds always heal quick on me but I've noticed I carry the marks longer. Lately, this seems to be improving

Neurological
-Much fewer headaches

Nails
-Always have had short, thin nails prone to peeling and breaking. They have always been flat or slightly trending toward koilonychia
-Nails IMPROVED dramatically when taking Cod Liver Oil
-Nails slightly happier having cut out retinoids than before I realized the vitamin A problem though not as nice as when I took CLO
-All except pinkies and thumbnails have a bit of a healthy convex profile though this is more pronounced on right hand than left
-Nail strength and thickness improved some but this is up and down
-Started taking a heme iron supplement (bovine blood source) but that seems to be making my nails flatter again? Iron profile values are all within normal ranges though my ferritin should be higher which is why I am taking the iron. Not sure what's going on here
-Vitamin D3 seems to help my nails but I'm still working that out since I have to get it from fish (or maybe the vegan version from lichen?)
-Nail changes happen within DAYS. This was surprising as documents always say nails take a long time to change. Observe closely; the changes are subtle but once you're paying attention, you'll wonder how you've missed them

Mucus Membranes/Internal
-Definitely getting more moisture. It's slow but it's happening.
-Eyes are more moist
-When I swallow pills, they get stuck less often
-Was diagnosed with gastroparesis but would like to get retested to see if there is improvement. Because pill swallowing is improved, I would not be surprised if gut motility overall has improved. I'll post an update when I do get retested, probably next year

Cholesterol
-Always had higher HDL than LDL
-Total was at 258 last fall
-End of July, total dropped to 184
-Not sure if it's due to cutting out gluten, dairy, eggs, cutting retinoids, or helping my thyroid with the iodine intake. Maybe they all have a role to play?
-Yes, even with my high fat diet, my cholesterol went DOWN

Psychological
-Calmer
-More even-tempered
-More easygoing
-Less noise reactive
-Much less brain fog
-Dreams are better overall
-As of about a month or so ago, I CAN PAINT AGAIN and it's surprisingly decent. I'm not yet totally recovered here, my other art hobbies are still in some dusty, forgotten corner of my brain
-Sex drive is up and down. Right now it's down though I suspect it's an iodine/thyroid issue. When my thyroid was happy, this was VERY happy
-This has a lot of ups and downs. If I get a wee bit too much retinoids, this is clearly affected. Other factors: iodine intake (still working on this one), calcium intake (just discovering this today), lanolin-sourced vitamin D3, how much and what type of magnesium I take
-This is where I really notice whether or not my thyroid is happy. When TSH, T3, and T4 are in optimal ranges FOR ME, this section improves leaps and bounds. When levels are a little too low or a little too high while STILL within lab-normal ranges, I have problems. Never once has any of my thyroid values been outside a lab range but clearly my body didn't get that memo
-A big hit of a retinoid (animal or carotenoid) makes me quite irritable!

Supplements
-Morning: Heme iron (30-60 minutes before the rest), magnesium malate, vitamin C, B12, Biotin, kelp-sourced iodine, zinc
-Evening: Vitamin C, turmeric
-Night: Magnesium glycinate (and acid reflux meds)
-Quantities: I think I have everyone dialed in except iodine, iron, and zinc. I was taking Tums for calcium carbonate but I'm having trouble with that. Stopped the Tums a few days ago and noticing huge improvements. Need to find a different source of calcium and work on dosing

What else I'm doing
-Frequent blood work. Thank you, walkinlab.com for making this easy. It's costly but they do offer discounts and I get much more data to help me out with this (mostly thyroid testing). Plus, it does drain out some blood, forcing my body to use stored retinoids to create new blood. I hope to start donating blood soon but was concerned about high concentrations of retinoids being teratogenic
-Waiting. Waiting, waiting, waiting. More waiting
-On good days when the sweating is under control, I try to exercise more. Lately, days have been rougher and sweatier which makes me not want to move much
-I keep a daily journal of what I eat, how I feel, any symptoms, how my nails are doing, how I slept, and comments on my dreams (vivid, forgettable, bad, good, etc). This is VERY hard for me to stay motivated to do and it's probably the only journal I've ever successfully kept in my life but it has helped a great deal (and impressed my endocrinologist). When in doubt, LOG! Data is everything
-I also take photos of how much hair I lose when I wash my hair. Depressing, but I definitely see a difference looking back
-Reading medical papers and research and journals. Learned a LOT. Have good chats with my doctors. Wonder how many credits toward a medical degree I've earned thus far
-Always reading ingredients labels, nutritional analyses, etc

