Dealing With Cortisol

[Poppyseed13]

Hello. I have been experimenting with Lithium Orotate (Swanson's 131mg/5 mg. elemental lithium), and have found it quite effective in controlling cortisol levels at night. I break open one capsule and take about a third of the capsule before bed. I understand that lithium is anti-thyroid, but even Peat thinks small amounts of lithium are useful---although I hear that he doesn't care for lithium orotate (perhaps he likes lithium aspartate?).... The lithium has also been great at reducing adrenaline surges---they have pretty much melted away with just a tiny dose.

Cheers,
Poppyseed13

 

[haidut]

I just posted a bunch of studies on clonidine and cortisol. It seems the drug is pretty effective and considering it also lowers adrenalin it should be a good option if diet is not enough.

viewtopic.php?f=10&t=5223

 

[charmer]

Awesome. Thanks!

 

[tca300]

Skim milk has more estrogen than whole milk so no... Milk is mostly water, so you have to drink a crap load to get your protein from it, and that's assuming you can even utilize the protein in it. And the insane amount of calcium that you would get from consuming that much dairy ( milk or cheese ) will inhibit your magnesium and zinc absorption, which would also negatively affect your bodies ability to detoxify and inhibit estrogen production, Andrew Kim agrees with me on that.

Could you please post your references for your milk/estrogen comments? Thanks.

Ray has commented on estrogen in milk several times and seems to have a different conclusion.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19217359

Increased levels of estrogen metabolites (EM) are associated with cancers of the reproductive system. One potential dietary source of EM is milk. In this study, the absolute quantities of unconjugated (free) and unconjugated plus conjugated (total) EM were measured in a variety of commercial milks (whole, 2%, skim, and buttermilk). The results show that the milk products tested contain considerable levels of EM; however, the levels of unconjugated EM in skim milk were substantially lower than that observed in whole milk, 2% milk, and buttermilk. Whole milk contained the lowest overall levels of EM while buttermilk contained the highest. As anticipated, soy milk did not contain the mammalian EM measured using this method. The relatively high levels of catechol estrogens detected in milk products support the theory that milk consumption is a source of EM and their ingestion may have a dietary influence on cancer risk.

Yes the study points out that skim milk contained the least amount of unconjugated estrogen, but it shows that WHOLE milk contained the LOWEST overall levels of Estrogen. Doesn't matter anyways, because even if it was estrogen free the amount of calcium and tryptophan you would consume in order to get your protein requirements would very likely make people currently battling estrogen and or serotonin dominance worse. w

 

[GregW]

Thanks for posting the study. The conjugated EM's are the sulfated and glucuronidated forms that are made water soluble for excretion. These normally will not cause a problem as they will be eliminated quickly. The study reports skim milk has the lowest level of unconjugated estrogens (7 vs 52 pg/mL) which are fat soluble and more biologically relevant.

I do not understand how skim milk can have more total EM than whole milk since skim is made from whole. They report 323pg/mL to 458pg/mL - that is over 40% more in skim (66% more if just looking at conjugated). There could be a slight concentration effect by removing the fat but not overly significant. Something is fishy here...

I haven't read how calcium makes estrogen and serotonin dominance worse. Can you post your references?

 

[tca300]

Thanks for posting the study. The conjugated EM's are the sulfated and glucuronidated forms that are made water soluble for excretion. These normally will not cause a problem as they will be eliminated quickly. The study reports skim milk has the lowest level of unconjugated estrogens (7 vs 52 pg/mL) which are fat soluble and more biologically relevant.

I do not understand how skim milk can have more total EM than whole milk since skim is made from whole. They report 323pg/mL to 458pg/mL - that is over 40% more in skim (66% more if just looking at conjugated). There could be a slight concentration effect by removing the fat but not overly significant. Something is fishy here...

I haven't read how calcium makes estrogen and serotonin dominance worse. Can you post your references?

Milk is very high is tryptophan which is a precursor to seratonin, and excess calcium blocks magnesium and zinc absorption. Magnesium is paramount for the elimination of estrogen from the liver, and zinc is important for aromatase inhibition and many other things. Approximately 30% of the bodies energy goes to pushing calcium out of cells, adding ridiculous amounts of calcium isn't beneficial for that process, especially since magnesium is antagonistic to calcium and is very useful for getting calcium out of cells. I will find a few studies that show there is basically a inverse relationship between magnesium and estrogen, that is the less magnesium a person has the higher there estrogen tends to be and vice versa.

 

[GregW]

Just did a little checking on chronometer and milk, egg, chicken, whitefish and turkey are all about the same in tryptophan content (1.1-1.3% of protein). Ground beef is almost half that at 0.6-0.7% of protein content. So the amount of tryptophan is not excessive when compared to these few protein sources.

I wonder how much is excess calcium? I guess that depends on many things like the amount of phosphorus in the diet. A quart of milk is only around 1250mg calcium. Everyone needs to figure that out for themselves. I am sure individual needs vary widely.

