"Essential" Hypertension And Appreciating It For What It Really Is

[yerrag]

For 12 years I've been dealing with hypertension. Doctors, both conventional and naturopathic, had initially termed it as the type called "essential," which is basically a euphemism reserved for hypertension where the cause cannot be determined.

Close to seven years ago, I was lucky enough to consult with a naturopathic doctor who told me to take a DMPS provoked challenge test, and he was able to determine that I have lead toxicity.

Unfortunately, I didn't follow his recommended protocol for detox, substituting Pectasol with another product, called HMD, for the oral chelating supplement. For this presumptuous action, with the benefit of hindsight I now realize I had fouled up.

I still have hypertension, and delayed by seven years my healing. During the time in between, I had to have three teeth pulled out, one being a root canal, two having periodontal pockets that could harbor anaerobic bacteria. It turns out the periodontal pockets were teeming with a colony of anaerobic bacteria, and I was glad they were done. Yet, my hope that the bacteria could be the vector for plaque leading to my hypertension was dashed. My hypertension stayed on, and I was left to look for other causes of my hypertension.

Since I wasn't able to go back to the US to test whether my lead toxicity has been resolved, I had assumed during this time that the HMD lead detox had worked. But I was to be proven wrong when this year, I used the Pectasol detox for 3 months, and found that my hypertension had gone down, although where it stands now, improved as it is, was where I started with seven years ago. In short, my being presumptive cost me the healing due me seven years ago.

I am now continuing a few more months of detox to further rid my system of lead toxicity. During this time though, I am learning a lot and want to use this log to keep notes as well as to establish whether a few thoughts (not necessarily theories, but more about me piecing these tidbits, if you will, together) I hold regarding my particular brand of hypertension do hold, and as such, could offer a way out for people suffering from hypertension in general, and for people suffering from lead toxicity specifically.

The thoughts (they're not original by the way) I have, are as follows:

1. That hypertension is the body's way of dealing with pathology within the body, and is its way of adapting to the stress within. To me, lowering blood pressure with drugs is mere window dressing, and merely a way to show the health insurance company that you have conformed to the normal blood pressure range. Meanwhile, the pathological condition festers and worsens over time. At best, the blood pressure medication will simply leave the condition to worsen by itself. At worse, the medication will actually worsen and deepen the condition, or effect grave collateral damage.

2. The body will produce more uric acid to protect itself, uric acid being an antioxidant. In order to produce uric acid, the tissue has to be in a state of hypoxia. The body has to constrict its blood vessels to create this condition. Constricting the blood vessels leads to a higher blood pressure. As such, a higher blood pressure can be seen as a good thing, not because there is a pathological condition, but because the body can adapt to the pathological condition, to cope with it. To take away the body's ability to adapt, thru drugs that simply lower the blood pressure, will take away the protection given the body by the presence of uric acid. People with cancer are often, if not always, deficient in uric acid. The hypersensitive condition serves as a marker, a warning sign, for real corrective action, beginning with true problem identification.

3. In order to maintain a hypoxic state, the body will be in a mode to maintain such state of being. As such, efforts to improve metabolism from the current state will fail. Improving carbon dioxide levels in the blood will be resisted, as this leads to better oxygenation, which is counter to a hypoxic state. Taking hormones such as thyroid, pregnenolone,and progesterone, and being exposed to red light, won't amount to much improvement as evidenced in increased temperature and pulse, as all these lead to better oxygenation, and once again, runs counter to maintaining a hypoxic state, in order to make uric acid continually available in copious amounts, to counter oxidative stress from pathology, as in my case, of lead toxicity producing reactive oxygen species and free radicals that are harmful to the body.

As I undergo the process of healing, I'll be posting my blood pressure, as well as some markers that would gauge my state of health. I'll start with serum CO2 (or bicarbonate), serum uric acid, serum albumin, albumin-creatinine ratio (ACR- a gauge of kidney health). I'll also include daily temperatures and pulse - waking up, 12pm, 5pm.

I expect that as I heal, the blood pressure will gradually go down, as my serums CO2 increases, uric acid decreases, albumin increases, and the ACR increases. My temperature and pulse should also increase.

