46 replies to this topic

[Dotty1]

I am curious to know how many of you out there started taking Taurine (the amino acid). I would like to know how long you have taken it and what your results were .

[LivesInABox]

That i know of (correct me if i'm wrong guys)

Positive Reactions
LiliVG* (low fructose + taurine + b)
williamp (sugar free red bull + healthy diet - amazing results with pics!)
Alfalfa (taurine then red bull, no new breakouts so far)
won won (avoiding sugar, supplementing taurine helped but not 100% cured)
janer (vegan diet, taurine sup - skin is improving)
Leo21k (taurine 2 weeks no zits)
serkios (taurine, b-complex + C viatmin, vast improvement but 100%)
Lilo (taurine - skin doing very well)
KT (taurine working a treat - 100% clear)
groove88 (taurine & B complex, no diet change - spots have lessened big time)
SweetJade1980 (taurine - maybe helping)
bchapais (taurine + b + other sups - 7 days clear so far)
Biscuits (taurine + others + lots of water - pretty clear but not 100%)
HeavyOnHealth (whole foods [meat/fish/brown rice], Taurine & B Vits, great results)
And finally Me (low fructose diet + taurine + b vit works for me)

Supposedly trying it out (no results posted yet)
BarryAllen
Thomas Ahn
Fistful of Acne
GetClearorDieTryin
manutdfan
novembershadow

No Reaction at all (dose? strict enough diet? Acne caused by something else?)
Veen
MRW

Bad reactions (possible intolerance to isolated taurine dose??)
dacrow

Possible Side Effects (maybe todo with water intake & b vitamins)
Dry Skin
Thirst

Taurine is a natural amino acid, and although it's classed as a non essential amino, if your body isn't producing enough of it then intake of it then it becomes essential. Meat is the main food that contains a reasonable but still fairly small level of Taurine. A lot of people have supplemented with this in studies and it appears to be reasonably safe (for most!). Mothers milk is also high in taurine as babies can't make taurine from other amino acids.

*Goddess that started it all and has kept the momentum going! We're not worthy!!!

Updated 30/01/2008 12:30pm

[fiction]

I just added taurine myself last thursday at 500mg two times a day. Cant say anything yet. I have hormonal low face acne ( lower jaw and either side of my chin) and It seems as if my body has become extremely intolerant to sugars of any kind so we will see how it goes.

[LivesInABox]

Thats good to hear - i think it's definitely worth a try! I'm still looking into the whole dry skin/thirst issue. I know from bodybuilding when you take taurine your supposed to drink more water, and B vitamins are useful too, but even with those some people get really thirsty and have some dry skin. It'd be cool if you could post any updates in the main thread and i'll add you to the list in there.

Good luck guys - i hope you see good improvements

[Constantine]

Is it necessary to take anything with taurine, like b complex os something?

[nil]

Is it necessary to take anything with taurine, like b complex os something?

Yes, with b-complex, check out LiliVGs sig

[Kramerica]

I also added a taurine/B-6 combo pill about two weeks ago. 500mg taurine/10mg B-6 twice a day. In addition I get B vitamins from my multi vitamin, Synergy Basic Version 2. So far no changes better or worse.

[Dotty1]

okay, I just purchased some... it will arrive in a few days. I'll let you know the results.

[Lilo]

i had a bit of a break-out before my period, which lead me to the conclusion that taurine only helps with dietary outbreaks, and not hormonal. currently i am 100 % clear again from taurine. but for my premenstrual acne i have just purcahsed natural cox 2 inhibitors (see link below), including curcumin, reservatrol, green tea extract and boswellic acid. i really hope this works.

but these days i can basically eat whatever i want, no effect on my skin as long as i take taurine, b vit and stay away from fruit and excess sugar.

https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstrea...4/1/dv04120.pdf

[~ Honey ~]

im sorry..but what is taurine? is there any other name for that supp. and what is it made of? it sounds really great, a lot of people here that got great results

[rakbs]

im sorry..but what is taurine? is there any other name for that supp. and what is it made of? it sounds really great, a lot of people here that got great results

Taurine is an organic acid. It makes up a lot of your bile, and is found throughout other tissues in your obdy. It's sometimes called an amino acid, but technically it's not one.

