Where to begin

Newbophyte

Member
Joined
Nov 11, 2014
Messages
37
So I'm here thanks to the work of Danny Roddy, and my own hypochondriac nature.

I've been reading his Hair Like a Fox series and have some questions:

First off, let me tell you about where I'm coming from.

I am a 25 year old, 64 kg/140 lb male, with a fairly constant temperature in the mid 96 degree range, and a pulse stable at 55 bpm. I'm told I have good blood pressure, maybe 130/60 or something like that, but I don't recall. I've experienced dermatitis on my scalp, with flaky, waxy dandruff since I've been in my teens, and have also recently experienced what I think is more dermatitis on my shins, which has recently begun to spread to a few more spots on my calf and my other leg. The ***t itches!

Anyway, I'd gone in for bloodwork about a year ago, and if I can find the sheet I can supply TSH, T4, Testosterone and a few more relevant markers, but I really would love to know what the hell I should do to resolve these symptoms. Has anyone experienced or know of a similar case?

Thanks in advance.
 

tara

Member
Joined
Mar 29, 2014
Messages
10,368
:welcome Newbophyte

If you can find those numbers, they may provide useful clues. And diet, as Zachs suggests. Low temps and pulse suggest low thyroid function. From my point of view, first thing to tackle is diet, because sometimes that solves a lot of problems, and even if it doesn't, you need good nutrition to support other measures.
 
OP
N

Newbophyte

Member
Joined
Nov 11, 2014
Messages
37
Still looking for that PDF, I think I saved it locally and can't find it on my cloud storage; it must have been deleted when the computer got wiped. :( I will look around for the download link and hope the document is still hosted.

Today I had some coffee with a good deal of milk and sugar upon waking, and for a midmorning meal a banana, orange, and some yogurt. I've stuck to eating a piece of fruit or something like that upon waking, and having more fruit/coffee/eggs/yogurt/meat around nine or ten, for the past two years or so.

Lunch is usually a heavier affair, leftovers of the previous night's meal. I mixed it up today, and had a Caesar salad of Romaine topped with some shallots I had marinating in a dressing with peccorino/parm blend in it, and some homemade split pea soup from a few days ago. I'm noticing, however, that after making this split pea soup I've had gas, and I may give it a rest. I cooked it enough (or so I think), but it's perhaps got those "lectins" I keep hearing about (eek!).

What makes this all weird is that I've been off of gluten since I was 13 or so, as I could tell then that the difference was like night and day. Since then, I've cooked and been more mindful of what I ate, studiously avoiding sugar for the most part, sodas, etc. I've cooked for myself much more since then, and been more conscious of what I eat as well, though perhaps misguidedly so. Still, I ate my fair share of starch (rice, potatoes, and corn) and I never kicked that psoriasis/dandruff like I had hoped during periods of eliminating dairy/sugars. Maybe I didn't stick to it long enough.

Oh, in the summer of 2010 I took time off to work on different farms. During one of these stays I was living with a naturopath/aurveda/vegan person so ate mostly watery grains, legumes, and vegetables. I'd be digging in 100+ degree temperatures and suffered constant seasonal allergies and nosebleeds. That wasn't fun. I never had seasonal allergies before or since, until I got some this spring; and my first trace of skin rash showed up. Maybe there's a connection, but I was eating a pretty normal diet at the time of the resurgence.

I am making a point to up my dietary sugar, carrot, fruit intake, and still haven't seen a great improvement in my temperatures (96.3-97.0), and my pulse is a rock-steady 51-54 throughout the day. I am using a smartphone HR monitor, which uses the camera to detect it for you. I like to be precise, and lose count on a 30 or 60-second measurement.
 

tara

Member
Joined
Mar 29, 2014
Messages
10,368
Would you be in the habit of eating enough? Chronic undereating is an effective way to lower metabolism. Not from Peat, but the average non-dieting, weight-stable male eats about 3000 cals. More are needed up to 25 years to complete growth/maturity (and more if extra physically active).
 
