Beebop's Stories

Beebop

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Hi everyone.

Just transitioning to a Ray Peat diet. Trying to absorb as much information as possible. Enjoying that!

I thought I'd share my progress here, partly to get feedback from everyone, and partly to tell stories :)

Things I'm finding hard about the Ray Peat diet:
I love vegetables especially leaves, also herbs and spices. I live and eat with someone who loves cooking and loves vegetables. I love cake and noodles!

Things I love about Ray Peat: the wisdom, the detail, the logic and sense, the humour and all the questions answered. The courageous disregard for the status quo. Coffee :D

Here's a bit about my history (this is going to be a long first post, but then 'context is everything'!):

Dairy free diet from a baby until my twenties. Soya milk and proteins throughout this period :(
Vegetarian for 15 years. Not enough protein the entire time :(
Went on the pill :shock:

= Estrogen dominance.

This is what I now believe caused my Hashimotos - diagnosed at age 24 (there may be more to it of course...)
When I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's my TSH was the highest my doctor had ever seen - at 120. Since then at one point it was even higher, in the region of 300 ish (or was it 600?) Very ******* high.
I am sensitive to T4, which coincides with being a sensitive person in general - in a good way :mrgreen:

At the point of my diagnosis I dived head first into health and healing.

Tried: Wheat free, dairy free, meat (after being vege for 15 years), fish, PUFA oils (hemp, linseed).
Low-carb (didn't last long, I binged on nuts to compensate)
Anti-candida diet - no sugar.
Herbs (chinese, western, anti-parasite)
Healing, meditation, martial arts
Starvation through veg only diet - wouldn't recommend :?
Vegan: tofu and noodles, broccoli
Iron tablets.

And here I am now.
I take synthetic T4 only. Haven't begun to explore T3 yet. It's on my to do list :D

In the past year here are the Thyroid events that have occurred.
1. 18 months ago I tried supplementing Iodine. This resulted in lowered thyroid output. Had to increase dose.
Increased from 137.5mcg to 150mcg. A while later I had HORRIBLE hyperthyroid symptoms. Something else I sincerely do not recommend.
Reduced back to 137.5mcg.

2. Meanwhile had my first ultrasound scan of thyroid. Was (still am) very upset when doctor said it was barely perceptible. That's what started my latest quest for health and led me to Ray Peat. Come back thyroid!

3. Was stable for a while on 137.5mcg. Over the past six months my T4 has been creeping up and my TSH down, (don't know why). For a while recently (Christmas 2012) I felt the best I have ever felt.

4. Then I started to get mild hyper symptoms, which correlated with still low TSH (0.07). So just over a month ago I reduced my dose from 137.5mcg to 125mcg.

This most recent fluctuation is interesting to me and I wonder if it has anything to do with large increase in coconut oil for the past year. Don't know.

5. However, on latest decreased dose I feel rubbish. First my stress and anxiety levels have gone up. I put this down to adrenals overcompensating for thyroid changes. Now I feel tired and I have semi-constant brain fog.

And at this very same moment in time I am incorporating a new Peatian idea into my diet every day. So I don't exactly know what is affecting what. Not very scientific! :lol:

Will talk to my endoc about T3 next time.

Current recent problems:
Brain fog, tired and de-motivated. Stress and anxiety - cortisol etc.

Ongoing symptoms
Very dry eyes, blocked ears, silent acid reflux, PMS, tongue sensitivity to some fruits.

Things I'm eating.
More milk and cheese than ever before. Coffee for the first time in a decade. Lots of sugar, more salt. Some gelatine, OJ, chocolate, carrot salad. Also meat and potato, coconut oil. Still other vegetables, starches and grains (taking things slowly). Tea.

Symptoms that have already (dramatically) improved since eating a la Peat:
Extreme thirst (needing 4 glasses of water before bed, and two or three more during the night) :shock:

Any thoughts on this semi-epic saga would be welcomed.

x

p.s. wouldn't it be nice to able to write a story that said at the end "and now I am completely better, and this is how I did it"...
 
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Beebop

Beebop

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Now that that enormo-post is done, here are some recent observations:

Eating liver two days ago gave me the best night's sleep I've had in a while. Woke feeling very physically relaxed, stress feelings right down.

I've been eating liver since then, never with quite the same result.

Today I tried testing my temps in the day for the first time (instead of just basal tracking).
Was bloated so tested temp before and after eating a carrot salad.

Before: 36.2 (97.16)
After: 36. 85!!! (98.33)

Is this a normal change? I was surprised!
 
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Beebop

Beebop

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One more for tonight. Just before bed and I was still a bit hungry, didn't want to go to bed without a full stomach, and I felt slightly stressed - in the heart area. This may be as a result of a hot bath... I don't know how that would work.

