Quote from puddleduck on February 15, 2019, 2:35 am

@hillcountry Haha, that’s cool! They both remind me of snowflakes, as well. ❄️

Saw this post of yours in my inbox, read the studies, and started taking inositol the next day. So it’s been about a week, and I’ve been meaning to get back here and say thanks!  🙂 I really appreciate your taking the time to share this information, John! I had no idea there was such strong evidence in favour of an alternative treatment for PCOS.

I should clarify that I don’t know if I have legit PCOS (I haven’t seen a doctor about it), but my symptoms, which come and go, trend in that direction. (There may be a link between PCOS and anorexia, too.)

Apparently inositol can also be used to treat OCD. Haven’t looked into that much, so don’t know if there’s good evidence for that. I do have an OCD diagnosis, heretofore unmentioned because I didn’t think it related to vitamin A toxicity. 😋 Will report back if that improves.

Anyway, thanks again, John! 🙂

ETA: You asked about the tiny font—I write my updates in a “VA-detox log” text document on my computer, then copy+paste them here. Since I make all my documents 10 to 11 pt font size (I like small text), I guess somehow that transfers over when I copy+paste!

@liz I will reply to you in the PCOS thread soon! My brain is exhausted after reading about neuroinflammation tonight... 😆

Quote from Liz on February 15, 2019, 2:52 am

@puddleduck I have an OCD diagnosis as well. I dont know if it is related to vit A or not, but almost all symtoms are gone. I am still particular with some things but am no where near where I was a few years ago. Same with my severe ADD (ADHD), almost all gone.

Quote from eliza1275 on April 4, 2019, 6:12 am

@puddleduck and @liz - I have OCD as well, mainly compulsive skin picking. It has gotten so much better, and seems to re-emerge every time I accidentally eat something moderately high in carotenoids.

Quote from Liz on April 4, 2019, 8:56 pm

Quote from eliza1275 on April 4, 2019, 6:12 am

@puddleduck and @liz - I have OCD as well, mainly compulsive skin picking. It has gotten so much better, and seems to re-emerge every time I accidentally eat something moderately high in carotenoids.

Wow Eliza. That is amazing!! And how interesting that you notice an effect that fast from betacarotene. Another very clear example of it being a poison and not a "good-for-you-antioxidant". Thank you for sharing 🙂

Quote from empirebuilder31 on August 10, 2019, 7:38 am

Hey @puddleduck - how have you been doing lately? Any update on your CFS symptoms?

Quote from puddleduck on August 18, 2019, 7:51 am

Quote from Liz on April 4, 2019, 8:56 pm

Quote from eliza1275 on April 4, 2019, 6:12 am

@puddleduck and @liz - I have OCD as well, mainly compulsive skin picking. It has gotten so much better, and seems to re-emerge every time I accidentally eat something moderately high in carotenoids.

Wow Eliza. That is amazing!! And how interesting that you notice an effect that fast from betacarotene. Another very clear example of it being a poison and not a "good-for-you-antioxidant". Thank you for sharing

@eliza1275 awesome!! 😁 I’m so glad it has improved for you. And I seccond what Liz said as well—it’s just crazy that carotenoids have such a clear effect. Hope you’re still doing well!

@liz That is absolutely miraculous! 🤩 Hadn’t known that OCD and ADD could be related to all of this, but I guess it does make sense. I will have to search out your progress thread soon and catch up on how you are doing—hopefully well! 🙂

@empirebuilder31 Hello there! Is your username a reference to the Amtrak train? (I love that train, but have only taken it between Chicago and Minneapolis—such beautiful scenery and so many eagles!) Are you doing low-VA because of CFS symptoms as well?

I’ve been meaning to post an update forever, but my husband and I have been in the middle of an international move and we haven’t found a home yet, so I’ve been too busy and stressed out to visit the forums. 🙃

Unfortunately, in my case the CFS symptoms seem to be the most stubborn of all! So my energy is still rationed at the moment. 😭 But at least I can tell you that there have been other signs that this low-VA nonsense (😝) is doing some good, which means I’m going to stick it out for at least the 9 months, and probably longer because it has helped me in other areas (appetite has really improved yay 😃).

Over the spring and summer my VA consumption hasn’t been as low as I’d like because of travel the the upheaval of moving, so that might be a factor.

But what Grant just mentioned in his five year update post*, the concept of “more-tox”, is pretty much how I’ve been rationalizing it to myself so far:

“And, as I’ve written about before, some people go into a “detox” phase and then get worse. Therefore, I think the “detox” phase could be a “more-tox” phase. I’ve discussed this phenomenon with an academic researcher. We both suspect that it is due to more retinol esters getting released from the liver. It is quite possibly due to the liver starting to normalize its size and is part of the recovery process from a fatty liver condition. Likewise, it could be due to the adipose tissues normalizing in size too.”

