Can't Get Out Of A Hypometabolic State

[ATP]

Have you tried bag breathing? I don't know how long would help, but you could do 4 15-minutes stretches with a 10 minute rest in between. Maybe another 4 if that isn't enough.

Since you are hypothyroid, you may be low on serum CO2. You end up with little oxygen, as with too little serum CO2 your blood resleases little oxygen to the tissues. Bag breathing will increase blood CO2 levels and you will get more oxygen delivered to your body tissues. If you're getting enough sugar to your cells, and you have enough oxygen, your cells can produce more energy. This increased metabolism can be felt by higher body temperature. If your electrolytes are sufficient (sodium, calcium, magnesium, potassium), your circulatory system will also be helped. Your heart will have better pumping efficiency, with the electrolytes in their right places (magnesium and potassium inside the cell, and sodium and calcium outside the cell), as this allows the heart to have enough strength in the repolarization phase. Your heart will not waste effort pumping, and a very high heart rate would not be needed (>100 bpm).

If you are able to keep this state, your body will become more active and your caloric requirements will increase. Otherwise, your body will be down-regulated and that is why your caloric requirement are little. With a more active metabolism, you will naturally have a better appetite as you are expending more energy. Your brain is a very strong user of energy as well, so a higher metabolism also gives you a better mood as the brain gets more active.

If bag breathing helps, then your next step is to address your hypothyroid condition. I'm not sure exactly how you will do it, but I would consider using Idealabs' Tyromix (T4/T3), Stressnon (Pregnenolone), and Progestene (Progesterone) topically. Use 1 drop each together for the first day, together, and see how that works out. Anyway, that is what I'm planning to do on my mom. These products are very strong so you need to do it with small increments. Don't hurry up with the dosage. Ray discussed using the 3 together (thyroid, pregnenolone, and progesterone) in his book Generative Energy. I made the mistake of using just the Progestene on my mom, and it just made her so much worse off. I think it's because the Progestene increased her metabolism so much, that she ended up using too much oxygen that the blood had a hard time releasing enough oxygen to the tissues, because she got low on blood CO2. Having Tyromix on hand then would have given the support needed here, so that would have made conditions more favorable for oxidative metabolism, and the blood would be adequately supplied with CO2, and oxygen supply to the tissues would not be running into a deficit. Pregnenolone would help also as it is the precursor for supportive hormones that if deficient, would be available by conversion from pregnenolone.

I did try bag breathing a while back but that is something I definitely want to revisit. Thanks for the tips.

 

[ATP]

I am pretty lean and my waist has shrunk back to where it was in my 20's.

I am eating lots of fruit now as per summer.

Mandarins are in season in Australia at the moment. I get imported frozen mango which is $4 for 500g. Dates, prunes and dried figs are cheap year round. Only bananas are more expensive than in summer but I have found a grocer in Prahran that has them for $2.30 per kg!

There is a guy on youtube who ate nothing but grapes for 40 days! He had pretty good muscle tone at the end of it! I still find that surprising!

Anyway your body might thrive on something similar:

Have you ever done a fruit only diet? It seems fairly extreme but there a few people who have healed and thrived on that kind of diet.

 

[Jsaute21]

Have you ever done a fruit only diet? It seems fairly extreme but there a few people who have healed and thrived on that kind of diet.

Which supplements have you tried? I know that everybody is different and i respect your independence, but most people on here have improved their health following a pro carb/sugar diet, with moderate fat and enough protein while obviously hitting micronutrients. I suggest Energin (B Vitamins) & Estroban (Fat Solubles) along with upping your sugar intake, hopefully from fruit, milk & mexican coke. Your digestion probably sucks so you don't really enjoy eating currently. What is your background of eating going back to a couple years ago? Paleo, low carb, ketogenic? It takes time to reintroduce to your body how to burn sugar for fuel. This isn't an automatic process, where you go from woody allen to tom seleck overnight. IMO, it involves introducing your body to an improved diet, and getting on somewhat of a schedule so it can become hardwired into your digestion, etc. Don' give up...your not some isolated case where your body doesn't work or respond. The chance of that being the case is beyond astronomical. I know you said that you don't eat 1,000 calories a day every day, but that number is terrible. It needs to come up and come up quickly. If you eat sugars & a healthy diet, you will find it is hard to get to 3,000 calories as pro carb/sugar foods are not very dense in calories. I am 6'1 195 and muscular, and it is hard for me lately to eat 2,600 calories. I hit my micro nutrients which leaves me satiated, and as @Amber astutely pointed out, eliminates potential for fat storage.

 

[artlange]

how did you determine that you don't have any limiting shortages, like not enough Na, K, Mg, CA, sugar, protein, fat,etc.?

what happens when you drink 2 qts/day of full fat milk with sugar added? and 1 qt/day OJ with added salt?

perhaps you have left out something very important. how would you ever discover that you overlooked something very important from a metabolic point of view?

have you considered fixlowbodytemp.com - Steve Richfield's protocol?

