Low Carb diet induced diffuse MPB, calcification, thyroid or liver?

Hi there everyone.

First of all I need to say that I am very familiar with hair loss forums but have never posted in any of them till today.

I am familiar with alkaline acidic body PH and its effects on calcification (in theory). DHT and other hormones. Then there is the liver connection since I have non-alcoholic fatty liver (very mild) but on the other hand my hair was perfectly fine when I had the ultrasound check up to confirm the fatty liver. However what I cannot still figure out is what exactly kicked off my sudden but continuous diffuse hair loss. Here is my story:

I am now 32 years old , I always had very thick hair until my hair loss started. My overall health was fine except that I had heartburn issues. To my knowledge this never affected my hair though. After seeing my doctor for my heartburn she prescribed acid pump inhibitors, which I used for 9 months. This was when I was 26-27 years old. I gained about 10 pounds and I attributed this to the the drug I was taking. I was still fit but did not like the extra pounds because I never was overweight before. APH drug made me all bloated and everything. Anyways my hair was still fine no problems there. Then a coworker who was really overweight did the famous southbeach diet (low carb) and lost a lot of weight in few months. This encouraged me to do this low carb diet and I started. For those who have done this know it is a freaking tough diet. No carbs whatsoever for two weeks and then introduce some slowly over the weeks. I lost the 10 pounds I gained and felt good.

About 2 months after the diet I had massive shedding. One thing I noticed was that the hair that was shedding did not have white bulbs like the slow/normal hair loss prior to this shed. They looked like their roots were burnt, literally. no bulb whatsoever. Hair I lose now still is in the same burnt-like way.

I looked online and saw that fad diets cause hair loss and this should be a temporary shed due to the stress body endured during the fad diet. Well this was 5 years ago and I still shed.

Whatever it was this diet started a reaction in my body which did not exist before. I have mostly frontal diffuse hair loss now. Last year I started using 1/4 tablet of proscar three times a week and continued for about 6 months. I did see improvements after the initial shed. However this drug also made me bloated, it felt like my body retained too much water, it also caused body acne. Since I am not a drug fan to start with I dropped the proscar about two months ago.

I started taking magnesium (amino acid chelate) and Icelandic Kelp about a month ago after reading Prague's thread. I also started Vitamin K2 and D. I have always used Omega-3 DHA so that as well I take.

Anyways I don't where but I think I saw in one of the forums that low carb diets induce severe calcification due to their highly acidic nature but dont know if this is the cause. Then there is also the theory about low carb diets straining liver and gallblader creating sludge and stones and pumping toxins back to the body theory.

What do you think? Anyone else who experienced hair loss after a low carb diet. Any scientific theories? Any suggestions as to what else I can do?

Thanks very much

One reason my story is important is that most people with sudden (but not temporary) hair loss usually cannot identify how their hair loss started or what exactly preceded it. In my case I know what hit the trigger though I dont know the underlying mechanisms. This may be helpful to find a pattern in the diagnosis and hopefully treatment of hairloss.

By the way I am taking MK-4 for K2 and D3. I know there is a talk about MK-7 being better than MK-4 but this below site does not think so.

http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2009/03/are-mk-4-and-mk-7-forms-of-vitamin-k2.html

idyes - The entire motion of meat causing acidic blood is out dated theories (proven false).

Also, I believe Prague means something different when he writes about pH balance.

A low carbohydrate diet is for most people, much more effective than a high carb diet for metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance or for cases of NAFLD.

I believe Prague is referring to electron balance. Diseased tissue is loaded with protons, and all degenerative diseases suffer from electron depletion.

Insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome and NAFLD all suffer from electron depletion.

pH in the gut is grossly different from blood pH. Alkalinity/Acid balance is misrepresented and far from scientific, and is one of the most misunderstood and widely spread notions about health by authors of books without any scientific backing.

However, as far as ACV goes. It does promote better glucose/insulin regulation.

Opting to 'calm' an over acid stomach is following the erroneous notions of the pharmaceutical industry.

A quick explanation on this here: http://www.immortalhair.org/apps/blog/show/1762722-stomach-acid-is-essential-for-your-health

In addition to your regimen, would be a very good idea to take antioxidants. I have helped many patients with difficult liver diseases over come their problems. NAFLD is greatly helped by lipoic acid, NAC, D3, Vitamin C (Metabolic-C), Ecklonia Cava and Selenium.

