Did you notice any digestive problems when started on levothyroxine?

[ecstatichamster]

I meant around them, it should be very warm thats why I suggested multiple layer of clothes because in colder climates you need to simulate warmness from the wheater with maybe multiple layers of clothes.
Of course you are not going to do that in a very warm climate.

Happy holidays hamster!

Ahh, got it. Makes total sense now. Same to you, thank you!!!

 

[mostlylurking]

Yes, but I think high thyroid people have normal-lower cholesterol combined with high t3 and high t4 on lab test.
If thyroid uses the cholesterol of course will be lower. There is no way people with high cholesterol can be high thyroid.

Unless, of course, they supplement too much pregnenolone.

 

[Razvan]

Unless, of course, they supplement too much pregnenolone.

So pregnanolone could raise cholesterol in a good way.

 

[mostlylurking]

So pregnanolone could raise cholesterol in a good way.

Pregnenolone is the first thing that thyroid hormone turns cholesterol into; then pregnenolone is converted to the other protective things like DHEA and progesterone. Cholesterol is protective, which means it is good for you. Of course, my doctor was appalled that my cholesterol had shot up to 235-240; he threatened me with statin drugs. So I cut my pregnenolone supplement amount in half and within 6 months, my cholesterol was back down to 205. This was my endocrinologist who knew that my hypothyriodism was being optimally addressed with 135 mg of NP Thyroid by Acella. He does thyroid panels on me every 6 months.

Cholesterol, longevity, intelligence, and health.

Ray Peat

raypeat.com

"The biological meaning of cholesterol is just starting to be explored.

Everything that doctors know about cholesterol is wrong.

New information about cholesterol is clarifying important issues in physiology and pathology."

Progesterone Pregnenolone & DHEA - Three Youth-Associated Hormones

Ray Peat

raypeat.com

"Pregnenolone, which is the raw material for producing many of the hormones of stress and adaptation, was known as early as 1934, but for several years it was considered to be an "inert" substance. A reason for this belief is that it was first tested on healthy young animals. Since these animals were already producing large amounts of pregnenolone (in the brain, adrenal glands, and gonads), additional pregnenolone had no effect.

In the 1940s, pregnenolone was tested in people who were sick or under stress, and it was found to have a wide range of beneficial actions, but the drug industry never had much interest in it. Its very generality made it seem unlike a drug, and its natural occurrence made it impossible to patent. Thus, many synthetic variants, each with a more specialized action and some serious side effects, came to be patented and promoted for use in treating specific conditions. The drug companies created an atmosphere in which many people felt that each disease should have a drug, and each drug, a disease. The side effects of some of those synthetic hormones were so awful that many people came to fear them. For example, synthetic varieties of "cortisone" can destroy immunity, and can cause osteoporosis, diabetes, and rapid aging, with loss of pigment in the skin and hair, and extreme thinning of the skin.

Natural pregnenolone is present in young people of both sexes at a very high concentration, and one reason for the large amount produced in youth is that it is one of our basic defenses against the harmful side effects that an imbalance of even our natural hormones can produce. In excess, natural cortisone or estrogen can be dangerous, but when there is an abundance of pregnenolone, their side effects are prevented or minimized.

In a healthy young person or animal, taking even a large dose of pregnenolone has no hormone-like or drug-like action at all. It is unique in this way. But if the animal or person is under stress, and producing more cortisone than usual, taking pregnenolone causes the cortisone to come down to the normal level. After the age of 40 or 45, it seems that everyone lives in a state of continuous "stress," just as a normal part of aging. This coincides with the body's decreased ability to produce an abundance of pregnenolone.

When aging rats are given a supplement of pregnenolone, it immediately improves their memory and general performance. Human studies, as early as the 1940s, have also demonstrated improved performance of ordinary tasks. It is now known that pregnenolone is one of the major hormones in the brain. It is produced by certain brain cells, as well as being absorbed into the brain from the blood. It protects brain cells from injury caused by fatigue, and an adequate amount has a calming effect on the emotions, which is part of the reason that it protects us from the stress response that leads to an excessive production of cortisone. People feel a mood of resilience and an ability to confront challenges.

Many people have noticed that pregnenolone has a "face-lifting" action. This effect seems to be produced by improved circulation to the skin, and by an actual contraction of some muscle-like cells in the skin. A similar effect can improve joint mobility in arthritis, tissue elasticity in the lungs, and even eyesight. Many studies have shown it to be protective of "fibrous tissues" in general, and in this connection it was proven to prevent the tumors that can be caused by estrogen.