So I ate some more leftover dinner (liver, bone broth, rice, celery, salt, CO, butter, onion). This didn't work. Drank some OJ. Still felt stressed. So I added a tsp of sugar and a little bit of salt to the OJ, and with the first sip my whole body relaxed. Amazing feeling!

I don't know if it was the salt or the sugar or a combination of both.

Hopefully off for a good night's sleep now - fingers crossed!
 
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Beebop

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Gradually stopping eating starch and grains is interesting - slightly anxiety inducing, it's a new world where I'm not sure how I will get satiated. I've been thinking recently that I don't eat enough food, often enough. I've only just encountered the Peatian ideas about eating a little and often, and I think this is a missing link for me.

For breakfast today I ate two bacon rashers (refried in CO), 1 fried egg, cup of tea, (two tsp sugar, very milky). An hour later I had cappuccino and OJ. Soon after that I was ravenous (hollow tummy ravenous). Not enough breakfast at all!

When I got home I made lunch - brown rice noodles (I know not Peatian, but, as I say going slow, plus cooking for someone who is not a Peat eater), egg and some non-leafy veg, coconut oil. As I was cooking I ate a lot of dates. Having been ravenous, I then could not finish the noodles (usually my favourite thing). Couldn't eat half of them.

I need to find what works for me to replace starch. There is no ripe fruit here. I think dates might help fill some hunger gaps :)
 
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Beebop

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Ate more dates. Got swollen tongue. Many fruits give me a swollen/sensitive tongue, including some OJ. I wonder if it's:
a) liver issues
b) the unripeness of the fruits
c) something else
 
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Beebop

Beebop

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Jenn said:
Sulphates on the dates?

No, unless they're not listed: "organically grown pitted dates".
I get a reaction down the sides of my tongue, sometimes swelling if it's a bad reaction. It has happened in the past with raw apples, tomatoes, pineapples.

Thanks Jenn
 
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Beebop

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I'm feeling slightly better and I think it's due to being in the second half of my cycle, and increased progesterone.

I'm waiting for an order of charcoal powder and am excited to try it!

I've managed to reduce the amount of starch in my diet. I re-read the sugar article and gained a better understanding of the benefits of fructose over starch. So I've been eating more frequently and... well, more ice-cream :D

This has helped my hypoglycaemia. I am wondering whether the increase in progesterone is actually what is modulating my blood sugar levels...

Anyone noticed blood sugar changes regulated by cycles?
 
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Beebop

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Feeling good today. Had long day's energetic work and expected to be really tired, but I am full of beans!
Food today (so far): lots of fruit, coffee with gelatine, sugar, salt and CO, OJ, cheese and an egg. No hypoglycaemia. :)

Last night I had my first Epsom salt/bicarb bath.
I'm also just at the point in my cycle where my progesterone begins to increase. So it could be any of those things, or something else entirely!

Other odd symptoms: an ulcer in my throat, a lip crack/dry patch on my lip the same side as the ulcer. Dry nose over past few days.

Over and out.
 
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Beebop

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RP:
There's almost no context in which I would speak of "an appropriate dose of T4," since thyroxin is so effective as an antithyroid substance. It's appropriate if you are also taking T3, or if you want to shrink your thyroid.

Well, it has taken me a while to understand why T4 on it's own is not so good. I've been taking it for several years now, and this would explain why my ultrasound last year showed that my thyroid was very, very small 'barely there'. Whenever I asked my endoc about it he gave a convincing argument as to why taking T3 isn't a good idea.

I'm a bit nervous about starting up with T3 because I tried going on to Armour a few years ago and I immediately started getting hypothyroid symptoms, so I stopped - not understanding the importance of it. I suppose I'll just have to grit my teeth and go through the adjustment period. :?
 

Isadora

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Hi, Beebop!

That is extremely interesting, I've never heard of T4 being "anti-thyroid" in itself, I'm going to do some research. Any pointers would be helpful.

If this is the case, why, then an ideal Hashimoto sufferer should have minimum acceptable levels of T4 and good T3 in order to feel fine and to allow thyroid to be rebuilt, and all those taking T4 are just furthering the thyroid's destruction, right? Fascinating! It really boils down to whether or not TSH is an element of destruction to the rest of the body, because if it isn't, we shouldn't even try to decrease it... If, furthermore, TSH helps rebuild the thyroid gland, as some studies seem to suggest, then we have no business supplementing with T4, ever, and the best course would be to allow T4 as low as it wants to go (even below what's considered "within limits" -- no problem, since it cannot be used by the body anyway in other manners than to build T3 and rT3, if I understand correctly) and pay full attention to T3, while the thyroid gland rests and rebuilds itself.
 