One thing that has bugged me though, is WHY THE HECK does my body decide that it needs to lower my adipose tissues (I’ve lost 30 pounds very, very slowly and steadily since starting low-VA), WHILE LEAVING MY BRAIN SWIMMING IN INFLAMMATION!?!? (Sorry to get intense, but it’s NOT how I would’ve handled the detox if I were in charge lol. 😤)

When I gained the weight (reaching almost double my lowest weight) in eating disorder recovery, my brain got SO. MUCH. BETTER. But since starting low-VA, my brain definitely appreas to have gone backwards (“swimming” head, tingly sensation, “hot” and “cool” sensations, cycles of worsening mental health.) Overall the fatigue/brainfog part is pretty much the same as it has been since recovery—not getting much worse or better as far as I can tell. There are a few days where I think my energy is improving, but then my brain feels hungover again and I want to sleep. It’s hard to tell what’s going on when you’re trying to keep your head above water, but I think it’s been that fairly consistant pattern since maybe year 2 or 3 of ED recovery.

How I understand it is that ED recovery moved the toxic VA into storage, increasing my liver, increasing my fat, protecting me during that time, but now that the body is removing it from storage my brain is exposed to more of it again? Maybe once it’s all gone my brain will breathe a sigh of relief? Or maybe my brain is just permanently damaged because it wasn’t able to develop propertly when I was a child and teen. Or maybe VA isn’t my problem. It’s hard to know...

There’s a study I’ll have to dig up, which I read several months ago that gave me some insight into why, if VA is causing inflammation in my brain, why my brain might be so vulnerabile to it, when it seems that in most people that’s the last part to go (alzheimer’s usually shows up in the elderly after other areas of their health have been a concern, right?)

Anyway I guess I’m rambling a bit. I need to go, but I will try to post a more focused update at some point (hopefully by the 9 month mark)! 

Thanks for reaching out, empirebuilder, and let me know if you start a progress thread of your own as I’d like to follow your journey as well.

____________________________________________

*Here’s Grant’s Five Year Update post: https://ggenereux.blog/2019/08/11/five-year-update/

Quote from Sarabeth on October 24, 2019, 8:05 pm

Puddleduck,

No pressure with the move and everything, but I am fascinated by your updates and theories and ideas about mental health, etc., and look forward to more updates. 🙂 I have not been at this as long as you, but I have been noticing cycles with my own mental health, which I HOPE is "detox" and not "another mistaken rabbit hole" like the cod liver oil et al turned out to be...

One thing that continues for us is that my child with the most severe eating problems has had a consistently enormously larger appetite since we've begun Low A eating. This child now eats perhaps 1/3 more calories, but most importantly, is feeding independantly, mostly happily... instead of me or my husband spooning food into a moaning, sometimes sobbing, completely not-having-an-appetite child. I can't believe in all my eating disorder research that I never discovered the link to A toxicity...

I'm so grateful to have found it. And I wonder about the future, and whether one needs to do this forever in order to preserve fragile brains etc, or if there are modifications one or two or several years down the line, or...?

It's a fascinating and exhausting adventure. I am also curious to hear about any changes in CFS, which is one family member's chief complaint...

Regards,

Sarabeth

Quote from DWL on October 24, 2019, 9:21 pm

Quote from Sarabeth on October 24, 2019, 8:05 pm

Puddleduck,

No pressure with the move and everything, but I am fascinated by your updates and theories and ideas about mental health, etc., and look forward to more updates. I have not been at this as long as you, but I have been noticing cycles with my own mental health, which I HOPE is "detox" and not "another mistaken rabbit hole" like the cod liver oil et al turned out to be...

One thing that continues for us is that my child with the most severe eating problems has had a consistently enormously larger appetite since we've begun Low A eating. This child now eats perhaps 1/3 more calories, but most importantly, is feeding independantly, mostly happily... instead of me or my husband spooning food into a moaning, sometimes sobbing, completely not-having-an-appetite child. I can't believe in all my eating disorder research that I never discovered the link to A toxicity...

I'm so grateful to have found it. And I wonder about the future, and whether one needs to do this forever in order to preserve fragile brains etc, or if there are modifications one or two or several years down the line, or...?

It's a fascinating and exhausting adventure. I am also curious to hear about any changes in CFS, which is one family member's chief complaint...

Regards,

Sarabeth

Sara Beth and all, I recently read,  The Vitamin A Detox Diet for Kids:  A Parent's Guide, bby Mary Voogt (forward by Dr. Garrett Smith).  I found the book to be helpful;  it's available in paperback and Kindle editions.  Can't seem to underline on the phone.😟

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quote from lil chick on October 25, 2019, 7:06 am

Yay--another book in the annals of the vitamin-A over-haul genre!