Chest "zaps" At Night. Cortisol? Adrenaline?

[mujuro]

Are these hypnic jerks/myoclonus you guys are describing? Or is it something else? I've experienced hypnic jerks and the following adrenaline surge, but nothing I would describe as "electric" in sensation. Is there a muscular element or is it purely neurological/sensory?

 

[Mad]

Are these hypnic jerks/myoclonus you guys are describing? Or is it something else? I've experienced hypnic jerks and the following adrenaline surge, but nothing I would describe as "electric" in sensation. Is there a muscular element or is it purely neurological/sensory?

No, I think everyone has experienced hypnic jerks from falling asleep really hard really quickly. But for me there is never an adrenaline surge with a hypnic jerk - I just fall right back to sleep.

This feels like a jolting pulse that for me occurs sort of in the chest and brain at once. Hypnic jerk you feel in your muscles but does not in any way create an alarming feeling that would wake your mind up immediately; this is like this bursting shocking feeling only in the chest and head area and adrenaline rush always follows. It sometimes feels more severe when I lie on my stomach...i guess I can feel and hear my heart pounding even more.

 

[Lecarpetron]

My zaps include a somewhat elevated heart rate (90-100 bpm). I can't remember where I first saw someone posit that the zaps are related to too much serotonin...I know it's on an SSRI forum but I can't find the post at the moment.

It's so hard to troubleshoot this, isn't it?! If it's a dietary problem, is it related to number of calories? Macros? Wrong sugar/starch ratio? Too much liquid? Meal frequency? Is it vitamin deficiency? Mineral deficiency? Amino acid imbalance? Too little exercise, too much exercise, overbreathing, EMFs, job stress, red light deficiency? If fixing diet/lifestyle isn't enough...where the heck do you start with supps? The most effective one depends on your gut status, liver status, thyroid status, PUFA status, iron status, and of course hormonal status. If something doesn't trigger improvement...is it a problem with supply, with absorption, with communication, or with something else altogether mucking up the works - for example, some supps don't work if you have really low cholesterol. Once you identify a problem, you then take shot after shot in the dark to find the right supplement. For example if you have gut problems, do you try charcoal, carrot salad, bamboo, antibiotics, cascara, gluten avoidance, digestive enzymes, etc? With each supp, you need to give it time, plus fiddle with dose and frequency. It's all guesswork because it's near impossible to get a doctor to do blood work if they can't directly observe your problem (which is the case with insomnia. It is hard to describe bad insomnia to people...they all say "man I know what ya mean, just last Thursday I tossed and turned until the ghastly hour of midnight!"). I feel like I could spend a lifetime just playing around with, say, quinones alone. How do you experiment such that you achieve some measure of victory before you're dead? Sigh...tangent over.

@mujuro I would describe the zaps as hypnic jerk times a hundred, and in the brain/heart instead of muscles.

 

[Mad]

I'm going to experiment with the serotonin thing...it seems a likely cause, and I'll be glad to abandon the cramming as much sugar into my mouth as possible right before bed, which is not solving it.

http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/serotonin-depression-aggression.shtml
This article about serotonin uses a lot of language like "convulsions" and "panic reactions" that reminds me of our situation.

Here's a response from this thread How To Reduce Serotonin
Can lower serotonin:
Thyroid/t3
Aspirin
Caffeine
Charcoal
Carrots
Bamboo shoots
Salt
Sugar
Progesterone
Antibiotics
Dopamine
Phenylalanine
Taurine
Glycine/gelatin
Tyrosine
Cyproheptadine/ periactin
Tianeptine
Bromocriptine
Vit d
Calcium
Pregnenolone 30-50mg a day
Phenibut
BCAA's
Ondansetron/ zofran
Lysine
Ginger
LSD
Niacinamide
Benadryl
Agmatine
Co2
Methylene Blue
Adequate protein
Acetazolamide
DMT
L-theanine
Black tea
Psilocybin mushrooms
Lisuride
Zinc
Medium and short chain fatty acids

