Quote from SheilaE on May 21, 2019, 5:55 pm

Hello , I thought I should introduce myself and share my experience with the low A diet since the last week of February 2019.

I feel incredibly lucky to have randomly chanced upon a comment (I can’t remember from which website now) about Grant’s theory in February. I remember feeling quite skeptical but the commenter gave just enough information to tweak my interest so I half-heartedly typed in the website and started in with the first eBook. Well, if I hadn’t had to sleep or eat or walk the dog etc. I think I could have read them all in one sitting. I was flabbergasted with what I was reading. It was all there. He managed to connect so many dots.

About me: I was the 3rd child of 5. I have 3 grown children. I’m 64 now. I’ve worked in hospitals as an orthopaedic staff nurse and medical floor staff nurse.

Past: Even though I was a thin child, since one of my sisters had a weight problem, we all had to drink skim milk when we were growing up. I’m sure it was fortified. (Canada)

Adelle Davis was a popular nutritionist in the 70’s. One of her books convinced me early on of the importance of vitamin A for skin problems. I had keratosis pilaris (KP) since about age 12. Basically KP means your skin pores get all plugged up. I remember buying halibut liver oil pills (more potent than cod liver oil) when I was in my 20’s trying to correct this condition. I remember my dad giving me a kiss on the cheek when I was about 12 and he noticed the ‘rough’ skin there. He told me in no uncertain terms, I just wasn’t washing my skin well enough. Don't get me wrong. He was the best father I could have asked for in so many ways. Still, it was hard for me to hear this and I felt I was certainly doing something wrong.

I think Grant described acne as being caused by vitamin A which causes the sebaceous glands to swell with lipids.  KP sounds like acne but without the infection although the pores can look inflamed. I remember the top of my thighs looked as if they were covered with red dots. It wasn’t too noticeable to others but I wasn’t comfortable with it at all. The clogged pores were on my cheeks, the back of my upper arms, upper thighs, and even my forearms. Over the decades as I slowly started losing the hair on my arms and legs, my skin became a bit smoother in these places.

In my late 30’s, a doctor handed me a tube of cream and assured me this would clear up my ‘rough’ skin. I only used it a few times because I remember it was so incredibly drying. Now I think it probably contained retinol or RA but I don’t know for sure.

In my 50’s the clogged pores started in my eyebrows and forehead. Annoying in the eyebrows!…maybe retinoids trying to exit through my remaining hair follicles? The hair on my head is still abundant enough even though I lose a bit more than I’d like, every time I wash my hair.

For decades I've always wondered why, during my first pregnancy at 28, I had severe morning sickness. I remember being so nauseous and vomited up very bright yellow/slightly green very, very acid liquid most mornings for 3 months. (sorry for the details)  Now I think it was my body trying to get rid of retinoic acid from my liver for the sake of my baby’s health. I remember worrying my growing baby was not getting good nutrition those first 3 months. Now I think my body decided I didn’t need nutrition so much as a good housecleaning! My firstborn had feet and eye issues that were corrected surgically. I think now, if I hadn’t had morning sickness, maybe there would have been more problems. Perhaps the degree of vitamin A accumulation is why some women get N+V and others don’t.

The only other time I had ongoing nausea was when I took birth control pills in my late 20’s. I stopped taking them within a few weeks because of the nausea. Since oral contraceptives cause vitamin A to increase in the body, maybe this nausea was an indication of how much vitamin A my body was already storing.

I was diagnosed with osteopenia in my 40’s. My doctor was very concerned and told me to take Tums for extra calcium. Of course, I took a much better liquid calcium supplement from the health food store. All it did was make my shoulders ache terribly so I stopped taking it. I’m relieved to now have an explanation for bone loss that makes sense and better yet,  I can stop its progression.

Speaking of bone loss, I’m going to the dentist next week. I’ve noticed since eating low A my teeth have less calculus buildup, especially noticed between my lower front teeth. It will be interesting to see what the hygienist has to say. I have some gum recession. Perhaps this will improve over time.

I had to retire from my  job a few years earlier than I had planned because I just couldn’t run around for 12 hours anymore. This was due to left hip pain which very slowly got worse. I eventually had an X-ray which showed all the usual arthritic changes; narrowed joint capsule, thinning cartilage and osteophytes (bone spurs basically). I thought I might heal if I just quit work. So I quit, but it continued to get worse over the next year which was very disappointing for me. I was trying to eat really well. This included a variety of supplements, regular greens, and a weekly ‘nutrient-dense’ liver meal.