When I am fully healed, I expect to improve my serum bicarbonate levels further, as my control pause (Buteyko) increase as I resume my Buteyko breathing exercises. I am also going to be able to use red light for therapy, as well as the use of the hormones thyroid, pregnenolone, progesterone, on a need basis, to improve my metabolism.

I would be updating my status weekly for my temperature and pulse every Monday. And for my blood markers, a monthly update would be in order.

 

[ecstatichamster]

Thank you. Why did you stop the breathing exercises?

 

[yerrag]

Thank you. Why did you stop the breathing exercises?

I hadn't made that clear in my post, sorry. The breathing exercises actually made my hypertension worse. Now I think I know what was going on. As my breathing improved, and my CP improved, my serum CO2 improved as well. That would lead to better oxygenation. But my body was resisting it because it wanted to maintain a hypoxic state - to produce enough uric acid, to protect me from oxidative stress from the lead toxicity. It had to counter the better level of oxygenation by further constricting my blood vessels, in order to keep the same level of hypoxia.

 

[ecstatichamster]

My teachers taught me that when this happens (BP goes up) it is fixed with a short round of cortisone in some form. It is a result of deficient cortisol for the body's current condition.

 

[yerrag]

My teachers taught me that when this happens (BP goes up) it is fixed with a short round of cortisone in some form. It is a result of deficient cortisol for the body's current condition.

That doesn't seem to work for me. I remember taking hydrocortisone shots for my keloid some time ago. I don't recall it making my blood pressure go lower.

Using thyroid, pregnenolone, or progesterone also increases my blood pressure. I've bought red light from Redlightman. It's still boxed. I'm deferring its use. It will certainly help improve my metabolism in the direction of oxidative metabolism, and will improve tissue oxygenation. My body will resist and will compensate for the improved oxygenation, and thus will increase my blood pressure.

This makes me think that my body is running on energy not totally produced from oxidative metabolism and producing much higher lactic acid. That is one marker I should add. However, the odd thing is that my body is not expressing this much. Yes, I think I look older than my age, my hair is getting much thinner, and my libido could be better. But I'm not hypothyroid, as confirmed by body temperature and pulse rate, and by testing my Achilles tendon reflex and by ECG test, as well as my endocrine markers TSH, T3, and T4. Even with elevated uric acid, I don't eperience joint or back pains, except for one left knee pain. I have regular bowel movements, I don't ever experience any headache. I've not been experiencing any allergy lately where I used to have allergic rhinitis once or twice a year. I haven't had fever nor for twenty years (maybe not a good sign) where I used to have flu once or twice a year. I have no problems drinking coffee either.

But this can be deceiving, as it's really hard to know exactly one's state of health is by basing it on feeling. I feel good, but physical appearance wise can be better. My thin hair, my countenance, and my libido will just fall into place once the stress conditions arising from lead toxicity is resolved, with my blood pressure going back to normal. External appearances should reflect the internal state of health. Fixing the internal organs and keeping them healthy is the best way to keep oneself from aging.

As far as my hypoxic state goes, I'm trying out a test haidut mentions in the Generative Energy podcast #11, on the topic of nitric oxide and methylene blue. According to him, applying methylene blue to the skin would be a way to test for hypoxia. The time it takes for the methylene blue to turn transparent gives you an idea of how hypoxic your condition is. I applied I drop of Health Natura's methylene blue solution, and spread it over my left wrist. It's already 40 minutes and counting and the blue stain seems to not subsided one bit. I'll check back later and post if and when the blue stain disappears.

Another thought: Remember about Ray saying that at high elevations, blood pressure would also go down? This doesn't seem to be the case with most people. In my opinion, it just goes to show how most people have underlying issues in their physiology. Just like me. In the way our body reacts in the opposite direction of what is to be expected in a healthy individual. If I fix my lead toxicity, I would not be surprised to see my body change to increased elevation, such that my blood pressure will decrease with the increased elevation.

Also, about Ray Peat's thoughts on salt and how it would lower blood pressure. It doesn't work for me either. The idea is that with increased salt, blood volume would increase. In my case, salt is just urinated away. The body doesn't want increased blood volume, as it doesn't want to lower blood pressure.