Can increase serotonin;
Hypothyroidism
PUFAs
Starches and fibres
Too much b6
Wheat based foods
Anything that irritates bowels
Sunburn
Long term starvation
Endotoxin/ inflammation of intestine
Bananas, tomatoes, pineapple
Light deficiency
High Tryptophan
Low testosterone
High Nitric Oxide levels
Elevated cortisol
Protein deficiency
Too much water
MDMA
Whey protein
Estrogen

Signs of high serotonin;
Loose bowels
Autism
IBS
Lots of sweating
Anxiety
Nauseousness
Insomnia
Teeth grinding
Reduced appetite for salt
Asthma
Anorexia
Depression
High blood pressure
Irritability
Aggression

I will try gelatin in OJ before bed tonight along with aspirin and see what happens.

I totally get your frustration, except you've been dealing with this much longer than me so I can't even imagine! Alas, we suffer together
The weird thing, too, with troubleshooting it is how it cycles through a few days ok, a few days bad. I don't feel like my diet/supplements cycle like that, so how could that affect the zaps?

The reason I keep wondering if it is in my head a little is 1) some nights are randomly fine, 2) i know stress is involved because once this happens to you one night, you fear it happening again. And now that it has happened to me over and over it's like all I can think about all day. "How can I fight this tonight? How can I optimize my chances of beating it tonight? What supplement/food/relaxation method to use?" It's all I think about. 3) I think once something similar happened where I had a horrible sinus infection and couldn't breathe at night - I fell asleep then woke up sort of choking. It scared me so badly that all night I was just jolting awake every time I'd drift off because I was unconsciously preventing myself from falling asleep and choking again. I know that was in my head and so I just wonder if because I'm EXPECTING it to happen, it does happen.
BUT like we've both said, we are both exhausted and actually do drift off to sleep easily. So that's why it seems physiological - because our minds DO want to fall asleep, but we get half a second into unconsciousness and our body wakes us up.

 

[Lecarpetron]

I've wondered too why the zaps come and go in cycles of a few days each. One factor I can tie to it is body temperature. When I have a few days in a row of daytime temps in the tank (<96.5) with normal nighttime temp (97.8), I can count on sleep trouble. Getting the temps up is easier said than done though, I react to something (T3, caffeine, red light) a few times and then temp suddenly drops to the original lower level. Seeing this clear cause-and-effect with temps and insomnia does help with the psychological stress because at least it's not a mystery, I know exactly what's going on...I just haven't figured out how to permanently fix it.

 

[Mad]

@Lecarpetron just checking in to see how you've been doing?
I wanted to experiment with a few things to see if I could find anything helpful before I reported back... Not sure that I have.
But I just feel that we are so similar that I have to think we can stick together and figure this out!!
So a couple of weeks ago I said I would try gelatin and aspirin before bed. I did that and slept great that night. And for about a week straight I had no zaps. Thought I had the key to the world.
Then on 4/9 I took my first dose ever of thyroid supplement, plus first Progest E dose in a few weeks and got zaps. Have done pretty well since that night but had them two nights in a row now so my wheels are turning again.
I was trying to Google search about it. It actually seems that many have experienced this... But I found none with answers so far. Here are some thoughts/questions... Let's see if we can find more commonalities between us and tackle the problem:
Do you find that the zaps only occur or are worse when you have had some strain in relationship, i.e. With a spouse? I have noticed a pattern with this. Things haven't been perfect with my husband and I notice on the nights when I'm feeling gloomy and hopeless I get zaps.

Do you ever have to get up and go number two when you get zaps? Really weird but lately I notice I have to every single time.

Earlier you wrote that cypro had helped for six months, then zaps returned. Was there any certain life stress or life event that occurred when the zaps returned? Any new supplement? Diet get slack? I am suspicious of gluten for me (being lazy with diet) and still suspicious of progest e. Do you recommend cypro? I have considered it.

I'm curious if our history of long distance running affects this. Some people I read about online also mentioned endurance exercise. Do you exercise at all now?

Do you feel like you take time to "find joy" in your life, or do you often feel overworked, like you don't get enough rest, and that you're working so hard to get things done that you don't take time for yourself to indulge in small moments that make you feel happy and alive?

Sorry if these seem unrelated. It's just things that have been on my mind and I'm trying to find correlation.