Have you measured your body temperature with a fast acting thermometer while standing in a hot shower. what happens when you heat your body up to 98.6 in a hot shower? are you sweating when your temp is 98.6? If so, perhaps Steve Richfield's protocol can help to reset your temperature set point.

Of course I know nothing about you so if you consider all of these comments practically useless, I won't be offended..

 

[Jsaute21]

how did you determine that you don't have any limiting shortages, like not enough Na, K, Mg, CA, sugar, protein, fat,etc.?

what happens when you drink 2 qts/day of full fat milk with sugar added? and 1 qt/day OJ with added salt?

perhaps you have left out something very important. how would you ever discover that you overlooked something very important from a metabolic point of view?

have you considered fixlowbodytemp.com - Steve Richfield's protocol?

Have you measured your body temperature with a fast acting thermometer while standing in a hot shower. what happens when you heat your body up to 98.6 in a hot shower? are you sweating when your temp is 98.6? If so, perhaps Steve Richfield's protocol can help to reset your temperature set point.

Of course I know nothing about you so if you consider all of these comments practically useless, I won't be offended..

Your not actually artie lange are you? Cause if so your my all time favorite comedian.

 

[wintagal]

The labs showed normal salt, potassium, neutrophils and fasting glucose. I also had a AM cortisol test and it was within normal range but at the upper limit. Can one still need hydrocortisone without low AM cortisol?

What are those mutation or other ones to look out for because I have had genetic testing done?

Our family mutation is lack of the enzyme P450c11B that converts 11-Deoxycortisol to Cortisol. The result is very high blood salt levels leading to extremely high blood pressure, as well as dark skin patches, and high androgens. It doesn't seem to be your problem.
However, your symptoms (fatigue, unable to tolerate stress, hypothyroid symptoms, etc) seem to match with low cortisol, even though your blood work doesn't.
Familial glucorticoid deficiency involves a mutation of the ACTH receptor, located on chromosome 18p11, but only accounts for 20% of cases. The other genes are unknown (according to my article).
Congenital adrenal hyperplasia also comes in many forms. "Recent evidence points to a milder form with onset in adult life presenting with mild adrenal insufficiency and partial hypogonatropic hypogonadism. ...homozygous and heterozygous mutations have been described in the SF-1 gene that produce primary adrenal failure..."
Congenital lipoid adrenal hyperplasia is a rare form of adrenal steroidogenic defect...The disease results from mutations in the gene that encodes the steroidogenic acute regupatory protein (StAR) on chromosome 8p11, which regulates cholesterol uptake into the mitochondria in readiness for conversion to pregnenolone... Steroidogenesis is reduced to about 15% of normal... [this includes androgen steroidogenesis]
3B-HSD deficiency is a rare form of congenital adrenal hyperplasia. The nonclassic form is an attenuated enzyme defect with no major developmental abnormalities....Two genes encoding 3B-HSD have been localized to chromosome 1p13.1. These genes are HSD3B1 and HSD3B2.
A defect in 17a-hydroxylase/17,20-lyase will result in diminished production of cortisol and sex steroids. The enzyme defect affects steroid synthesis in both the adrenals and the gonads. Because of high corticosterone (B) levels, patients with P450c17 abnormalities do not manifest adrenal crises and therefore go undiagnosed, often until evaluated for abnormal pubertal development. At puberty, gonadotropins increase to very high concentrations, the low sex steroid production failing to provide adequate regulatory feedback. Phenotypically, such subjects may be similar to individuals with androgen insensitivity syndrome.
Plasma levels of corticosterone and 18-hydroxy-DOC and an elevated ratio of 18-hydroxycorticosterone to aldosterone are diagnostic of 17a deficiency, whereas low androgens to estrogens indicates the addition of 17,20-lyase deficiency. In long-standing untreated cases, refractory hypertension of considerable severity can develop.

 

[wintagal]

The labs showed normal salt, potassium, neutrophils and fasting glucose. I also had a AM cortisol test and it was within normal range but at the upper limit. Can one still need hydrocortisone without low AM cortisol?

What are those mutation or other ones to look out for because I have had genetic testing done?

Your cortisol and other blood tests don't indicate classic low adrenal function. Nonetheless, a 24-hour urine sample for cortisol would be a better diagnostic, because it will show the daily pattern (not just the morning) as well as your utilization (the cortisol test is total, not free, serum cortisol). A saliva test would also give you a diurnal profile with better sensitivity that the blood test.

However, you may have a more rare defect. I listed (previous post) some that seem to fit your symptoms. Can you screen your genetic info for congenital adrenal hyperplasia? Or p450c enzymes? Does your family have high blood pressure? Any PCOS in the women? Fertility issues? These would all point to a defect in the enzyme system for adrenal/gonadal hormones.

