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Silicon Dosage - Your Experience

Isaiah 58:11

Senior Member
Messages
116
Location
A Sun-Scorched Land
A few years ago I used the 100 mg capsules of BioSil and it made a dramatic difference in my nails, but I never saw any obvious difference in my skin and I didn't take it long enough to know if it made a difference in my bones.

I want to try it again because my K2 (MK4) trial made my bones hurt terribly and, I swear, within a few days my hips had narrowed. I know the missing co-factor for bone rebuilding could be strontium or geranium or something else entirely, but my nails are in awful shape so silicon seems like a good place to start.

Has silicon fixed anything for you? How much silicon is too much? I see that this Brazilian pharmacy product has 300 mg doses: https://www.oficialfarma.com.br/biosil-300mg-30-capsulas-p7519/

And, on the topic of Brazilian pharmacies, has anyone managed to purchase from them from the U.S.? They actually have a few things that I would like to try!
 

perchance dreamer

Senior Member
Messages
1,691
Hi, @Isaiah 58:11, I take Jarrowsil silicon drops for bone thinning.

I started taking it and Great Lakes Collagen around the same time, so I'm not sure what did what, but my nails did get better. What I really noticed, though, was my hair.

It's gone from mostly straight to curly. It's not thicker, I don't think, but curly hair seems to take up more space.

It's been a nice change, but I don't understand. I had read that silicon and collagen can make hair thicker, but I've never heard of it making it curly.

Anyway, I was on these 2 supplements a long time before I noticed changes.
 

Isaiah 58:11

Senior Member
Messages
116
Location
A Sun-Scorched Land
I find this one is almost a complete supplement - it lacks sulfur and glycine - I would add a joint supplement to it.

BioSil is allover iHerb. I tried it (Silicon+Choline), but since my estrogen is low choline aggravates hair loss.

My estrogen is low as well which may explain why BioSil did absolutely nothing for my hair loss issues. I did not know about the choline causing a problem with that - my doctor actually put me on phosphatidylcholine.

About the Perque vitamin, I have been taking that as well as their Life Guard multi (sporadically, when I remember) for about 6 months or so. I looked at their bone formula as well, but the three together are a whole lot of money and an awful lot of zinc.

I am trying to:
#1 get my hair to stop falling out
#2 stop the bone loss (I am in my early thirties an have already lost nearly 2 inches)
#3 reverse-age my skin (I know, I know, medically impossible :rolleyes:). I am not sure what happened as I looked rather young and then, at a downturn, ended up with a UTI and was given Cipro and from that point on I looked like hell. I don't know if it was the medicine, the effect on my microbiome, or the illness itself, but my skin has aged decades in the past few years. It is really terrifying, but then I figure the inside of me must look just as bad as well, so maybe the emotional trauma won't last too long. :whistle: For this specific issue, I am determined to throw some money at the carcinine and see if I get any sort of results.
 

Isaiah 58:11

Senior Member
Messages
116
Location
A Sun-Scorched Land
Looking over the Perque products again, I think the only real difference between the Hair, Skin, and Nails formula and the Bone Guard formula is that the HNS has more biotin and the addition of lysine and the Bone has higher doses of some nutrients + germanium. I already take biotin and lysine so maybe I will try the bone formula with some Jarrowsil to get a higher bio-available silicon dosage. Thoughts?

Edited to add:
This Beyond Health Bone Mineral Formula is exactly the same as the Perque for a better price. http://beyondhealth.com/bh-supplements/bone-mineral-formula-240-tabs.html
 
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Gondwanaland

Senior Member
Messages
5,092
#1 get my hair to stop falling out
#2 stop the bone loss (I am in my early thirties an have already lost nearly 2 inches)
#3 reverse-age my skin
I think they are all connected.
There is interesting new research re bone loss.

Hair loss:
No amount of supplements taken orally stopped my hair loss. Topical treatment is needed because the hair follicles are too sensitive to DHT.

Earlier this year I couldn't tolerate B6 supplements anymore and decided to use B6 on my scalp targeting intense seborrhea. I have capsules with B6 5mg + Magnesium Citrate 10mg from a local compounding pharmacy. I opened one capsule and diluted ~ 1/10 in about 1/2 Tbsp of water and smeared it allover my scalp. Then shortly after I washed my hair and only lost like 3 hairs! After about 3 applications both seborrhea and hair loss had gone.

Seborrhea comes and goes for me, but the hair loss seems stable for several months now at about 80-100% better.

Eventually I stopped tolerating the transdermal B6. Then I ordered a Zinc shampoo from the pharmacy for the seborrhea, which works wonders. However the now higher scalp Testosterone (rather than DHT) makes my hair roots pretty greasy very quickly, and the hair ends are a bit dry. So I haven't gotten back a healthy, beatiful hair yet, but at least the loss practically stopped and I can tame the seborrhea.

Skin:
2 supplements helped me with that, then I stopped tolerating them and lost most of the gains. Silica (bound to marine collagen) and Glycoxil.

I think the missing ingredient is a healthy glycine metabolism. I seem to make uric acid from all supplemental glycine. Eating chicken with skin helps. I can't tolerate bone broth.

With low estrogen we can't make hyaluroinc acid and get saggy skin, joint pain etc. In my case, thyroid replacement worsen things since thyroid inhibits estrogen => hyaluronic acid.