One more: maybe it's just amplified by vicious nights with the zaps, but do you ever feel like the nights you are MOST physically exhausted, you get the zaps?

 

[Mad]

Oh and I thought of one more:
Do you find you have increased sensitivity to noise, either always or only on zap nights?
Actually in day to day, excessive tv noise or music often really makes me angry and unhappy (by excessive, I mean if I'm not watching/listening intently, but the tv/music is left on anyway in the background).
But in relation to zaps, it's like at night in bed, any tiny little creak or crack almost gives me another zap. Like it seems so loud and shocking that it makes me jump and my heart rush again.

 

[sladerunner69]

Try having one alcoholic drink around 8 pm. Some people do better with two periods of sleep, rather than one. Eventually you go to bed earlier, say 8pm. Whenever you wake, or if you never go to sleep, get up, say midnight. Stay up 2-3 hours, eat some food, and then go back to bed.

I wouldn't recommend this at all. Alcohol cause very estrogenic anti-andrgenic symptoms for me. Especially beer, dark spirits. Soemtimes a little white win or cpotatoe vodka will not affect my sex drive that badly, but if I go over 3 servings I will not have any sex drive or energy left. Alcohol can really negatively effect the liver for some people and make it very difficult for the body to detox estrogen.

 

[Lecarpetron]

Good idea. Here it is...this will be a long post, sorry!

- I haven't been able to correlate the zaps with relationship tension yet, just with psychological stress over other stuff...but I am definitely sad/hopeless when it happens. Not sure which comes first, hopelessness or zaps.
- No bathroom needed for the zaps.
- The first time I started getting the zaps, I had just moved 1000 miles. It was a move I was happy about and really wanted to make, but I guess it was still stressful? For this past round of zaps, I was stressed about work, but once again I'm not sure which came first, I could have started hating work because of the exhaustion. Can't think of any supplement changes. I would definitely recommend cypro. I can't detect any diet sensitivities at all, which is frustrating.
- I no longer exercise at all, except lifting weights a few times a month for 10 minutes. At this point, more time has passed since I stopped running (3 years) than the duration for whihc I actually did long distance running! But after all this time, walking to the mailbox makes my temperature drop to the low 96's, instantly no matter how hot outside.
- I struggle to find joy in life. I am so tired that I am losing the ability to get even the basic things done, let alone bonus/fun stuff. The more exhausted I get, I stop paying bills on time, have no energy to cook or clean. I stopped traveling, which is something I used to love, because I got tired of spending thousands of dollars to experience insomnia in exotic locales when I can do it for free at home. Feels like a vicious cycle...the more tired I get, the less I do fun stuff, which in turn makes me more hopeless and sleep worse.
- YES, higher physical exhaustion leads to zaps. I think the physical exhaustion just translates to pure stress for me right now instead of sleep drive.
- And yes, I am very, very sensitive to noise/light during the zap times. My toothbrush could fall off the vanity and when it hits the floor, a bomb might as well have gone off.

And now, for an update. I've been zap free for a week! I wanted to try some serotonin/estrogen/cortisol sledgehammer. I used what I had in the house to start, which has been cypro (2-4 mg at night), T3 (32 mcg throughout day), and progest-e (probably 100-200 mg). I know that neither cypro nor progest-e work without good thyroid function, yet this was the first time I tried thyroid with either of them. I used to isolate the major supps so I could better determine their impact, with the result that none of them did anything. For example, cypro without thyroid got rid of the zaps, but lowered my daytime body temp to low 96's no matter what I ate. So far with this cocktail, my temps are pretty good as long as I have something to eat, even a sip of juice or milk, once per hour.

I have naltrexone coming in the mail. I have famotidine but haven't needed to try it yet. Still looking for diamox. I think working on CO2 will help as well, as I've noticed over the years that I get zero sleep, I mean absolutely none, when I am >9000 ft. Thanks to those of you who suggested these things, I hadn't seriously thought about CO2 before.

I'm also looking for clonidine, which I'd like to have on hand for emergencies.

 

[firebreather]

Good idea. Here it is...this will be a long post, sorry!

