Mar 7, 2023·edited Mar 7, 2023Liked by Chris Masterjohn, PhD
I really enjoyed going through your test results. I see some similarities with my own, ie SAMe/SAH , biotin etc. I appreciate you being so open and posting, it's so helpful.
Fascinating article. My 22 year old son has been on a quest to treat his health issues in order to stay off the Humira (prescribed for suspected psoriatic arthritis) and Dupixent, prescribed for systemic eczema. The Dupixent worked well but caused eye issues and, of course, at 22 he does not want to be on medication rather than potentially solving the root cause of his problems. His exposure to mold in a crappy dorm room triggered a worsening of symptoms. But, like you, he had eczema in infancy. He’s also developed chronic conjunctivitis. He has had an extremely restricted diet (autoimmune, verging on carnivore at times) for years. But he stumbled upon info relating to Pyrrole Disorder/Pyroluria which is caused by high hydroxyhemopyrrolin-2-one (HPL). The “cure” is supposed supplementation with zinc, B6 and Biotin. He’s already improving and I’m realizing many in our family have had the symptoms of Pyroluria. He was more focused on supplementing zinc and B6 but after ready your article I’m wondering if biotin is more of a root cause. Thanks again for all you do.
Good afternoon Chris! Excellent article! Thanks for being so candid. Perhaps you mentioned how much Biotin you are taking. If not, could you kindly tell us? I've suspected that I also have a difficulty clearing oxalates (eating foods high in oxalate promotes body pain). Additionally, your comments on Biotin & Pyruvate Carboxylase have hit home as I experienced a significant insult to the Myelin Sheath in my Thoracic vertebrae 7 years ago. Although my body was able to re-generate the myelin sheath in 2 years, I'm still experiencing neural deficits. I take a methylated B complex, but not high dose and regularly eat eggs. I would eat organ meats weekly if I could find a good source. Unfortunately, I haven't found organ supplements to be helpful. I had a number of the labs that you discussed, but now I can look at them in a different light.
I am experimenting with biotin after reading some of your stuff. About a month now, the persistent dandruff I had around my eyebrows has cleared up, as well as the flaky bits behind my ears. Still have a bit of alligator skin on my ankle, but it's gotten noticeably smaller, and now looks pink, rather than a dry grayish purple. Noticeably less scalp dandruff. Also unexpectedly lost 8 pounds and one pants size. In that same timeframe I have gotten my fasting blood sugar down from the 100-110 range to about 89-93, though it's not clear whether that's due to the biotin, tightening up my diet, or both. Have been lax about exercise regimen lately, so it's not that.
Looking back, I wonder if this might've helped when I was in college 20-odd years ago. I had grown up in a vegetarian household-- meat was not forbidden us and we ate it at other people's houses, but it was a luxury item. In college, I went full vegetarian for four years. Nearly killed me. I thought it must have been a thyroid problem, but now I'm not so sure. I was dreadfully cold all the time, despite being in central florida, my hair was shedding at an alarming rate, I had the brittle, heavily-ridged nails and scaly ankles, and was hallucinating movement in my peripheral vision. Developed PCOS (insulin resistance). And I was tired. So very tired. Felt like I was dying. Ended up dropping out and taking several years to recover, during which time I stopped being a vegetarian, some of those things got better, but some recurred, and I acquired a couple other oddities-- such as a facial melasma, despite not ever being pregnant. But my hair stopped falling out and my nails got better, and I went on a low carb diet to control the PCOS, which worked. I stopped being cold. The scaly skin came and went, though, and the melasma stuck around for years (it's gone for the last decade though). The worst episode of the skin issues didn't happen until age 28-ish: that year it was not just my ankles, but also the backs of my hands, around the knuckles, down in between fingers, on the tops of my toes, and the eyebrow dandruff spread all the way down the center of my face, around the sides of my nose, and the corners of my mouth cracked. Probably a lot of reasons for that. Most stressful year of my life.
Since thinking through all that, reading more about B7 deficiency, and realizing that all of my kids have had horrible dandruff practically since they were born, I checked them over, and realized 2 out of 3 also have a little bit of scaly, discolored patches around the neck and armpits, so we are going to supplement them for a while and see what happens-- even if it does not help, it is unlikely to hurt and seems worth a try.