OP
N

Newbophyte

Member
Joined
Nov 11, 2014
Messages
37
Hi everyone,

A quick update: I'm in a new lifting progam focusing on compound movements and whole-body exercises to build muscle and strength. I'm also eating more sugar, milk, coffee, etc, and more protein. I'm getting a bit above 2500 calories every day this week, and have noticed my heart rate has climbed from mid-fifties to reach around 71. I'd give more data on the temperature data, but alas I seem to have misplaced my thermometer. I'd not be surprised if under eating was the cause as well, as I'd dropped about 8 pounds from where I used to be in college.
 

natedawggh

Member
Joined
Aug 24, 2013
Messages
649
Newbophyte said:
Oh, in the summer of 2010 I took time off to work on different farms. During one of these stays I was living with a naturopath/aurveda/vegan person so ate mostly watery grains, legumes, and vegetables. I'd be digging in 100+ degree temperatures and suffered constant seasonal allergies and nosebleeds. That wasn't fun. I never had seasonal allergies before or since, until I got some this spring; and my first trace of skin rash showed up. Maybe there's a connection, but I was eating a pretty normal diet at the time of the resurgence.

I am making a point to up my dietary sugar, carrot, fruit intake, and still haven't seen a great improvement in my temperatures (96.3-97.0), and my pulse is a rock-steady 51-54 throughout the day. I am using a smartphone HR monitor, which uses the camera to detect it for you. I like to be precise, and lose count on a 30 or 60-second measurement.

You are correct in identifying this period as the turning point in your health. Without the generous nutrition provided by dairy and fruits and some kinds of meats, in addition to the other stresses would have taken quite a toll on your health. Good news, of course, is that you're very young and will have an easy time getting in top condition, and you can set a good foundation for the rest of your life.

Milk is great for increasing both heart rate and temps, for the calcium and protein, mainly. Every day you should get at LEAST 40-50 grams of protein, more if you engage in stressful activity. Niacinamide is also pretty indispensable for health, and since you're young you wouldn't need much but could benefit from 100-500 mg or more a day (I take 1000 mg a day, therapeutically), testing to see how it works for you.

Also, K2 is a very important Vitamin, especially for guys. I've seen great improvements from taking it, and without a supplement it really only comes from animal sources. You may have a deficiency already. I take Life Extension brand Super K because it has both K1 and two types of K2, without toxic additives. It's also a very high dose so I don't have to take it every day.
 

tara

Member
Joined
Mar 29, 2014
Messages
10,368
cronometer dot com
But pick your own target calories (their suggestion is likely to be low) and protein (at least 80-100g, many people do better with more than this, according to Peat), low iron and minimal PUFAs (below 4g if poss), more calcium than phosphorus.
 
OP
N

Newbophyte

Member
Joined
Nov 11, 2014
Messages
37
Natedwagh, Thanks for the info. I'm using cronometer, and have raised my temps into the 97.3 and up range, and pulse is up to the 70's as well, a far sight better than the mid 50s and mid 96 degree range I was at a few weeks ago. Coincidentally, I was looking into vitamin E and K, as I can see that I'm consistently low in those two. I picked up a vitamin E supplement ( I was glutened, and it's supposed to help). It's 400IU, and also has 100 mcg of Selenium and 1600 mg lecithin. Is the Lecithin an issue?

I can see I'm getting much more phosphorous. What targets for iron, selenium, or chromium would you all recommend setting, and what effort should I go to ingest grass-fed stuff? I see livers were recommended, but they didn't see to provide great amounts of vitamin K. Also, is anyone looking at B6?


For me, it's eye-opening, I had let my caloric expenditure fall, and yes, I did feel quite hungry and unsatisfied during that time period. Rather ironically, the person on the farm was an Ayurveda practitioner, who read my pulse and found it to be too much something. Now I need to raise my temperature and metabolism, I wonder to what degree the "heating, drying" foods in Ayurveda coincide with the Peatarian diet.
 
OP
N

Newbophyte

Member
Joined
Nov 11, 2014
Messages
37
Also, today I've been "off". I have been looking extensively on this forum regarding eczema, dandruff, and mineral deficiency. Yesterday I tried a topical application of magnesium oil and had some measure of relief, and took some vitamin e/selenium to counter the effects of having eaten gluten. At the same time though, today my pulse and temps have reached new lows, starting around 97.1 upon waking and falling to 95.6 after a breakfast of liver, onions and coffee with sweetened milk. What the heck is going on? I've also been hit with an outbreak of acne and dandruff, shedding flakes like a MF. Searching this forum revealed a thread where an article from the WAPF was linked, which had shown that rats deficient in ALA and other unsaturated fatty acids developed just the same symptoms. Should I add in these things? The evidence seems inconclusive, where some say that a level of inflammation is good, and others no. Also, is exercise to the point of soreness detrimental to hair health?
 

Similar threads

Back
Top Bottom