- I haven't been able to correlate the zaps with relationship tension yet, just with psychological stress over other stuff...but I am definitely sad/hopeless when it happens. Not sure which comes first, hopelessness or zaps.
- No bathroom needed for the zaps.
- The first time I started getting the zaps, I had just moved 1000 miles. It was a move I was happy about and really wanted to make, but I guess it was still stressful? For this past round of zaps, I was stressed about work, but once again I'm not sure which came first, I could have started hating work because of the exhaustion. Can't think of any supplement changes. I would definitely recommend cypro. I can't detect any diet sensitivities at all, which is frustrating.
- I no longer exercise at all, except lifting weights a few times a month for 10 minutes. At this point, more time has passed since I stopped running (3 years) than the duration for whihc I actually did long distance running! But after all this time, walking to the mailbox makes my temperature drop to the low 96's, instantly no matter how hot outside.
- I struggle to find joy in life. I am so tired that I am losing the ability to get even the basic things done, let alone bonus/fun stuff. The more exhausted I get, I stop paying bills on time, have no energy to cook or clean. I stopped traveling, which is something I used to love, because I got tired of spending thousands of dollars to experience insomnia in exotic locales when I can do it for free at home. Feels like a vicious cycle...the more tired I get, the less I do fun stuff, which in turn makes me more hopeless and sleep worse.
- YES, higher physical exhaustion leads to zaps. I think the physical exhaustion just translates to pure stress for me right now instead of sleep drive.
- And yes, I am very, very sensitive to noise/light during the zap times. My toothbrush could fall off the vanity and when it hits the floor, a bomb might as well have gone off.

And now, for an update. I've been zap free for a week! I wanted to try some serotonin/estrogen/cortisol sledgehammer. I used what I had in the house to start, which has been cypro (2-4 mg at night), T3 (32 mcg throughout day), and progest-e (probably 100-200 mg). I know that neither cypro nor progest-e work without good thyroid function, yet this was the first time I tried thyroid with either of them. I used to isolate the major supps so I could better determine their impact, with the result that none of them did anything. For example, cypro without thyroid got rid of the zaps, but lowered my daytime body temp to low 96's no matter what I ate. So far with this cocktail, my temps are pretty good as long as I have something to eat, even a sip of juice or milk, once per hour.

I have naltrexone coming in the mail. I have famotidine but haven't needed to try it yet. Still looking for diamox. I think working on CO2 will help as well, as I've noticed over the years that I get zero sleep, I mean absolutely none, when I am >9000 ft. Thanks to those of you who suggested these things, I hadn't seriously thought about CO2 before.

I'm also looking for clonidine, which I'd like to have on hand for emergencies.

@Lecarpetron just curious what is the naltrexone for?

You can get clonidine at alldaychemist

 

[whodathunkit]

@Lecarpetron, I used to get these zaps. I found they corresponded to the energy centers (chakras) in our bodies. I still sometimes get an electrical sensation down around my uterus (2nd chakra, lot of disorganized energy in there, still), and occasionally in the other centers going up. But haven't had the actual zaps in a while. It's more like a low, transient buzzing/vibration. It comes and goes very quickly. The actual "zaps" I used to get never bothered me as much as yours bother you, but possibly mine weren't as frequent, or I didn't correlate them as well with the onset of my other fatigue symptoms.

Anyway, that's just an interesting tangent about this phenomenon. I've not found anything "esoteric" than corrects this problem better than taking physical steps to get my body back in order. Energetic disciplines can help a lot, but IME only after you've brought your physical functioning up enough to handle them.

I do think these sensations are all about the adrenals and dysfunctional cortisol and adrenaline output. Your description of your symptoms sounds a lot like me and I have struggled with adrenal fatigue and CFS symptoms for a long time. I consider myself almost completely recovered these days but it's taken some years to put it all together. Don't lose heart!

If you haven't looked into adrenal fatigue, you might do some research on that. And consider getting a 24 hour cortisol saliva test. If you can nail it down to adrenal hormones it might help you focus your therapeutic approach. Bringing up energy in general so that everything functions optimally is the idea, because it's all interrelated, but we all tend to focus our strategies on the area(s) we think is/are the biggest problem(s).