It would be great to see the study saying 30% of my caloric intake is to move calcium out of cells. If I eat 3000 calories then my body uses 1000 calories to move calcium around?

 

[HDD]

"Regarding milk and its tryptophan content, The calcium helps to keep the metabolic rate high, and the other nutrients help to steer tryptophan away from the serotonin path."
http://peatarian.com/peatexchanges

 

[natedawggh]

I've found RAW milk to improve my troubled digestion better than anything else I tried, including bamboo shoots and charcoal, etc. Plus the raw tastes amazing, unlike bamboo shoots. Ray said once that Hypothyroid people might have trouble with the bacterial content of raw milk, but it cleared up a lot of my histamine reactions I was having, plus stamped out the white tongue coating and oral leukoplakia I was suffering with and was definitely better than not taking it (and I drank tons of pasteurized raw milk before that, so it is definitely from the Raw). Raw milk has a ton of anti-bodies and enzymes that help in digestion by assisting in the breakdown of the food and the suppression of bad stomach bugs. I read somewhere as someone referring to it as "white blood," which is really true.

I also suffer from the symptoms of cushing syndrome. Nighttime is especially rough. I find that tackling the problem first thing in the morning with good raw milk, aspirin, coffee, and sugar/fruit and cottage cheese for an intense shovel of protein helps relieve the symptoms, and the longer I can spend during the day without being stressed the less my symptoms surface.

One more important thing: I found that wifi and mobile phones EXACERBATE my condition, even to the point of giving me palpitations and severe insomnia. I had to turn off my wireless router to sleep, and I keep my phone off unless I'm making a call.

I used to work as a freelance graphic artist, and I thought I hated the job, I always hurt and thought it was from sitting, but it turns out I was just sitting in EMF fields all the time that made me feel terrible. Now I work without EMF interference and have no problem during the day anymore.

 

[tara]

I've read that personal grounding can reduce the disruptive effects of EMF exposure.

 

[Such_Saturation]

https://ispub.com/IJMT/3/1/4192

<< Results showed that in long term exposure EMF (group 3) testosterone and cortisol levels were increased>>

http://scialert.net/fulltext/?doi=ijzr.2008.230.233

<<Exposing to 900 MHZ EMF caused decreases in progesterone (p<0.01) and increases in cortisol for both exposed groups (short-term and long-term) (p<0.01) in comparison with control group. >>

http://www.biologischekrebstherapie.net ... 4-1088.pdf

 

[haidut]

I just posted a thread showing activated vitamin B6 is a cortisol antagonist and not only lowers cortisol in plasma but also reverses some of conditions caused by high cortisol.
viewtopic.php?f=75&t=5978

 

[wuf]

I can't comment on the infection part, but if you need to lower cortisol taking 5mg-25mg DHEA will lower cortisol by 40%-60% and those are human studies btw. It is another question altogether if you want to lower cortisol by that much but since you asked I am just giving you an answer. A similar effect can be achieved with Cascara. A dose of 800mg-1,000mg will inhibit the synthesis of new cortisol and again lower plasma levels by 50%+, but of course may give you loose stool as a side effect. It's up to you to pick the more convenient option.
Finally, progesterone and pregnenolone are also supposed to lower cortisol but I have seen reports on this forum that for some people these two substances actually may increase cortisol. Since nobody did blood tests I don't know for sure if that is true, but some people reported feeling worse. PubMed does not have studies showing pregnenolone or progesterone raising cortisol, so by that measure they are pretty safe.
Let us know if you do sort out the infection issue. There are quite a few people on this forum with similar gut issues to your so I am sure they will be interested in hearing about it.

Hello,
I did use Androstenolone (DHEA) and shut down my cortisol, my LH, my FSH and testosterone..I now feel weak, depressed etc....how can I rize my cortisol back or restore the situation?

 

[haidut]

Hello,
I did use Androstenolone (DHEA) and shut down my cortisol, my LH, my FSH and testosterone..I now feel weak, depressed etc....how can I rize my cortisol back or restore the situation?

Not sure how much you were using but in doses of under 15mg daily it should not cause such issues. Pregnenolone may help recover cortisol and LH/FSH but I would drop the DHEA dose or altogether until cortisol recovers.

 

[Xisca]

Adrenal & Cortisol Status in Fibromyalgia: Cortisol Receptor Resistance | Restorative Health Clinic
Extracts:
"Fibromyalgia patients demonstrate decreased cortisol receptor sensitivity.
To achieve the same cortisol-mediated stress, blood sugar and energy metabolism support, fibromyalgia patients need higher levels of circulating cortisol than average patients.
Fibromyalgia patients exhibited changes in glucocorticoid receptor (GR) affinity and disturbances associated with loss of hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis resiliency."

Lower cortisol levels AND compromised cortisol receptor sensitivity:
How can it be that low cortisol does not lead to bettering receptors' sensitivity?

And does it mean that before being ill (pain from lower cortisol), those people had been running on too high cortisol ?

 

[bram]

Maybe megadosing vitamin c like 5 grams will help cortisol? Also just handling your life stresses? Cleaning your room?