QUESTIONS

-About how long until I see hair loss improvement? It's been about six months, give or take. Should it be around a year or so?
-Would love comments regarding sweating, night sweats
-Nails: These guys confuse me. Why would increasing my iron make them flatter? Do I need more zinc? More copper? More/less of something else? This is a work in progress.

This came out as a brain dump written over time, hopefully it isn't too scattered. I welcome all comments and suggestions. Good to be here, it's comforting to see similar stories, especially positive progress.

This will be long, but it feels good to write it all out and hopefully it will yield additional insight. Knowing what I know now and looking back, I was dealing with retinoid problems likely most of my life. I don't think I had true Hypervitaminosis A issues until probably three years ago or so. At the same time, I was dealing with iodine intake issues (kombu kelp is wonderful but it packs a tremendous iodine punch) but at the time, I didn't understand what was going on, just that things were rapidly going downhill. My hair began falling out and some of it became curled/frizzed/crimped. My eyes became very dry as well as other areas that should be more moist (skin, mucus membranes, etc). The psychological effects were the worst. A bit over a year ago, I wanted to sit down and paint, nothing fancy, just slap some paint on a canvas. After my supplies were gathered and ready, I sat and stared at the canvas and could not do anything else. Though I've painted many times before (nothing good, but usually recognizable things), my brain hamsters fell off the wheel and went splat- it was like sitting in a car, keys in hand, and suddenly realizing you did not know what to do next. Keys go in the ignition but how? The car needs started but how? That was scary. Last fall, I figured out part of my problem was my iodine intake and began steps to address that. Around February-ish or so this year, I also matched the rest of my symptoms, with considerable overlap, to Hypervitaminosis A and shortly afterward cut out as much vitamin A as possible. Diet got me into this mess (I love liver, the carotenoid-rich foods, and cod liver oil made a great salad dressing) so I changed my diet to start digging myself out. It's worth noting I have Hypermobile Ehlers-Danlos, a connective tissue disorder. I used to have lots of pain and problems but I've managed to get that quite well under control thanks to supplements. This has been under control before I changed up things to address the iodine/vitamin A issues and six months into it, I have no ill effects. If I screw up and have a food with a good amount of vitamin A, my body is quick to chastise me (the recent attempt was beet greens. I miss greens).

Diet
This is what is currently working for me. Note that I am almost constantly adjusting, testing, adding, and eliminating. Since I am dealing with multiple issues, I have to balance as much as I can and so I do eat more retinoids than I'd like. The site myfooddata.com is incredibly helpful for nutritional information, helping me to balance my diet and keep my retinoid intake as low as possible.
-Vegetables: parsnips, potatoes, parsley root (when I can find it), kohlrabi (also when I can find it), turnips, beets (not gold beets), radishes, onions, garlic, pickles, cucumbers
-Fungi: I regularly eat portabella and shiitake mushrooms, no issues and they are good nutrient sources
-Fruit: Berries, bananas, kiwifruit (particularly the gold variety), apples, cherries
-Meat: All the usual meats, so long as it is NOT liver, rarely eggs (egg white is okay but that needs limited due to other reasons)
-Fish: Cod, salmon, tuna (not bluefin), sardines, shrimp, certain others. I love sushi and recently learned eel is VERY high in Vitamin A. NO MORE EEL!
-Spices/herbs: High salt diet required per medical issues, sometimes have trouble getting enough. No green herbs, major limit on chili powder and even bigger limit on paprika
-Sea veggies: Up to three sheets of nori here and there isn't a problem but that is my limit and I am cutting this back
-Beans: Beans are good (as far as I know)
-Nuts: Yes to all, but I mostly avoid brazil nuts as I get plenty of selenium in my diet
-Fats/oils: Let me just have this bowl of bacon grease with steak fat trimmings while I sip on this tall glass of olive oil.......
-Grains: Rice is fine though I try not to eat a lot of it as my body isn't thrilled grains in general. Oats are fine so long as they're gluten-free. Other grains used in gluten-free flours are fine
-Drinks: black tea, water, fizzy water (blue LaCroix for me), sometimes Fever Tree tonic water, aim for one cup of coffee with no sugar/creamer a day (per doc, helps gut motility)
-Have cut out all gluten, dairy, and yeast. May have to cut out corn or at least severely limit. Can't have coconut but coconut oil is okay (so far)