My hair loss became much more pronounced when I changed my diet to no gluten and dairy. I lost a ton of weight (i was already on the skinny side) and my scalp itch started.


It may have been a coincidence, who knows.

I do find that when I take out potatoes and carbs, I feel permanently hungry and never feel full. I know some people say that this passes after a while, but I never found that. I now eat lots of potatoes, gluten free bread and my weight has risen again.

I guess at the end of the day, we are all different. Something that works for someone else may not always work for you.

brandnew - You sound like a carb type.

Try this test out:

http://www.naturalhealthyellowpages.com/metabolic/self_test.html

idyes wrote:Hi there everyone.

Then there is also the theory about low carb diets straining liver and gallblader creating sludge and stones and pumping toxins back to the body theory.

I don't see the liver/hair loss connection, as hairloss isn't really a symptom of liver damage. That said, Kidney disease does cause hairloss. This is something that is often discussed on kidney help forums. Also, I've never seen a person with kidney probs not have hairloss to some degree, male or female. Not saying that you have kidney damage, just that the liver likely isn't a culprit.

CS: Is Vitamin C (Metabolic-C) the same as PureWay C ?

I've been reading that buffered calcium ascorbate, magnesium ascorbate are better than ascorbic acid (especially for protein type people).

Is this info correct?

CausticSymmetry wrote:brandnew - You sound like a carb type.

Try this test out:

http://www.naturalhealthyellowpages.com/metabolic/self_test.html

Hi I did this test and I too am a carb type according to it. It sort of parallels the blood type diet. My blood type is A+ and, this carb type almost 100% fits the A+ type diet.

CS: I know the difference between body PH and blood PH. I was referring to the body PH and I think there is a consensus on meat and animal proteins creating an acidic body PH. As soon as I started on Magnesium the taste of my saliva changed, I could feel it. It is more base now I am sure. however whether this will help with my hair loss is unknown at this point.

What we need focus on is what could have changed in my body when I did this freaking low carb diet. It really messed up my system in a bad way and even though I went back to the regular diet after that the hair loss stayed. It is not a coincidental thing. I've read many people's hair loss stories most are not sure about what exactly was the reason that started all. It could be this and it could be that. In my case I know for sure, which is why I think this is important for many. What I dont know is why the low carb diet kick started this hair loss for me, which did not exist at all for me.

Calcification theory in that way made all the sense for me, since the severely acidic nature of low carb diet may have caused scalp calcification, but again I am not all sure, we need to prove it with more real life examples. This was someone's post in a different forum that I cannot locate anymore. I dont remember where I saw it. The guy claimed a low carb diet was a waiting disaster for many men with hair loss tendencies. From what I remember he was not supported by the forum. I wish I could find him or something. But it does not matter because if I find people like me and find a pattern then we may be one step closer to understand the underlying mechanism of diffuse type hair loss. I know DHT still plays a role but at least in my case I know there was something else bigger than DHT. DHT is only a supporting factor. Or if I have to use a metaphor DHT was like small army waiting for the breach of the high walls of the castle. It could not do anything before but was able to after.

The million dollar question is what happens in a low carb diet that kick starts non-temporary hair loss?
Thanks a bunch for your help.

Hey Idyes.

I've barked up the pH tree extensively and let me tell you it is fickle and not as easy as the Vegan celebrities make it out to be. Many, many factors at work far beyond diet.

actionHey Idyes.

I've barked up the pH tree extensively and let me tell you it is fickle and not as easy as the Vegan celebrities make it out to be. Many, many factors at work far beyond diet.

Thanks. I am not sure about the body PH myself but could not come across to anything that made sense for me also. Think of a guy who never had anything remotely close to MPB until 27 years old and after a low carb diet sudden and continuous hair loss becomes part of his life. See what I mean?. It did not start gradually like many others. It definitely started right after this diet and never went away. I mean I still have a good amount of hair but diffuse frontal thinning. It is so obvious in my case I am really desperate to pinpoint what changed in my body for the worse. It was definetely started by the diet but giving up the diet did not reverse situation, so the damage was permanent. If I can understand the damaging process there may be hope to stop or reverse it. That's a later issue but at this point someone who is knowledgeable about body chemistry and nutrition who has theories about this situation is what I am looking for. Prague has theories and they make sense (at least for some people) but he never talked about a low carb diet and its effects on body chemistry or never tied it up to his theories.

