Hashimotos/Brain Fog/Blood Sugar Imbalances

[Hanzo]

These things have plagued me since early teenage years. They have subsided but never left. Anyone else coping with these?

 

[Hans]

High dose vit B1 (600mg) daily is effective for treating fatigue from Hashimotos disease.
Then, to balance blood sugar, magnesium, B-vitamins (especially B1, b2, b3, b5, b6 and biotin), manganese, zinc, copper, calcium, fat solubles, etc., are important. Basically a well rounded diet. Cronometer can be very helpful in this regard.
Avoid a deficit and using an adaptogen, such as tribulus, could help a lot to stabilize blood sugar.
Frequent snacking can also help.
Increase glycogen stores by improving liver function, using taurine and blocking excess lipolysis.
Lactate, ammonia and excess cortisol can cause brain fog, fatigue and blood sugar and thyroid problems. Keeping those under control would also help a lot.
Avoid gut irritating foods and clean the gut if that is an issue.

 

[Hanzo]

High dose vit B1 (600mg) daily is effective for treating fatigue from Hashimotos disease.
Then, to balance blood sugar, magnesium, B-vitamins (especially B1, b2, b3, b5, b6 and biotin), manganese, zinc, copper, calcium, fat solubles, etc., are important. Basically a well rounded diet. Cronometer can be very helpful in this regard.
Avoid a deficit and using an adaptogen, such as tribulus, could help a lot to stabilize blood sugar.
Frequent snacking can also help.
Increase glycogen stores by improving liver function, using taurine and blocking excess lipolysis.
Lactate, ammonia and excess cortisol can cause brain fog, fatigue and blood sugar and thyroid problems. Keeping those under control would also help a lot.
Avoid gut irritating foods and clean the gut if that is an issue.

I am going to take b1 right now I have it stored away somewhere thanks for that dosage. I fast every day it helps me prevent headaches and crippling fog from blood sugar spikes and dips. I am going to take Energin a well today. I will let you know how this goes. My small intestines gets jammed even with a clean diet. Cascara wasn't enough.

 

[Hans]

Are all foods problematic or just some? Can you do a liquid diet?
Do you have anxiety or stress that is causing you indigestion and that is why you rather fast? Cypro might work great to help you relax and improve digestion.

 

[Hanzo]

Thanks to Ray peat I have learned about foods and how they go or no go with me.
Fructose makes me gassy I used to drink 2 ltrs of OJ and had constant gas for literally hours. Since then I've switched to more glucose candies and carbs but no starch. I like dairy and surprising i digest it pretty well. I fast because to maintain a stable blood sugar so I can function before i used to have constant headaches, cold like lightheaded headaches. I've raised my fats to be equal to my proteina and carbs and I'm doing no juice. Since this I have had no gas but slower digestion but this is obvious since before it was mostly liquid diet now I eat more solid foods like cheese and a bit of chicken, butter. Cypro ehh I rather stay natural thanks for your concern I'll look more into it

 

[Hans]

The cypro was just a suggestion if you struggled with anxiety related indigestion, but luckily that is not the case.
Have you had any tests done on hormones and such?

 

[Cirion]

I don't have Hashi's but I can tell you that blood sugar stabilizing has been a struggle for me though. I think it takes a lot more carbs than you may think. Maybe this isn't normal, but I often have to force feed myself carbs if I'm not feeling right (aka, low blood sugar) in very large quantities. Example - yesterday I had 900 gram of carbs total lol.

The problem is when you're metabolism is down regulated due to low blood sugar, (at least for me), you'll find that you have no appetite, and no motivation to eat... even though you need to eat. Often times the hunger won't come until you've brought blood sugar up.

 

[Hanzo]

The cypro was just a suggestion if you struggled with anxiety related indigestion, but luckily that is not the case.
Have you had any tests done on hormones and such?

No tests but theyre probably wacked out. Brain Fog, slow digestion, fructose malabsoprtion. I also think i have high DHT or serotonin but the serotonin has lowered with my new diet. Maybe it is the MAOA gene that can't be fixed. I sleep well with anti histamines but no progress with faster digestion and i have tried everything on here. So far i think it is the new diet that contains more solids like cheese, fish, chicken and the body is simply not accustomed to it.

I don't have Hashi's but I can tell you that blood sugar stabilizing has been a struggle for me though. I think it takes a lot more carbs than you may think. Maybe this isn't normal, but I often have to force feed myself carbs if I'm not feeling right (aka, low blood sugar) in very large quantities. Example - yesterday I had 900 gram of carbs total lol.

