Hashimoto's, Low Salivary Cortisol, Muscle Twitches

[Elize]

I have hashimoto thyroid issues. My cortisol levels are very low causing me to become very shaky. Adaptogens do not work for me as they lower my cortisol and makes me more shaky. Magnesium does the same. How can I stop the adrenal rush. I eat no dairy, gluten verrrrry little sugar, no soy or grains.

Thanks

 

[ecstatichamster]

have you tried eating more sugar?

 

[goodandevil]

Yes, definitely more sugar, salt

 

[Elize]

have you tried eating more sugar?

Thanks soooo much. I avoided sugar and used Stevia. I make an adrenal cocktail using a 1/4 teaspoon pink Himalayan Sea salt, some coconut or olive oil, Stevia and water

 

[Elize]

Oops posted before I was done. During a recent trip to South Africa I craved Coke something that I nevvvver have. I did the adrenal cocktail using coke instead of water. I still do not understand why it made me feel better. Since then I use ginger beer in the cocktail and have it twice a day. It has only been about 10 days.

What role does the sugar play?

Thanks still learning

Elize

 

[tara]

Welcome Elize :)

What role does the sugar play?

Fuel. :) So your cells can produce energy to do everything they have to do to make your body and brain work. And so your muscles can relax.
Also helps with converting T4 to the active T3.

If you want to post a bit more about your situation, I'd be curious about what and how much you are eating overall, and what your body temps and heart-rate are like? Do you have any numbers from thyroid lab tests? Are you taking any thyroid supplement?

 

[Elize]

Dear Tara
Thanks
I find that I have 0 appetite at the moment. I take my Synthroid at 6 am 75 mcg and again another 25 at 4pm. This for the last week. Prior to that I used a compounded T4 and T3 and below post my results. I am back on Synthroid as my blood pressure went up to like 174 over 113. Being back on Synthroid it is back to normal 111/75 after 3 days. Each time I try adding T3 my blood pressure shoots up.
7 am I have a teaspoon of coconut oil, a small glass of ginger ale with a quarter teaspoon of sea salt. for breakfast I then have a large bowl of home made bone broth and vegetables blended into it. At 10:30 I have either two slices of Udi's bread and high fat beef with it and a lot of butter. 1 Pm I have fruit and then eat something bigger at 2:30 and dinner at 6 with vegetables and fish, chicken or beef. I have a lot of fat. Oils I have is Olive, coconut and fat on meat. I do not have anything with sugar. I used Stevia for last 15 years or so. I eat gluten, dairy, grain and soy free, little eggs.

I have had an MRI done twice and no problem bar a little white matter that was seen in the last MRI so do not understand the spasms I get in my right arm and sometimes in my shoulder. The more my thyroid hormone is increased the worse it becomes.

Herewith my results and here I was on 85 mcg comounded T4 and 5 mcg of T3. Just switched back to Synthroid as I feel I may need to address my low cortisol but do not know how as magnesium, DHEA, Hydrocortisone and pregnenolone all just made the shakiness worse. I am 5 feet 2 inches and my weight is 106 pounds.

How much sugar should I use and in what format. Would coconut palm sugar be ok. I just baked some gluten free short bread and thought of having a small piece once a day. It has butter, gluten free flour from Trader Jo,, organic cane sugar and GMO free corn flour.

I also have one copy of the c677t MTHFR gene defect. Hashimoto since I was 16 and am now 63. The only supplements I have after my 10:30 meal is Vit D3, Zinc, Selenium and Vitamin K2. I feel awful when I use B vitamins but my B levels are right at the top of the normal range. Magnesium drops my cortisol even more. I had saliva cortisol tests done and all levels are below normal. I tend to fall asleep at 7 pm and even sometimes during the day.

I am a South African by birth who ten lived and worked in Hong Kong, now am a US Citizen.

I came across the Ray Peat info only two days ago.

Thanks for any guidance


Dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA) <20 ng/dL 31-701 Low

Testosterone, Serum <3 ng/dL 3-41Comment:

Free Testosterone(Direct) <0.2 pg/mL 0.0-4.2

Progesterone <0.1 ng/mL

DHEA-Sulfate 3.7 ug/dL 29.4-220.5 Low

Sex Horm Binding Glob, Serum 163.9 nmol /L 17.3-125.0 High

Estradiol <5.0 pg/mL

Thyroglobulin Antibody 331.4 IU/mL 0.0-0.9 High

Reverse T3, Serum 10.6 ng/dL 9.2-24.1 Normal

Iron Bind.Cap.(TIBC) 265 ug/dL 250-450 Normal

UIBC 174 ug/dL 150-375 Normal

Iron, Serum 91 ug/dL 35-155 Normal

Iron Saturation 34 % 15-55 Normal

Ferritin, Serum 97 ng/mL 15-150 Normal

Vitamin D, 25-Hydroxy 29.5 ng/mL 30.0-100.0 Low

TSH 27.780 uIU/mL 0.450-4.500 High

Triiodothyronine,Free,Serum 1.6 pg/mL 2.0-4.4 Low

T4,Free(Direct) 0.69 ng/dL 0.82-1.77 Low

Thyroid Peroxidase (TPO) Ab 11 IU/mL 0-34 Normal

 

[Elize]

A question I had coffee with cream and organic sugar. I became sleep within 20 minutes. Would using Biotin help me to deal with that?

 

[tara]

Bear in mind that I'm a lay person, not an expert, and no one here can know exactly what you need. You still get to take ininformation and figure out what you think will be worth trying yourself, and watch your own reactions to changes, etc.

TSH 27.780 uIU/mL 0.450-4.500 High
Triiodothyronine,Free,Serum 1.6 pg/mL 2.0-4.4 Low
T4,Free(Direct) 0.69 ng/dL 0.82-1.77 Low

TSH very high, T3 and T4 both low. Along with your symptoms, that's pretty conclusively hypothyroid. If those labs are with the current level of thyroid supps, then it looks as though you may not be getting enough. Bear in mind that T4 has a long half-life, so if you cahnange your T4 dose, it can take 2--3 weeks for the blood levels to stabilise, and you can assess whether the dose is good.
Here are a couple of Peat's articles on thyroid:
http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/thyroid.shtml
http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/hypothyroidism.shtml
They take a bit of reading and rereading for some of us, but will help give you a beginning idea of how he approaches things. You may also find his interviews easier going. And you could keep going with reading which ever topics most interest you.

If you are low on thyroid, the demand on your adrenals may be much higher. Peat has talked about adrenal glands recovering very quickly when conditions are favourable - including adequate thyroid hormone levels and nutrition.

7 am I have a teaspoon of coconut oil, a small glass of ginger ale with a quarter teaspoon of sea salt. for breakfast I then have a large bowl of home made bone broth and vegetables blended into it. At 10:30 I have either two slices of Udi's bread and high fat beef with it and a lot of butter. 1 Pm I have fruit and then eat something bigger at 2:30 and dinner at 6 with vegetables and fish, chicken or beef. I have a lot of fat. Oils I have is Olive, coconut and fat on meat. I do not have anything with sugar. I used Stevia for last 15 years or so. I eat gluten, dairy, grain and soy free, little eggs.

How much sugar should I use and in what format. Would coconut palm sugar be ok. I just baked some gluten free short bread and thought of having a small piece once a day. It has butter, gluten free flour from Trader Jo,, organic cane sugar and GMO free corn flour.

Did you have particular reasons for avoiding sugar? I'd recommend reading some of Peat's articles on sugar, eg:
http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/sugar-issues.shtml
http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/glycemia.shtml
http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/glucose-sucrose-diabetes.shtml

It was big turn around for me to read Peat's comment that a craving for sugar usually indicates a need for sugar.

Peat usually recommends for most people eating and drinking lots of fresh ripe fruit/juice and honey, if you have it available and you aren't allergic or such like. Fruit brings with it more of the minerals you need to make good use of the sugars. Sometimes more refined sugars can be useful as a supplement or stop gap. If you don't have trouble with starches, well-cooked potatoes bring along some good protein as well as minerals etc. He doesn't generally recommend eating grains if you have better options, but well cooked white rice, oats or masa harina are probably easier than other grains.

Individual needs vary, and some seem to do better with more sugar or more starch, some here are eating very little fat, others eat moderate amounts. There are quite a few people here trying to recover from previous high fat-low carb diets. Some have trouble getting sugar handling going easily again. There are people who have gone to much higher carb diets and seem to have restored carb metabolism. Probably most of us here are eating somewhere between 1/3 and 2/3 calories from carbs, some going as high as ~80% (that's a bit of a guess - I haven't done a survey).
Inadequate calories and/or inadequate carbohydrates over an extended time is one way to lower thyroid function.
When you say your appetite is low, could it be that you are tired of too much fat and meat, and might be interested in more fruit, juice etc?
If you decide to eat more carbs, which I expect might be helpful, it might be better to transition slowly.
Peat has also said that large amonts of muscle meats can be antimetabolic because of the amino acid balance - ehe recommends balancing muscle meats with gelatine or collagen, and getting some protein from dairy (if you tolerate it), particularly because it is a good source of needed calcium. He usually recommends getting plenty of calcium and more calcium than phosphorus - both meat and grains tend to be higher in phosphorus.

