Why Does My Hair Fall Out If I Don't Take Glycine Daily?

[Ravenslore]

I figured out this time it was low iron. I generally avoid iron and it looks like I'd just gotten too good at that since eliminating bovine meat sources. I stopped eating cows a year ago and I should have increased chicken and other meats to compensate.

I started taking 1/4 teaspoon montmorillanite clay daily as a mineral supplement and increased protein and my hair stopped falling out.

I figured it out by ordering a ton of tests from Ulta Labs (which I highly recommend because it's insanely cheap.) All my cholesterols were jacked up, which is a chronic thing for me, but in addition to there were huge changes in ferritin, % saturation, iron total, MCH, MCHC and platelet count in the past year.

I'm currently taking 1300 mg calcium carbonate, 5000mg glycine, 200mg magnesium glycinate, 2000mg taurine, 4 drops of Estroban, 11 drops TyroMax and topically using 20drops of Progestene 2x daily. This staves off most problems I've ever suffered from except stubborn weight gain. I recently started seeing an endocrinologist who just did ultrasounds on my thyroid, parathyroid, arteries and liver. This ruled out almost every probable cause I suspected for my problems. The only thing that was abnormal was my liver, which had no fibrosis and had great labs, but a very high fat composition.

She believes that I am not able to metabolize fat. (I think this is probably a lipolysis issue as well.) Since everything else was normal she asked me to switch to Synthroid, because she says the extra complex of thyroid related substances I'm getting in TyroMax are partly causing me to have some hyperthyroid symptoms. She says desiccated thyroid would be more appropriate for someone with abnormal thyroid labs and ultrasound. In my case she thinks synthetic thyroid is all that's necessary for me since it's a liver problem, not a thyroid problem. So I'm going to try that for 6 weeks.

I'm currently researching this article by a popular contributor here. I think his name is @Hans . I'm using this to make a diet to decrease fat in my liver. I think this will work because I've been under a lot of social pressure to eat a high fat diet, by keto fans in my family and social circles, and I think it's partly excessive fat consumption that's sabotaging me. Other than that I think I have a pretty ideal diet.

In that article it talks a bit about a supplement called TUDCA that I'm excited to try. I've suspected many times that I just don't make enough bile... or some precursor may be lacking in my lipid metabolism processes. It appears that TUDCA addresses that directly, which is new to me.

I recommend to anyone looking for answers on here to get lots of lab work and see what turns up. I got all the following for $428 by "Ulta Labs" with collection at a regular Quest Diagnostics location:
CBC (includes Differential and Platelets)
Comprehensive Metabolic Panel (CMP)
Lipid Panel with Ratios
Aldosterone/Plasma Renin Activity Ratio, LC/MS/MS
T3 Total
T3 Uptake
T3, Free
T4 (Thyroxine), Total
T4, Free
Testosterone, Total And Free And Sex Hormone Binding
Bilirubin, Fractionated
Cortisol, Total
Globulin
TSH
Uric Acid
Urinalysis (UA), Complete
Estradiol
Ferritin
Gamma Glutamyl Transferase (GGT)
Hemoglobin A1c (HgbA1C)
hs-CRP
Iron and Total Iron Binding Capacity (TIBC)
Lactate Dehydrogenase (LD)
Magnesium
Reject Criteria: Gross hemolysis • Anticoagulants other than heparin
Phosphate (as Phosphorus)
Potassium
Progesterone, Immunoassay
QuestAssureDTM 25-Hydroxyvitamin D (D2, D3), LC/MS/MS Sex Hormone Binding Globulin (SHBG)
Sodium

My endocrinologist later ordered :
LH
Prolactin
DHEA-S
Insulin
VitaminB12/folate panel
TPO
FSH
Testosterone
a thyroid and parathyroid ultrasound
a Vascular QIMT ultrasound of my arteries
and a FibroScan ultrasound on my liver

Altogether that ruled out about a decade of wild goose chases and it all cost less than $900.

For any labs nerds following this everything came back normal except the following:
All cardiovascular labs and A1C were extremely high (but fasted glucose was at the high end of normal.) Iron related labs mentioned above were extremely low. RBC count and platelets extremely high (maybe related to familial polycythemia vera.) ALT was high, maybe from supplementing with Taurine. Aldosterone was high. TSH was high (possibly pre-menopausal level.) Sex hormone binding globulin was low. Oddly enough, estradiol was at the bottom of the range. Cortisol was only 11.

And even though I'm taking a crap ton of progesterone that was only 2.9. In past tests my progesterone has always been close to zero, as has my sister's. I imagine the only way we've been able to have children in my family is because placentas make progesterone, because we definitely do not make it.

 

[Andy316]

Other members can chime in about their experiences but I believe I read some articles about vitamin E being good for fatty liver. I have personally gone low fat since a week and my gut feels good. Good luck.

 

[Ravenslore]

Thanks :) I'm looking forward to trying both

 

[Digital Samurai]

Glycine reduces adrenaline and cortisol. So it's possible that one of them was too high for too long and it is now subsiding due to glycine.

 

[Ravenslore]

That's good to know. I am a sensory defensive so it's likely my adrenaline is often spiking.

I've also found recently that taking colloidal copper seems to have a positive and noticeable impact as well. I think it might be because it's helping my body use iron better.