 

[Amber]

Potassium Deficiency as a Cause of Rheumatoid Arthritis

'Cortisol (but not corticosterone) is reduced during a potassium deficiency'

 

[Tarmander]

One thing I realized after hacking away at this for a couple years is that good health does not actually justify striving for health. You have to have a reason for the health, a reason to live. I had to shift my focus from just health to what I want to do in life and use my health knowledge to accentuate that. I have a great job and am writing a book as well which never would have happen if I just kept hacking away at health because what happen to you happen to me as well. At some point you know an overwhelming amount and have experimented extensively. That is the point where I started really looking around for what I felt had value independent of my health. What hill do you want to die on?

 

[Richiebogie]

Have you ever done a fruit only diet? It seems fairly extreme but there a few people who have healed and thrived on that kind of diet.

I have tried it a few times but I lose too much weight.

However that seems to be what you want to achieve...

Maybe it is best for people with slow metabolism.

Louise Koch = Fruity Lou has lots of youtube interviews / testimonials of people recovering from illness from a low fat, low protein, fruit rich, raw vegan diet.

You could say I am doing 2000 Calories of 80 :10 : 10 but supplementing it with 1500 Calories of cheese, seafood, chicken, root vegetables, coffee and chocolate!!

This is subject to further change and experimentation.

 

[Mito]

I have had extensive blood work over the years done with only two significant tests that came back abnormal which was low testosterone and high reverse T3. Both which have been tested since and are within normal ranges now.

Did you do anything specific to lower reverse T3?

 

[lollipop]

One thing I realized after hacking away at this for a couple years is that good health does not actually justify striving for health. You have to have a reason for the health, a reason to live. I had to shift my focus from just health to what I want to do in life and use my health knowledge to accentuate that. I have a great job and am writing a book as well which never would have happen if I just kept hacking away at health because what happen to you happen to me as well. At some point you know an overwhelming amount and have experimented extensively. That is the point where I started really looking around for what I felt had value independent of my health. What hill do you want to die on?

Interesting post @Tarmander. Saw this today and it reminded me of you. See two images:

 

[Tarmander]

Interesting post @Tarmander. Saw this today and it reminded me of you. See two images:

View attachment 5807 View attachment 5808

Cool pics. I agree that everyone has an ikigai. However it often is covered up by society and family. Personally, I have always felt mine, but at times I thought that I had to be different in life to get by. It was too fiery and hot, and would ruin my relationships. I couldn't let it out. That was a mistake. You die slowly inside not letting it out. Just face the consequences and live it.

 

[Regina]

Interesting post @Tarmander. Saw this today and it reminded me of you. See two images:

View attachment 5807 View attachment 5808

(You know, he is the founder/inventor of aikido--the art of peace. O'Sensei said there is only victory over self).

 

[RePeatRePeat]

Idealabs Tyronene or TyroMIX will probably work better than anything else you have used for your hypothyroid condition. With your learned helplessness (don't worry, man, we are all dealing with it or have in the past) you may struggle staying with one of them long enough to figure out what works for you but good thyroid function is at the heart of life. Read all posts regarding those products and start working one for yourself.

You might also benefit from daily B12 injections of hydroxocobalamin for 2 weeks. If you don't note any change from that you can stop. If you notice something positive you can continue shots but more spaced apart as your body needs.

I am not telling you what to do, just what I would do and what I have done that worked. Good luck.

Edit: Needless to say...if you are working to improve your metabolism, as you said at the start, be ready to incorporate much of what all the above kind folk have pointed out. You will crash and burn when you spark your metabolism if you don't then support it with plenty of the right foods.

 

[artlange]

Your not actually artie lange are you? Cause if so your my all time favorite comedian.

I am not artie lange, the comedian.

 

[Xisca]

I didn't always eat such a low calorie diet. I ended up here by slowly decreasing, I seem to have the most energy around this level of calories for some reason. I remember reading a quote from Peat a while back stating that for some people, calorie restricted diets preserves their metabolism. I think this is what I experience because when I increase my caloric intake I feel worse. Maybe this is all I am capable of digesting and utilizing at the moment.

I MO you are perfectly right and I felt upset by advices to eat more because I just believe you that you can not.
I do somatic experiencing, and @Lore made a post about her solution with TENS.

 

[Xisca]

What is called learned helplessness is also called freeze response and is physically a blockage of the vagus nerve.

 

[Greg says]

What is called learned helplessness is also called freeze response and is physically a blockage of the vagus nerve.

how do you unblock the vagus nerve?

 

[lollipop]

(You know, he is the founder/inventor of aikido--the art of peace. O'Sensei said there is only victory over self).

Interesting @Regina! Thank you for sharing!! I had no idea I was simply appreciating the enlightened position the simple diagram pointed to...