 

[DuggaDugga]

Also, about Ray Peat's thoughts on salt and how it would lower blood pressure. It doesn't work for me either. The idea is that with increased salt, blood volume would increase. In my case, salt is just urinated away. The body doesn't want increased blood volume, as it doesn't want to lower blood pressure.

As I understand it, insufficient sodium in the diet causes your body to release aldosterone in order to retain what's available in the blood, leading to arterial rigidity, and therefore high blood pressure. I think the all-too-common low salt recommendation (within reason) is almost patently at odds its own primary goal, to lower blood pressure. Much more reasonable recommendation would be ingest less liquids, in my opinion.
Aldosterone and the risk of hypertension. - PubMed - NCBI
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20027193

 

[yerrag]

As I understand it, insufficient sodium in the diet causes your body to release aldosterone in order to retain what's available in the blood, leading to arterial rigidity, and therefore high blood pressure. I think the all-too-common low salt recommendation (within reason) is almost patently at odds its own primary goal, to lower blood pressure. Much more reasonable recommendation would be ingest less liquids, in my opinion.
Aldosterone and the risk of hypertension. - PubMed - NCBI
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20027193

I agree. The Russians, such as Buteyko and Rakhimov, and even my Russian friend Leo, drink water only when they are thirsty. When I told Leo about the 8 glasses per day recommendation, he laughed it off. He had it right all along.

 

[DuggaDugga]

I agree. The Russians, such as Buteyko and Rakhimov, and even my Russian friend Leo, drink water only when they are thirsty. When I told Leo about the 8 glasses per day recommendation, he laughed it off. He had it right all along.

I made the conscious decision ~6 months ago to not drink water unless I was thirsty for it. I don't think I've poured a glass of water since. As a result, most days I urinate maybe twice and when I do they're very "concentrated" and don't give me that anxious feeling I used to get when I had to urinate every twenty minutes.

 

[Terma]

I also have had unexplained hypertension for decades. At this point I'm assuming it comes from an inflammatory/immune disorder and the cytokines are interfering with my angiotensin and adrenergic system, but I have nowhere near the diagnostic tools to figure out what.

The uric acid is an especially good point. I've always seen it as a positive, even when it hurts a little.

Salt generally makes the problem worse for me as well but the chloride part appears like it might be the offender. In order to tolerate NaCl I have to take NSAID like aspirin. There is some rough quality research on aspirin lowering BP and preventing norepinephrine effects like cold feet - which for me go hand-in-hand with high BP: Effect of aspirin on circulatory responses to catecholamines - Strom - 2005 - Arthritis & Rheumatism - Wiley Online Library
But I don't like aspirin enough to dose it daily.

And yeah, despite everything, strangely I don't seem to be extremely hypothyroid either.

I get lower BP from phenibut, progesterone (unlike you) and eNos boosters. I assume some pharmaceuticals (beta blockers? forgot what they suggested) would work well but I'm still trying to avoid them unless they get closer to the root cause. Right now I'm going back to mega-dosing topical magnesium which helps in several aspects and I think I made a serious mistake by cutting back on it. You've probably heard all this, this is just my own stuff.

 

[yerrag]

As far as my hypoxic state goes, I'm trying out a test haidut mentions in the Generative Energy podcast #11, on the topic of nitric oxide and methylene blue. According to him, applying methylene blue to the skin would be a way to test for hypoxia. The time it takes for the methylene blue to turn transparent gives you an idea of how hypoxic your condition is. I applied I drop of Health Natura's methylene blue solution, and spread it over my left wrist. It's already 40 minutes and counting and the blue stain seems to not subsided one bit. I'll check back later and post if and when the blue stain disappears.

It's 5 hours and I still have a hint of blue. I should test it on a friend or my brother to see how this test goes on him.

Okay, it took 9 hours for the methylene blue applied to my skin to disappear.

 

[yerrag]

It's 5 hours and I still have a hint of blue. I should test it on a friend or my brother to see how this test goes on him.

Okay, it took 9 hours for the methylene blue applied to my skin to disappear.

It took more than 6 hours, which is what haidut would consider as the cutoff point. The longer it takes for the methylene blue to disappear, the farther away from a hypoxic state it is.

