Countering Accutane Induced Hair Loss
Ted, I have been visiting the EC forums for the past several months in hope and desperation of finding something to alleviate the diffusing thinning that was induced by Accutane. I took Accutane for 5 months at anywhere from 40-80 mg a day. I have been off it for almost a year now and the hair loss did not start until about two months after I finished my course. I read a post on EC by someone else that had Accutane induced hair loss also and have been following the advice on there to a T with minimal success. I have done copious amounts of research and feel like I am extremely close to the solution. Accutane is a chemotherapy agent and therefore suppresses cell division. I believe that if I can find a way to increase cell division that it could just be the cure to this side effect. Supplements I am currently taking:
- Biotin (5mg)
- B complex (co-enzymated 3x daily)
- Evening Primrose (1000 mg)
- Lysine (1000mg)
- C (5000 mg)
- L- Glutamine (10g)
- Trace Minerals
- Manganese Sulfate (400mg)
- E (1200 IU)
- D (6000 IU)
- N-Acetyl Cysteine (1500mg)
- Glutathione (2x daily)
- Soil Based Probiotic (2x daily)
- Molybdenum Picolinate (1000mg)
- Zinc (30mg)
- Copper (2mg)
- Silica (400mg)
- Thorne Mediclear (2x daily)
- Adrenal Complex
- Riboflavin 5- Phosphate (36.5mg)
I take all of these daily. I have found some very promising information in which I hope you can help me decipher being that I don't have a science background, and you're, well you're Ted from Bangkok. Here is the best useful information I have found:
"Retinoic acid (active form of Accutane) induces differentiation and reduces proliferation of stem and progenitor cells. It works on acne by inducing similar events in basal sebocytes. These same actions also lead to 13-cis-retinoic's (Accutane's) side effects, and these are directed towards proliferating cells in the adult such as in the skin, gut and bone."
"A wide ranging effect of retinoic acid is to inhibit proliferation in dividing cells, and this accounts for its frequent consideration as an anti-cancer agent."
“Deleting telomere elongation capacity throughout the body would also be life-threatening, because it would mean that our regular, proliferating cells (like those in the skin or the lining of the gut) would suddenly have iron limits on their ability to reproduce themselves and thus replenish tissue. From the moment that we denuded our cells of telomerase, a clock would be ticking. With each division the telomere would shorten by a notch from whatever it had been when we took telomerase out. We would be under the specter of a rather horrible death, as our stem cells went offline one by one under replicative senescence with each failure of a stem cell responsible for supplying key functions, the tissue would fail to be renewed and would slowly degenerate.” (De Grey, 297)
"To sum all of this up, the evidence we currently have is that long term treatment with ATRA (all-trans retinoic acid), which is almost chemically identical to Accutane, causes “telomere shortening, growth arrest, and cell death.”
"Accutane induces cell apoptosis. It down-regulates the telomerase enzyme and shortens the telomere length so the cells can't divide as much anymore.
"Numerous factors affect the number and activity of androgen receptors in dermal papilla cells. Retinoic acid (vitamin A derivative), if used for a long time, may reduce the number of androgen receptors by 30 - 40 percent.[29] Vitamin B6 reduces by 35-40% the extent of protein synthesis observed after androgen receptor activation.[30] A polypeptide with molecular weight of 60 kDa, analogous to an intracellular calcium-binding protein called calreticulin, prevents binding of the androgen-receptor complex to DNA and also results in the production of calreticulin."
"Drugs producing hair loss: "Drugs may affect hair follicles in anagen in two ways: by stopping mitosis in matrix cells (anagen effluvium) or by inducing transition of hair follicles from anagen to premature telogen (telogen effluvium). Anagen effluvium ensues a few days or weeks after drug administration,[46] and telogen effluvium only after two to four months. In both cases hair loss is reversible. Anagen effluvium can be produced by cytotoxic drugs (alkylating agents, alkaloids) and telogen by: heparin, vitamin A and its derivatives, interferons, angiotensin converting enzyme blockers, beta-blockers (propranolol, metoprolol), the antiepileptic trimethadione, levodopa, nicotinic acid, salts of gold, lithium, cimetidine, amphetamine, isoniazid and antiinflammatory drugs (ibuprofen, acetylsalicylic acid).