I exercised my hip very carefully but still it got so I couldn’t climb stairs. I had one cortisone injection which took the edge off the pain for about 10 days. I was reluctant to take ibuprophen esp. when I learned it damages your joints over time. It never took the pain away very well anyway. Some nights, just lying still in bed, my hip would ache terribly from my hip  right down my leg.  Any extra walking during the day would 'do me in' pain-wise. When in the kitchen, I would think twice before heading out to the garage to get something out of the freezer. As many of you must know, chronic pain is so exhausting. It even changed the way I breathed.

About 2 years after leaving my job I went to a dispensary and bought some cannabis oil (after viewing a Rick Simpson video..another no nonsense engineer!) I bought an Indica THC:CBD 1:1 cannabis oil which was formulated for pain and inflammation. Well, within 3 days I was hardly limping anymore!. I could hardly believe it! I only took a rice grain size of the oil before bed and my hip slowly felt better and better.  I think I read that cannabis oil is involved somehow with vitamin A metabolism. I’ll have to go back and look for  posts about it. I noticed in our Christmas photos that year my face looked more balanced. This was after taking cannabis oil for about 3 months.  I thought of this when I read about bones ‘untwisting' on a low A diet. Maybe cannabis oil does this ‘untwisting' as well in a way that involves vit A metabolism. I had one adverse side effect from taking the cannabis oil which was loose BM’s for 5 months but I kept taking it since it was the only thing that made my hip feel better.

So, my hip pain was better but not near 100% and I still had not-so-great days. I felt as if I was just keeping my head above water. I still had a lot of stiffness in my hip upon awakening and after sitting.

I was very grateful for the cannabis oil improving my life but I always wondered in the back of my mind, why did I need this remedy at all? Why did I start getting arthritis symptoms in my 50’s? My Mom got her first symptoms in her 60’s (same left hip!) and ended up with hip replacement surgery in her early 70’s. Neither of my grandmothers had any hip issues at all and lived well into their 80’s. Grant’s research make sense of this.

I’ve been on a low vitamin A diet since the end of February.  It’s been a big change considering I used to have 2 home-made lattes/day, an egg and toast every morning, yogurt with granola, cheese/ham/tomato sandwich for lunch. I also made a lot of dinners with tomato and cheese as ingredients. I always tried to have at least one green vegetable and always ‘knew' I should aim for more. I took cod liver oil/multivitamins and encouraged my family to take them too. Sigh.

I stopped having eggs and cheese while reading Grant's books and I’m down to 1 tsp. cream in my (weak) coffee. I’m eating white/brown rice (preferring white), beef/bison/occasionally turkey breast, black beans/navy beans, cauliflower/peeled zucchini/celery root/mushrooms/sauerkraut, some red wine. This week, for some reason, I’m not eating so many vegetables and have even dropped the beans for now. I’m actually enjoying the rice with meat alone.

I have 2 slices of my own bread made with 90% organic white and 10% sprouted spelt flour. This bread rises slowly in the oven overnight with 1/4 tsp. yeast per 2 loaves. It’s supposed to be easier to digest but I’m always thinking I should stop eating it to see if I notice a difference.

I started whipping up butter in a food processor 1/2 and 1/2 with grapeseed oil or light olive oil and use this moderately on my bread.

My left hip has felt very well for the last 2 months and without any cannabis. I have 1 ml. of the cannabis oil left in the fridge but I’m just not inclined to use it at all now. Most mornings I have almost no stiffness nor after sitting so that’s a huge change.

Off and on, over the first 2 months of eating low A, I had quite a few days with a diffuse kind of hip pain that caused me to limp but it was tolerable and oddly, equally uncomfortable in both hips. Previously my right hip never hurt. I think it could be a sign that both hips are getting healthier. I mean I think I should feel something if osteophytes are dissolving (which I hope they are). I can do stairs again fairly well even first thing in the am.

After almost 3 months on a low A diet, the blocked pores in and over my eyebrows and on my forehead are still there but smaller and less numerous.  I’ve had  a few breakouts though of small pimples on my forehead, along my hairline, and above my upper lip.

This past week I noticed my facial skin was peeling esp. on my forehead. My face looked and felt quite inflamed. I started to realize how awful real full blown facial eczema must be! I only got a hint of it. Anyway, I was worried and had one egg then some (grass-fed full fat) yogurt to maybe stop the detox, if that is what it was. It feels less inflamed now. I don’t plan to go back to eating eggs/yogurt though.

I have noticed that in the last few years any time I accidentally bump against something, it hurts so much more than I think it should. I say to my husband, "that should not have hurt so much, I hardly touched it!”  Now I think this might be due to inflammation right under my skin. I’ll see if that improves but I won’t go out of my way to knock into things to find out!