Why the fish? Cod is a very good source of iodine so I try to have a 5-7 oz fillet once a week. Salmon is high in vitamin D and canned salmon with bones is a good source of calcium. Now that I found sardines with skin and bones, I'll probably back off salmon even more and stick with sardines a couple times a week. Why not take a pill of vitamin D3? I've recently learned I react to the standard source of vitamin D3 added to pills and food which is made from lanolin. That alone explains some random symptoms that have popped up here and there.

Symptoms/What's improved

Body
-SWEATING, oh the sweating. The second-worst problem and part of what drove me to figure out what's going on
-Noticed sweating would get worse and worse, to the point I would get very sweaty just getting the mail
-Cold tolerance greatly improved but heat intolerance is my current enemy
-Night sweats were bad and interesting: I would wake in the middle of the night or the morning and THEN begin flushing hot and profusely sweating (hormone tests are perfectly normal)
-This improves when my thyroid hormones are in their optimal (for me) ranges. These also seem to improve/worsen throughout the day and seem to be in line with my body's Circadian timing
-Retinoids also affect this, possibly some other triggers

Hair
-Hair loss has slowed down
-Crimping/corkscrewing is reducing closer to the scalp; hair is growing in straighter
-Fewer gray hairs (I ran into one medical paper that mentioned arctic explorers of the past would often have more/earlier graying hair and it was surmised to be the excessive vitamin A intake)
-Hair texture on newer hairs seems very fine still, not sure if hair is growing back properly or at all. I've lost probably half the hair on my head. Rest of my body doesn't seem to notice anything happened
-Exam by dermatologist showed diffuse hair loss and hair biopsy showed "androgenic alopecia." Medical texts say this is consistent with Hypervitaminosis A hair loss and dermatologist agrees it's best to wait and see
-There isn't much out there on the specific hair texture changes (corkscrewing, crimping, etc) that can happen with Hypervitaminosis A, is there?

Skin
-Skin seems less dry though I live and breathe the Cetaphil cream tubs
-Wound healing slowed a bit, or more accurately, scar healing slowed. Wounds always heal quick on me but I've noticed I carry the marks longer. Lately, this seems to be improving

Neurological
-Much fewer headaches

Nails
-Always have had short, thin nails prone to peeling and breaking. They have always been flat or slightly trending toward koilonychia
-Nails IMPROVED dramatically when taking Cod Liver Oil
-Nails slightly happier having cut out retinoids than before I realized the vitamin A problem though not as nice as when I took CLO
-All except pinkies and thumbnails have a bit of a healthy convex profile though this is more pronounced on right hand than left
-Nail strength and thickness improved some but this is up and down
-Started taking a heme iron supplement (bovine blood source) but that seems to be making my nails flatter again? Iron profile values are all within normal ranges though my ferritin should be higher which is why I am taking the iron. Not sure what's going on here
-Vitamin D3 seems to help my nails but I'm still working that out since I have to get it from fish (or maybe the vegan version from lichen?)
-Nail changes happen within DAYS. This was surprising as documents always say nails take a long time to change. Observe closely; the changes are subtle but once you're paying attention, you'll wonder how you've missed them

Mucus Membranes/Internal
-Definitely getting more moisture. It's slow but it's happening.
-Eyes are more moist
-When I swallow pills, they get stuck less often
-Was diagnosed with gastroparesis but would like to get retested to see if there is improvement. Because pill swallowing is improved, I would not be surprised if gut motility overall has improved. I'll post an update when I do get retested, probably next year

