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thecavsman
Raw Newbie
hey everyone - haven't posted here in a while :)
ok so I will try to keep this as short as possible as I have the tendency to be too long.
But, basically, in July, I started 80/10/10 - and followed it very closely, though I think I may have started slacking on the greens after a few weeks. Also, in late July, I had a bout with scalp acne - it came around the same time the previous year. I had some antiobiotics laying around, so I took them on and off (on most days but I'd skip days and dosages a lot since I didn't have that many antibiotics lying around). I'm not sure if it's related or not, but I suspect it may be and it's an important detail.
So, the antiobiotics kept the scalp acne in check. Around mid-August, I had a couple of weekends where I couldn't stay 100% raw, but over the past year or so (I have been raw for 2.5 years), that happens sometimes with no negative effects on me. Anyway, sometimes in August, while eating a very high fruit and low fat diet, I started to get very itchy legs - extremely itchy. Around the same time, I started to lose hair. Sometimes it would get worse than other times and then get better, but there is always at least some hair in the shower. The itchy legs eventually got better. I am believing that these are candida symptoms. In early to mid September I was eating a high fruit diet, but also supplementing myself with a tablespoon of flax seed oil daily. Now, towards late September (this week), I stopped the flax seed oil, but the hair loss is getting worse and the itchy legs that left have returned. I have been eating a LOT of fruit and hardly any fat - 80/10/10-ish, though I do miss my greens every couple of days. Supposedly, according to Douglas Graham and others, it's fat that causes candida. But the more fruit and less fat that I eat the worse this leg and scalp itchiness gets.
Anyone else deal with this before? I want to continue on the no/low overt fat thing with a good amount of greens - but at the same time, while my hair is very thick, I am very worried about it continuing to thin another month or two! I would eat anything besides meat to get rid of what I suspect is candida. I'm ready to do anything. In fact, I have a homeopath appointment set up for a couple of weeks from now.
Has anyone else dealt with quickening hair loss accompanied by an itchy scalp? Being raw is great and I love the lifestyle - but having hair is also great and I'm terrified to lose a lot of it :(...and would do anything to stop the loss - after which I can resume my old lifestyle (especially 80/10/10, which I love) and monitor my hair.
Anyone use Gabriel Cousens methods for candida? Anyone thing that I need to give 80/10/10 a longer shot (even though my symptoms worsen and I'm running out of hair-time)?
Comments
This sounds more like low thyroid than candida although you may have intestinal candida infection.
The problem with raw vegan diet is that unless your including seaweed your not really getting an iodine source. Hair loss is one of the main low thyroid symptoms. You should test your basal body temperature first thing in the morning this will give you an idea if you are suffering low thyroid. In the meantime id add an iodine source such as seaweed.
thanks!
i never thought of low thyroid...i got nothing to lose so im gonna see if i can get some seaweed...can't hurt.
Wow...well I'll be damned. The itchy skin is also a symptom of low thyroid. You, sir, have filled me with hope (or ma'am, but I like the way sir sounds :- ) ). I always said to myself that I don't suffer from the other symptoms of candida, like fatigue, brain fog, etc...not meaning I don't have an overgrowth, but I was curious as to why I didn't have the other symptoms.
any other advice is appreciated!
Id definitely give your basal body temperature a test first thing in the morning one of the best ways to check for low thyroid. Yeah the itchy skin is another thyroid symptom.
It will take a while to build up your iodine levels if this is the cause in most causes on a raw vegan diet it is. But you might also be low in tyrosine and/or selenium.
The problem is alot of candida websites attribute every symptom and ailment in the world down to candida and it took me years of going round in circles.
how do i check my basal body temperature?
also, I am as of right now in France...so it might take a little effort
This site should have the proper instructions. http://thyroid.about.com/cs/testsforthyroid/a/isityourthyroid.htm
thanks! I'll be sure to take my temperature as soon as I get a thermometer than than go Fahrenheit
also, would you suggest kept powder over spirulina powder?
Kelp powder or if you can find the brown seaweed extract powder which can be found in the store in my link both have higher iodine levels than spirulina.
You also could just eat seaweeds such as dulse, kelp, wakame, nori(lowest iodine content) which have a wealth of health benefits on there own, rich in minerals, vitamins, anti-cancer compounds, rich in fibre for feeding the good flora if your worried about intestinal candida.
thanks!
I read a success story about someone using iodine/vitamin D supplements...and then selenium and zinc supplements, though it was the iodine supplements that made a difference alone beforehand (she said the selenium and zinc were necessary to convert T4 to T3 - which she wasn't doing...and being SAD, she probably had more of an absorption problem than a not-getting-it problem that a raw foodist would be more likely to have).
Either way, when you dealt with this, were natural supplements enough or did you go to anything store bought? I know there is a bias towards the natural on a raw foods site, but I'm just making sure it would be strong enough because hair loss scares me. I plan on adding iodine to my diet before this doctor's appointment that I have to wait 2 weeks for.
Hypothyroidism/low thyroid can have many causes a few which you listed there such as the selenium issue, the adrenal glands also play a role and so on.
But with raw vegans its quite common that iodine is the issue possibly selenium too due to the lack of dietary intake. Id try either eating seaweeds/kelp supplementation aswell as a few brazil nuts for the selenium. That way your still staying raw vegan but getting the required nutrients. It can take a while to build up levels though.
thanks all
while it may have gotten worse since, recently (i believe that I am having less calories over the last couple of weeks) this problem all started when I was eating 3100 calories daily, and that's with half an avocado being the only fat I ate (along w/ no dried fruits, etc). Keep in mind that I am 5'4", 138 pounds...so undereating wasn't my problem at all. Though I will keep that in mind moving forward as undereating could make the problem worse.
I'm going to do massive seaweed supplementalization along with not being afraid of oils/fat (in moderation)...right now I don't have my vitamix at my disposal, so it's hard to have huge, 70 ounce, all-fruit smoothies...and I'd rather have a few fat calories than not enough calories. It's hard to eat a ridiculous amount of fruit without a blender - for me at least.