I found biotin to by the only thing that resolved my mold related numbness in my hands and feet. Scary when you don’t know what the hell is going on with your own body and modern medicine is zero help as well. When it stopped being as effective I realized biotin uses chromium as a cofactor as well.
Also, when I had massive skin issues from mold I found Undecylinic acid by Thorne to be curative. I had tried everything else, including many pharmaceuticals as I can direct order through my office. Keep up the crusade, you’re awesome!
I can relate to much of your story. I was a vegetarian for 10 years so initially after reading this I thought aha that was the fault of many of my issues. Then I remembered that certain issues such as anxiety and insomnia have persisted as long as I can remember, well before becoming a vegetarian but I do think the vegetarian years has made things a lot worse. I also had skin issues, some exema but most dermatitis which was usually reactions to products.
I have tried to find relief through supplements but sadly many exacerbated my systems. Magnesium glycine, biotin, carnitine, selenium as well as others, all made my insomnia and anxiety worse. For some reason I have a hard time with supplements in general. I also don't respond well to fasting, very low carb or very low calories. It increases cortisol too much thus making symptoms worse.
After some clues I started considering a histamine intolerance as well as oxylates. It started with reactions to wine - insomnia, mind racing, fast heartbeat to name a few. Hard liquor didn't give me insomnia, so that was a clue that it must be the sulfites in wine. Plus I was alergic to sulfa. Are you? I have met others who are and have the same reaction to wine. Those chemicals are different but I read the body reacts similarly to both. Even orgainic wine is sprayed with sulfur to deter mold. Plus I don't trust organic that much anymore. Some say it doesn't hold the meaning it once did. I read an article about how people think wine is the nectar of the gods but they have no idea it is loaded with chemicals. There are usually over 70 chemicals in wine that don't have to be disclosed.
I cut out all liquor, chocolate and coffee, even decaffeinated, nuts, all offending vegetables, dried cured meats and cheeses, all preservatives and chemicals. I noticed msg, sodium benzoate and anything ending in 'fite' were worst offenders. Artificially carbonated beverages also bothered me. Not sure why... maybe carbon dioxide getting absorbed throwing off a balance?
I started to eat breakfast again since of course I was intermittent fasting, get early morning sun in my eyes albeit just briefly, drink mineral waters, eat high protein diet but from fresh foods only, and upped calcium foods a bit. I also stopped exercising for a while to let my body heal. I was walking strenuously an hour a day plus weight training. I take magnesium citrate now at night, calcium and vitamin D3 in the morning because my vitamin D is low. I take K2 maybe twice a week. I am sleeping at night now which is almost unheard of for me, feel calm and have no anxiety.
I even started adding a little aged cheeses back and even bacon with no reaction. I will always stay away from the chemical laden foods though; sadly the liquor, coffee and chocolate as well.
I really enjoyed reading this article! Im starting to think that some people with dandruff may be deficient in biotin.
I'm wondering if having issues with pyruvate carboxylase can make women be more susceptible to PMS. You mentioned before that manganese can help with PMS, and there is evidence that giving women oxaloacetate can help with PMS. It stands to reason that biotin may also help with PMS in women deficient in it due to various reasons.
I also wanted to add that my friend started taking biotin (I think a few mg) and her eczema started to go away.
Wow. This was a very intriguing story, and I couldn't help but draw parallels to my own experience. Very different from yours, but I've definitely been thinking a lot lately about how there is something in my cellular metabolism processes that aren't quite right. I was raised very strict vegan, mostly raw, very low calorie and very low protein. I hit a wall at 14 (during a 2-week pneumonia episode) that I haven't been able to fully recover from, even though I'm now 39. I've spent my entire adulthood sleuthing, experimenting, and trying all kinds of things. Animal foods have helped the most - my hypoglycemia attacks I had on a daily basis as a child + vegan adult now only happen once in a blue moon if I wait too long to eat, and even then it's not even kind of as bad as it used to be. But my chronic fatigue has only let off a little, despite trying a zillion things over the years. Any exercise beyond leisurely walks lands me on the couch exhausted for the day. I can tell that something in the way my body deals with energy production isn't quite right, even though it is well-fed now (and has been for years). I need to sit with your story some more and do some biochemistry digging. I think this stuff can be molecularly specific (perhaps genetic, or at least for me vegan childhood-caused environmental), and requires some serious investigation to figure out for those of us who just always feel off. Thank you for the inspiration. Hope your experiment works for you!