Good luck!

 

[Mad]

And now, for an update. I've been zap free for a week!

Awesome!!!

So you are taking a really large amount of Progest E, correct? At 3mg/drop, thats 30-70 drops? Or am I misunderstanding?
Do you spread the Progest E out throughout the day or just taking it all in morning? night?
Just curious - what brand of thyroid are you taking? Did you just up your dose of T3 to 32mcg a week ago? Since I just started thyroid I'm taking it very slow, only one drop tyromix in the morning (3mcg T3/6mcg T4). But it makes me feel really great - I have never been a morning person and I really notice this very distinct "good mood" that happens after I take it. But that feeling eventually decreases, so I'm thinking that's the half-life of the T3 and I could benefit from another drop before bed.
I may be ordering some cypro soon as I've been considering it anyway...

Have you noticed any change in your mood/stress/finding more joy in life since a week ago (besides obviously relief from zaps)?
I keep going back to this because I feel like my mood/stress have really been a big factor for zaps these past two weeks.

I have really been trying to focus on "finding joy" in my life because, like you, I struggle with this. It was suggested to me on another post how "young, passionate love" can really rev the metabolism, and it has really resonated with me - I never have made finding joy a priority. I'm very goal-oriented and determined, so I will push through all pain and misery if I think it will help me reach my goal, but I never considered that relaxing, indulging, and making myself happy were good for my health and should therefore be a part of my plan to reach health goals, as well! Some things I've been doing more are sitting in the sun reading my book and working outside on my garden/landscaping...in lieu of cleaning and cooking. I actually used to really enjoy cooking and cleaning, but basically haven't done either in months. I have no motivation and no energy.
Interesting side note: these past couple of weeks, I said I only had zaps once, plus the past two nights. On the other nights, sometimes I could start to feel like they may come on. But the difference was, since I had been sleeping so well, I was not anxious about them coming on. I would think to myself, "find joy, find joy". And I would think and breathe myself out of them before they got bad. I would think about the flowers I had worked on that day because that makes me happy. Or think about something fun I get to do soon. But that's the thing - I was able to relax because I had been out of the vicious cycle for a few days and feeling so happy about that. I also focus on breathing and I do my bedtime version of bag-breathing ("bag-breathing" into my comforter haha I really do need to get a bedside paper bag) but I really feel like doing this and taking big, deep belly breaths has helped me to fight them off and within 30 minutes of getting in bed I am calmed down and sleeping.
Another pro zapping tip: I find that if the zaps have already started, I have been able to calm down lately after only one round of them, and can get to sleep by midnight now rather than 5am like before. It's also about being more in touch with my body and realizing that stress about zaps perpetuates zaps, but once I get zaps, I get up, lamp on, and read some Psalms from the bible. There are some really great chapters about healing in there, and I truly believe in physical healing (from zaps, thyroid mess...everything). It's funny, some of the verbage in those healing passages include things about sleep and bed so it's like wow, I feel like this is very much for me right now.

So it is funny you mention the CO2, because I have really been thinking that may be another key - hence the comforter breathing. I started it because I noticed I almost NEVER have zaps when I drink a coke with dinner. So then when I had posted that anti-serotonin list and saw CO2 on there, I started the "bag-breathing" and noticed I could fight the zaps off if I could get myself calm and happy enough.

I think we both must have damaged our cellular health to a mind-boggling degree with the endurance exercise. I used to feel "normal" while running 10 miles in a day and eating 1500 low carb calories. Now, same as you - I walk up and down my steep driveway to my mailbox and am just exhausted. I have been doing about 1-2 weightlifting sessions per week but am trying to be careful with those because sometimes (if I haven't been sleeping well) that will DRAIN me for the whole next week!

 

[Lecarpetron]

@firebreather It is used off label for sleep apnea, it improves oxygen saturation. I like the "Metabolic Suffering Index." Naltrexone improves blood gas patterns in obstructive sleep apnoea syndrome through its influence on sleep. - PubMed - NCBI

@whodathunkit Funny you mention that, I've had a 24 hour cortisol test in my Amazon cart a million times and not pulled the trigger. I always think, do I really need to spend 100 bucks on the earth shattering news that my cortisol is messed up? I already know it sucks. I end up putting it in the Save for Later cart. I'm glad you consider yourself to be in a better place even though it took years to repair. Thanks for the kind words, I really enjoy your posts.

