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Sand's progress report
Old user Arena here, recap of old posts:
I poisoned myself with high VA foods like dairy, liver and eggs, for what was, in retrospect, throughout my entire life. I suffered from allergies and eczema since an early age. I was always super active and in great shape, but my health started deteriorating in the second half of my 20s, thinking I suffered from rosacea and such, I probably was just suffering from eating a lot of high VA foods. As an attempt to cure some of my problems, I tried Accutane, maybe 8 years ago now, which just completely knocked me out. My eyes and meibomian glands suffered from the beginning, but I powered through the isotretinoin poisoning like a champion, thinking this would cure my problems, I just had to endure. As a result, I don't have much of my meibomian glands left.
I've been following Grant's diet since 1st of May 2020, being super strict. Since the beginning I've been eating black beans, rice, beef, white potatoes, a white non-VA bread, peeled apples and some berries. Occasionally I will have turkey as well, cabbage and white mushrooms. For the last year I've been increasing my meat intake a lot, and I've completely removed black beans. My eyes got really bad with them, and this last year has been extremely stable. Best it has been in 8 years. The last months I've also introduced some pork cuts and bacon. Funny thing is that 3 years ago I could not tolerate meat high in fat, but now I can eat all types of fatty cuts.
Blood results from June, and historically:
| Vitamin A (retinol) | umol/L | ||
| Date | Result | Range | |
| 01.06.2023 | 0,42 | >0,7 | |
| 09.05.2022 | 1,26 | >0,7 | |
| 10.08.2021 | 1,12 | >0,7 | |
| 01.06.2021 | 1,4 | >0,7 | |
| 15.12.2020 | 1,3 | >0,7 | |
| 07.09.2020 | 1,7 | >0,7 | |
| 30.07.2020 | 1,5 | >0,7 | |
| 05.05.2020 | 1,8 | >0,7 | |
| 16.10.2017 | 2,2 | >0,7 |
Not sure why I have this insane drop. I've been on antibiotics for the last couple of months due to an infection, maybe that has played in. My iron is also a bit low, but maybe because I've been donating blood 3-4 times a year. My PTH is 10 pmol/L (normal range 1.5-8). My calcium is dead center of the normal range, and my Vitamin D is a bit below center of the normal range. Natrium a bit below normal range. All other minerals and vitamins are normal ranged.
Wow took you 3 years of no VA to be “deficient”, not to mention I feel you could easily jump back into “healthy” range if you ran the test on another day.
Love when people post their results, it’s been so revealing.
Have you seen any improvements?
@tommy yes, it could jump back up. I’m doing another test in 3 months to see what happens. The result from August 2021, where I also had a drop, was from the day after I donated blood (silly me), so that drop I can explain, but this drop is just insane. I think people that promise they can help people get rid of VA quick are just charlatans, this is a journey that will take years.
Like I’m writing, my eyes are a lot better. I can manage life now, and have more hope. Other users have reported their eyes getting better, so fingers crossed. Other improvements, not sure. My facial skin is still super dry, and it has been dry since autumn 2020, so almost immediately after going zero VA, shit hit the fan. Facinating! If you don’t eat VA foods like eggs, symptoms will come back, and we just have to endure. No easy road to heaven! But things gradually get better!
My scalp is also super dry.
This is very good news Arena @sand! Maybe the sudden drop is just an error of the lab (did they shield the blood from the light immediately after drawing it ?)
But maybe it is true. Anyway the fact that your eyes are better is a very important point. I think there is every possibility that after a drop in vA more good news will be coming for your meibomian glands. Most probably the body is healing in invisible but important places first. Also I think that in healing the smallest unreachable places come last, hence the importance of vibration to reach every nook and cranny. Thank you again for your message of hope. Best wishes for your beautiful eyes!
I'm wondering about the infection, as I just went through one. Could it be how you "burned through" some VA?
(of course I have this pet theory that we use VA as a weapon)
I also might wonder if you have lowered the amount of infection in your body, (via the antibiotics) could it be that the body has decided not to circulate so much VA?
Thanks @ourania! Maybe something was wrong, we will see! I can only speculate right now, but since I am actually doing blood work, we don’t have to wait long! Best wishes to you!
@lil-chick good thoughts, and your wisdom is as good as mine, we will see in the long run! Maybe the infection has played a role. I will test again soon!
@jessica2 good point, I am not sure! I drew inspiration from your own thread about it (https://ggenereux.blog/discussion/topic/pork-meat-retinoic-acid/). I was in need of extra calories due to my infection the last two months, I was getting too lean, and after reading your thread concluded it was OK! If you disagree or concluded that pork has much VA, I will listen with great interest!
@jessica2 I trust eating as close to low/zero VA as possible. I have not noticed anything from pork, symptom-wise. But, I don’t trust that necessarily. If you or others can show me pork contains moderate to high amounts of VA, then I’ll stop immediately. I thought your conclusion from your thread was that it was comparable to beef. From your comment above, I must have misunderstood you. Would you be so kind as to enlighten me?
It varies a lot depending on the feed though. Just like the high PUFA they have.
Oh I’m so happy to hear your dry eyes have improved such that they are no longer incapacitating!! 😁 🥳 What a major relief that is (I cannot imagine how awful it must’ve been)...
Thank you for sharing your numbers, too @sand! It’s great you’ve been able to get tests regularly.
Insofar as pork goes, I dislike it so I don’t eat it often, but lard and bacon has never caused me to experience a “retinol reaction” like herring, mussels, eggs, butter, or cheese. So imo either the “lard factor” is a myth, or I tolerate retinoic acid far better than I do retinol, [ETA] OR the dose isn’t high enough to cause a problem?
I’m glad it’s helping you, anyway. 🙂 Maybe you actually need the extra PUFA from pork this stage in your recovery.
Your observation about black beans is interesting. Did you ever have copper toxicity issues? Glad you’ve made adjustments that work for ya, regardless of reasons. I think paying attention to our own reactions carefully is a challenging skill, so it’s inspiring to see you persisting forward in that.
All the best to you in your recovery from the infection.
@puddleduck thanks for your kind words, as always 🙂
Yes, I never noticed anything from pork the last 6 months either, but when I had it 2 years ago, I got a reaction in my eyes, so either that was a coincidence or I’m also able to tolerate it better. Or different pork has different VA/RA. I have no idea. I’m in the dark tbh…
I don’t think I’ve had copper toxicity, I think I only have one blood work data point on copper from 2 years ago and it is OK. But maybe, I did eat a lot of chocolate before 🙂 I thought it might have had anything to do with oxalates, or fiber, not sure. I eat white beans sometimes, with little problem, so maybe it is not the fiber.
I’ll do some more experimentation with the black beans…