When I hear about numerous intolerances like this, it makes me think of oxalate toxicity. I think you should consider getting serial urinary oxalate levels. Like 4 days in a row. Maybe one day take a bunch of calcium supplements. For a lot of people this precipitates some oxalate dumping.
Been a month and I'm still thinking about this. I think my husband (and kids) have the opposite problem - biotin overload. Symptoms are extremely thick skin, hair, nails, and severe acne, as well as generalized digestive issues. I know that biotin depletes B5 and therefore Coenzyme A and you'd be left with hyperkeritinization and an inability to deal with oils in the skin - a perfect recipe for cystic acne. I have one daughter who just started megadosing B5 and is having noticeable results already on day 4. Interesting.
I had the same low globulins (2) and high A/G ratio (2.4) as you and supplemented with 10 mg per day of biotin for a month. Follow up testing showed my globulin levels unchanged.
I then tested my copper levels which are low-normal at 72. Is it possible low copper is the cause of low globulins?
Maybe low copper increases oxidative stress in the kidney which damages tubules causing globulins to get lost in the urine? Albumin levels have remained consistent, which I suppose contradicts this hypothesis.
Oh wow, I can relate to so much of this - eczema on my hands in the winter months (bad episodes previously), neurological problems that come and go leading to an autoimmune diagnosis when they couldn’t find a reason for it…feel like I can’t go very long without food, unexplained anxiety. I even tried the vegetarian route, which made everything worse. I have long suspected that I need more B vitamins but when I try to take B supplements, they make me really agitated and jittery. I think this is partly due to poor methylation pathways, but I haven’t found any lasting solutions to all of this despite working with several practitioners, partly because I have adverse reactions to most of the supplements they give me. Could Biotin perhaps help me synthesize the other B vitamins and supplements better? Thanks for sharing!
Went and got some chicken livers when I read the original article. Better now. Hadn't had them since forever.
I really enjoyed going through your test results. I see some similarities with my own, ie SAMe/SAH , biotin etc. I appreciate you being so open and posting, it's so helpful.
Fascinating article. My 22 year old son has been on a quest to treat his health issues in order to stay off the Humira (prescribed for suspected psoriatic arthritis) and Dupixent, prescribed for systemic eczema. The Dupixent worked well but caused eye issues and, of course, at 22 he does not want to be on medication rather than potentially solving the root cause of his problems. His exposure to mold in a crappy dorm room triggered a worsening of symptoms. But, like you, he had eczema in infancy. He’s also developed chronic conjunctivitis. He has had an extremely restricted diet (autoimmune, verging on carnivore at times) for years. But he stumbled upon info relating to Pyrrole Disorder/Pyroluria which is caused by high hydroxyhemopyrrolin-2-one (HPL). The “cure” is supposed supplementation with zinc, B6 and Biotin. He’s already improving and I’m realizing many in our family have had the symptoms of Pyroluria. He was more focused on supplementing zinc and B6 but after ready your article I’m wondering if biotin is more of a root cause. Thanks again for all you do.
Good afternoon Chris! Excellent article! Thanks for being so candid. Perhaps you mentioned how much Biotin you are taking. If not, could you kindly tell us? I've suspected that I also have a difficulty clearing oxalates (eating foods high in oxalate promotes body pain). Additionally, your comments on Biotin & Pyruvate Carboxylase have hit home as I experienced a significant insult to the Myelin Sheath in my Thoracic vertebrae 7 years ago. Although my body was able to re-generate the myelin sheath in 2 years, I'm still experiencing neural deficits. I take a methylated B complex, but not high dose and regularly eat eggs. I would eat organ meats weekly if I could find a good source. Unfortunately, I haven't found organ supplements to be helpful. I had a number of the labs that you discussed, but now I can look at them in a different light.
Thanks!
I couldn't eat it raw and I have grown up loving and eating chopped liver with HB eggs and garlic, onions.