@Mad Yep, I use a strip of progest-e on my finger about once an hour. Blue Sky Peptides T3 spread throughout the day (occasionally T4 at night too). Actually, I had kind of a crappy work week last week, there was no joy. I even took a day off at the last minute I was so burned out. I think rather than mood/joy per se, the types of stress that mess up my sleep without fail are: early flights, driving in big city traffic, work conferences (freezing rooms with no sunlight and no control over when/what I eat), realllly long social events, alcohol, having house guests, being a house guest, and listening to the passive aggressive olympics put on by my in-laws at holiday gatherings.

I am inspired by your recent joy capturing and will try to find some joy this evening. Ya know, I feel like I lost a lot of joy when I had to quit running and drinking. I live in a place where the only things people do are go to microbreweries and running. I am completely left out of because I had to stop these things.

 

[Lecarpetron]

Update: zaps tonight.

It's not surprising - I'm headed into the last day of a 4 day conference. I had to wake up at 3:30 am for my flight the first day, I haven't left the hotel/seen sunlight in 48 hours, and have been spending 12 straight hours a day sitting in a freezing room in meetings where I have to be "on" and socializing the whole time. This included a stressful and very long presentation I had to give. No control over food...PUFA city, no milk or oj. Only a few opportunities per day to put progest-e on my gums, usually I would do it once per hour.

I hope someday I'm stressproof enough to get through a week like this without falling apart. My teeth are clenched and I feel like I have restless leg syndrome in my entire body.

 

[Mad]

Ya know, I feel like I lost a lot of joy when I had to quit running and drinking.

I can agree with this - I loved running and was very good at it. It was part of my identity so yeah while it's nice to not feel obligated to do it all the time, I still miss that feeling of invincibility while I'm out there on the roads running. Lifting weights has given me a hint of this self-confidence. I just need something to make me feel badass again!

Update: zaps tonight.

Ok so was this your first episode since before the 4-17-17 update of no zaps for a week? If so, that's pretty great because you can pinpoint things that help (your "serotonin sledgehammer cocktail") and things that cause it (STRESS).
The thing is, you have a myriad of stressors that come on at once due to job/life: lack of sleep, lack of sunlight, lack of supplements, lack of nutrition, lack of rest, and just plain psychological stress.

If I were in your situation, I know that at least part of the reason zaps would happen for me over that 4-day conference would be because I would have been EXPECTING the upcoming stress to give me zaps (so I'm saying in addition to physiological stressors, I think the mind/emotions play a big role in zaps, in my case at least). Because I know when I've had a stressful/exhausting/poor nutrition day, I find myself going back to that bad place in my mind where I DREAD bedtime for FEAR of zaps. This puts me in the place where I, again, am NOT finding joy in anything. I have found that if I LET MYSELF go to this place, then I will very likely have zaps that night. But now that I have been aware of the role of my emotions, I try NOT TO LET MYSELF go to that bad place. It's like when people say you create your own future - if you envision success for yourself, you'll be successful. If you envision failure, you fail. Not saying this will hold 100% of the time but for me, I am foreseeing healing rather than sickness. So I try to go to bed with an optimistic view (which, yes, is easier once you've had several non-zap nights lately) and I just basically try to be happy/joyful. I practice gratitude, pray, etc. to get my mind in a good place before entering the arena of sleep.

Some suggestions for your conferences:
- do focus on joy, gratitude, etc. It sounds like this can be hard. But try to find something good/fun there to focus on.
- pick just ONE serotonin zapper (no pun intended) to focus on while you're there. If it were me, I would make sure I got all my regular thyroid doses, and then I would pick bag breathing because it is so easy, takes a minute or less, and you can do it in the privacy of your bedroom right before bed. Then after bag breathing, just be present and feel the healing! Don't fight it by letting obtrusive bad thoughts push their way in to your consciousness. Push those thoughts away and embrace the feeling of good health, and being thankful for the healing you've experienced thus far and thankful for your full healing that is transforming you even at that moment.