So now I'm thinking that at least for my skin, there is no hypoxic state. If I take the skin as a proxy for systemic tissue oxygenation, I would consider the general state of tissue oxygenation in my body to be adequate. This, however, does not mean that my tissue oxygenation level is optimal, as it's entirely possible someone with maximal tissue oxygenation would take more than a day for the methylene blue stain to disappear. Still, I'll take "adequate" to mean I have more than adequate level of tissue oxygenation.

I have to begin asking now how it is possible for my body to produce plenty of uric acid if I don't have systemic hypoxia. Is it possible that there's such a thing as local hypoxia, such that uric acid is produced only around the vicinity of where uric acid is needed as an antioxidant? If so, would the constriction of the glomerular capillaries (to produce hypoxia) of the kidney be such a case, effected in order to protect the glomerular capillary from the toxic free radicals produced from lead that has accumulated in the capillaries?

Constriction of the capillaries (glomeruli) in the kidney would present a bottleneck to the entire circulation system. In striving to maintain the normal flow of blood through the kidneys through constricted vessels, pressure would have to be increased, leading to an increase in blood pressure. But because the circulatory system is strained trying to push the normal volume of blood through a reduced cross-sectional area (due to the constriction), it has to lower the volume of blood in my body. Hence, any efforts to increase blood volume by additonal intake of salt is only met with increased urination, to discharge the excess sodium, in order to maintain osmolarity.

As I look back, I begin to stitch together how I arrived at this state of high blood pressure. It goes back to around twenty years back, when blood, hair, and urine tests detected mercury toxicity. I took steps to remove mercury from my body. I removed dental fillings, and underwent chelation. Successfully done, I felt great because my blood's oxygen carrying capacity improved greatly. This was because mercury attached to hemoglobin in the blood, and displaces the amount of oxygen that hemoglobin could carry. Instead of each hemoglobin molecule carrying four O2 molecules, it could be carrying only much less- perhaps three, or two, or just one, depending on the degree of mercury toxicity. At any rate, tissue oxygenation would be greatly affected.

With mercury removed from my system, I was able to run for longer distances without getting tired. However, it was not long, perhaps a year or two, before I started to experience high blood pressure. It slowly and steadily crept up from 120/80 to 180/120. I kept suspecting that this unfortunate change has something to do with my mercury detoxification, but I couldn't pin down the cause. Until now, I think.

Something would have to happen to lead to my high blood pressure condition. It could be that the detox of mercury also lead (a verb) to lead (the heavy metal) being chelated out of the body tissues. But for some reason, mercury was excreted out, but lead wasn't successfully excreted out, but collected and stayed put in the glomeruli of the kidney. Because the inadequacy of the tests I used then didn't detect any sign of heavy metal toxicity, the lead toxicity in the kidney was allowed to fester and to build up to the point where the body had to intervene. When the body intervened and constricted the glomerular capillaries of the kidney, to produce uric acid as an anti-oxidant and protectant, it resulted in my noticing the increase in blood pressure.

It was only years down the road when I saw another naturopath that lead toxicity was detected.

Right now, I should stop and hope those who are reading can comment and critique my analysis. After this, my next step would be to discuss how to approach this detox. I already am in the middle of an oral chelation, but I still hope to modify my approach if it would help hasten my recovery. But your critique and comments would be very much appreciated of my analysis. We'll refrain from how to approach this beast for now.

Edit: I should also consider the effect of increased tissue oxygenation arising from my mercury detox, as this has less to the oxygen-carrying capacity of my blood to increase. With increased oxygenation of tissues, the glomerular capillary has to be further constricted to maintain hypoxic conditions in the kidney tissues to be able to produce uric acid.

 

[yerrag]

I made the conscious decision ~6 months ago to not drink water unless I was thirsty for it. I don't think I've poured a glass of water since. As a result, most days I urinate maybe twice and when I do they're very "concentrated" and don't give me that anxious feeling I used to get when I had to urinate every twenty minutes.