I went through quite a few days last month where the skin around my eyes was so very itchy; especially the inner corners. If I rubbed my eyes the itch got much, much worse. I had to really consciously refrain from rubbing my eyes. I’ve never had this problem before. This itchiness is pretty much gone now.

Sometimes the outer corner of my right eye ‘leaks'. I’ve spent a few days blotting it continuously in the past 3 months which is excoriating to the skin there. This happened, now and then, before going low A too. I predict this will go away for good one day.

I’ve experienced a gritty feeling in my eyes off and on in the last 3 months but not as much now. One day I will make an appt. with an eye doctor to see what they say. I never filled a Rx for stronger lenses last time I went (before learning about retinol). Crossing fingers now that I can lower the Rx.

I was sneezing more too, off and on, during the first 2 months of eating low A, and this, too, is happening less as time goes on.

I’ve been donating blood for the last few years. They like my O - blood (universal donor) and I was trying to lower my ferritin too. After giving 10 units over the last few years my ferritin was 130 so I can only imagine what it was before I started donating. Great to hear donating blood might be also lowering retinoids!  And great to read on Garrett’s website that maybe my ferritin can eventually stabilize at a lower level with a low A diet without having to make so many donations.

I recently bought some unfortified organic flour from King Arthur Flour in the states, because in Canada all white flour must be fortified with iron. People with iron overload problems should certainly have the choice to buy white flour without added iron no matter where they live!

When I get home from donating, I take off the bandage on my inner elbow and there is an itchy red line that mimics the shape of the bandage. The itchiness and redness last for days. This rash and itchiness puzzled me until I read about the koebner effect. I’ll see if that changes over time when I give blood.

My blood pressure started going up out of the blue a couple years ago. I thought it was white coat syndrome with a new doctor because it isn’t usually high. I hope that this will not be a problem in the future.

I do still worry about eating so many carbs now, mostly due to all the low carb information I’ve taken in over the years. In any case, I feel much more satiated eating more carbs now.

Diabetes and high blood pressure are in my family. I have to remind myself that the root cause of diabetes is probably not the carbs but the RA damaging the epithelial cells of the pancreatic ducts.

But then I think of insulin resistance and hyperinsulinemia, and wonder if for some people, the insulin gets released just fine but the cells of the body become damaged somehow so insulin can’t be taken up.  (?) or maybe the insulin itself is damaged before it gets to the cells. (?)

I’m sleeping better most nights; getting up usually only once and I’m able to get back to sleep. I still have few restless nights, now and then.

I have a feeling of throat fullness some days. Not sure what that’s about. Perhaps thyroid related?

The outer 1/2 of my eyebrows have been gone for a long time. Not holding my breath that they will grow back but that would be nice.

I’m also hoping word retrieval will improve for me. In conversations I find have to pause a lot waiting for the right word. Actually I’ve had this issue my whole life. It would be  great if eventually I could trust myself to get the right words out in real time. I have always thought I was just ‘ shy' but I think it’s been more of a brain fog issue all along that has made me a quieter person.

Grant asked us to share our experiences so that is my aim in writing this. Sorry it’s so long.

Thank you Grant for all your hard work and for sharing what you learned. Your recovery from so many serious conditions is amazing and inspiring. I’ve read your books twice and found I picked up more the second time round. I continue to learn from the experiences of everyone in this forum.

I’m sure I have a ways to go but I feel hopeful that this new knowledge about retinol just might rescue me from an aging trajectory that had me quite worried.

It is not easy to talk with others about this. I’m thinking the best time will be when/if people notice any changes in me and ask 'what have you been doing’?  In the meantime I’m trying to put together a summary for my family that they might read one day. I’m afraid I have cried wolf too often over the years thinking I’d discovered the magic bullet. The last one was iodine; definitely necessary, but not necessarily a magic bullet.

Today I was at the vet trying to tell her about this retinol theory. I told her maybe because I had often given my dog 1 tbsp. of raw liver as a topper on her home made organic dog food (also pumpkin as an ingredient in the dog food recipe), she now has gingivitis and teeth that need to be removed. The vet was basically closed to this information and said I’m too hard on myself ; it’s not my fault and these dental problems just happen... especially to smaller dogs. I told her there has to be a ‘cause' and small dogs have smaller livers etc. but she wasn't buying it. I’m sure she was sincere. I’m sure she thought I was just another crazy, anxious pet owner. I noticed the waiting room sold bags of dried liver and sweet potato dog treats.

I'm reading about coffee and wine in this forum now and am feeling inspired to give them both up. I never though I'd ever give up eggs or milk/cheese so anything is possible. 🙂

Best to all, Sheila