An update for me: I think I had one minor zap night in the past 3 weeks or so. Minor zaps as in it did not last til 5am, but was only an hour or two.
What has changed in those past 3 weeks: I added an additional drop of Tyromix (so now total 6mcg T3/12mcg T4 per day). I am taking this slow but I think I will add another noontime drop soon as my temps are lower during the day than morning and evening. I also had run out of gelatin so I bought some more and started taking that before bed again, about 12oz OJ + 1 Tbsp gelatin. Lastly, I am focusing on CO2. I drink a coke about 5 nights/week with dinner and finally bought some little paper lunch bags! So I bag breathe for a very short amount of time right before hopping into bed.
One note: I do feel like my sleep has not been as deep. It takes me maybe 30-60 minutes to fall asleep and I'm more prone to wake up as it gets closer to morning time. BUT I will take this issue over zaps any day!!!
Other things I have changed recently: started eating low fat (~30g/day) for about 2 weeks. I think this could contribute to lower quality of sleep, but what can I say - all of that ice cream and whole milk has really packed on the bulge! This low fat is temporary and I'm already seeing my body slim down.
I also have become diligent about getting my afternoon snack, and added a morning snack so that I eat about every 3 hours. With this new way of eating, I have loosened up about avoiding gluten and am just focusing on getting lots of calories and protein while still eating low fat.

One additional question for you: You had said earlier that your original thyroid symptoms had improved dramatically, including acne.
I have had some ups and downs with mine. I've had acne for 6 years now. Basically as soon as I left home for college, BOOM acne and haven't had a clear face ever since. I know my hormones/thyroid are to blame...and those hormones can blame their performance on my extreme over exercising and under eating/low carbing that happened for years.
Anyhoo...I have really seen great improvements since improving thyroid and adding Vit A. My forehead and cheeks are basically clear all the time now which is so AWESOME to not have to worry about that anymore! However, my cystic acne around my chin/mouth/jaw area persists. Sometimes seems like it's getting better, then it just goes downhill again. Any advice/thoughts on what helped you? I'm ready to knock this issue out once and for all.

 

[Lecarpetron]

Cystic acne comes back for me in times of stress (I got two of them last last week), but in general, 5000-10000 IU per day of vitamin A pretty much knocked it out. I used to get cysts so bad the dermatologist would send me to a plastic surgeon to lance and drain them.

It sounds like you're doing great with the zaps, that is good news!!

I think next conference, I will commit to controlling my environment more, no matter how inconvenient. If I have to take a $20 taxi ride to buy milk from Walgreens, so be it. If I have to look like an idiot dressed in 5 layers in the freezing room, okay. I will bring my red light mini, get up and walk around even if it's in the middle of a presentation, etc.

 

[Mad]

That sounds like a good plan. Just go into it with optimism and do what you've gotta do to make yourself healthy and happy!
Keep us updated!

 

[Mad]

Hi @Lecarpetron
Just wanted to see if you've had any progress lately with zaps? Since I started bag breathing, my zaps are basically gone! It's crazy. A couple weeks ago I actually forgot to bag breathe two nights in a row, and got small zaps both nights.
I also have been pondering some things, particularly suggesting to my sister that she try Progest-E for high estrogen symptoms. I want to make sure this is safe for her, though. I remember in the beginning of my zaps I thought my high-dose Progest-E could have been a culprit. I think you already answered me this but I can't seem to find it so sorry if this is repetitive: what is the timeline of you starting Progest-E and you getting your first zaps? You first posted about a year ago about zaps; was that about when you started Progest-E? Have you been doing the high-dose method of using several "strips" per day since the beginning of your Progest-E use? Thanks for sharing and helping me to learn!

 

[stressucks]

I've experienced something similar to this.

Have you tried an anti-histamine?

 

[Mad]

I've experienced something similar to this.

Have you tried an anti-histamine?

I have not. The bag breathing seems to be the best solution for me, plus other anti serotonin actions.