Alopecia universalis is a tricky one. No, really. There are people online who tell you that their GAPS diet, AIP diet, carnivore diet, and nutrition response testing will cure autoimmune conditions.
Well, maybe.
Maybe I just didn’t stick with the diets long enough. I will mention that some of these diets dehydrate me and leave me lacking minerals which will trigger seizures in me.
Nutrition Response Testing
This concept sounded so promising. Your body would tell you which nutrients and supplements that you needed. Your muscles would go weak if you needed the supplements that you were holding. It was a weird phenomenon.
I did notice my muscles weaker when holding certain supplements and stronger for others. However, after a year and a half of that nonsense and no results, I ditched the program. A year of my hard earned dollars and no new hairs. My seizure control wasn’t any better or worse. (Very good, but under too much stress I was still prone to have one.)
The Carnivore Diet – Why I Quit
I loved the theory of the carnivore diet. You eliminate all toxins and only eat nutrients. The life force that you consume is all you need to survive.
Some people are healing on this one. Sadly, there is some adjustment phase where your body pees out all the minerals and leaves you depleted. I started to feel like the water I was drinking wasn’t hydrating me. That triggered a seizure. Once I realized that I was dehydrated, I could predict the seizure. As long as I don’t get dehydrated, I tend to be fine.
I contacted Zsofia Clemens of the Paleomedicina group to ask for some guidance. She had me do some blood tests, which indicated high cholesterol, low vitamin D levels and slightly elevated TSH. Basically, my month and a half on the carnivore diet had increased my cholesterol and hadn’t improved my hypothyroid issue at all.
Not good, carnivore diet. Not good!
Do I think the carnivore diet can be done correctly and heal people? Most likely! However, I needed more minerals and to stay hydrated. That was something that I hadn’t been warned about.
GAPS and AIP Diets
I will admit, I don’t think I gave these diets a fair shot. I spent about 3 months on each of them. However, they are very complex and difficult follow.
The GAPS diet has an introductory phase that I skipped over. It was basically all meat stock, all of the time. Really? How am I supposed to adjust to that? I did discover that I could do all meat all of the time on carnivore, and its not that difficult.
The problem?
I’m not seeing any new hair growth. It is SO incredibly difficult to stick with these complex diets without seeing any results. I don’t have weight that I need to drop. In fact, I look a bit emaciated if I lose any weight, so I’d prefer to stay the same size.
Another difficulty that I had in following this diet was that you reintroduce foods and “test” out intolerances. I didn’t feel like my digestion was bad. I could eat junk and it wouldn’t impact my digestion. I wouldn’t see diarrhea. Maybe the inflammation in the hair follicles would return and it was so minute that I couldn’t see it. Testing when hair fall out is your main symptom is very tricky.
What’s Next?
I’ve concocted a combination approach that takes a bit of the highlights from each of these. From the Magnesium Miracle, I’m supplementing with Carolyn Dean’s ReMag and ReMyte.
- Taking an epsom salt bath each week.
- Bone marrow supplements – 1 ounce per day (6 capsules). Since the GAPS diet was so difficult and making bone broth daily was not happening in our Virginia summer heat, this is going to be a great way to get some consistency with the nutrients in bone broth/bone marrow. I’m excited to test my TSH levels at the end of a month. I read a customer was able to lower her levels in only 5 weeks. It would be amazing if I could do that!
- Grain free, sugar free and dairy free. This seems to be a theme among the “healing” diets and alternative communities. So, I’ll cut out sugar for the next month. This will have to start after my trip to Seattle this weekend.
Will it Work? Stay Tuned!
I’m really not sure. I know that my tooth sensitivity seems to go away when I omit sugars and breads. I indulged in them a few weeks ago and now everything cold is bothering me when I eat it. Time to eat healthier. I know that it improves my tooth health. Growing back hair may be another story.
I’ll keep you posted as I progress. It has been years of experiments with no real results. However, I’m combining the wisdom of Dr. Carolyn Dean’s Magnesium Miracle with some of the more nutrient dense components of the autoimmune diets. I’m very optimistic!
Wish me luck as I test out Collagen peptides and Bone Marrow supplements this month!