Hi All,

I am about 9 weeks out from surgery and have noticed that my nails are getting brittle and break a lot more often. Could this be a sign of a lack of something in my diet? Any suggestions to make my nails stronger?

Thanks!

Pennie

I've read a few articles that suggest it could be an Iron deficiency, but it usually takes months for it to cause problems with the nails. Other symptoms are usually obvious before brittle nails.

Are you swimming or exposing your hands more to Water? I know when I hand wash my dishes instead of using my dishwasher my nails suffer. My mom swears when her thyroid went crazy, her nails changed, once she was on meds, they improved.

Did you have any issues pre-op with any deficiencies?

I am taking biotin and evening primrose oil along with bone and joint liquid formula...I hope it will help.

I have actually had the opposite issue - with all the Vitamins, Calcium and Iron, my nails are growing like crazy. Before, mine were very brittle and I used to have acrylic nails to keep my nails from being stubby. (I quit having them done to save money for my MINI and the surgery.)

Are you following your supplement recommendations?

Also look into Omega 3 for Nails, hair, and skin. I have used it on lowfat diets in the past and noticed my hair and nails grow and skin does not get dried out. I get it through fish oil product. The best tasting one is one called Omega Swirl which tastes like an orange smoothie almost (not bad at all). This is the only way I found to take fish oil and not have any issues with it--I use a tablespoon to take each morning. Other fish oil brands like the capsules make you burp fishy and this liquid does not.

I would get really dry skin and brittle hair on low fat diets and I read it in a book that I should suppliment this "good fat" during lowfat diets. After trying it I am definately going to use it with my sleeve as well.

The alternative of corse is to get allot of fish in your diet, and I just don't enjoy fish that much--the occational Salmon and I skip the suppliment on the days I eat Salmon.

Edited April 14, 201016 yr by Swiftflow

Hi everyone,

I'm new on the site but... I too have hypothyroid disease and when my thyroid levels are off I notice it in my nails dramaticly. But I have discovered that using odorless garlic suppliments HELPS ALOT. You don't even take it orally you just punture the gelcap and put the gel on each nail and massage into your nailbed while watching tv. I suggest doing this every night for 2 weeks and then every other day. It really helps, I swear by it.

:tongue_smilie: