Greatings from Sweden!

Thomas

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Hi all!

I am very happy that I found the Ray Peat Forum. My background is a condition of two years of suffering with ill health. After a antibiotic treatment something happend and my system got out of wack. I first thought I would have gotten Candida and tried to starve it out. I was following a mainly protein/fat based diet. And after 3 month my body broke down. I got very afraid! Something happend which I didnt understood and still dont.

I lost about 35 kg in 3 month, a lot of the sympthoms I had where brainfog, itchy eyes, rectal itching, stomach pain, constant diarre, malnutrion, intestinal transit-time of 4 hours, UT irritation, a feeling that I would pee in my pants.

Long story short. As all my sympthoms got better I thought I am soon healed from that terrible situation. How wrong I was I noticed, when in the middle of nigh,t I was awaken with a flash. From deep sleep I suddenly was full awake. I knew something was wrong and it felt like I would die. A strange sensation of my was blood boiling, or millions of ants running under my skin, mixed with a feeling of getting a heart attack, my spirit leaving my body. I had a feeling that my upper body was sinking down in the pillows while my legs would start to flow up. My chest got tight and I got a feeling of a coming heart attack. A terrible fear of death entered the room. I noticed all and said to myself. Keep cool, breath, count, breath and check. I had a feeling of a racing heartbeat but when I counted it with a clock it was normal. Very strange! I thought that I am on my way to get nuts.

I have to say here that I never in my 50 years old live had any issues with mental health. Later I learned that what I experienced was a panic attack. Fear entered my life which I never experienced before. I had to do something and started to eat normal again. I thought I messed up my brain with lack of sugar so I was eating it. I got strength back and it took a long time before the stress went out of the body. Fear attacked me now and then and even panic only when I had some air in my stomach. With the sugar I got the panic out of the body but the sympthoms which drove me on the road of diets where again present. The brainfog was the worst as I felt drunken all the time. It felt like I had a half bottle of strong wine in me for over a year, day in and out. I got deppressed as I was very health concious. No drugs, no alchohol, no smoke, etc but I got worse and worse.

I still believed I had candida and followed another course of action. This time with a lot of pre-biotics. (special vegetables, fat, protein) pro-biotics, vitamines, minerals etc. I grew worse until I had to give it up after 3 month. I too broke down again with getting this dreaded vibration in my body, the blood boiling, running ants symdrome. I got really afraid and thought if that continues another year I will be dead. Neadless to say the doctor didnt find anything and thought I am nuts.

The first big change happend with a book I bought about IBS. From that book I learned to cut out all fibres. When I did that I was within a week 70 percent better. I had hope. I learned and learned and came to learn that I have SIBO, leaky gut and probably candida. I started with the SCD/GAPS diet and are still learning and getting better. While on the learning streak I happen to find Ray Peat and read his articles on his webside and somehow found you guys.

I hope I can learn a lot as I really want to understand what is going on in the body and the digestion system. I learned the hard way that the doctors could not and didnt help me and the knowleadge I got searching and learning myself saved my life.

all the best to you all
yours
Thomas
 

burtlancast

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A good start would be blood analyses; check your hormones and minerals/ vitamin levels.
 

Mittir

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My health problems started after a 2 month course of antibiotic for a minor skin issue. I did not know i was using antibiotic.
Ray Peat does not think candida is problematic. SIBO is a result of hypothyroidism. Low carbohydrate diet suppresses thyroid hormone production and endotoxins resulting from undigested fiber and starch blocks thyroid hormone conversion in liver. Nighttime panic happens when your liver is low in glycogen ( sugar storage). A cup of milk with few tbs of sugar and pinch of salt can help you sleep without panic. If you have problem with milk you can use water or juice with added sugar and salt.
It would be a good idea to have your TSH, Total T3, Total T4 and cortisol checked.
Welcome to the forum.
 

narouz

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Welcome, Thomas!

I'd be interested to know:
-description of your past diet
-temperatures and pulses throughout the day and especially immediately upon rising
-any thyroid related labs you might have had, like TSH or iron or ferritin....
-supplements (melatonin, fish oil, etc)
 
J

j.

Guest
I suggest starting avoiding all significant sources of polyunsaturated fats, especially vegetable oils, immediately. They slow down thyroid function which can create all sorts of problems. You can later add new strategies as you learn more things.
 
J

j.

Guest
Mittir said:
Nighttime panic happens when your liver is low in glycogen ( sugar storage).

That's a possible cause, but panic, at any time, can also occur even shortly after one ate sugar.
 
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T

Thomas

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j. said:
Mittir said:
Nighttime panic happens when your liver is low in glycogen ( sugar storage).

That's a possible cause, but panic, at any time, can also occur even shortly after one ate sugar.


Whow! Tell me more about it!! I experienced just now something very wirred. After living after the SCD diet all feelings of fear vanished with time. I opened now for some milk, had some coke and a chocolate and after one hour, I suddenly feel very wirred, fear hit me for no reason. My wife said I look white like a gost, my hands got cold and I feel like my heart is pounding. For month I was ok. If R.Peat said sugar is ok and even good, why is it hitting me? Can you explain more of the functioning?

Thank you
Thomas
 
J

j.

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I don't know for sure, I just think that keeping your stress hormones at a low level, which you could do by improving thyroid function through diet or supplements, will make panic less frequent.
 
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Thomas

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Mittir said:
My health problems started after a 2 month course of antibiotic for a minor skin issue. I did not know i was using antibiotic.
Ray Peat does not think candida is problematic. SIBO is a result of hypothyroidism. Low carbohydrate diet suppresses thyroid hormone production and endotoxins resulting from undigested fiber and starch blocks thyroid hormone conversion in liver. Nighttime panic happens when your liver is low in glycogen ( sugar storage). A cup of milk with few tbs of sugar and pinch of salt can help you sleep without panic. If you have problem with milk you can use water or juice with added sugar and salt.
It would be a good idea to have your TSH, Total T3, Total T4 and cortisol checked.
Welcome to the forum.

Hi mate!
thanks for responding to my post. I dont know about T3 and T4 the only thing I have on my list from the MD is TSH.
It was meassured twice. Once I had: 0.81 and another time was it: 1.5

cheers
thomas
 

narouz

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Thomas said:
Mittir said:
My health problems started after a 2 month course of antibiotic for a minor skin issue. I did not know i was using antibiotic.
Ray Peat does not think candida is problematic. SIBO is a result of hypothyroidism. Low carbohydrate diet suppresses thyroid hormone production and endotoxins resulting from undigested fiber and starch blocks thyroid hormone conversion in liver. Nighttime panic happens when your liver is low in glycogen ( sugar storage). A cup of milk with few tbs of sugar and pinch of salt can help you sleep without panic. If you have problem with milk you can use water or juice with added sugar and salt.
It would be a good idea to have your TSH, Total T3, Total T4 and cortisol checked.
Welcome to the forum.

Hi mate!
thanks for responding to my post. I dont know about T3 and T4 the only thing I have on my list from the MD is TSH.
It was meassured twice. Once I had: 0.81 and another time was it: 1.5

cheers
thomas

That's interesting about the TSH, Thomas.
Peat--and other non-mainstream health thinkers--
don't like to put much stock in it.
But as a starting point I think it might give a glimpse of what might be going on.
My TSH was like 60-something when I was diagnosed as hypothyroid!

Like Mittir said, it would be great if you could get a more complete set of labs related to thyroid.
I guess it's possible that your thyroid might be malfunctioning towards the hyper direction.

Like I said, I don't have a picture of what your diet was like before Peat.
Or temps/pulses.
 
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Thomas

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narouz said:
Thomas said:
Mittir said:
My health problems started after a 2 month course of antibiotic for a minor skin issue. I did not know i was using antibiotic.
Ray Peat does not think candida is problematic. SIBO is a result of hypothyroidism. Low carbohydrate diet suppresses thyroid hormone production and endotoxins resulting from undigested fiber and starch blocks thyroid hormone conversion in liver. Nighttime panic happens when your liver is low in glycogen ( sugar storage). A cup of milk with few tbs of sugar and pinch of salt can help you sleep without panic. If you have problem with milk you can use water or juice with added sugar and salt.
It would be a good idea to have your TSH, Total T3, Total T4 and cortisol checked.
Welcome to the forum.

Hi mate!
thanks for responding to my post. I dont know about T3 and T4 the only thing I have on my list from the MD is TSH.
It was meassured twice. Once I had: 0.81 and another time was it: 1.5

cheers
thomas

That's interesting about the TSH, Thomas.
Peat--and other non-mainstream health thinkers--
don't like to put much stock in it.
But as a starting point I think it might give a glimpse of what might be going on.
My TSH was like 60-something when I was diagnosed as hypothyroid!

Like Mittir said, it would be great if you could get a more complete set of labs related to thyroid.
I guess it's possible that your thyroid might be malfunctioning towards the hyper direction.

Like I said, I don't have a picture of what your diet was like before Peat.
Or temps/pulses.


In Sweden they run a normal set of blood test to figure out if you have something serious. They have a range for everything and my MD said I am fine with everything. After that they stop. I cant ask for more. Would they see that i am out of the range they order the next set of tests. I would have to save up money to go to a private clinic which are rare here in Sweden and pay lots. The hyper direction could be as my mother had her thyroid gland removed in young age do to a hyper condition. But as my values where right I dont think I have something with my throid gland. But I am sure it is reacting when my system is acting up. For me it feels that everything starts and stops with a reaction in the guts. I feel it like poisoin spreading out and when it swings back to a good feeling it gets warm in the stomach under the navel and it feels like something is spreading out and the cloud of sickness is vanishing. It is definitly a chemicial war going on in my body where something poisens me and something trys to balance it. As I believe that I suffer from SIBO, it could be well that they had a party now with the sugar and the potato I ate. Any thoughts how to get endotoxins they release quickly out of my body. I havent found anything yet.
My diet was aimed at getting down the food for the bacteria and with this keep them down. That worked well but I dont have healed myself. I have to stick to the low carb diet. Its mainly the SCD diet which allows monosaccarides like honey. As they are going quickly into the bloodstream. They forbid all other sugars as they feed the bacteria. No potatos, no rice, no grains, no sugar, banana only if its brown spottet etc. I was eating a lot of fish like salmon until I learned about PUFA from R. Peat. I was eating lots of minced meat but I had a impression that I got terrible rectal itching which came from that. The strange thing with my R. Peat sugar testing is that, that my symptoms like reactal itching and stomach pain is not present but I got anxiety back which is even worse than the other symptoms. I feel like I am in a catch 22.
I think its a game of balance. I have to deal with the bacteria and endotoxins and if I eat to lite or not enough carbs the body acts up, If I eat get sugar in there could be too a reaction from the body. I dont know. I hope someone here sees a pattern. I am trying to understand that battle I am in for over 2 years now. The only clear thing I have is that if I eat fiber I am getting very bad. Since I stopped with it I have no diarre more! And through that I was not malnutritioned anymore and the anxiety vanished. I have to admit that I am a bit sad that I reacted today with anxiety when trying the R. P. diet.

all the best
Thomas
 
J

j.

Guest
Thomas, I had many annoying symptoms, some similar to yours, and they went away after 3 months of strictly avoiding significant sources of PUFAs.

50% of hypothyroid people have SIBO. So if you are hypothyroid, correcting that might help. But from what you're telling us, it looks like you don't have symptoms usually related to hypothyroidism other than anxiety, for example, from what I gather you don't have high cholesterol.
 
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Thomas

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Re: Greetings from Sweden!

j. said:
Thomas, I had many annoying symptoms, some similar to yours, and they went away after 3 months of strictly avoiding significant sources of PUFAs.

50% of hypothyroid people have SIBO. So if you are hypothyroid, correcting that might help. But from what you're telling us, it looks like you don't have symptoms usually related to hypothyroidism other than anxiety, for example, from what I gather you don't have high cholesterol.


Hi j!
everything is fine in all my tests. Thats the thing which made me look into the SIBO. Here in Sweden they dont check for it and call it functional disruption. They dont have time and no money for it to check that I feel good. The good thing is that everyone here has free medical service but they dont digg in deep if you dont have something serious they find in the first blood scanning.
What is R.P. advicing to kill lactic acid? I believe the bacteria are releasing a lot and my immunesystem reacts to it. Somehow I have the feeling that everything with me is immunesystem realated. The sympatetic immunesystem reacting, the body stressing...then the rest follows. I have to get rid of the endotoxins, lactic acid and try to starve down and kill the bacteria. I noticed that no fibre diet is very good for me that is the only thing I am hundered percent sure about. So, why is fibre bad for me and not my wife. Well, bacteria are having a party with them and releasing endotoxins and fermenting the fibre. I get drunk form that stuff and have brainfog like hell. Then with the stressed up liver, I get even more down to hell.
Any ideas how to fix that with the poisen. The only oils I eat are cocconut virgine oil and olive oil.

Ah: My pulse now is 55 beats per minute. I am not a trained guy. My weight is 79 kg and I am 185 cm. 50 years old male.

yours
thomas
 

charlie

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Thomas, welcome to the forum. :welcome

All the things you have mentioned above are all things hypothyroid.

Immune system down? Low metabolism.
SIBO? Low metabolism
Lactic Acid? Low metabolism and body not producing Co2 as it should and leaning towards lactic acid.
Not feeling well but docs say you are OK? Low metabolism that their tests wont show for some odd reason, and that goes for many of us.
Panic attacks, getting woken up in the middle of the night? Low metabolism, your liver is not functioning properly and storing glycogen and using it efficiently.

Do you see what I am trying to get to here? Low metabolism. Now, since the tests the doctors are using, aren't showing you have a problem. And you clearly, have problems. Maybe it might be best to rely on a much better and proven test. Pulse and temperatures. If you want a window into your metabolism, start charting your pulse and temps as narouz has alluded to above. And then start working on raising your metabolism and getting yourself good nutrition, reducing PUFA's as much as possible.

Hope you get a turnaround soon!
 

Mittir

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Thomas said:
Mittir said:
My health problems started after a 2 month course of antibiotic for a minor skin issue. I did not know i was using antibiotic.
Ray Peat does not think candida is problematic. SIBO is a result of hypothyroidism. Low carbohydrate diet suppresses thyroid hormone production and endotoxins resulting from undigested fiber and starch blocks thyroid hormone conversion in liver. Nighttime panic happens when your liver is low in glycogen ( sugar storage). A cup of milk with few tbs of sugar and pinch of salt can help you sleep without panic. If you have problem with milk you can use water or juice with added sugar and salt.
It would be a good idea to have your TSH, Total T3, Total T4 and cortisol checked.
Welcome to the forum.

Hi mate!
thanks for responding to my post. I dont know about T3 and T4 the only thing I have on my list from the MD is TSH.
It was meassured twice. Once I had: 0.81 and another time was it: 1.5

cheers
thomas

RP thinks TSH should be below 2 and your TSH are fine. This means that you are not going to have problems related high TSH.
This does not mean your thyroid hormones are fine. I am sorry to hear about your experience with milk, chocolate and coke.
I do not want to speculate here. Are you used to drinking milk. chocolate and coke . I think these foods are not allowed in SCD diet. I thought you had some basic idea about Ray Peat diet from reading his articles. I think you need to read more to get a idea about basic outline of RP diet. There are lot more to RP diet than just eating sugar and milk. Please be patient and keep studying this diet and then you can decide if it works for you or not.
 
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Thomas

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Charlie said:
Thomas, welcome to the forum. :welcome

All the things you have mentioned above are all things hypothyroid.

Immune system down? Low metabolism.
SIBO? Low metabolism
Lactic Acid? Low metabolism and body not producing Co2 as it should and leaning towards lactic acid.
Not feeling well but docs say you are OK? Low metabolism that their tests wont show for some odd reason, and that goes for many of us.
Panic attacks, getting woken up in the middle of the night? Low metabolism, your liver is not functioning properly and storing glycogen and using it efficiently.

Do you see what I am trying to get to here? Low metabolism. Now, since the tests the doctors are using, aren't showing you have a problem. And you clearly, have problems. Maybe it might be best to rely on a much better and proven test. Pulse and temperatures. If you want a window into your metabolism, start charting your pulse and temps as narouz has alluded to above. And then start working on raising your metabolism and getting yourself good nutrition, reducing PUFA's as much as possible.

Hope you get a turnaround soon!

Thank you for the warm welcome here! I dont know so much as you guys about metabolism. Would it be ok if I meassure my temp and puls for a weak and ask you then for advice? How do I kick in the metabolism?

yours
thomas
 
J

j.

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Thomas said:
How do I kick in the metabolism?

Avoid all significant sources of PUFA: most vegetable oils, nuts, margarine, some chocolates and ice creams have vegetable oil, look at the ingredients list. Regarding meat, eat only ruminants for the moment, such as beef and lamb, avoid chicken, pork, and fish, unless you know that pork have a low PUFA diet.

Avoid all soy products.

Eat at least 80 grams of protein per day from good quality sources: e.g., milk, cheese, eggs, gelatinous meat cuts.

Another usual advice is to consume sugar with protein. However, if you feel bad after eating sugar, I say eat a source of carbohydrate that doesn't make you feel bad, maybe potato or rice. But if you can, definitely keep the carbohydrate level high.

Eat beef liver once a week and shrimp or oysters twice a month.
 
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Thomas

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j. said:
Thomas said:
How do I kick in the metabolism?

Avoid all significant sources of PUFA: most vegetable oils, nuts, margarine, some chocolates and ice creams have vegetable oil, look at the ingredients list. Regarding meat, eat only ruminants for the moment, such as beef and lamb, avoid chicken, pork, and fish, unless you know that pork have a low PUFA diet.

Avoid all soy products.

Eat at least 80 grams of protein per day from good quality sources: e.g., milk, cheese, eggs, gelatinous meat cuts.

Another usual advice is to consume sugar with protein. However, if you feel bad after eating sugar, I say eat a source of carbohydrate that doesn't make you feel bad, maybe potato or rice. But if you can, definitely keep the carbohydrate level high.

Eat beef liver once a week and shrimp or oysters twice a month.

Thank you for all the tips and pointers! Do you know what to do to kill the endotoxin posions quickly, something to bind them and chelate them out of the system to help the liver?
thanks
Thomas
 
J

j.

Guest
Thomas said:
Thank you for all the tips and pointers! Do you know what to do to kill the endotoxin posions quickly, something to bind them and chelate them out of the system to help the liver?
thanks
Thomas

I'm guessing antibiotics? Also, I forgot to say, using incandescent lights, slowly increasing the amount until reaching about 750 watts, can be helpful. Red light makes it easy for the cell to produce energy. Fluorescent light bulbs have very little of the red frequency. Also, try eating a shredded raw carrot on an empty stomach and see if it makes you feel bad. Raw carrot tends to kill some bacteria.
 

narouz

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Thomas said:
In Sweden they run a normal set of blood test to figure out if you have something serious. They have a range for everything and my MD said I am fine with everything. After that they stop. I cant ask for more.

I completely understand about the difficulty of getting/affording lab work. ;)

Thomas said:
The hyper direction could be as my mother had her thyroid gland removed in young age do to a hyper condition. But as my values where right I dont think I have something with my throid land.