Cholesterol
-Always had higher HDL than LDL
-Total was at 258 last fall
-End of July, total dropped to 184
-Not sure if it's due to cutting out gluten, dairy, eggs, cutting retinoids, or helping my thyroid with the iodine intake. Maybe they all have a role to play?
-Yes, even with my high fat diet, my cholesterol went DOWN

Psychological
-Calmer
-More even-tempered
-More easygoing
-Less noise reactive
-Much less brain fog
-Dreams are better overall
-As of about a month or so ago, I CAN PAINT AGAIN and it's surprisingly decent. I'm not yet totally recovered here, my other art hobbies are still in some dusty, forgotten corner of my brain
-Sex drive is up and down. Right now it's down though I suspect it's an iodine/thyroid issue. When my thyroid was happy, this was VERY happy
-This has a lot of ups and downs. If I get a wee bit too much retinoids, this is clearly affected. Other factors: iodine intake (still working on this one), calcium intake (just discovering this today), lanolin-sourced vitamin D3, how much and what type of magnesium I take
-This is where I really notice whether or not my thyroid is happy. When TSH, T3, and T4 are in optimal ranges FOR ME, this section improves leaps and bounds. When levels are a little too low or a little too high while STILL within lab-normal ranges, I have problems. Never once has any of my thyroid values been outside a lab range but clearly my body didn't get that memo
-A big hit of a retinoid (animal or carotenoid) makes me quite irritable!

Supplements
-Morning: Heme iron (30-60 minutes before the rest), magnesium malate, vitamin C, B12, Biotin, kelp-sourced iodine, zinc
-Evening: Vitamin C, turmeric
-Night: Magnesium glycinate (and acid reflux meds)
-Quantities: I think I have everyone dialed in except iodine, iron, and zinc. I was taking Tums for calcium carbonate but I'm having trouble with that. Stopped the Tums a few days ago and noticing huge improvements. Need to find a different source of calcium and work on dosing

What else I'm doing
-Frequent blood work. Thank you, walkinlab.com for making this easy. It's costly but they do offer discounts and I get much more data to help me out with this (mostly thyroid testing). Plus, it does drain out some blood, forcing my body to use stored retinoids to create new blood. I hope to start donating blood soon but was concerned about high concentrations of retinoids being teratogenic
-Waiting. Waiting, waiting, waiting. More waiting
-On good days when the sweating is under control, I try to exercise more. Lately, days have been rougher and sweatier which makes me not want to move much
-I keep a daily journal of what I eat, how I feel, any symptoms, how my nails are doing, how I slept, and comments on my dreams (vivid, forgettable, bad, good, etc). This is VERY hard for me to stay motivated to do and it's probably the only journal I've ever successfully kept in my life but it has helped a great deal (and impressed my endocrinologist). When in doubt, LOG! Data is everything
-I also take photos of how much hair I lose when I wash my hair. Depressing, but I definitely see a difference looking back
-Reading medical papers and research and journals. Learned a LOT. Have good chats with my doctors. Wonder how many credits toward a medical degree I've earned thus far
-Always reading ingredients labels, nutritional analyses, etc

QUESTIONS

-About how long until I see hair loss improvement? It's been about six months, give or take. Should it be around a year or so?
-Would love comments regarding sweating, night sweats
-Nails: These guys confuse me. Why would increasing my iron make them flatter? Do I need more zinc? More copper? More/less of something else? This is a work in progress.

This came out as a brain dump written over time, hopefully it isn't too scattered. I welcome all comments and suggestions. Good to be here, it's comforting to see similar stories, especially positive progress.

tim, Rachel and 2 other users have reacted to this post.

#2 · August 2, 2021, 5:44 pm

I would recommend mineral testing with Dr Garrett Smith Nutrition Restored.
test don’t guess.

I’m female. My symptoms improving. Hair stopped falling out. I do Dr Smith’s current recommendations. I suspect copper is a problem with hair but I’m no expert (for sure!), and zinc is one thing i did that maybe helped?? It’s certainly a total package that is having effects.