I am experimenting with biotin after reading some of your stuff. About a month now, the persistent dandruff I had around my eyebrows has cleared up, as well as the flaky bits behind my ears. Still have a bit of alligator skin on my ankle, but it's gotten noticeably smaller, and now looks pink, rather than a dry grayish purple. Noticeably less scalp dandruff. Also unexpectedly lost 8 pounds and one pants size. In that same timeframe I have gotten my fasting blood sugar down from the 100-110 range to about 89-93, though it's not clear whether that's due to the biotin, tightening up my diet, or both. Have been lax about exercise regimen lately, so it's not that.
Looking back, I wonder if this might've helped when I was in college 20-odd years ago. I had grown up in a vegetarian household-- meat was not forbidden us and we ate it at other people's houses, but it was a luxury item. In college, I went full vegetarian for four years. Nearly killed me. I thought it must have been a thyroid problem, but now I'm not so sure. I was dreadfully cold all the time, despite being in central florida, my hair was shedding at an alarming rate, I had the brittle, heavily-ridged nails and scaly ankles, and was hallucinating movement in my peripheral vision. Developed PCOS (insulin resistance). And I was tired. So very tired. Felt like I was dying. Ended up dropping out and taking several years to recover, during which time I stopped being a vegetarian, some of those things got better, but some recurred, and I acquired a couple other oddities-- such as a facial melasma, despite not ever being pregnant. But my hair stopped falling out and my nails got better, and I went on a low carb diet to control the PCOS, which worked. I stopped being cold. The scaly skin came and went, though, and the melasma stuck around for years (it's gone for the last decade though). The worst episode of the skin issues didn't happen until age 28-ish: that year it was not just my ankles, but also the backs of my hands, around the knuckles, down in between fingers, on the tops of my toes, and the eyebrow dandruff spread all the way down the center of my face, around the sides of my nose, and the corners of my mouth cracked. Probably a lot of reasons for that. Most stressful year of my life.
Since thinking through all that, reading more about B7 deficiency, and realizing that all of my kids have had horrible dandruff practically since they were born, I checked them over, and realized 2 out of 3 also have a little bit of scaly, discolored patches around the neck and armpits, so we are going to supplement them for a while and see what happens-- even if it does not help, it is unlikely to hurt and seems worth a try.
I love your content. Love it!
I found biotin to by the only thing that resolved my mold related numbness in my hands and feet. Scary when you don’t know what the hell is going on with your own body and modern medicine is zero help as well. When it stopped being as effective I realized biotin uses chromium as a cofactor as well.
Also, when I had massive skin issues from mold I found Undecylinic acid by Thorne to be curative. I had tried everything else, including many pharmaceuticals as I can direct order through my office. Keep up the crusade, you’re awesome!
I can relate to much of your story. I was a vegetarian for 10 years so initially after reading this I thought aha that was the fault of many of my issues. Then I remembered that certain issues such as anxiety and insomnia have persisted as long as I can remember, well before becoming a vegetarian but I do think the vegetarian years has made things a lot worse. I also had skin issues, some exema but most dermatitis which was usually reactions to products.
I have tried to find relief through supplements but sadly many exacerbated my systems. Magnesium glycine, biotin, carnitine, selenium as well as others, all made my insomnia and anxiety worse. For some reason I have a hard time with supplements in general. I also don't respond well to fasting, very low carb or very low calories. It increases cortisol too much thus making symptoms worse.
After some clues I started considering a histamine intolerance as well as oxylates. It started with reactions to wine - insomnia, mind racing, fast heartbeat to name a few. Hard liquor didn't give me insomnia, so that was a clue that it must be the sulfites in wine. Plus I was alergic to sulfa. Are you? I have met others who are and have the same reaction to wine. Those chemicals are different but I read the body reacts similarly to both. Even orgainic wine is sprayed with sulfur to deter mold. Plus I don't trust organic that much anymore. Some say it doesn't hold the meaning it once did. I read an article about how people think wine is the nectar of the gods but they have no idea it is loaded with chemicals. There are usually over 70 chemicals in wine that don't have to be disclosed.
I cut out all liquor, chocolate and coffee, even decaffeinated, nuts, all offending vegetables, dried cured meats and cheeses, all preservatives and chemicals. I noticed msg, sodium benzoate and anything ending in 'fite' were worst offenders. Artificially carbonated beverages also bothered me. Not sure why... maybe carbon dioxide getting absorbed throwing off a balance?