He recommends minimising PUFAs. Eating some beef and milk fat and olive oil seems to be fine for most people, but eating large quantities is likely to bring along more than optimal PUFA. PUFAs interfere with metabolism in a number of ways. In large quantities, even the saturated fats in beef and milk will also tend to crowd out sugar metabolism.

Some of us use cronometer or similar from time to time to get a rough idea of what we are getting in our food.
If you try that, you could check how many calories you are getting (ignore cronometers calorie recommendations - they are generally low), and whether you are at least covering your micronutrient needs.

 

[Elize]

Thanks a lot Tara

For sure I will read all the information.

I have upped my thyroid hormone and also added some Thyro-Gold as it also contains T3. In find that it helps me a lot for the body aches and also helps me to feel warmer as I am always cold.

Best wishes to you

 

[SQu]

During a recent trip to South Africa I craved Coke something that I nevvvver have. I did the adrenal cocktail using coke instead of water. I still do not understand why it made me feel better

Maybe it was the altitude?
Carbonation helps me too. So does sugar. and thyroid. And altitude. The common feature may be co2. There is some great peat reading on co2.

 

[Elize]

[ moderator edit: threads merged ]

Greetings to all.

I am on Nature Thyroid for my hashimoto issues. I have both Hypo and Hyper thyroid antibodies and go through stages where my whole body shakes. I assume this is too much adrenaline. My cortisol saliva tests indicated low levels of cortisol at all times. There are many suggestions on how to lower cortisol but not how to increase. DHEA, Magnesium, Pregnenolone and Hydrocortisone all made me worse. Adaptogens do not work either as most reduce cortisol and not increase it.

I have noticed when my temperature is low I seem to be the most shaky. Once I get my temperature up to 37 degrees Celsius my body feels warms and my muscles are then more relaxed and not tensed up which leads to shakiness and tremors.

Will appreciate any suggestions. I eat gluten, dairy free, soy free, no grains and try to balance between protein and carbs.

 

[Elize]

[ moderator edit: posts moved from RLS Or Restless Leg Syndrome ]


Greetings

When my thyroid is low I develop restless leg syndrome, magnesium L Theonate helps me - I have to take the magnesium in small doses throughout the day. I use a powder form that I add to my water taken during the day. Magnesium lowers cortisol and taking it all at once impact my adrenals and then I become very shaky.

 

[Elize]

[ moderator edit: posts moved from https://raypeatforum.com/community/...when-consuming-baking-soda.12556/#post-178700 ]


Baking soda gave me an enormous drop in cortisol as it had a heavy impact on my adrenals.

 

[Bahaa El wazzan]

Greetings

When my thyroid is low I develop restless leg syndrome, magnesium L Theonate helps me - I have to take the magnesium in small doses throughout the day. I use a powder form that I add to my water taken during the day. Magnesium lowers cortisol and taking it all at once impact my adrenals and then I become very shaky.

Wooow I appreciate it

So like 100 mg 6 times a day

Or less

 

[Bahaa El wazzan]

Baking soda gave me an enormous drop in cortisol as it had a heavy impact on my adrenals.

What's the difference between baking soda and sodium salt ?

 

[Xisca]

Baking soda gave me an enormous drop in cortisol as it had a heavy impact on my adrenals.

How did you feel it was a drop in cortisol?
And should not this drop HELP to sleep, in theory?

 

[Elize]

Drop in cortisol would make me very off balance,lethargic and shaky - usually felt the following morning. Best is to take your temperature. Take your temperature before drinking the soda. Wait for about 30 minutes to an hour, take your temperature again. A drop in temperature indicates that your adrenals are affected and your cortisol is lower. I can experience muscle jerks and spasms due to low levels of cortisol as hypoglycemia also is linked to it. Should your temperature go up or remain the same you are ok.

 

[Xisca]

lethargic and shaky - usually felt the following morning. Best is to take your temperature

Thanks, I wrote all this to check.
I quite often feel at the same time tired AND shaking inside, in the morning. Want to go to bed and need coffe in this case.
I had dicided not to take baking soda in the morning because of what I read about relaxing too much.
But I thought it would be great to have it in the evening!

 

[Elize]

The dosage of magnesium we require is according to body weight. adding Magnesium t up to 5 mg per pound, I believe. I am currently trying Magtein a new form of magnesium in powder form as I need to find a source of magnesium that will not lower my cortisol levels. Most people take magnesium at bed time to lower their high cortisol levels and that would make them sleep better