[Demorph]

i'd be interested in knowing how much you can cheat?
i mean does taurine only work if you spare the sugar?

[LiliVG]

i'd be interested in knowing how much you can cheat?
i mean does taurine only work if you spare the sugar?

For me, I noticed at first, the leeway for sugar was extremely low. But I'm noticing lately I can eat a little bit of sugar and be ok, but still, not a lot. Like about a week ago, I ate chocolate 3 days in a row, and nothing happened. But if I had tried that in the beginning, it was not the case.
LivesInABox also says that he has maintained a very low tolerance for sugars still. So low sugar really is a key thing with this. I don't know if megadoses of taurine would negate that, I haven't tried taking like 10 grams of taurine a day or anything, maybe that would work, lol.

[Demorph]

thanks, i see your point.
i orderend the supplements and will test them.
i'm eager to know how much sugar i can tolerate but
you can't live without it, can you?
e.g. your brain needs glucose or dextrose to work properly right?

[LivesInABox]

i had a bit of a break-out before my period, which lead me to the conclusion that taurine only helps with dietary outbreaks, and not hormonal. currently i am 100 % clear again from taurine. but for my premenstrual acne i have just purcahsed natural cox 2 inhibitors (see link below), including curcumin, reservatrol, green tea extract and boswellic acid. i really hope this works.

but these days i can basically eat whatever i want, no effect on my skin as long as i take taurine, b vit and stay away from fruit and excess sugar.

https://tspace.library.utoronto.ca/bitstrea...4/1/dv04120.pdf

Hey thats really good to hear - and kinda of what i expect, as acne is usually a symptom of something else and can be caused by multiple problems - which is why tracking down multiple causes and curing them and getting clear is difficult. But it's good to know that a decent percent of people that have tried the lower fructose/taurine are getting results - must be a wide spread issue. Can we get some funding and open up a clinic somewhere LiliVG?

This may be a coincidence but i just read that stress & alcohol both increase estrogen levels and elevated estrogen levels reduces taurine availability. It's a bit late to start looking now, and it's not really my bag - just thought you might like to know

(and also moderate levels of alcohol have been found to raise estrogen levels in men - is that true? That'd be like a double taurine whammy!).

Taurine

Women who are on estrogen replacement, birth control pill, or those suffering from excessive estrogen (this is a widespread condition commonly called estrogen dominance) may need more taurine. Taurine is also helpful in clearing excessive fluid retention during menstrual period.

[LiliVG]

thanks, i see your point.
i orderend the supplements and will test them.
i'm eager to know how much sugar i can tolerate but
you can't live without it, can you?
e.g. your brain needs glucose or dextrose to work properly right?

Yes, you do need carbohydrates in order to function properly, but your body turns carbohydrates into glucose, so as long as you eat your veggies, you'll have all the carbohydrates you need. I'm not in any way promoting a diet that puts people in a state of ketosis, that wouldn't be healthy.

[novembershadow]

hi, just to update...I'm not sure how useful this info is since I am also on accutane, so there is a major compounding variable.

I had a really bad breakout staring 6 weeks ago, when I started both taurine (1.5-2g a day) and accutane, most likely because of the accutane. I'm sure the accutane caused it, but I can't say the taurine helped that much because my skin was awful. It is slowly clearing up, but I can't say the taurine has had any notable positive effect on my skin during the 6 weeks I've been taking it.

