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I’m a non-smoker and I have ridges on my nails. I’m celiac (negative blood test but diagnosed through diet). My intestinal issues (bloating, episodic pain, constipation) resolved on the SCD diet. The pads of the tips of my fingers, toes and my BUTT had flattened from being an undiagnosed celiac for so many years. After improving my gut flora on the SCD, I started absorbing nutrients better and the pads of my fingers, toes AND my butt have returned to normal. I was also obese before the diet and had crazy carb cravings. The diet helps normalize your weight because it heals your intestines so you absorb nutrients better and it helps you to have a normal appetite. Those who are underweight gain, those over tend to lose. (Unless you eat too many nuts!) Alas, the diet didn’t seem to help my horizontal fingernail ridges at all, so for me I think it is being caused by something more than just malabsorption.
BTW, if you have really bad brain fog and and IBS symptoms try the SCD diet for a month. I was shocked how my brain fog dramatically lifted after four days on the diet. Keep it low histamine though, I learned that the hard way.
My best, SweetFeather
Yes the SCD is wonderful for anyone with digestive issues. It’s not easy at all but was definitely worth the effort for me. I was in pain every day from 1998 to 2003. I had gone to a lot of doctors. They ran every test and was unable to do a colonoscopy because the colon was spasming when they tried to get through. I was sent over to the hospital for more tests. In the end they said it was Irritable Bowel Syndrome and that I should stop eating all fiber. I knew that was not right.
In 2003 I went to a naturopath and he suggested the SCD book “Breaking The Vicious Cycle”. I read and thought, no way! hehe. Then after an especially excruciating weekend I decided to start it cold turkey that Monday. I was still in pain right until day 30 when I was about to give up. I had a good day. So I said maybe it was a fluke. But I did not have that pain again for 6 months when I started re-introducing foods.
It turned out that, to this day, if I eat anything with corn or soy, my intestines will let me know about it by feeling like a knife is stuck in my side. Actually it got me yesterday. I’m not even sure what I ate to cause it.
That’s why I have never gone back to eating processed foods other than Ezekiel bread and the occasional granola cereal on my yogurt.
I did eat a LOT of meat on that diet and now I hardly eat any meat. But I do recommend it too. It’s not the end all of diets but it’s the best elimination diet to figure out what foods cause problems.
Oh and I have had the finger nail ridges the whole time. I still have digestive issues even if I’m not doubled over in pain like I was.Deb, that’s interesting the SCD didn’t help your fingernail ridges either. I added back corn, potatoes and rice after being on the SCD for two years and I started having a recurrence of IBS type symptoms (bloating and pain) even though I wasn’t eating ANY gluten. I also had a return of crazy carb cravings (especially from CORN) which led to a 10 pound weight gain and I was feeling a little more foggy headed so I’ve recently gone back 100% SCD but low histamine. I’m going to stick to it the rest of my life because it really does make me feel so much better. The “Breaking the Vicious Cycle” by Elaine Gottschall was the book that got me started and I used the stages on pecanbread dot com as a guide for when to add foods back into my diet. My best, SweetFeather
Yikes. I saw my toenails for the first time in ages (they are usually painted). Yee-Gads! They are bluish — this must be poor circulation. Good grief. :ohh:
Yes, my nails are flattening with ridges on each side. They curl under unless I keep them short. Also, I have strange redness under the fingernails towards the tip and redness on almost the entire right thumb nail and strange red stripes on my left thumb nail. My 2 big toe nails were coming off, but they are re-attatching b/c I changed my diet.
I have the longitudinal ridges in my fingernails and the thick banded horizontal ones on my toenails. I will take pics tomorrow when I wake up. Bedtime now. Lol. Some of my toenails have spontaneously fallen off as well. I thought maybe I had dropped something on my toes or someone stepped on them but I don’t remember that happening within a few days or so of them falling off. It is just odd.
Hi,
Just to report, I have the following problems with my fingernails:
Longitudinal ridges in all of my nails.
Some deep horizontal ones on my right hand middle finger(following 3 chest infections?)
The nails sometimes curl under at the ends, so I keep them short.
They are darker pink around the ‘half moons’ then pale, then darker again at the ends.
The half moons have disappeared on my little fingers, nearly so on ring fingers too.
They are brittle at times and split, sort of in layers, is the best explanation.
I get dark red or black flecks appearing in the nails from time to time.
They vary in strength, I suppose depending on my overall condition.Regards
Barbara
(UK)I also have longitudinal ridges on my fingernails and have lost the moons on my ring and pinky fingers. My big tonails have horizontal ridges. I’m also seeing some white spots on my nails recently, but I think that’s a sign of zinc deficiency, right?
I have ridges in my nails going virticle. When i turned in a coupon to get a free manicure the women commented asking me if i was sick. Interestingly you talk about MCA. i have had high tryptase results 3 times and twice they have been just at normal range. My endo says she thinks i have mca. but since it is not giving me problems not to worry. She did send me to a hemotologist. Who ran the test. And told me if it comes back high he will perform a bone marrow biopsy. So i assume it came back normal as has never contacted me. i Also am very deficent in my vit D b-10 they also have me on q-10 and l-carnitine as those levels off aswell. a prior backround i am diagnosed with EDS hypermobility, Pots, small fiber neuropathy, pseudotumor ceribri and a minor 3 to 4mm chiari. I find your articles very interesting. esp because everything you talk about i have been diagnosed with! lol Ty Dr Diana for your wonderful site!
Does anyone have both horizontal and vertical ridges? I have vertical on fingernails and horizontal ridges on both big toenails. Do you know what could cause the toenail ridges?
Yes, I have both horizontal & vertical. I’ve had vertical for as long as I can remember. The horizontal just started about 2 months ago. I can remember having white marks on my nails when I was a little girl…. Mom used to say I got them if I told a lie 🙂 haha. They seem to come & go- good to know it’s related to zinc (but scary that I had them as a child). My nails also flatten out when they get long & a few seem to grow downward. I’d say I have Terry’s nails as well.
As far as the liver goes, I have consistently LOW bilirubin and was born jaundice. My cholesterol was a little high for the first time ever last fall.
Ok, when I first saw the heading on this one, I thought my nails hadn’t had any major notable changes. They don’t hurt and, in the scheme of things, are the least of my worries – quite frankly. They are ridged vertically. They are also relatively flat. Hmmm. I never thought much about it. I’ve had white spots but only from time to time and I’d just began to drink more milk since I assumed (or may have been told) that it was a calcium thing causing spots. I would’ve never thought of them being flat or ridged as being an issue or having much meaning. Some of the nails are ridged enough to be weird, probably. Actually, the very obvious ridging is likely a change, though I am not sure when it began or how long it has taken to become so pronounced.
Again, I am shocked! I had not paid much attention to this topic, citing ‘my nails are the least of my worries’. OMG, while filling out the questionnaire (because I AM ALL ABOUT POOLING TOGETHER FOR RESEARCH), I’m blown away. I HAVE LOST MY MOONS!! The only partial moon that I have left is on my left thumb. Yes, they’re flat, partially flattened, or flattening. The ridges are thick and off. They feel strange too. Kinda crazy, really. Oh, and the white line with the dots – me too. Shocking, I never thought much about it. Just knew that tips grew white and looked relatively attractive as a result (used to get comments on how white my tips grew when other peoples grew clear).
I took pics of nails and snapped a farewell shot of the last partial moon that I have since I assume that it, too, will be gone.
I’m sorta interested to figure out how this piece fits. What does it mean to the diagnostic process? Where does it fit in? It is EDS? Dysautonomia? What does it indicate or link up to? Is it PROOF of anything?
Will it make the doctor help me?
Good thread- year before all of Abby’s toenails just stopped growing. A few months later they kicked in again- she developed some granuloma that needed to be removed, but a year later they look fine mostly, one section looks suspicious but they are growing. She does have lots of horizontal ridges(common in kidney disease).
No one has had a good answer for it.. I do think the health of our nails can absolutely reflect other disease processes in our bodies.
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