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Beebop

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Interesting thoughts Isadora.

I think RP recommends taking T4 with T3, but I haven't fully understood this area of Peat world yet. I'm going to check I've read all his thyroid articles to find this info.

I'd be very careful experimenting with raising TSH and not taking any medication. If your body needs it, then it needs it. I did see your link to research about TSH helping to re-build the gland post thyroidectomies. Amazing. I wonder if that function works in all thyroid situations or only in specific ones?

A long while ago I spent about a year not taking T4, and this made me very ill indeed. My TSH was nearly 600. My thyroid did not rebuild itself or heal. I will never do that again. Tread carefully.

If I'm right, taking T3 doesn't block the thyroid from making it's own T3, so the gland can and will 'come back online' when it's ready to. Whereas T4 does block the thyroid from making it's own T3 - presumably because the body is saturated with T4 so gets the message that there's enough made already. I think that's right, will have to check and somebody correct me if I'm wrong!
 

Isadora

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Beebop, as you were experiencing uberhigh TSH (I didn't even know it can climb to that level; I think I heard narouz mentioning something sky high for the first time, now you!), how was your active T3, were you getting that checked? It was my understanding that it is T3 that lets us feel energized, etc. -- but maybe I didn't read enough on T4 and its functions. Until a few days ago, I didn't even know that the thyroid itself was making any T3, I thought that it all came from T4 being converted into T3 in the body, on an "as needed" basis.

This shrinking of your thyroid is quite surprising, what is the underlying issue? Is it homogenous otherwise? Is it very vascularized? How are your antibodies? I assume you want nothing better than to see it regrow, right? Or are you afraid to push in that direction?
 

charlie

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I read somewhere, and I don't know if it's true.... that low carb makes you eat your thyroid gland up. And I have seen reports of a couple people coming off low carb into the Peat world who got ultrasounds and their thyroid gland had shrunk considerably.
 
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Beebop

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Ha! Yes I want my thyroid back! Full and robust and happy :D
Made me very sad when I had the ultrasound and that's when I searched and found Peat
"Arm yourself - Mission bring back thyroid!" :lol:

But given that I've been taking T4 only for so long, that might explain the shrinking, in which case, T3 may be the solution :) :) :)

My T3 has always corresponded with my T4 - high when high, low when low. Essentially it has responded to treatment with T4. I guess this must mean my liver is ok!

Isadora said:
Until a few days ago, I didn't even know that the thyroid itself was making any T3, I thought that it all came from T4 being converted into T3 in the body, on an "as needed" basis.

I think the thyroid does make some T3, as well as T3 being made elsewhere in the body.

Isadora said:
Is it homogenous otherwise? Is it very vascularized?

Homogenous and vascularised are not thyroid ideas I've come across... So no idea there.

Yes I've got Hashi's so plenty of antibodies. Going to get them re-tested soon, apparently you can have them done every three years on the NHS. In the meantime I'll be eating prawns for tea for all that lovely selenium :D
 
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Beebop

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Charlie said:
I read somewhere, and I don't know if it's true.... that low carb makes you eat your thyroid gland up. And I have seen reports of a couple people coming off low carb into the Peat world who got ultrasounds and their thyroid gland had shrunk considerably.

Charlie, wow, yes do you mean that the low carb diet had shrunk the thyroid? (Not that the Peat diet had shrunk it?)

I was on a low carb diet for a while. :evil:
I think any kind of malnourishment affects the thyroid - sugars and protein. Plus PUFAs of course.

I feel really cross now about all the idiots saying sugar is bad. For me it was an anti-candida diet that started it. Useless waste of time!

Ok, anger out.
 

charlie

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Yes, I ran into a statement a fellow posted up. He said something to the effect of, "you idiots on low carb. Your body is now eating away at its thyroid to try and keep you alive." For some reason, that always stuck with me.

Like I said I do not know if this is true. But I have noticed that several people have come off low carb and now their thyroids have almost disappeared.
 
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Beebop

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Charlie said:
"you idiots on low carb. Your body is now eating away at its thyroid to try and keep you alive."

I wonder if the 'eating' bit is just metaphorical. Or not? Maybe the body uses fuel directly from cells in the thyroid. Or maybe it's a knock-on effect.

Isadora said:
Beebop, as you were experiencing uberhigh TSH (I didn't even know it can climb to that level; I think I heard narouz mentioning something sky high for the first time, now you!)

I don't think my doctors knew it could climb that high! :shock:
I have a very persistant pituatary and hypothalamus! :lol:
Ah, bodies are amazing. <3
 

charlie

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He meant as clear as day that it was physically eating it up. I think he also said it was doing the same to the pancreas, or maybe it was thymus. But I do remember for sure that thyroid was one of them.
 

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