#3 · August 2, 2021, 5:53 pm

Welcome. Good to hear that you're doing better than you did 6 months ago. I would personally recommend avoiding salmon and shrimp because of their high astaxanthin content, which is a carotenoid. It's what makes them orange. However it's is not a VA precurusor. If you don't get any symptoms from it it might be fine for you, there might be individual variability in suceptibility. Same goes for tuna too, it has high amounts of a novel carotenoid.

Eggshells are a pretty good source of calcium. It can cause some stomach upset initially but this should subside within a week. It can be ground down with a mortar and pestle. It also exists preground as a supplement but it's kind of rare. There are also some straight calcium carbonate supplements that seem fine but some people question their purity.

Please be careful with the iodine, too much can cause hypothyroidism just as well as too little can. Ray Peat (who is right about a lot of things but certainly not VA) thinks that doses of more than 500 mcg per day can cause hypothyroidism.

What's your ferritin value? And iron saturation? Iron is quite toxic if you get more than you need.

Perspiration is good, some VA is expelled in the sweat. Although it can get annoying, haha.

Retinoicon has reacted to this post.

#4 · August 3, 2021, 2:20 pm

Quote from Rachel-2 in Colorado on August 2, 2021, 5:44 pm

I would recommend mineral testing with Dr Garrett Smith Nutrition Restored.
test don’t guess.

I’m female. My symptoms improving. Hair stopped falling out. I do Dr Smith’s current recommendations. I suspect copper is a problem with hair but I’m no expert (for sure!), and zinc is one thing i did that maybe helped?? It’s certainly a total package that is having effects.

How long did it take until you noticed the hair loss stopped? All my life I lost hairs like a husky during shedding season but I grew hair just as quick; always had thick hair until this. Now I lose hair at about my usual rate (I think), I'm just not sure if it's growing back. I may do a hair analysis but I am concerned with the reported issues in the medical journals.

#5 · August 3, 2021, 2:33 pm

Quote from retannoyed on August 3, 2021, 2:33 pm

Quote from salt on August 2, 2021, 5:53 pm

Welcome. Good to hear that you're doing better than you did 6 months ago. I would personally recommend avoiding salmon and shrimp because of their high astaxanthin content, which is a carotenoid. It's what makes them orange. However it's is not a VA precurusor. If you don't get any symptoms from it it might be fine for you, there might be individual variability in suceptibility. Same goes for tuna too, it has high amounts of a novel carotenoid.

Eggshells are a pretty good source of calcium. It can cause some stomach upset initially but this should subside within a week. It can be ground down with a mortar and pestle. It also exists preground as a supplement but it's kind of rare. There are also some straight calcium carbonate supplements that seem fine but some people question their purity.

Please be careful with the iodine, too much can cause hypothyroidism just as well as too little can. Ray Peat (who is right about a lot of things but certainly not VA) thinks that doses of more than 500 mcg per day can cause hypothyroidism.

What's your ferritin value? And iron saturation? Iron is quite toxic if you get more than you need.

Perspiration is good, some VA is expelled in the sweat. Although it can get annoying, haha.

I don't think salmon is a problem for me and I don't eat much shrimp these days, but you're right, it may be best to limit it until I'm sure. Sardines and cod work just fine.

Eggshell is calcium carbonate, so is Tums. I was having weird issues with Tums, so it's possible I have an absorption issue somewhere. I may have to try calcium citrate. It's a bummer because eggshells and Tums are both easy sources of calcium.

Regarding iodine, shout it from the rooftops! That's how I got myself in trouble. I went off iodine completely (after years of chronically eating way too much iodine-rich foods, never via supplements) and a couple months later, felt the best I ever had in my life, then a couple months after that, had unhappy-thyroid symptoms again. There's some improvement since but it's a work in progress. I take about 165 mcg iodine per day and aside from sardines and cod, that's about all I get for iodine. My body metabolizes certain substances extremely fast but I don't yet know if iodine is one of these.

Ferritin: lab range 16-154, I was at 44. In the normal range but I've read enough that indicates a little higher would be a lot better. I'll retest this soon. It's interesting to note that my RBC count and hemoglobin are almost always at the low end of normal or just below.

