Guest guest Posted September 9, 2006 Report Share Posted September 9, 2006 hi, i have a couple questions that i am seeking advice for. although i have been a vegetarian most of my life i have only been a vegan for a few months. recently i am having a lot of hair falling out. i am wondering if this is normal. also i had my yearly physical and my cholesterol is 63 and my doctor is alarmed at how low it is and i have a follow up apt. to see what can be done. i an concerned that she will try mo make me incorporate dairy into my diet. does any have any advice on how i can boost up my cholesterol to a healthy number? thanks sarah Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 10, 2006 Report Share Posted September 10, 2006 Sarah wrote: <<hi, i have a couple questions that i am seeking advice for. although i have been a vegetarian most of my life i have only been a vegan for a few months. recently i am having a lot of hair falling out. i am wondering if this is normal. >> I've made this point on this list before, so you old-timers, cover your eyes! A lot of disparate symptoms are erroneously attributed to a veg diet. If your hair is falling out, a simple logical test which your doctor *should* do (instead of blaming it on your diet!) is a TSH test, which is a blood test. It tests the level of thyroid stimulating hormone in your body. If the number is much over 1, it means your body is working overtime trying to stimulate your thyroid to put out hormone. The endocrine system affects every part of your body, so there are literally thousands of " common " symptoms, but hair loss is one of the top ten. Some doctors have argued that as much as 1/3 of post-partum depression might actually be thyroid related. In many of those cases -- especially if treated promptly -- it can be temporary. But it can also be a permanent autoimmune dysfunction that would have to be treated daily for the rest of the patient's life. Women who have been pregnant are significantly more likely than another other group to develop an autoimmune disease such as this one. Good luck, Liz Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 10, 2006 Report Share Posted September 10, 2006 I thought you might find these articles interesting and helpful. http://www.usc.edu/hsc/info/pr/1vol1/102/cholesterol.html http://tinyurl.com/mn6cs http://www.bphata.com/Chol_Ca3.htm http://www.bphata.com/Chol_Ca2.htm http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypocholesterolemia http://patientrecruitment.nhlbi.nih.gov/Cholesterol50.aspx Total Cholesterol <50 mg/dL Research Study - Diagnosis and Followup Protocol http://www.ctds.info/good_cholesterol.html How to raise abnormally low cholesterol in a healthy way Hope some of this info helps. Judy - sarah gray Saturday, September 09, 2006 1:28 PM nutritional questions hi, i have a couple questions that i am seeking advice for. although i have been a vegetarian most of my life i have only been a vegan for a few months. recently i am having a lot of hair falling out. i am wondering if this is normal. also i had my yearly physical and my cholesterol is 63 and my doctor is alarmed at how low it is and i have a follow up apt. to see what can be done. i an concerned that she will try mo make me incorporate dairy into my diet. does any have any advice on how i can boost up my cholesterol to a healthy number? thanks sarah Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 10, 2006 Report Share Posted September 10, 2006 i don't know much about cholesterol, but i have heard that hair loss can sometimes be linked to thyroid trouble. and that lack of iodine can cause thyroid trouble. have you had that checked? just a suggestion. melissa --- sarah gray <sgraystar wrote: > hi, i have a couple questions that i am seeking > advice > for. although i have been a vegetarian most of my > life > i have only been a vegan for a few months. recently > i > am having a lot of hair falling out. i am wondering > if > this is normal. > also i had my yearly physical and my > cholesterol > is 63 and my doctor is alarmed at how low it is and > i > have a follow up apt. to see what can be done. i an > concerned that she will try mo make me incorporate > dairy into my diet. does any have any advice on how > i > can boost up my cholesterol to a healthy number? > thanks > sarah > > > > Tired of spam? Mail has the best spam > protection around > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 10, 2006 Report Share Posted September 10, 2006 If your doctor is hostile towards your lifestyle, you need a new doctor. Medicine is consumer good; if you open a bag of brown rice that turns out to be rancid, you would take it to the store to exchange it. If you need help finding a new health practioner, try the directory on mothering magazine: www.mothering.com wwjd <jtwigg wrote: Dr. John McDougal's website has incredible info on nutrition. Search out their website for all kinds of great info. Here is the Contact info also. Just click on Home to search the site. http://www.drmcdougall.com/about.html Hope you are doing better soon. No reason to give up that Vegan lifestyle, just maybe including more things, like nuts, avacodo's and read what he has to say and you can to e-mail him questions. I sent a bunch of links earlier that I hope will also help you. Judy - sarah gray