Pregnenolone is largely converted into two other "youth-associated" protective hormones, progesterone and DHEA. At the age of 30, both men and women produce roughly 30 to 50 mg. of pregnenolone daily. When taken orally, even in the powdered form, it is absorbed fairly well. One dose of approximately 300 mg (the size of an aspirin tablet) keeps acting for about a week, as absorption continues along the intestine, and as it is "recycled" in the body. Part of this long lasting effect is because it improves the body's ability to produce its own pregnenolone. It tends to improve function of the thyroid and other glands, and this "normalizing" effect on the other glands helps to account for its wide range of beneficial effects."

Intelligence and metabolism

Appropriate stimulation is an essential part of the developmental process. Inappropriate stimulation is a stress that deforms the process of growth. Mediators of stress, such as serotonin, can cause persistent distortions of physiology and behavior.

raypeat.com

"Any chemical support for intelligence should take into account the mind-damaging stresses that our culture can impose, and provide defense against those. In darkness and isolation, for example, the stress hormones increase, and the brain-protective steroids decrease. The memory improvement that results from taking pregnenolone or thyroid (which is needed for synthesizing pregnenolone from cholesterol) is the result of turning off the dulling and brain-dissolving stress hormones, allowing normal responsiveness to be restored."

 

[FitnessMike]

Ok, I think I'm close to getting to the bottom of it.

So again, intense indigestion(never had it), intense blocked nose(never really had it), and white spots on every fingernail on both of my hands, all of these started with the introduction of thyroxine. I did have high histamine symptoms in the past, but maybe addressing my thyroid with thyroxine and with all the dairy/sugar I'm eating while deficient in zinc, I could run into low histamine

It seems like it has to do with zinc/histamine deficiency and subsequent low digestive juices, so the theory would be that thyroxine ramped up metabolism and uncovered zinc deficiency as @mostlylurkinghas already suggested.

Then i found something interesting that @redsun wrote:

"""If you have many digestive problems like indigestion, food intolerances, inflammation related bowel problems, that is low histamine. But you can get apparent histamine reactions that give the impression of too much histamine when in fact it is the opposite. These people with time find themselves with less and less food options as they have to keep removing because they can't stand most foods

you need to increase histamine and acid secretions via histidine and zinc so you don't get digestive problems from eating food. With time you will be able to digest foods better and be able to have a more varied diet."""

Started taking zinc yesterday and eating beef, and lest see what will happen in the coming days, if digestion gets better I'm on the right track. Daily cacao powder and desiccated beef liver which are both good copper sources, could have lowered my zinc further.

Had multiple intense dreams last night from this zinc, and my resting pulse is 90 right now which is unusual.

 

[youngsinatra]

Ok, I think I'm close to getting to the bottom of it.

So again, intense indigestion(never had it), intense blocked nose(never really had it), and white spots on every fingernail on both of my hands, all of these started with the introduction of thyroxine. I did have high histamine symptoms in the past, but maybe addressing my thyroid with thyroxine and with all the dairy/sugar I'm eating while deficient in zinc, I could run into low histamine

It seems like it has to do with zinc/histamine deficiency and subsequent low digestive juices, so the theory would be that thyroxine ramped up metabolism and uncovered zinc deficiency as @mostlylurkinghas already suggested.

Then i found something interesting that @redsun wrote:

"""If you have many digestive problems like indigestion, food intolerances, inflammation related bowel problems, that is low histamine. But you can get apparent histamine reactions that give the impression of too much histamine when in fact it is the opposite. These people with time find themselves with less and less food options as they have to keep removing because they can't stand most foods

you need to increase histamine and acid secretions via histidine and zinc so you don't get digestive problems from eating food. With time you will be able to digest foods better and be able to have a more varied diet."""

Started taking zinc yesterday and eating beef, and lest see what will happen in the coming days, if digestion gets better I'm on the right track. Daily cacao powder and desiccated beef liver which are both good copper sources, could have lowered my zinc further.

Had multiple intense dreams last night from this zinc, and my resting pulse is 90 right now which is unusual.

Zinc is also needed to convert T4 into T3.

Zinc supplementation alters thyroid hormone metabolism in disabled patients with zinc deficiency - PubMed

Zn may play a role in thyroid hormone metabolism in low T3 patients and may in part contribute to conversion of T4 to T3 in humans.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[FitnessMike]

Zinc is also needed to convert T4 into T3.

Zinc supplementation alters thyroid hormone metabolism in disabled patients with zinc deficiency - PubMed

Zn may play a role in thyroid hormone metabolism in low T3 patients and may in part contribute to conversion of T4 to T3 in humans.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

yes indeed.

I know you were playing with zinc/copper and ceruloplasmin tests etc, would you advise what would be the most reliable test to keep an eye on whether I'm not overdoing zinc in the future?

 

[youngsinatra]

yes indeed.