I think most of us drink more than we need out of fear of dehydration, a fear I don't think is justified. It's been said that we don't notice we are dehydrated, and so to be safe we drink more to keep from becoming dehydrated without our knowing it. Yet, outside of being left out to dry in a desert, who really gets dehydrated? Maybe people are afraid of destroying their kidneys due to dehydration, but there are far more realistic reasons that people get kidney disease. The only time I would fear dehydration is when I get old, and start to pee in my pants. I would have to keep myself from avoiding drinking water, out of a fear of peeing in my pants too often.

I also have had unexplained hypertension for decades. At this point I'm assuming it comes from an inflammatory/immune disorder and the cytokines are interfering with my angiotensin and adrenergic system, but I have nowhere near the diagnostic tools to figure out what.

I hope you can piece the puzzle together. Maybe all it takes is just finding one missing piece.

I get lower BP from phenibut, progesterone (unlike you) and eNos boosters. I assume some pharmaceuticals (beta blockers? forgot what they suggested) would work well but I'm still trying to avoid them unless they get closer to the root cause.

I have to be open now to taking some pharma, if only because lowering the blood pressure would involve unconstricting the glomerular capillaries in the kidney. I'm thinking that if the lead is stuck in the kidneys and can't be urinated out, it has to be unstuck and find unconstricted passage to exit the kidney on the way to the liver, to be discharged hopefully as bile and excreted as stool. Just don't know what blood pressure lowering drugs or substances would be appropriate for such a task.

 

[yerrag]

In doing some more research on lead toxicity on my kidney, I realize now why removing lead toxicity on my kidneys is more difficult than just simply a matter of chelating lead from any other soft tissue. The lead that has been chelated from other soft tissues is processed by the liver, and the lead chelate is secreted from either stools or urine. Stools are discharged thru the anus, while urine comes from the kidney. When the lead chelate gets past the glomerulus as a part of the filtrate and goes into the tubule on the way to becoming urine, it could either be resorbed so that it goes back to the body, or it could just make its way out of the body as urine. In an ideal situation, all the lead chelate goes to the urine, and none of it gets resorbed. But for some reason, in my case, some or all of the lead chelate is resorbed and gets stuck in the cells of the kidney tubules. This is where the lead toxicity resides. To me, it seems that the lead is stuck in these tubules. It is in a very tricky place. It should be on its way out, but is stuck somewhat in a series of small outlet pipes. It isn't being flushed out of the system, nor is it getting back into circulation to be detoxified, but is just stuck in the kidney's tubular cells, where it makes its way into the cells, attaching to some proteins, and even causes the mitochondria to swell. Its presence also affects the charge of albumin molecules, and keeps a portion of the albumin protein from being resorbed, and instead albumin gets out of the system as part of the urine.

Here is a slideshow that gave me that understanding: Structure and Function of the Kidney

With a better understanding of where I stand as far as lead toxicity in my kidneys goes, I can begin to make some assumptions:

- that probably PectaClear's mechanism of using alginates and pectins to sandwich the lead in their structure isn't going to work, as they are probably not going to be resorbed but will just go right thru as part of urine; in this way PectaClear isn't going to have a chance to come in contact with the lead toxins in the tubular cells, and will not be effective

- that the reason the lead toxins got embedded in the tubular cells is due to my earlier use of IV DMPS chelation; DMPS chelation involves a large series of chelation therapy, not carrying out the whole series to completion may have led to lead accumulating in the tubular cells. If the series of chelation were completed, lead remnants on the tubules would continually be resorbed into the blood stream, to be detoxified again, with each later portion of the chelating series leaving a progressively smaller remnant of lead until the remnant becomes negligible.

-that it may be that resuming a series of DMPS chelation would be able to remove the lead toxicity, of which I would prefer oral chelation over IV, but the deciding factor would be the efficacy of the method, given that the lead toxicity would be harder to chelate given how ingrained it has become in the cells over a period of at least twelve years

With that said, I would first want to consider alternate methods other than DMPS and PectaClear, that would involve chelating agents that can be resorbed to allow contact with the lead toxins in the tubular cells. Thanks to leads from @burtlancast and @PikPak, I'm seriously considering a protocol involving the use of garlic and magnesium, together with the use of vitamin C for its protective antioxidant capability, as well as the continuation of the use of supplements that aid the liver with detox (Vitamin E, NAC, P5P, zinc, selenometionine), and the use of wakame, a seaweed, for its natural ACE-inhibitor capability. I'm also considering the use of methylene blue, together with red light therapy, as the mitochondrial cells in the tubules have been compromised by lead toxicity, and would need some help in that regard. I will be applying the red light (from redlightman) directly over my back, so that it will penetrate thru to my kidneys.

