Thalassemia Minor Advice?

[Lamp]

Hey. I've never made a post on forums like these, so I might be all over the place. I have thalassemia minor and was wondering if supplementing with Acetyl L Carnitine would be advised? I haven't gotten my nitric oxide levels checked, but apparently everyone with this disorder has lower than normal nitric oxide levels and Acetyl L Carnitine improves these markers. I've noticed a lot of people on these forums seems to be against Carnitine because it's anti-thyroid, but I've been lean my whole life which leads me to believe that my thyroid is fine? Can skinny/lean people have hypothyroidism? I've also noticed that nitric oxide gets a bad rep around here, is that only for elevated levels? Also, just wondering if anyone has any general advice/input/experience with thalassemia minor. Most doctors just brush it off as only mild anemia, but on other forums I read that most people develop vascular issues later in life (my father had diabetes, a stroke and eventually died from a heart attack). I'm 27 and starting to show that classic MPB thinning and I've heard Danny Roddy say that MPB has a correlation with heart disease. Thanks in advance for any input/feedback.

EDIT: Would beet root juice be prefered to increase nitric oxide levels?

 

[redsun]

Hey. I've never made a post on forums like these, so I might be all over the place. I have thalassemia minor and was wondering if supplementing with Acetyl L Carnitine would be advised? I haven't gotten my nitric oxide levels checked, but apparently everyone with this disorder has lower than normal nitric oxide levels and Acetyl L Carnitine improves these markers. I've noticed a lot of people on these forums seems to be against Carnitine because it's anti-thyroid, but I've been lean my whole life which leads me to believe that my thyroid is fine? Can skinny/lean people have hypothyroidism? I've also noticed that nitric oxide gets a bad rep around here, is that only for elevated levels? Also, just wondering if anyone has any general advice/input/experience with thalassemia minor. Most doctors just brush it off as only mild anemia, but on other forums I read that most people develop vascular issues later in life (my father had diabetes, a stroke and eventually died from a heart attack). I'm 27 and starting to show that classic MPB thinning and I've heard Danny Roddy say that MPB has a correlation with heart disease. Thanks in advance for any input/feedback.

EDIT: Would beet root juice be prefered to increase nitric oxide levels?

You may have normal thyroid overall, I would not immediately to jump to that. Nitric oxide is very vital, you need normal levels not high or low.

I dont know much about the disorder itself but overall I can provide generally recommendations that improve health and improve nitric oxide levels if low.

If you are getting balding and you are lean your hair loss is probably heavily related to protein wasting and malnutrition. Consuming meats and liver, to provide iron, zinc, copper, arginine (for nitric oxide). Variety of minerals are vital for hair and eating quality fruits helps provide more vitamin C + folate (for BH4).

Fruits also provide manganese, vital mineral. Some starch is good depending on how you tolerate it. BH4 is vital for releasing nitric oxide and releasing the right kind. Meat proteins provide a lot of arginine like steak, fish, chicken, organs while dairy and eggs are much lower so if NO levels are low this is not ideal.

Emphasize good amount of carbs and protein, have some fat. Carbs will control excess cortisol that could be contributing to hair loss. These are general guidelines. If your vitamin C intake is low your going to have issues with NO and vitamin C and copper are both vital for vascular health while vitamin C will likely also help you make more carnitine yourself.

 

[Lamp]

Thanks for the reply! I've heard something about iron and copper being imbalanced in most people's diet and I think I noticed the balding start to accelerate when I was eating a pound of 80% fat 20% lean ground beef a day for months about a year ago. (Yeah, not the best idea). Do you have any advice on what general blood tests I should have done to get a baseline of where I stand in terms of health markers? I haven't gotten any tests done in ages. I should also add that I generally feel pretty good, and I take coq10 (helped a ton for energy), 500 mg of magnesium before bed and I drink a smoothie everyday with wheatgrass, beetroot powder, glycine, coconut oil spinach, a banana and mixed fruit. I've also recently tried to mitigate PUFAs from my diet (was taking cod liver oil and putting avocados in my smoothies everyday). My main concerns are my balding scalp and the future chance of a heart attack or stroke.

 

[redsun]

Thanks for the reply! I've heard something about iron and copper being imbalanced in most people's diet and I think I noticed the balding start to accelerate when I was eating a pound of 80% fat 20% lean ground beef a day for months about a year ago. (Yeah, not the best idea). Do you have any advice on what general blood tests I should have done to get a baseline of where I stand in terms of health markers? I haven't gotten any tests done in ages. I should also add that I generally feel pretty good, and I take coq10 (helped a ton for energy), 500 mg of magnesium before bed and I drink a smoothie everyday with wheatgrass, beetroot powder, glycine, coconut oil spinach, a banana and mixed fruit. I've also recently tried to mitigate PUFAs from my diet (was taking cod liver oil and putting avocados in my smoothies everyday). My main concerns are my balding scalp and the future chance of a heart attack or stroke.

I would not worry about heart attack and stroke. You provide minerals and vital nutrients for vascular health you will be completely fine. But something like ground beef in large amounts for a long time causes severe mineral imbalance and puts you at risk more for all kinds of issues. Thats why extreme diets can easily become problematic.

Eating a pound of ground beef for a year is just the kind of information thats helps people better help you. This gives us a clue that you likely have mineral imbalances which deranges the metabolism, increasing the chance of hairloss and quickening its onset. Ground beef is lots of iron and zinc but lacks selenium, copper, and manganese. Eating a lot of veal liver to provide more copper and high manganese + high vitamin c fruits and seafood for selenium is a good start for you I would say.