Now hyaluronic acid is a very complicated subject on itself... A double-edged sword.

I think problems with glycine/collagen underlie all the three issues.
 
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Gondwanaland

Senior Member
Messages
5,092
hair loss seems stable for several months now at about 80-100% better.
It is not 100% cured because some commercial shampoos and conditioners do cause the hair loss to return (it must be the sulfate). I tried a sulfate-free Aloe shampoo but it caused horrendous seborrhea. So I am still looking for a suitable product. For a long time I used only sodium bicarb, but back then it only helped with the greasiness, and gave me much more white hair.
Also my hair is very sensitive to eggs - it must be the avidin in the egg whites. I can't even eat a hard boiled egg. But eggs as ingredient in baked stuff from which I eat only a slice pose no problem.
 
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Isaiah 58:11

Senior Member
Messages
116
Location
A Sun-Scorched Land
I think they are all connected.
There is interesting new research re bone loss.

Hair loss:
No amount of supplements taken orally stopped my hair loss. Topical treatment is needed because the hair follicles are too sensitive to DHT.

Earlier this year I couldn't tolerate B6 supplements anymore and decided to use B6 on my scalp targeting intense seborrhea. I have capsules with B6 5mg + Magnesium Citrate 10mg from a local compounding pharmacy. I opened one capsule and diluted ~ 1/10 in about 1/2 Tbsp of water and smeared it allover my scalp. Then shortly after I washed my hair and only lost like 3 hairs! After about 3 applications both seborrhea and hair loss had gone.

Seborrhea comes and goes for me, but the hair loss seems stable for several months now at about 80-100% better.

Eventually I stopped tolerating the transdermal B6. Then I ordered a Zinc shampoo from the pharmacy for the seborrhea, which works wonders. However the now higher scalp Testosterone (rather than DHT) makes my hair roots pretty greasy very quickly, and the hair ends are a bit dry. So I haven't gotten back a healthy, beatiful hair yet, but at least the loss practically stopped and I can tame the seborrhea.

Skin:
2 supplements helped me with that, then I stopped tolerating them and lost most of the gains. Silica (bound to marine collagen) and Glycoxil.

I think the missing ingredient is a healthy glycine metabolism. I seem to make uric acid from all supplemental glycine. Eating chicken with skin helps. I can't tolerate bone broth.

With low estrogen we can't make hyaluroinc acid and get saggy skin, joint pain etc. In my case, thyroid replacement worsen things since thyroid inhibits estrogen => hyaluronic acid.

Now hyaluronic acid is a very complicated subject on itself... A double-edged sword.

I think problems with glycine/collagen underlie all the three issues.
I haven't yet found a topical that works - my system seems to overreact and sheds even more hair while simultaneously feeling like someone has aimed a blowtorch at it. This has happened even with totally natural single ingredients. So far the only non-reactor is a spray of HA, biotin, and zinc. It hasn't stopped the problem though. :( I am taking oral Spironolactone to try to diminish the effect of the androgens.

I have never heard of a silica like you mentioned. Which brand is that?
 

Gondwanaland

Senior Member
Messages
5,092
I am really sorry for your struggle. If you have a hormonal panel then it is easier to figure out dietary changes to manipulate enzymes such as aromatase (estrogens), 5a-reductase (DHT), xanthine oxidase (uric acid) and beta-glucuronidase (glucuronidation). Sometimes there are offenders lurking in our diets :(
I have never heard of a silica like you mentioned. Which brand is that?
I get it compounded locally, but I think it is something like this.

ETA- at some point it stopped working completely, but I intend to retry it after taking MSM for a couple of weeks.
 

Isaiah 58:11

Senior Member
Messages
116
Location
A Sun-Scorched Land
@Gondwanaland
Have you seen this? https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15607555

A novel therapeutic strategy for Ehlers-Danlos syndrome based on nutritional supplements.
Abstract
Ehlers-Danlos syndrome is a rare disorder, comprising a group of related inherited disorders of connective tissue, resulting from underlying abnormalities in the synthesis and metabolism of collagen. This proposal is specifically concerned with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome classic type (formerly Types I-III), which is characterized by joint hypermobility and susceptibility to injury/arthritis, skin and vascular problems (including easy bruising, bleeding, varicose veins and poor tissue healing), cardiac mitral valve prolapse, musculo-skeletal problems (myopathy, myalgia, spinal scoliosis, osteoporosis), and susceptibility to periodontitis. No treatment is currently available for this disorder. The novel aspect of this proposal is based on: (i) increasing scientific evidence that nutrition may be a major factor in the pathogenesis of many disorders once thought to result from defective genes alone; (ii) the recognition that many of the symptoms associated with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome are also characteristic of nutritional deficiencies; (iii) the synergistic action within the body of appropriate combinations of nutritional supplements in promoting normal tissue function. We therefore hypothesize that the symptoms associated with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome may be successfully alleviated using a specific (and potentially synergistic) combination of nutritional supplements, comprising calcium, carnitine, coenzyme Q(10), glucosamine, magnesium, methyl sulphonyl methane, pycnogenol, silica, vitamin C, and vitamin K, at dosages which have previously been demonstrated to be effective against the above symptoms in other disorders.

Edited to Add: Oh, bleh. I see that was mentioned here: http://forums.phoenixrising.me/inde...-danlos-syndrome-stretchy-veins.20351/page-24 Sorry about that.
 
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