I hope I have a good starting point, and a fallback method, to begin tackling with some measure of success, my toxic kidney condition, which has led to my hypertensive condition.

I've not started posting my blood pressure results, only because there hasn't been any progress.

In a few days, I'll post some markers, which I feel would be enough for me to track my progress. These are:

Prolactin
Serum CO2 (bicarbonate)
Uric Acid
Serum Albumi
Lactic Acid
Urine Protein/Creatinine Ratio
Cortisol
Ammonia
Lactate Dehydrogenase

Your comments are appreciated!

 

[yerrag]

Sorry, I meant @PakPik.

 

[yerrag]

Here are my results:

The good-

Serum CO2 (bicarbonate) - 33.52 mmol/L (range 22-30)
Serum lactic acid - 0.5 mmol/L (0.4-2.0)
Serum ammonia- <9 (9-30)

Not bad-

Serum Cortisol, am - 395 nmol/L (172-497)
Urine Creatinine - 11.12 mmol/L (3.54 -24.60)

Bad-

Serum Uric Acid- 352 umol/L (202.30 - 416.50)
Serum Albumin - 41.42 g/L (35 - 50)

Really Bad -

LDH - 238 U/L (135-225)
Urine Protein - 344 mg/L (10-140)
Urine Protein/Creatinine Ratio - 30.94 (<22.60)

It would appear that with the LDH being above range, there is some tissue damage going on, likely in my kidneys because of the lead toxicity. To confirm this, I'll be taking an LDH isoenzyme test.

The high urine protein/creatinine ratio attests to that, pointing to some damage in the kidney.

The positive thing is that my serum CO2 and lactic acid is showing that I have a healthy amount of CO2 in my blood, which favors excellent tissue oxygenation. Also positive is that my uric acid is on the high end of the range, meaning that the body is able to produce enough uric acid to protect my body from oxidative stress from the lead toxicity.

My serum albumin could be higher, as it is in the low end of range.

I'm just not sure what to make of my cortisol levels. They are on the high end of range.

I now have a baseline to use as basis for gauging improvements as I undergo lead chelation therapy. Currently, I am on oral chelation using PectaClear, but by early next week, I will replace PectaClear with a daily dose of 28 grams of raw garlic, spread over breakfast, lunch, and dinner. In addition, since August 23, I have been one two drops daily of 100mcg/drop methylene blue (from Health Natura), and been on twice daily of red light therapy using redlightman's device.

If during the course of my garlic protocol I feel a need to add some more substances in my protocol, I will let you know. I'm considering adding large doses of aspirin (as much as 4g/day with vitamin K), and niacinamide, to as much as 1500 mg/day. If those are not enough, then I will need to use transdermal magnesium and magnesium foot bath.

 

[yerrag]

Sept 1, I begin my 28g daily ingestion of garlic spread over 3 meals. Since I have some 3 days supply of PectaClear left over , I will have 3 days of PectaClear + Garlic before I begin on Garlic w/o PectaClear. I will be on Garlic for the whole of September, and continuing on the other supplements to aid liver detox (NAC, Vitamin E, P5P, selenomethionine, zinc.Also have b-complex as well as methylene blue and red light therapy.

So far, my blood pressure hasn't budged much, not really breaking past 180/120 definitely. Let's see if the 28grams of daily garlic will make a difference.

Next month, I will have another round of blood tests and report on:

Serum Uric Acid
Serum Albumin
LDH
Urine Protein
Urine Protein/Creatinine Ratio
Blood Pressure

 

[yerrag]

As I think about my results, I'm getting concerned as to why my a.m. cortisol is high (395 nmol/L, range 172-497). Despite my serum CO2 being high (over range at 33), and my lactic acid levels being on the low side. Yet my p.m. cortisol, at 150.60 nmol/L (range 74.1-286), looks fine.