Quote from salt on August 2, 2021, 5:53 pm

Welcome. Good to hear that you're doing better than you did 6 months ago. I would personally recommend avoiding salmon and shrimp because of their high astaxanthin content, which is a carotenoid. It's what makes them orange. However it's is not a VA precurusor. If you don't get any symptoms from it it might be fine for you, there might be individual variability in suceptibility. Same goes for tuna too, it has high amounts of a novel carotenoid.

Eggshells are a pretty good source of calcium. It can cause some stomach upset initially but this should subside within a week. It can be ground down with a mortar and pestle. It also exists preground as a supplement but it's kind of rare. There are also some straight calcium carbonate supplements that seem fine but some people question their purity.

Please be careful with the iodine, too much can cause hypothyroidism just as well as too little can. Ray Peat (who is right about a lot of things but certainly not VA) thinks that doses of more than 500 mcg per day can cause hypothyroidism.

What's your ferritin value? And iron saturation? Iron is quite toxic if you get more than you need.

Perspiration is good, some VA is expelled in the sweat. Although it can get annoying, haha.

I don't think salmon is a problem for me and I don't eat much shrimp these days, but you're right, it may be best to limit it until I'm sure. Sardines and cod work just fine.

Eggshell is calcium carbonate, so is Tums. I was having weird issues with Tums, so it's possible I have an absorption issue somewhere. I may have to try calcium citrate. It's a bummer because eggshells and Tums are both easy sources of calcium.

Regarding iodine, shout it from the rooftops! That's how I got myself in trouble. I went off iodine completely (after years of chronically eating way too much iodine-rich foods, never via supplements) and a couple months later, felt the best I ever had in my life, then a couple months after that, had unhappy-thyroid symptoms again. There's some improvement since but it's a work in progress. I take about 165 mcg iodine per day and aside from sardines and cod, that's about all I get for iodine. My body metabolizes certain substances extremely fast but I don't yet know if iodine is one of these.

Ferritin: lab range 16-154, I was at 44. In the normal range but I've read enough that indicates a little higher would be a lot better. I'll retest this soon. It's interesting to note that my RBC count and hemoglobin are almost always at the low end of normal or just below.

#6 · August 3, 2021, 5:44 pm

Quote from salt on August 3, 2021, 5:44 pm

Quote from retannoyed on August 3, 2021, 2:33 pm

Quote from salt on August 2, 2021, 5:53 pm

Welcome. Good to hear that you're doing better than you did 6 months ago. I would personally recommend avoiding salmon and shrimp because of their high astaxanthin content, which is a carotenoid. It's what makes them orange. However it's is not a VA precurusor. If you don't get any symptoms from it it might be fine for you, there might be individual variability in suceptibility. Same goes for tuna too, it has high amounts of a novel carotenoid.

Eggshells are a pretty good source of calcium. It can cause some stomach upset initially but this should subside within a week. It can be ground down with a mortar and pestle. It also exists preground as a supplement but it's kind of rare. There are also some straight calcium carbonate supplements that seem fine but some people question their purity.

Please be careful with the iodine, too much can cause hypothyroidism just as well as too little can. Ray Peat (who is right about a lot of things but certainly not VA) thinks that doses of more than 500 mcg per day can cause hypothyroidism.

What's your ferritin value? And iron saturation? Iron is quite toxic if you get more than you need.

Perspiration is good, some VA is expelled in the sweat. Although it can get annoying, haha.

I don't think salmon is a problem for me and I don't eat much shrimp these days, but you're right, it may be best to limit it until I'm sure. Sardines and cod work just fine.

Eggshell is calcium carbonate, so is Tums. I was having weird issues with Tums, so it's possible I have an absorption issue somewhere. I may have to try calcium citrate. It's a bummer because eggshells and Tums are both easy sources of calcium.

Regarding iodine, shout it from the rooftops! That's how I got myself in trouble. I went off iodine completely (after years of chronically eating way too much iodine-rich foods, never via supplements) and a couple months later, felt the best I ever had in my life, then a couple months after that, had unhappy-thyroid symptoms again. There's some improvement since but it's a work in progress. I take about 165 mcg iodine per day and aside from sardines and cod, that's about all I get for iodine. My body metabolizes certain substances extremely fast but I don't yet know if iodine is one of these.

