Bumps on your Arms

For as long as I can remember I've had these bumps on the outer side of my upper arms.  It felt like I had goosebumps permanently on my upper arms.  And it looked like all the hair follicles had something hard sticking out of them.

I inadvertently got rid of these bumps awhile back, much to my surprise!!  One day I just noticed they were gone!   A few days after noticing it was gone I was reading Kate Rheaume-Bleue's book:





and saw it written up.  It's called follicular hyperkeratosis, and even has it's own wiki page (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperkeratosis).  Both the wiki and her book says that it's due to a vitamin A deficiency.  It just so happens that a week or two before I read that entry in her book I started taking cod liver oil, which has a lot of vitamin A in it.

Back when I discovered this I was taking Sprouts generic brand of Cod Liver Oil.  I have since stopped taking cod liver oil and now get my A through a multi-vitamin, here:


This multi-vitamin has 10,000IU of Vitamin A, 50% as mixed carotenoids and 50% as retinyl acetate.  I've been taking this multi-vitamin for a year or more now and do well on it.

This all was quite a surprise to me, as I always thought those bumps were irritating, but didn't think they were indicative of any sort of problem or deficiency.  It just shows how people live with a problem for so long that they start to think it is normal.  Well, now I know that our bodies work perfectly with the right nutrients.  And even something as annoying as bumps on your arms is a sign that your body isn't working at 100%.

Life is better without bumps on my arms....