The problem is when you're metabolism is down regulated due to low blood sugar, (at least for me), you'll find that you have no appetite, and no motivation to eat... even though you need to eat. Often times the hunger won't come until you've brought blood sugar up.

Thats crazy but whatever works. i have gone up to 500 carbs everyday and didn't feel any different only in the wallet sense. now i am doing all macros equally balanced. And more solids. I am slowly recovering from caloric deficients all my life till a year ago or so. I just boxed and barely ate that much, just ran on adrenaline i guess. But that was a while ago. My metabolism has gone up slowly but surely thanks just to smarter food choices and eating more. I just didnt have much of an apettite now i do.

 

[Hans]

It just takes time for the metabolism to recover and the requirements for nutrients are higher when recovering, so that's why it's so important to see (via cronometer) if you are deficient in anything or not.

 

[Hanzo]

It just takes time for the metabolism to recover and the requirements for nutrients are higher when recovering, so that's why it's so important to see (via cronometer) if you are deficient in anything or not.

I'm on chronometer. I'm eating like 200 calories shy away from maintenance. I need to lose 10 lb or so for a bout soon. Low dopamine and brain fog sucks though.

 

[Cirion]

I am not necessarily saying copy me and eat 900 gram carb, as I know that is rather extreme, but it seems to work for me. But I will say my experiences echo a few other peoples' experiences here as well like I believe @theLaw and @Velve921 , if I recall correctly (they can chime in if I'm wrong?) When the metabolism has been FUBAR'd for a while sometimes it can take extreme measures to fix things.

I'm on chronometer. I'm eating like 200 calories shy away from maintenance. I need to lose 10 lb or so for a bout soon. Low dopamine and brain fog sucks though.

I would not even think about calorie deficits or losing weight purposefully until you fix your metabolism. My personal opinion. Calorie deficits will just further worsen metabolism woes. Chronic dieting and calorie deficits were one of many things that wrecked my metabolism.

Rather than focus on eating less, one should focus on eating more and expending more (Uncoupling helps achieve this).

 

[Hanzo]

I have fructose malabsorption. 900 grams i would definitely go for if only i could drink juice. I loved that stuff. What do you think about equal macros. Idk what uncoupling means.

 

[Cirion]

@Hans has a good write up here

Uncoupling: Secret to Fat loss and Health

Juice can be a tricky thing. True fructose malabsportion is rare, it's more likely you have some of or all of the following issues (which I also have to some degree or another)

-> Inability to have too many liquids relative to solid
-> Electrolytes especially sodium too low (easy to happen with high liquid diet)
-> Need more actual fruits, they serve me better than OJ, due to fiber and other nutrients missed with OJ / fruit juices
-> I have found that too much fructose to glucose makes me feel bad and actually go hypoglycemic. I aim for at least as much glucose as fructose. Some fruits are just too high fructose for me to handle (like apples or pears).
-> For a hypoglycemic, COLD liquids in particular can be especially troubling as the body struggles to keep its temperature up while assimilating the cold liquid. warmer liquids are tolerated better.

Also I rarely do well with juice all by itself. It is preferable to have juice with a "complete" meal (protein and fats) or at least with some protein. I can tolerate fruit without protein or fats in some cases though.

 

[Hans]

I'm on chronometer. I'm eating like 200 calories shy away from maintenance. I need to lose 10 lb or so for a bout soon. Low dopamine and brain fog sucks though.

I agree with @Cirion on avoiding a deficit. Extra fat is most likely due to already elevated stress hormone. Staying in a deficit will trash your metabolism. Increase calories to 200 over maintenance if you don't want to gain too much weight while recovering metabolism. Sometimes people can eat way over maintenance and actually start to get lean because of an increase in metabolism and steroidogenesis.
Salt and carbs help to increase dopamine. Consume lots of carbs with B-vits, such as Energin, to promote its oxidation and prevent it from going to lactate. More B1 will really help to lower lactate and promote CO2 production.

 

[Hanzo]

@Hans has a good write up here

Uncoupling: Secret to Fat loss and Health

Juice can be a tricky thing. True fructose malabsportion is rare, it's more likely you have some of or all of the following issues (which I also have to some degree or another)

-> Inability to have too many liquids relative to solid
-> Electrolytes especially sodium too low (easy to happen with high liquid diet)
-> Need more actual fruits, they serve me better than OJ, due to fiber and other nutrients missed with OJ / fruit juices
-> I have found that too much fructose to glucose makes me feel bad and actually go hypoglycemic. I aim for at least as much glucose as fructose. Some fruits are just too high fructose for me to handle (like apples or pears).
-> For a hypoglycemic, COLD liquids in particular can be especially troubling as the body struggles to keep its temperature up while assimilating the cold liquid. warmer liquids are tolerated better.