Ferritin: lab range 16-154, I was at 44. In the normal range but I've read enough that indicates a little higher would be a lot better. I'll retest this soon. It's interesting to note that my RBC count and hemoglobin are almost always at the low end of normal or just below.

From everything I've read about iron, it's best to be in the bottom end of the normal range. But it's good to self-experiment and find out what works best for you personally. I think iron saturation is the most valuable test. There are many things that can affect RBC. I don't know where you live but if you live in the states you're probably getting plenty enough of iron as they add it a whole bunch of foods. https://raypeat.com/articles/articles/iron-dangers.shtml

Quote from retannoyed on August 3, 2021, 2:33 pm

Quote from salt on August 2, 2021, 5:53 pm

Welcome. Good to hear that you're doing better than you did 6 months ago. I would personally recommend avoiding salmon and shrimp because of their high astaxanthin content, which is a carotenoid. It's what makes them orange. However it's is not a VA precurusor. If you don't get any symptoms from it it might be fine for you, there might be individual variability in suceptibility. Same goes for tuna too, it has high amounts of a novel carotenoid.

Eggshells are a pretty good source of calcium. It can cause some stomach upset initially but this should subside within a week. It can be ground down with a mortar and pestle. It also exists preground as a supplement but it's kind of rare. There are also some straight calcium carbonate supplements that seem fine but some people question their purity.

Please be careful with the iodine, too much can cause hypothyroidism just as well as too little can. Ray Peat (who is right about a lot of things but certainly not VA) thinks that doses of more than 500 mcg per day can cause hypothyroidism.

What's your ferritin value? And iron saturation? Iron is quite toxic if you get more than you need.

Perspiration is good, some VA is expelled in the sweat. Although it can get annoying, haha.

I don't think salmon is a problem for me and I don't eat much shrimp these days, but you're right, it may be best to limit it until I'm sure. Sardines and cod work just fine.

Eggshell is calcium carbonate, so is Tums. I was having weird issues with Tums, so it's possible I have an absorption issue somewhere. I may have to try calcium citrate. It's a bummer because eggshells and Tums are both easy sources of calcium.

Regarding iodine, shout it from the rooftops! That's how I got myself in trouble. I went off iodine completely (after years of chronically eating way too much iodine-rich foods, never via supplements) and a couple months later, felt the best I ever had in my life, then a couple months after that, had unhappy-thyroid symptoms again. There's some improvement since but it's a work in progress. I take about 165 mcg iodine per day and aside from sardines and cod, that's about all I get for iodine. My body metabolizes certain substances extremely fast but I don't yet know if iodine is one of these.

Ferritin: lab range 16-154, I was at 44. In the normal range but I've read enough that indicates a little higher would be a lot better. I'll retest this soon. It's interesting to note that my RBC count and hemoglobin are almost always at the low end of normal or just below.

From everything I've read about iron, it's best to be in the bottom end of the normal range. But it's good to self-experiment and find out what works best for you personally. I think iron saturation is the most valuable test. There are many things that can affect RBC. I don't know where you live but if you live in the states you're probably getting plenty enough of iron as they add it a whole bunch of foods. https://raypeat.com/articles/articles/iron-dangers.shtml

#7 · August 4, 2021, 6:04 am

I don't eat much for processed foods since avoiding gluten, dairy, yeast, and coconut on top of a low vitamin A diet and limiting grains, rarely use cast iron, and our water filters should pull out most (if not all) iron that may be in the water. Red meat is a big part of my diet but typically not daily. I'll keep an eye on this and will soon have another full iron profile done. It's also possible it's not iron but the other things required to properly utilize iron. Perhaps that would explain how my fingernails respond to the iron supplement.

#8 · August 11, 2021, 4:11 pm

Thank you for sharing that experience you had with not being able to paint. I too haven’t been able to paint or even gather a few supplies together to paint. It could be the sludge build up of the poisons? Anyway it is yet another possible explanation of the affects of toxins on our brains. Kills creativity.

New and jumping right in

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