Not Sure Where To Post, Can't Manage Stress

[greengr]

I can't manage my stress reactions. I have such crippling stress reactions that cause me to almost become paralyzed. Also sometimes give me fever. And they will last for hours at a time. It's gotten so bad lately that I find it hard to see any light at the end of the tunnel.
I've tried many things already, cyphroheptatidine, (it seemed to work in the beginning, probably because it makes you drowsy, but not much anymore) also tried metergoline, and taurine/theanine.
I just don't know what to do anymore :'( I had high catecholamines, but they said pheochromocytoma is unlikely...

 

[Arctic Fire]

You'll likely need to provide more information about your diet and lifestyle to get responses, but here are a few threads that may give you ideas...

This thread discusses a case that may be quite different from yours, but it includes many good, general suggestions for lowering stress hormones (salt + carbs, Peaty nutrition, Buteyko methods, warm environment, and more):

Help Needed: Overcoming Sky-High Stress Hormones W/out Pro-Metabolic Supps

A thread suggesting supplements for lowering adrenaline:

Most Effective Anti-adrenaline Supplements?

Also see Haidut's posts on B6 for lowering stress hormones:

Vitamin B6 May Be Anti-Adrenaline, And Thus Anti-Stress

Vitamin B6 As Effective, General Anti-stress Therapy

 

[Tenacity]

What are your TSH / cholesterol / vitamin D / PTH levels like?

 

[Regina]

I can't manage my stress reactions. I have such crippling stress reactions that cause me to almost become paralyzed. Also sometimes give me fever. And they will last for hours at a time. It's gotten so bad lately that I find it hard to see any light at the end of the tunnel.
I've tried many things already, cyphroheptatidine, (it seemed to work in the beginning, probably because it makes you drowsy, but not much anymore) also tried metergoline, and taurine/theanine.
I just don't know what to do anymore :'( I had high catecholamines, but they said pheochromocytoma is unlikely...

Inosine squelched my catecholamines.

 

[greengr]

Inosine squelched my catecholamines.

Really? I have tried inosine a few years ago, but since I have high uric acid in my body, not sure if it's a good idea.
: ( I'm glad it helped you though!

 

[greengr]

You'll likely need to provide more information about your diet and lifestyle to get responses, but here are a few threads that may give you ideas...

This thread discusses a case that may be quite different from yours, but it includes many good, general suggestions for lowering stress hormones (salt + carbs, Peaty nutrition, Buteyko methods, warm environment, and more):

Help Needed: Overcoming Sky-High Stress Hormones W/out Pro-Metabolic Supps

A thread suggesting supplements for lowering adrenaline:

Most Effective Anti-adrenaline Supplements?

Also see Haidut's posts on B6 for lowering stress hormones:

Vitamin B6 May Be Anti-Adrenaline, And Thus Anti-Stress

Vitamin B6 As Effective, General Anti-stress Therapy

Thank you very much for these! I will read them right away.

I know the idea here is that cortisol is bad, but is it possible that I'm too low in this hormone and then it makes it hard to deal with stress?
Apparently I have one of those mutations in cortisol synthesis. Basically my body struggle to make enough.
We obviously can't live without this hormone, but what from I understand I don't have Addison's disease either

 

[Arctic Fire]

I know the idea here is that cortisol is bad, but is it possible that I'm too low in this hormone and then it makes it hard to deal with stress?

Wouldn't be my first guess. Post your diet & lifestyle. If you really are deficient in cortisol (not enough info here to say), RP might suggest improving thyroid function or supplementing progesterone or pregnenolone as safe ways to correct the deficiency:

Ray Peat Email Exchanges - Ray Peat Forum Wiki

 

[Evgenius]

Have you tried pregnenolone and do you get enough cholesterol through your diet ?

 

[greengr]

Have you tried pregnenolone and do you get enough cholesterol through your diet ?

Hi, yes I've tried pregnenolone for a month I think. It made me feel very wired and strange. Sadly I don't think I tolerated it. I'm also a bit worried about it possibly stimulating hormonal cancers.

 

[Luckytype]

Hi, yes I've tried pregnenolone for a month I think. It made me feel very wired and strange. Sadly I don't think I tolerated it. I'm also a bit worried about it possibly stimulating hormonal cancers.

What kind of dosing were you doing?

 

[greengr]

Wouldn't be my first guess. Post your diet & lifestyle. If you really are deficient in cortisol (not enough info here to say), RP might suggest improving thyroid function or supplementing progesterone or pregnenolone as safe ways to correct the deficiency:

Ray Peat Email Exchanges - Ray Peat Forum Wiki

Liver, sometimes muscle meats, broths, grass-fed ice cream, fruits mostly. And also chocolate, but not much since it gives me terrible insomnia.
No coffee either.
Often go for light walks. Red light on face and thyroid (I'm from Scandinavia so we have months of no daylight). Sometimes cyproheptadine before bed.