However, one interesting effect that I can't imagine could be caused by the accutane is that my hair loss seems to have virtually stopped in its tracks. I've been having pretty serious hair shedding for the past 2 years, for an unknown reason...I've had several hormonal tests, biopsy, etc...no cause found. Keep in mind this started way before the accutane and by the time I started, my hair was probably 20% thinner than it was 2 years ago, which trust me, is a LOT. I started taurine and accutane at pretty much the same time...so 2 weeks into taking both of these drugs, I noticed that A. my hair was very dry and brittle, but B. less was falling out. Since accutane tends to CAUSE hair loss, not stop it, I would say this is probably due to the taurine. In the past two weeks, I have lost very little hair...after I took a shower and let my hair air-dry yesterday, I brushed it and maybe 5-6 hairs were on the brush after brushing all my hair...this is surprising because normally it would be like 50-75. a lot of people take taurine to protect against accutane hair loss and so far I would highly reccommend it. the condition of my hair doesn't look very good...it's dry, a lot of breaking from the accutane..but the fact that it really doesn't seem to be falling out abnormally is a pleasant change. I'm on a pretty low dose of accutane now... only 40mg for 58kg, so this dose will probably be increased to 60mg soon. I'm concerned that the increase may trigger the hair loss again, but I'm going to continue with the taurine. Seriously, although the effect on my skin has been minimal so far (again, have only been taking it 6 weeks) the fact that the hairloss is suddenly diminishing after 2 years WHILE taking a drug that CAUSES hairloss is pretty impressive.

[LiliVG]

hi, just to update...I'm not sure how useful this info is since I am also on accutane, so both the worsening and the getting better could be unrelated to the taurine.

I had a really bad breakout staring 6 weeks ago, when I started both taurine (1.5-2g a day) and accutane, most likely because of the accutane. I'm sure the accutane caused it, but I can't say the taurine helped that much because my skin was awful. It is slowly clearing up, but I can't say it has had any notable effect on my skin during the 6 weeks I've been taking it.

However, one interesting effect that I can't imagine could be caused by the accutane is that my hair loss seems to have virtually stopped in its tracks. I've been having pretty serious hair shedding for the past 2 years, for an unknown reason...I've had several hormonal tests, biopsy, etc...no cause found. Keep in mind this started way before the accutane and by the time I started, my hair was probably 20% thinner than it was 2 years ago, which trust me, is a LOT. I started taurine and accutane at pretty much the same time...so 2 weeks into taking both of these drugs, I noticed that A. my hair was very dry and brittle, but B. less was falling out. Since accutane tends to CAUSE hair loss, not stop it, I would say this is probably due to the taurine. In the past two weeks, I have lost very little hair...after I took a shower and let my hair air-dry yesterday, I brushed it and maybe 5-6 hairs were on the brush after brushing all my hair...this is surprising because normally it would be like 50-75. a lot of people take taurine to protect against accutane hair loss and so far I would highly reccommend it. the condition of my hair doesn't look very good...it's dry, a lot of breaking from the accutane..but the fact that it really doesn't seem to be falling out abnormally is a pleasant change. I'm on a pretty low dose of accutane now... only 40mg for 58kg, so this dose will probably be increased to 60mg soon. I'm concerned that the increase may trigger the hair loss again, but I'm going to continue with the taurine. Seriously, although the effect on my skin has been minimal so far (again, have only been taking it 6 weeks) the fact that the hairloss is suddenly diminishing after 2 years WHILE taking a drug that CAUSES hairloss is pretty impressive.

Wow, that is impressive! Thanks for posting that! Hmm...I wonder if taurine could help my mom, she's had thin hair almost all her life. So taking taurine to protect from hairloss is something a lot of people do while taking accutane?

[novembershadow]

I don't know if a lot of people do...but I saw a few posts on the hair loss/accutane thread so I thought it would be worth a shot as a preventive measure to losing more...I never thought it would actually stop the shedding I was experiencing, because I have tried so many other supplements to balance hormones or help hair loss (fish oil, saw palmetto, biotin, evening primrose oil) and nothing made a difference. Maybe I shouldn't be speaking so soon, since it has only been several weeks...but it has been such a sudden difference I can't imagine it's unrelated. *crosses fingers* I just pray it'll keep up

[LiliVG]

Interesting. I'm doing a search online, and see many references to taurine related to hair loss treatments. I hope taurine isn't illegal in Sweden like it is in Norway. Stupid regulations