Buteyko, Thyroid, And Hair Loss

DaveFoster

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I've noticed the my hair line has been receding quite rapidly and has coincided with my Buteyko breathing.

It's common for T3 to cause hair loss in the short-term due to greater sensitivity to adrenaline, so could the same occur for increasing CO2 levels drastically and acutely?

Here's something I found on the subject:

http://www.normalbreathing.com/learn-cleansing.php

Has anyone experienced any of these types of reactions, and they've passed/hair has grown back?

Ecstatichamster has told me that these are temporary.
 
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Yeah, I've had many of these reactions but not hair loss. I would slow down on how aggressively you are pushing it, but still continue the breathing exercises.

These reactions go away.

Can you really know what it is that is causing hair loss if you are also supplementing many other things? Is it possible that the breathing has sensitized your body so that the supplement levels you've been on are now too high?
 

Diokine

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Is the hair thinning or simply falling out? I don't suspect the buteyko breathing to be a direct cause, but it may be pointing to some other issue.

Please see this link for a primer;
Stress and the Hair Follicle

My thoughts go this way; Buteyko or other breathing exercises can help in the attempt to normalize sympathetic (cholinergic) response, and will in turn encourage efficient oxidative metabolism which is of course critical for proper hair follicle heath. This is good, but if whole-body metabolism is not properly supported (through corticoids and androgens,) the increased respiration cannot be sustained, and local stress will actually increase. I suspect this is a big player in your case, especially when you consider your other symptoms.

How is your sleep? Lack of proper sleep is going to set a number of responses into motion, all of which are very detrimental to sustaining metabolism.

Do you get hungry? Does the hunger go away after eating? If you notice strange, subtle hungers occasionally I would suspect issues with the liver. Make sure you're getting plenty of protein, I personally love string cheese and go through probably 5-6 sticks a day on average. I always accompany these with either some honey or hard candy under the tongue as the protein can be very insulinogenic.

Do you get sore throats or a lot of mucus? How are your lymph nodes? I'm wondering if you're not processing things well (like lectins in dairy or other foods) or possibly have some kind of infection. Do you tolerate raw carrots well?

Something is interfering with proper metabolism, and checking things off systematically will help you to figure out what it is.

Best wishes to you Dave,
 

Elephanto

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Ingesting sodium bicarbonate is supposed to help fight hair loss, so I don't think it comes from increased CO2. I suspect instead the mild hypoxia caused by this breathing method (like vaping or smoking also induce) would be the cause, because hypoxia increases vegf/angiogenesis which is the main cause behind male hair loss.
 

tara

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I suspect instead the mild hypoxia caused by this breathing method
I understand the Buteyko method to reduce hypoxia, not increase it.
 

Elephanto

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I understand the Buteyko method to reduce hypoxia, not increase it.

That's not how it works... The principle is to decrease breathing, hence reducing oxygen. Hypoxia = low oxygen. That's why you don't want to overdo bag breathing or this method. On the other hand, sodium bicarbonate will raise systemic CO2 without decreasing oxygen.
 

tara

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That's not how it works... The principle is to decrease breathing, hence reducing oxygen. Hypoxia = low oxygen. That's why you don't want to overdo bag breathing or this method.
In theory, the main point of Buteyko Method is that reducing breathing increases CO2 levels, which improves oxygen delivery to tissues (Bohr effect), which reduces hypoxia. It should increase oxygen consumption while reducing breathing.

Sure, you don't want to go crazy with a paper bag and tie it on so you pass out from asphyxiation. Overdoing Buteyko method can apparently trigger trouble too, but I'm not sure if it's usually from hypoxia, or from increasing CO2 too fast to adapt to.
 

Elephanto

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In theory, the main point of Buteyko Method is that reducing breathing increases CO2 levels, which improves oxygen delivery to tissues (Bohr effect), which reduces hypoxia. It should increase oxygen consumption while reducing breathing.

Sure, you don't want to go crazy with a paper bag and tie it on so you pass out from asphyxiation. Overdoing Buteyko method can apparently trigger trouble too, but I'm not sure if it's usually from hypoxia, or from increasing CO2 too fast to adapt to.

I'm just saying it has the potential to induce hypoxia. If you keep on reducing oxygen you will reach hypoxia. I know that it increases oxygen retention long-term. I don't think you can have "too much Co2" or have negative effects from it though. I've drank bottles of carbonated water (7.5g of bicarbonate each) and/or ingested a lot of sodium bicarbonate and I can tell too much bag breathing or smoking have an entirely different effect. You will never get a headache from "too much Co2" but you will from a temporary lack of oxygen.
 

Diokine

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because hypoxia increases vegf/angiogenesis which is the main cause behind male hair loss

Good point, in fact I think a fundamental issue with proper metabolism is the inhibition of respiration by nitric oxide. CRH is a huge player in the stress response which we are talking about, and this greatly increases VEGF along with nitric oxide. Why is nitric oxide being released? In an environment of lowered metabolism, mast cells will be much more sensitive and platelet activity may be altered. I suspect that the hypoxia experienced during breathing exercises wouldn't be sufficient to trigger a large release of nitric oxide, but if the conditions were right it might. You'd have to be pushing it pretty hard though...

I wouldn't use this as a reason to quit using breathing exercises. Increasing CO2 concentration, as well as training of the sympathetic response are incredibly important.
 
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DaveFoster

DaveFoster

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@ecstatichamster

I'm not taking any supplements at present.

@Diokine

I have all of the symptoms you mentioned: the poor sleep, lack of hunger with punctuated feelings of nausea, and then hunger, and then nausea again, sore throat (kind of a stretched and worn feeling), chest feels sensitive, mood swings, not so much mucus but a feeling of warm and then cold, somewhat like the flu. These resemble exactly the symptoms that hamster and people who support Buteyko are talking about, and it may likely be from the problems you mentioned.

I do tolerate the carrot salad well, as I've been eating it for a while. I have no appetite lately though, and it's hard to get down.

Ingesting sodium bicarbonate is supposed to help fight hair loss, so I don't think it comes from increased CO2. I suspect instead the mild hypoxia caused by this breathing method (like vaping or smoking also induce) would be the cause, because hypoxia increases vegf/angiogenesis which is the main cause behind male hair loss.
I'm not entirely sure, as when I do Buteyko for a while, my scalp sensitivity goes away. It's worse in the mornings, but it could very well be hypoxia.
 

ken

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Hair loss was one of the symptoms that lead me to start thyroid. Since taking hormone shuts down your natural production you have to take enough to offset it.
 

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