I know you were playing with zinc/copper and ceruloplasmin tests etc, would you advise what would be the most reliable test to keep an eye on whether I'm not overdoing zinc in the future?

Plasma zinc is the most accurate if I remember correctly. I used both serum and plasma and they were very very similar so either one should work.

 

[FitnessMike]

Plasma zinc is the most accurate if I remember correctly. I used both serum and plasma and they were very very similar so either one should work.

thanks.

All these neurotransmitters are too complicated, the best bet is optimizing metabolism and diet/nutrition, and rest of the chemistry should fall into the right place, would you agree?

Also, what does your diet look like now, are you settled with what you eat for the most part? still on meat and rice for the most part?

 

[youngsinatra]

thanks.

All these neurotransmitters are too complicated, the best bet is optimizing metabolism and diet/nutrition, and rest of the chemistry should fall into the right place, would you agree?

Also, what does your diet look like now, are you settled with what you eat for the most part? still on meat and rice for the most part?

I still mainly eat chicken filet, white rice, refined coconut oil, varied types of fruit, salt, lately lots of coconut water, coffee, mineral water.

I mainly need to stay away from red meat, oysters, dairy, eggs, soy, corn and nightshades.

 

[mostlylurking]

but maybe addressing my thyroid with thyroxine and with all the dairy/sugar I'm eating while deficient in zinc, I could run into low histamine

All the sugar? How much sugar? Sugar depletes thiamine.

Hiding in Plain Sight: Modern Thiamine Deficiency

Thiamine or vitamin B1 is an essential, water-soluble vitamin required for mitochondrial energetics—the production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). It is a critical and rate-limiting cofactor to multiple enzymes involved in this process, including ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[FitnessMike]

All the sugar? How much sugar? Sugar depletes thiamine.

Hiding in Plain Sight: Modern Thiamine Deficiency

Thiamine or vitamin B1 is an essential, water-soluble vitamin required for mitochondrial energetics—the production of adenosine triphosphate (ATP). It is a critical and rate-limiting cofactor to multiple enzymes involved in this process, including ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

I meant carbs in general, around 500g i eat daily

 

[mostlylurking]

I meant carbs in general, around 500g i eat daily

Carbs (including sugar) use up thiamine. It requires thiamine to convert carbs into ATP. Have you taken a critical look at your thiamine status?

 

[FitnessMike]

Carbs (including sugar) use up thiamine. It requires thiamine to convert carbs into ATP. Have you taken a critical look at your thiamine status?

Yes iv been there

 

[youngsinatra]

Have you gotten a recent thyroid labs on 100mcg T4?

What was your starting TSH btw? (When diagnosed with hypothyroidism)

 

[FitnessMike]

Have you gotten a recent thyroid labs on 100mcg T4?

What was your starting TSH btw? (When diagnosed with hypothyroidism)

this is after 3 weeks on 100 t4, its still low across the board and im positive I will end up on something like 200mcg t4, i dropped porcine NDT that I was taking along side because for some reason it started giving me insomnia when taken along with t4, the reason I was taking it because it was raising my t3 only, and efficiently.

rt3 1 week prior

i will stick with 100mcg t4 and little bit porcine NDT untill my digestion will resolve, it is already getting better with zinc supplementation. Im retesting in a week time, have to drop this rt3 before I increase t4.

when i tested thyroid for the first time i was already super symptomatic for like 2 years already

 

[FitnessMike]

blocked nose is already bit better from zinc too.

 

[youngsinatra]

You took 100 mcg on an empty stomach and waited at least 30min before eating breakfast or drinking coffee?

Very surprised that your total T4 is still that low.

 

[FitnessMike]

You took 100 mcg on an empty stomach and waited at least 30min before eating breakfast or drinking coffee?

Very surprised that your total T4 is still that low.

Yes on an empty hour before food, coffee the late morning after the first meal digested for the most part.

It was borderline low so it's still better, judging by many people's intake on Reddit, I would think I will probably end up on around 200mcg, it's not rare for people to take 200mcg from what i have read there, I'm a big bloke too.

Another thing would be if I'm zinc deficient = lower stomach acid = lower t4 absorption.

 

[youngsinatra]

Yes on empty hour before food.

It was borderline low so it's still better, judging by many people's intake on Reddit, I would think I will probably end up on around 200mcg, its not rare for people to take 200mcg from what i have read there, I'm a big bloke too.

Another thing would be if I'm zinc deficient = lower stomach acid = lower t4 absorption.

I was also thinking about the possibility for intestinal malabsorption due to low HCL etc.

As 100 mcg is a significant dose for someone with subclinical hypothyroidism. I only know one person in my family on 150mcg that had her thyroid removed.