It's no coincidence, though that my waking temperature lately has been lower than usual, as if struggling to stay normal at 36.0C (armpit). While my 5pm temp (peak of the day) is normal at 36.5C (armpit). I'm not hypothyroid at all, as confirmed by the Achilles tendon reflex test, and by the QTc value of an ECG. Yet, it concerns me that I have frequent urinations at night, keeping me from benefiting fully from a restful sleep, where my body could heal and repair itself, and where my liver could build up my glycogen stores for the next day. I have to find a way to sleep more. I have been on milk and gelatin, coconut nectar (for sugar), and salt. I've found that using coconut sugar is better than white sugar in getting me to sleep better, with less of a feeling of hunger during the night. I've also found that adding coconut milk to my milk blend adds some fat, which helps meter the sugar slowly into the system, as I sleep. It has also reduced my urination as well, and my guess is that the lead detox undergoing in my liver is probably allowing more detox metabolites to go the fecal route rather than the urinary route. I've added GABA to my milk as well. Still, I would like to sleep 7 hours straight without waking up in between. I may resort to a few more substances, such as Ashwaganda, and Cyproheptadine, and maybe pregnenolone and progesterone. We'll see.

The reason I want to work on the quality of sleep is because I think it's very important to my recovery. I will also need to keep my cortisol levels in check, if possible. If improving my sleep and my glycogen storage (as a result) still fail to lower my cortisol levels, then I have to look further into why.

Considering that my LDH levels are above range, indicating tissue destruction somewhere (and likely in my kidney), this could be also increasing my estrogen levels, as well as serotonin levels. With high estrogen, my glucocorticoid signaling system might be compromised, and the feedback system is impaired, and my adrenals would continually produce cortisol, regardless of my blood sugar status. At this point, I would have to consider the possibility that I have ectopic Cushing's syndrome. And then I'll need another set of blood tests (oh, the expense and trouble).

Incidentally, my prolactin results came out and they are high at 217 mIu/L (range 86-324). This adds weight to my thinking that my estrogen and serotonin levels are high, thus affecting my cortisol levels. I don't know if I should start supplementing with pregnenolone and progesterone to counter the high estrogen, which I perceive to be the result of tissue destruction occurring at my kidneys.

 

[Dante]

As I think about my results, I'm getting concerned as to why my a.m. cortisol is high (395 nmol/L, range 172-497). Despite my serum CO2 being high (over range at 33), and my lactic acid levels being on the low side. Yet my p.m. cortisol, at 150.60 nmol/L (range 74.1-286), looks fine.

It's no coincidence, though that my waking temperature lately has been lower than usual, as if struggling to stay normal at 36.0C (armpit). While my 5pm temp (peak of the day) is normal at 36.5C (armpit). I'm not hypothyroid at all, as confirmed by the Achilles tendon reflex test, and by the QTc value of an ECG. Yet, it concerns me that I have frequent urinations at night, keeping me from benefiting fully from a restful sleep, where my body could heal and repair itself, and where my liver could build up my glycogen stores for the next day. I have to find a way to sleep more. I have been on milk and gelatin, coconut nectar (for sugar), and salt. I've found that using coconut sugar is better than white sugar in getting me to sleep better, with less of a feeling of hunger during the night. I've also found that adding coconut milk to my milk blend adds some fat, which helps meter the sugar slowly into the system, as I sleep. It has also reduced my urination as well, and my guess is that the lead detox undergoing in my liver is probably allowing more detox metabolites to go the fecal route rather than the urinary route. I've added GABA to my milk as well. Still, I would like to sleep 7 hours straight without waking up in between. I may resort to a few more substances, such as Ashwaganda, and Cyproheptadine, and maybe pregnenolone and progesterone. We'll see.

The reason I want to work on the quality of sleep is because I think it's very important to my recovery. I will also need to keep my cortisol levels in check, if possible. If improving my sleep and my glycogen storage (as a result) still fail to lower my cortisol levels, then I have to look further into why.

Considering that my LDH levels are above range, indicating tissue destruction somewhere (and likely in my kidney), this could be also increasing my estrogen levels, as well as serotonin levels. With high estrogen, my glucocorticoid signaling system might be compromised, and the feedback system is impaired, and my adrenals would continually produce cortisol, regardless of my blood sugar status. At this point, I would have to consider the possibility that I have ectopic Cushing's syndrome. And then I'll need another set of blood tests (oh, the expense and trouble).