I started to eat breakfast again since of course I was intermittent fasting, get early morning sun in my eyes albeit just briefly, drink mineral waters, eat high protein diet but from fresh foods only, and upped calcium foods a bit. I also stopped exercising for a while to let my body heal. I was walking strenuously an hour a day plus weight training. I take magnesium citrate now at night, calcium and vitamin D3 in the morning because my vitamin D is low. I take K2 maybe twice a week. I am sleeping at night now which is almost unheard of for me, feel calm and have no anxiety.
I even started adding a little aged cheeses back and even bacon with no reaction. I will always stay away from the chemical laden foods though; sadly the liquor, coffee and chocolate as well.
I really enjoyed reading this article! Im starting to think that some people with dandruff may be deficient in biotin.
I'm wondering if having issues with pyruvate carboxylase can make women be more susceptible to PMS. You mentioned before that manganese can help with PMS, and there is evidence that giving women oxaloacetate can help with PMS. It stands to reason that biotin may also help with PMS in women deficient in it due to various reasons.
I also wanted to add that my friend started taking biotin (I think a few mg) and her eczema started to go away.
Thanks again Chris, great article as always!
Wow. This was a very intriguing story, and I couldn't help but draw parallels to my own experience. Very different from yours, but I've definitely been thinking a lot lately about how there is something in my cellular metabolism processes that aren't quite right. I was raised very strict vegan, mostly raw, very low calorie and very low protein. I hit a wall at 14 (during a 2-week pneumonia episode) that I haven't been able to fully recover from, even though I'm now 39. I've spent my entire adulthood sleuthing, experimenting, and trying all kinds of things. Animal foods have helped the most - my hypoglycemia attacks I had on a daily basis as a child + vegan adult now only happen once in a blue moon if I wait too long to eat, and even then it's not even kind of as bad as it used to be. But my chronic fatigue has only let off a little, despite trying a zillion things over the years. Any exercise beyond leisurely walks lands me on the couch exhausted for the day. I can tell that something in the way my body deals with energy production isn't quite right, even though it is well-fed now (and has been for years). I need to sit with your story some more and do some biochemistry digging. I think this stuff can be molecularly specific (perhaps genetic, or at least for me vegan childhood-caused environmental), and requires some serious investigation to figure out for those of us who just always feel off. Thank you for the inspiration. Hope your experiment works for you!
When I hear about numerous intolerances like this, it makes me think of oxalate toxicity. I think you should consider getting serial urinary oxalate levels. Like 4 days in a row. Maybe one day take a bunch of calcium supplements. For a lot of people this precipitates some oxalate dumping.
Is there a reason you chose to supplement beta-alanine instead of carnosine?
Chris, what’s the name of the website that tracks your food,also breaks it down with good detail.
Something my food I think? You recommended it
Been a month and I'm still thinking about this. I think my husband (and kids) have the opposite problem - biotin overload. Symptoms are extremely thick skin, hair, nails, and severe acne, as well as generalized digestive issues. I know that biotin depletes B5 and therefore Coenzyme A and you'd be left with hyperkeritinization and an inability to deal with oils in the skin - a perfect recipe for cystic acne. I have one daughter who just started megadosing B5 and is having noticeable results already on day 4. Interesting.
I had the same low globulins (2) and high A/G ratio (2.4) as you and supplemented with 10 mg per day of biotin for a month. Follow up testing showed my globulin levels unchanged.
I then tested my copper levels which are low-normal at 72. Is it possible low copper is the cause of low globulins?
Maybe low copper increases oxidative stress in the kidney which damages tubules causing globulins to get lost in the urine? Albumin levels have remained consistent, which I suppose contradicts this hypothesis.
Do you have any insight on this?
Oh wow, I can relate to so much of this - eczema on my hands in the winter months (bad episodes previously), neurological problems that come and go leading to an autoimmune diagnosis when they couldn’t find a reason for it…feel like I can’t go very long without food, unexplained anxiety. I even tried the vegetarian route, which made everything worse. I have long suspected that I need more B vitamins but when I try to take B supplements, they make me really agitated and jittery. I think this is partly due to poor methylation pathways, but I haven’t found any lasting solutions to all of this despite working with several practitioners, partly because I have adverse reactions to most of the supplements they give me. Could Biotin perhaps help me synthesize the other B vitamins and supplements better? Thanks for sharing!