"Precise molecular mechanisms of action for the majority of these drugs remains unknown."
http://dermatology.cdlib.org/DOJvol4num1/original/jankovi.html
It states that "in both cases hair loss is reversible." This is just about the only thing keeping my hopes up right now. I lose more and more hair every day. I wash my hair with ACV and rotate between Coconut Oil and Castor Oil to apply afterwards. Sorry for the extremely long email. I hope you can find the time to read this email and hopefully help me with a solution, I'd be extremely grateful as well as hundreds of other sufferers that have lost their hair due to this poison.
Thank you so much for your time.
Thank you for your time in contributing the remedies for anti accutane caused by "telomere shortening, growth arrest, and cell death", which basically sums up the precise mechanisms of that. Now if we just look along those supplements that prevent the "telomere shortening" it would be the following supplements, but first you must check your homocysteine levels to reduce by 6 or 7, so it doesn't interfere with the telomeres. These are the ones that help protect the telomeres:
- EPA and DHA prevents the telomere due to aging. Which is found in fish oils such as salmon fish oils.
- Magnesium, magnesium chloride saturated solution 7 drops twice a day.
- Sodium Selenite will inhibit telomere shortening by increasing the telomerase.
- Carnosine, may inhibit the age related shortening of telomeres, but I suspect that impure form that contains hydrazine may be responsible for much of the carnosine powers.
- The ascorbyl 2 O phosphate helps protects against telomere shortening involved in cell death.
- Folic Acid, B12, and trimethylglycine, especially the last one is needed to inhibit age related telomere shortening.
- Vitamin D3, natural Vitamin E and vitamin K2 m4 may help telomere shortening also.
- Green Tea or preferably white tea.
The others such as alpha lipoic acid, gymnema sylvestre and l carnitine may also help by way of regeneration of mitochondria, or cellular regeneration. And these hopefully will resolve it, but I think also applying topically the B3 and borax solution helps, when mixed with a little threonine.
As with all my postings, I find resolving hair loss is the most difficult of all the diseases to resolve, a lot harder than cancer, diabetes, lupus, rheumatoid, heart disease and other serious disease. The problem with hair is it is related somehow to the complex process of aging, hormones, growth factor, and gene expression. If it were fungus, then that would be easier such as lavender, tree tree oil, B3, borax, etc.
What is unusual about the retinoic acid (or Accutane) is that it affects gene expression, by biochemical manipulation. Few supplements affect gene expressions, carnosine, trimethylglycine, accutane, hydrazine, B12. folic acid, the whole study is related to epigenetics and that study has a very limited range of supplements you can use at the moment and somehow plays and important role in evolution. I know that because of my experiments I conduct with plants as the initial study.
What I do know from the studies I conducted, aluminum, mercury, cadmium, MMS, chlorine, fluorine, and microwave cooking actually damage or prevent the genes from fully expressing themselves, and five things (at least) help: tetra EDTA low levels (say 10 mg per liter), sodium thiosufate (commonly known as dechlorinator), borax (helps neutralized the fluorine) and humic acid. A little bit helps greatly, that I know for sure through my experiments on gene expression, and if these are not blocking it gene expression is expressed fully and then becomes optimal health.
Vitamin K2 m4 and vitamin D3 also affects gene expression so they would counter the Accutane too, but vitamin K2 m4 must be taken first before the vitamin D3 or taken at the same time, but NOT ALONE, or it causes arteriosclerosis in some cases when combined with high cholesterol or stroke.
Ted
San Diego, California
03/11/2013
Ted, This site is a great value of information and has helped with many things already. I have Male Pattern Baldness and I also have taken accutane when I was 19 years old. I started going thin around 27 and losing more around 30 yrs old. Now I still have some follicles on the top of my head. So I think that with the right missing nutrients I could grow hair again and other can too. I know that are diets miss the important nutrients and even when you take them you may still not be getting them to assimilate in your body. I happend on a website that talks about nutrients found in Moringa Leaf. I believe that whole food vitamins is the only language your body can completely understand.
Question: Do you think that the nutrients in this leaf are ligitimate and will work. Or is it total b.s.?
Again, I love this site.
US
08/22/2021
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