I'm just eating gummie bears now. Probably buy the Dole fruit pieces in coconut water then. I had bad gas for hours everyday i drank OJ. the glucose fructose ratio balance is real.

I agree with @Cirion on avoiding a deficit. Extra fat is most likely due to already elevated stress hormone. Staying in a deficit will trash your metabolism. Increase calories to 200 over maintenance if you don't want to gain too much weight while recovering metabolism. Sometimes people can eat way over maintenance and actually start to get lean because of an increase in metabolism and steroidogenesis.
Salt and carbs help to increase dopamine. Consume lots of carbs with B-vits, such as Energin, to promote its oxidation and prevent it from going to lactate. More B1 will really help to lower lactate and promote CO2 production.

So a few hours ago i took a dose of Energin along with like 200 or 250 b1 (600 is scary high). I eat like 33 percent carbs 33 percent fat and 33 percent protein. Often maybe it is high protein or carb but only by a bit. I am not carb free. I like gummies bears and milk way too much. and keto diets are stressful for me and make me run on adrenaline.

As for your uncoupling thread i have some anecdotal experience with all those: caffeine - makes me go tunnel vision past 400 or 500 daily.
Meth blue- serotonin goes up just with a drop. i begin to feel irritated and slightly paranoid.
Aspirin- blocks fat loss, stomach problems (which i don't care about i'm not overweight but it is hard on the stomach)
calcium + Vitamin d- good stuff but vitamin D too high makes me feel weird.
Vitamin E- i take estroban
DHEA- good stuff with preg but can make me irritated
progesterone- makes me sleep not much difference on it but i take it
Tyromax- im on 1 grain but im getting off it i don't want to depend on it and suppress my natural thyroid
Niacimide- no difference use to take
magnesium- helps me sleep

 

[Velve921]

I am not necessarily saying copy me and eat 900 gram carb, as I know that is rather extreme, but it seems to work for me. But I will say my experiences echo a few other peoples' experiences here as well like I believe @theLaw and @Velve921 , if I recall correctly (they can chime in if I'm wrong?) When the metabolism has been FUBAR'd for a while sometimes it can take extreme measures to fix things.



I would not even think about calorie deficits or losing weight purposefully until you fix your metabolism. My personal opinion. Calorie deficits will just further worsen metabolism woes. Chronic dieting and calorie deficits were one of many things that wrecked my metabolism.

Rather than focus on eating less, one should focus on eating more and expending more (Uncoupling helps achieve this).

I never went 900... 600 a day was my max which is still a heavy dose.

Some people could definitely need a larger quantity of good quality food.

I will say this though... if I could do it again, instead of increasing quantity of food, I would fix the quality of where I was.

For example, when I first started Peat 5 years ago, I was previously on a 2000 kcal diet a day and weight lifting 4 days a week @ 7% body fat.

Instead of ramping my calories to the 4000 range, I would keep my quantity at 2000 and fix the quality and be a bit more patient. I.e.

Replace meats with gelatin, milk, cheese, liver, fish.

Replace nuts, seeds with fruit, juice, carrot, mushrooms, bamboo shoots.

Start adding cane sugar, gelatin, milk, coconut oil to my coffee.

Instead of completely stopped training, replace all my weight lifting sessions with stretching sessions.

Sure you catch my drift.

 

[Hanzo]

for sure this is what i have been doing

 

[Hanzo]

After taking the Energin, with B1 on top of it plus some BCAAS and taurine i feel better. I am going to give Oxidal another try. Probably start with 1mg today.

 

[Hans]

Don't take just BCAA on its own, unless eaten with meat, as it would reduce both serotonin and dopamine. So if you take BCAA on it's own, or with a low protein meal, you can add tyrosine or phenylalanine to boost dopamine production.

 

[Hanzo]

Don't take just BCAA on its own, unless eaten with meat, as it would reduce both serotonin and dopamine. So if you take BCAA on it's own, or with a low protein meal, you can add tyrosine or phenylalanine to boost dopamine production.

I have both of those. i'll take 1g of phen and 3g of tyrosine then. phen i heard can increase serotonin. whats your opinion