PS: by the way is there an edit function for posted messages? I noticed typos and grammar issues with some of my posts but could not see how I can edit them.

idyes,

Would recommend to donate blood as often as possible!

jdp701 wrote:idyes,

Would recommend to donate blood as often as possible!

jdp701: is this a specific advice for my case, based on what you read about me?
or a general advice for MPB treatment?
if specific to me, could you briefly explain why?
Thanks

as you can see I am inclined towards the body ph and calcification theory, but then according to this below paper , rapid weight loss may cause formation of gallstones and hence the toxic build up that messes up hormones (according to some who tie liver to diffuse hair loss). I think there is a thread in this forum about this.

Everhart JE. Contributions of obesity and weight loss to gallstone disease. Ann Intern Med 1993;119:1029–35.

idyes Yesterday at 9:44 pm

...she prescribed acid pump inhibitors...

Do you mean proton pump inhibitor for acid reflux?

tonyj wrote:

idyes Yesterday at 9:44 pm

...she prescribed acid pump inhibitors...

Do you mean proton pump inhibitor for acid reflux?

YES.

idyes wrote:

jdp701 wrote:idyes,

Would recommend to donate blood as often as possible!

jdp701: is this a specific advice for my case, based on what you read about me?
or a general advice for MPB treatment?
if specific to me, could you briefly explain why?
Thanks

For you. Others on this forum would also benefit to varying degrees.

Some on this forum take ALA but would recommend blood donation for you especially. Will help with kidneys, liver, glucose, insulin resistance, calcification, oxidation, infections, etc. All from iron. Too much to post. Can google. It's been mentioned very briefly in past but few ever go through with it so I never post about it.

jdp -

Been meaning to ask you, do you still feel the need to donate blood after your Rife experience?
I'm heading out and beginning donations soon, but was curious.

Yes, Rife won't remove iron from body but doctrine works very well to help oxidized iron or similiar iron issue that even IP6 couldn't help with, IME.

Blood donation is better than any hyaluronic acid supplement as well so many could save lots of money there.

jdp701 wrote:Yes, Rife won't remove iron from body but doctrine works very well to help oxidized iron or similiar iron issue that even IP6 couldn't help with, IME.

Blood donation is better than any hyaluronic acid supplement as well so many could save lots of money there.

Thanks, getting on this soon. And yeah, so far chelation has been fantastic on my skin. Read a post of yours on curezone where you mentioned you could measure mercury toxicity by earwax, nose and I think forehead. And this is very true in my case. Amazing difference. Keratosis Pilaris on arms has seen a big decrease as well.

Seems like everything is Iron fortified as well these days. Don't want to be deficient and unhealthy now do we...

Edit - How many times a month do you usually donate if you don't mind?

Chelation goes so much better when on the doctrine, IME. That's where I really notice it when Newport isn't behind the wheel. Metals before bugs, lol.

Blood donation, they only let you donate every 3 or 4 months. I forget which. Personally, just recently, been donating blood at home (DIY) every week to speed up iron removal. Previously I did every 4 or 5 months.


Some quotes on iron...

"ferritin... is often elevated in humans from chronic infection, inflammation or disease...

Fatty liver, a condition that affects 35% of Americans, results from excess iron being stored in the liver.

... utilize iron as their primary growth factor, as do bacteria, viruses and fungi.

Iron plays a predominant role in virtually every disease.

blood-letting ... brings about a 40 - 55 percent improvement in insulin concentrations. "

http://www.longevinex.com/articles/a-unifying-theory-of-aging-part-4/

jdp701 wrote:Chelation goes so much better when on the doctrine, IME. That's where I really notice it when Newport isn't behind the wheel. Metals before bugs, lol.

Blood donation, they only let you donate every 3 or 4 months. I forget which. Personally, just recently, been donating blood at home (DIY) every week to speed up iron removal. Previously I did every 4 or 5 months.


Some quotes on iron...

"ferritin... is often elevated in humans from chronic infection, inflammation or disease...

Fatty liver, a condition that affects 35% of Americans, results from excess iron being stored in the liver.

... utilize iron as their primary growth factor, as do bacteria, viruses and fungi.

Iron plays a predominant role in virtually every disease.

blood-letting ... brings about a 40 - 55 percent improvement in insulin concentrations. "

http://www.longevinex.com/articles/a-unifying-theory-of-aging-part-4/

Yeah, I read that and was assuming you probably did. Used to get strange relief as a teenager from bloodletting as well during a kinda crazy phase.

I'm seeing a girl who used to be a Veterinary Assistant, brought it up to her and she's all for administering.