Saturday, September 09, 2006 1:28 PM nutritional questions hi, i have a couple questions that i am seeking advice for. although i have been a vegetarian most of my life i have only been a vegan for a few months. recently i am having a lot of hair falling out. i am wondering if this is normal. also i had my yearly physical and my cholesterol is 63 and my doctor is alarmed at how low it is and i have a follow up apt. to see what can be done. i an concerned that she will try mo make me incorporate dairy into my diet. does any have any advice on how i can boost up my cholesterol to a healthy number? thanks sarah Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 10, 2006 Report Share Posted September 10, 2006 HI, When I became vegan I went through a lot of side effects because I was not meeting all of my nutritional requirements. For your hair (and skin) I would take Vitamin E supplements. Are you taking your flax seed oil regurarly? What about B12 and Bcomplex? Are you incorporating enough oils in your recipes, like olive oil? I agree with others that you have to look at other factors about your hair. Stress, pregnancy, other hormone issues. Sometimes a change in diet can make previous ailemnts more noticable. , sarah gray <sgraystar wrote: > > hi, i have a couple questions that i am seeking advice > for. although i have been a vegetarian most of my life > i have only been a vegan for a few months. recently i > am having a lot of hair falling out. i am wondering if > this is normal. > also i had my yearly physical and my cholesterol > is 63 and my doctor is alarmed at how low it is and i > have a follow up apt. to see what can be done. i an > concerned that she will try mo make me incorporate > dairy into my diet. does any have any advice on how i > can boost up my cholesterol to a healthy number? > thanks > sarah > > > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted September 10, 2006 Report Share Posted September 10, 2006 Sarah, I agree with Liz but want to warn you that many doctors still do not know what a normal thyroid level is. My husband is hypothyroid and we had to tell his DR. about the studies in the Lancet a few years ago recommending bringing the TSH close to 1. She wanted to keep them at four. And, recently, we had a friend whose DR. wanted to keep hers at 8. So, you should find some references to print and take to the appointment with you. If you are hypothroid, insist on having your levels check twice yearly as the TSH fluctuates with the seasons and medication may need to be adjusted. My SIL has a very progressive DR. and has her levels checked every 3 months. Does anyone in your family have ADD, fibromyalgia or hyper/hypothryroidism? It would be well worth your time to have your TSH levels checked if this is the case. These conditions are all expressed on the same gene and run in families. I do know of many people who transitioned to veganism that complained of transient hair loss and had no apparent medical or nutritional issues. After the hair growth cycle is completed (there are 3 stages), hair loss and thin hair doesn't seem to be a problem. I was one of these people and my hair is now thicker and grows faster than when I was vegetarian (and it grew faster as a vegetarian than an omnivore). Maybe this has something to do with eliminating toxins from your body. However, it can also be a zinc deficiency (which can also cause acne). Dairy provides about 55% of the population with the RDA for zinc. If you were one of them, you may need an adjustment period in your diet that allows for the missing dairy (or other zinc source). There are good plant sources for zinc. Here are two links about zinc in the vegan diet: http://www.veganoutreach.org/health/stayinghealthy.html#zinc http://vegrd.vegan.com/pages/article.php?id=1516 Good luck, Carrol , ERB <bakwin wrote: > > Sarah wrote: > > <<hi, i have a couple questions that i am seeking advice for. although i have been a vegetarian most of my life i have only been a vegan for a few months. recently i am having a lot of hair falling out. i am wondering if this is normal. >> > > I've made this point on this list before, so you old-timers, cover your eyes! > > A lot of disparate symptoms are erroneously attributed to a veg diet. If your hair is falling out, a simple logical test which your doctor *should* do (instead of blaming it on your diet!) is a TSH test, which is a blood test. It tests the level of thyroid stimulating hormone in your body. If the number is much over 1, it means your body is working overtime trying to stimulate your thyroid to put out hormone. The endocrine system affects every part of your body, so there are literally thousands of " common " symptoms, but hair loss is one of the top ten. > > Some doctors have argued that as much as 1/3 of post-partum depression might actually be thyroid related. In many of those cases -- especially if treated promptly -- it can be temporary. But it can also be a permanent autoimmune dysfunction that would have to be treated daily for the rest of the patient's life. Women who have been pregnant are significantly more likely than another other group to develop an autoimmune disease such as this one. > > Good luck, > > Liz > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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