Incidentally, my prolactin results came out and they are high at 217 mIu/L (range 86-324). This adds weight to my thinking that my estrogen and serotonin levels are high, thus affecting my cortisol levels. I don't know if I should start supplementing with pregnenolone and progesterone to counter the high estrogen, which I perceive to be the result of tissue destruction occurring at my kidneys.

Yerrag, I have no expertise on kidney but why are you considering the possibility of ectopic Cushing syndrome ? Your morning and p.m cortisol both look ok to me. May I ask at what point after waking up did you test your a.m cortisol ? Cortisol levels are generally highest 30-45 minutes after waking up.
You may like to read this
Cortisol awakening response - Wikipedia
For example, in subjects experiencing high work stress, the CAR(cortisol Awakening response) is significantly higher on weekdays than weekends lol.

 

[yerrag]

Yerrag, I have no expertise on kidney but why are you considering the possibility of ectopic Cushing syndrome ? Your morning and p.m cortisol both look ok to me. May I ask at what point after waking up did you test your a.m cortisol ? Cortisol levels are generally highest 30-45 minutes after waking up.
You may like to read this
Cortisol awakening response - Wikipedia
For example, in subjects experiencing high work stress, the CAR(cortisol Awakening response) is significantly higher on weekdays than weekends lol.

Thanks Dante. I would be considering ectopic Cushing syndrome if my cortisol levels don't improve. I'm not sure myself, but it seemed to me that my morning cortisol could be better if it were on the lower end of range. That would give me more reassurance, considering that I'm worried that my prolactin level is on the high side as well. With high prolactin, it could very well be that my estrogen and serotonin levels would also be high, and high estrogen could lead to high cortisol levels.

With my LDH level very high, which is a sign of tissue damage going on, estrogen levels would be high as well. In one Ray Peat interview with East West Healing, on inflammation, this is what it says:

"when people are constantly exposed to the endotoxin, serotonin, free fatty acid and estrogen pattern, all of these things lower their ability to produce energy and tend to cause the body temperature to fall. And as part of the defensive system, serotonin happens to increase the pituitary hormones to compensate, for example by driving the thyroid gland harder, serotonin stimulates the TSH, the thyroid stimulating hormone, but it also stimulates ACTH, prolactin, gonadotropins, growth hormone, everything is just sort of an emergency turning on the pituitary to try to drive everything up to compensate for the fact that the mitochondrial energy systems are being blocked by these same substances."

There is mention of ACTH as well, which could also lead in itself to increasing cortisol levels. As far as sleep is concerned, the presence of high estrogen would be a cause of lower temperatures, and would explain why I would be struggling with maintaining a warm enough waking temperature. This is why I'm considering the topical application of both progesterone, as it would antagonize estrogen, and help lower cortisol levels.

As to when my blood was drawn for the cortisol test, it was around 4 hours past waking up.

I have to think over the CAR wiki . It states that CAR is a common occurrence, and dwelves on its occurrence in many situations and occupations. It doesn't go far enough into explaining it in terms of an energetic/metabolic standpoint. Why does it occur, for example. I'm tying it to Ray's above response, and trying to figure out how to overcome it. The wiki typifies the establishment practice of providing a shell heavy on descriptive discourse without much substance for further thought, a thinking man's Siberia, if you will. Sorry for the rant. Still, I appreciate your the link, as it also helps knowing about it.

 

[yerrag]

I'm upping my garlic intake. Instead of 28g to 45g/day. 15g each time 3x daily, minced and put in 2 tsp of honey each time, to make it more palatable. I'll be sure to brush my teeth more often. I remember when my dad took garlic, his breathe was terrible.

As a note, I'm awaiting blood test result for ceruloplasmin, just to see if my copper status is fine, as it affects enzymes that enable respiratory oxidation, although it looks this aspect is fine given my high blood CO2 content, and low lactate.

Also, I will hold off on doing the LDH Isonenzyme test until October. It's costly, so I'll do it if my next LDH is still high. If LDH stays high, I'll also take an ACTH test.