I've actually spent quite a bit of time thinking about Iron since reading all of your posts... two thoughts that occurred to me where one, the heavy fortification of such metals into our food... and two, antagonistic metals. What metals correspond or compete with Iron? Could be a deficiency / oxidation behind some of the problem. I'll look into it more but why does Boron jump to mind here?

Edit

The addition of poorly water-soluble Mg compounds was shown to result in a drastic reduction in the amount of Fe contained in the supernatant. These data are in agreement with those reported in the literature. However, no decrease in the amount of dissolved Fe was noted in the presence of Mg aspartate hydrochloride. These findings confirm that poorly water-soluble Mg compounds have a high capacity to adsorb Fe and, thus, interfere with Fe absorption.

Not sure if said quote is applicable to us or would work similarly to Magnesium Citrate / Malate / etc.

The balance of the three minerals, copper, zinc, and iron, is critically important in preventing and correcting thyroid diseases. Each of these three minerals antagonizes and can deplete the other two. Many times the antagonistic and depletion effects are not due to competition in absorption, but because these minerals work together.

We can think of these three minerals as corners of a triangle. Each one affects the other two. If any one of the three is ingested in large amounts it depletes the other two. Likewise if one of the three gets deficient, then the other two may not be utilized and therefore build up in the liver, hair, or other tissues.

For example, if zinc gets too high in the body, copper and iron will get depleted with the result of anemia and (probably) hyperthyroidism. If two of the three minerals are high, then the third mineral will get very depleted. For example, high intake of both iron and copper could deplete zinc and cause hypothyroidism.

Sounds like what we want is higher intake of a quality copper and zinc, colloidal or angstrom. What do you think? when relying on Concentrace or something similar I'm sure the ratio's are pretty even, which I don't think is what we want.

An interesting pair to look at is copper and iron. Copper and iron work together to form hemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying molecule in the red blood cell. The two minerals have to be present is a balanced amount, usually about 5:1, and if one of the two is supplied in higher amounts it can cause the other to be depleted.

Looking at the probable oxidation of copper not to mention deficiency and the fortification of food with Iron, I'd be willing to bet that the ratio is more like 1:5.

Iron may have caused injury to the thyroid, followed by the development of antithyroid antibodies and hypothyroidism. The frequency of thyroid disorders in men with hemochromatosis is about 80 times that of men in the general population.

It is concluded that hyperthyroidism increases the susceptibility of the liver to the toxic effects of iron, which seems to be related to the development of a severe oxidative stress status in the tissue, thus contributing to the concomitant liver injury and impairment of Kupffer cell phagocytosis and particle-induced respiratory burst activity.

Thyroid hormone modulates the interaction between iron regulatory proteins and the ferritin mRNA iron-responsive element.

Leedman PJ, Stein AR, Chin WW, Rogers JT

Department of Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.

The cytoplasmic iron regulatory protein (IRP) modulates iron homeostasis by binding to iron-responsive elements (IREs) in the transferrin receptor and ferritin mRNAs to coordinately regulate transferrin receptor mRNA stability and ferritin mRNA translational efficiency, respectively. These studies demonstrate that thyroid hormone (T3) can modulate the binding activity of the IRP to an IRE in vitro and in vivo. T3 augmented an iron-induced reduction in IRP binding activity to a ferritin IRE in RNA electrophoretic mobility shift assays using cytoplasmic extracts from human liver hepatoma (HepG2) cells. Hepatic IRP binding to the ferritin IRE also diminished after in vivo administration of T3 with iron to rats. In transient transfection studies using HepG2 cells and a human ferritin IRE-chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (H-IRE-CAT) construct, T3 augmented an iron-induced increase in CAT activity by approximately 45%. RNase protection analysis showed that this increase in CAT activity was not due to a change in the steady state level of CAT mRNA. Nuclear T3-receptors may be necessary for this T3-induced response, because the effect could not be reproduced by the addition of T3 directly to cytoplasmic extracts and was absent in CV-1 cells which lack T3-receptors. We conclude that T3 can functionally regulate the IRE binding activity of the IRP. These observations provide evidence of a novel mechanism for T3 to up-regulate hepatic ferritin expression, which may in part contribute to the

elevated serum ferritin levels seen in hyperthyroidism.

Sideroblasts and haemosiderin in thyrotoxicosis.