This is probably where I'd most strongly suggest you keep an open mind. Conventional doctors are so screwed up and rigidified in their understanding of the thyroid, that I personally would not remove it from my list of possible culprits--just because they say it is okay based upon lab work. If you read a lot of Peat you will see that he heavily distrusts thyroid labs.

The fact that your mom had hyperthyroidism is significant, I think.
I am hypothyroid, so I'm a little dim on all things hyperthyroid.
But I would keep in on your list of possible problems, and I'd research more about it--
what its symptoms are, how it makes you feel, etc.

Thomas said:
For me it feels that everything starts and stops with a reaction in the guts.

This is indeed a great place to start, but you should not, I'd urge, close your mind to the possibility that it does not stop there.
Peat has a lot to say about endotoxins.
Do you know about the Peat daily carrot salad?

Thomas said:
My diet was aimed at getting down the food for the bacteria and with this keep them down. That worked well but I dont have healed myself. I have to stick to the low carb diet. Its mainly the SCD diet which allows monosaccarides like honey. As they are going quickly into the bloodstream. They forbid all other sugars as they feed the bacteria. No potatos, no rice, no grains, no sugar, banana only if its brown spottet etc. I was eating a lot of fish like salmon until I learned about PUFA from R. Peat. I was eating lots of minced meat....

Trying to form a picture of your diet, Thomas...

Seems like it is heavily influenced by SCD theory:
The Specific Carbohydrate Diet (SCD) is a nutritional regimen, created by Dr. Sidney V. Haas and popularized by biochemist and author Elaine Gottschall, which restricts the use of complex carbohydrates (disaccharides and polysaccharides) and eliminates refined sugar, all grains and starch from the diet.-Wiki

...looks like it does not jibe well at all with a Peat diet.
-you can't have fruit--a mainstay of a Peat diet (well, you say you can have banana, but Peat doesn't recommend.)
-can't have sugar
-can't have starchy carbs like potato/rice

from a Peat standpoint, that's going to be a hard obstacle to surmount.
You do say you are allowed to have honey.
Well...that's something. Although it could be allergenic, and we can't rule out allergy as a contributor to your digestive woes.

I think, if you read and learn more about Peat, and you feel persuaded by it,
you're probably going to have to question how devoted you are to the SCD diet.
From a Peat viewpoint, it could be the problem, not the solution.

You say you ate a lot of salmon.
Did you also, like so many of us, take fish oils?
More generally, how much PUFA was in your diet in the past?
This is a factor that could take a while to fix, and it is probably the main "bad guy" for Peat.

You say you ate a lot of minced meats: what kind?
Peat thinks you need a lot of high quality protein for your liver and thyroid and everything to function properly.
Meat--especially muscle meats--are not very quality, and are in fact stressful.
Where are you with milk and cheese?
If you want to eat a Peat diet, you'll need to think where you're going to get a lot of good protein.

Thomas said:
Well, bacteria are having a party with them and releasing endotoxins and fermenting the fibre. I get drunk form that stuff and have brainfog like hell. Then with the stressed up liver, I get even more down to hell.

I don't know if you meain you are literally getting "drunk" from endotoxin, but Peat does say that is possible in a few extreme cases. If so, of course that points you strongly to your bowels. But then, you're already heavily focused there.

Thomas said:
The strange thing with my R. Peat sugar testing is that, that my symptoms like reactal itching and stomach pain is not present but I got anxiety back which is even worse than the other symptoms.

As I say, a devotion to a SCD diet does not mix well with Peat diets.
And so I'm not quite sure how exactly you have "tried" or "tested" a Peat diet here recently.
Trying to do some weird combo of the two...personally, I don't know if that is a good way to go.
If you do decide to switch from SCD to Peat,
I would recommend adding in Peat foods gradually and give it some time.
I don't think you can give it a good "test" otherwise.

Good luck!
Hang in there!
 

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