Well one test I did many years ago was low in cortisol. But they said it wasn't low enough to say it was Addison's.
Also I seemed to be intolerant to everything that raises serotonin, even just a little bit. I also have the flushing thing.
They didn't find any carcinoid tumor on MRI however. My family seem to be predisposed to hormonal tumors and cancers, so I'm naturally a bit worried.

 

[greengr]

What kind of dosing were you doing?

The dosage suggested on the bottle. I think one pump was 15mg. I started slow, and increasing dosage after a week.

 

[GreekGod]

Dhea levels are generally related to ability to handle stress. If Dhea gets low, the stress can feel overwhelming. I agree with the comment about cholesterol levels, low cholesterol levels reduce ability to deal with stress. Try magnesium, which relaxes and helps build dhea. Try some egg yolks for raw cholesterol, which is the building block for all the hormones. Change your lifesyle if that's the real problem.

 

[SOMO]

1. Try deep nasal breathing in combination with aromatherapy (best essential oils for breathing are: mint, eucalyptus, pine, balsam and camphor). I think this can calm anyone down.

2. Also cannabis, used sparingly (medicinally, not recreationally) can be appropriate for stress reactions. Although too much cannabis can induce anxiety as well.

3. Try taking magnesium and glycine before bed, I find the effects last well into the next day.

4. Try to consume more tea over coffee (I find coffee to act as a vasoconstrictor and it makes my muscles in my jaw tense, tea does not have this effect.)

5. EPSOM SALT BATHS. You get the benefits of relaxation + transdermal absorption of Magnesium is actually highly efficient.
Epsom Salt = Magnesium + Sulfate
The Sulfate itself can be used to make glutathione in your body, and assist your liver.

 

[CLASH]

@greengr
I’d try increasing meat consumption to 12-16oz a day depending on your size and if your a man or a woman. I’d stick with red meat, organs, and wild caught cod, periodically some oysters for minerals if not supplementing. Shoot for 100-140g of protein a day.
Then I’d try increasing your long chain saturated fatty acids from beef tallow, butter or cocoa butter (not chocolate, just cocoa butter) to maybe 100-140g a day, again depending on size.
Then for now I’d try to make most of your carbs from cane sugar to start a baseline. A minimum of 150-200g depending on your size and gender.
Lastly I’d use carrots as your fiber source, 1-2 with each meal.
Thus, the basis of your diet is red meat/organs/ cod, cane sugar soda, the fats mentioned above and carrots. I’d split the 12oz-1lb of meat into 3 or 4 square meals about 3 hours apart and avoid snacking. I’d split the soda/sugar to 50-70g per meal and the fats to 30-40g per meal. Carrots as said above 1-2 per meal. I’d stay with this for about 2-4 weeks and see how my body reacts.
From here I would add in individual fruits to see how they made you feel and maybe try adding in white rice and potatoes. Add each thing in by itself for anywhere from 3 days to a week to see its effects on your body.
To track macros to start, the app for your phone cronometer is helpful. You’ll see with 1lb if meat/organs/fish, 4-6 carrots, cane sugar and the fats you’ll meet close to 80% of your nutrient requirements. The most important things to get yourseld out of the hole ate the macros (protein, carbs, fats). After the 2-4 weeks of baseline, you’ll see that your low in magnesium, calcium, thiamine, vit k2, vit d3 and vit e on cronometer. I would supplement these but introduce the supplements one at a time. Start with d3, then k2, then vit E, then magnesium, then calcium, then haiduts energin. Each supplement is the same as experimenting with a new food, so only do one thing at a time. I.e. if this week your trying to add in white rice then thats the only new thing i’d focus on adding. Next week you can try magnesium, the week after oranges and then the week after energin. I’d introduce the supps first to cover your bases and build up your bodies stores/ defenses and then add the new foods one by one.
I was having massive adrenaline rushes, and no supplement was helping so I stripped back my diet, played with the macros with foods I knew didnt offend me (carrots, beef/organs, seafood, cane sugar, beef tallow), built a core diet around these safe foods. Then I supplemented in the holes. Once I did all that I felt significantly better. Now I test individual foods, keep what works and throw out what doesnt. Broth, collagen, dairy, most veggies and fruits and eggs do not agree with me to well. It just is what it is :)
Hope this helps you out as much as it did me.

Edit: btw When having attacks, a combo of a small amount of preg, an aspirin dissolved in water and some cane sugar soda may help you out, it defnetlt helps me.

 

[GreekGod]

I live in a northern climate in the USA where low Vitamin D levels is a big health issue. A few weeks in a warm sunny climate or at a minimum, try supplementing 5000 to 10,000 iu of Vitamin D during the darkest, and coldest months of the year. My feeling its the sun is the best way, because the light has an anti stress effect as well, but at a minimum try the supplements.

 

[apr]

Inosine squelched my catecholamines.

May I ask the dosage you used for this and how long did it take to lower them?

Did you do anything else?

thnx