Lahtinen R

Bone marrow sideroblasts and haemosiderin were studied in 19 thyrotoxic patients before therapy and in the euthyroid state. The proportion of sideroblasts and the amount of haemosiderin were significantly higher in the hyperthyroid than in the euthyroid phase. Pathological sideroblasts with coarse perinuclear iron granules were found before therapy but not in the euthyroid phase. It is concluded that during thyrotoxicosis the supply of iron into erythroblasts is greater than the amount used for haemoglobin synthesis.

^ Should I take from that, that a depressed thyroid would just let the Iron accumulate wherever?

The mineral imbalances in magnesium-deficient rats with dietary iron overload were studied. Forty-four male Wister rats were divided into six groups and fed six diets, two by three, fully crossed: magnesium adequate or deficient, and iron deficient, adequate, or excess. The concentrations of iron, magnesium, calcium, and phosphorus in tissues of the rats were measured. The results were as follows: (1) The excess iron intake reinforced the iron accumulation in liver and spleen of magnesium deficient rats; (2) The saturation of iron binding capacity was enormously elevated in the magnesium deficient rats fed excess iron; and (3) Dietary iron deprivation diminished the degree of calcium deposition in kidney of magnesium deficient rats. These results suggest that magnesium-deprived-rats have abnormal iron metabolism losing homeostatic regulation of plasma iron, and magnesium deficient rats with dietary iron overload may be used as an experimental hemochromatosis model.

The effect of chromium on some parameters related to iron metabolism was investigated. Preliminary experiments showed that this metal ion was taken up by serum proteins and was dependent on the amount of chromium present in the medium. It was also shown that the uptake of iron was reduced significantly in the presence of chromium. In vivo study showed that the serum levels of iron and total iron binding capacity (TIBC) were reduced by 28 and 11%, respectively, following daily administration of chromium (1 mg/kg) for 45 d. Serum ferritin was reduced by 22% under this condition. Hematocrit and hemoglobin levels were also affected in chromium-treated animals and were both reduced by 17%. Spectrophotometric titration of each individual amino acid located in the iron binding site of transferrin revealed that tyrosin might be the most suitable ligand for the binding of chromium to transferrin. These results suggest that chromium may compete with iron in binding to apo-transferrin, and influence iron metabolism and its related biochemical parameters.

^ Stands out to me.

Sorry about writing you a novel jdp.

a
Thanks for mentioning what jdp said about how to measure mercury toxicity, I was not aware of this before. It is quite amazing, for at least the last several years my ears were so clogged up and nothing would work to clean them out. I could rarely even hear my alarm clock ring in the morning, now, after six months of humifulvate, my ears are completely clear, and my forehead which always had a really oily feel to it is now completely dry. I am not sure if it is related, but my tongue, which always had a white coating in the morning is completely gone as well.

Troy

"And yeah, so far chelation has been fantastic on my skin. Read a post of yours on curezone where you mentioned you could measure mercury toxicity by earwax, nose and I think forehead. And this is very true in my case. Amazing difference. Keratosis Pilaris on arms has seen a big decrease as well."

jdp701 wrote:idyes,

Would recommend to donate blood as often as possible!

They screen blood for disease but not toxins or heavy metal.. I don't know if they somehow chelate the blood befoe using it, but this idea crossed my mind: If your blood has heavy metals, is it ethical to donate it? Perhaps the benefit of having blood for a person in need for blood outweighs the negatives of heavy metals in blood?

teacup wrote:

jdp701 wrote:idyes,

Would recommend to donate blood as often as possible!

They screen blood for disease but not toxins or heavy metal.. I don't know if they somehow chelate the blood befoe using it, but this idea crossed my mind: If your blood has heavy metals, is it ethical to donate it? Perhaps the benefit of having blood for a person in need for blood outweighs the negatives of heavy metals in blood?

I see your point. I did an oral EDTA chelation years ago and saw benefits in terms of my health, no hair loss benefits. I had no confirmation whether I had heavy metals toxicity at that time but probably did. When I had a hair mineral test done last year everything was normal. By the way I know this test was accurate because we tested my sons hair about 4 months apart. Before and after EDTA chelation. He had high cadmium in the first test and normal in the second , that is after the EDTA chelation. I also had my mother and brother tested and they both had excessive lead. Therefore I am a believer in hair mineral tests. My son also had very low zinc despite zinc oxide supplementation. We switched to zinc piconilate and in 4 months his zinc levels came back in the normal range.

I think before trying any minerals or chelation people need to get their hair mineral analysis done. It gives you a good direction. Blood tests may be misleading since my son's blood tests came normal for everything but it was not.