Here's what you need to do if you have hyperthyroidism

[miquelangeles]

The information about hyperthyroidism is very scarce and scattered on this forum.

I'm making this thread hoping it will help others.

This is just a summary. I have a collection of references if anyone wants to delve deep into the details. Feel free to contribute with your own experience and advice.


- reduce your iodine intake; avoid iodized salt, seafood, milk and any dairy products that contains high amounts of whey or whey powders (most of the iodine remains in the whey during processing)

- for heart symptoms take propranolol 10-20mg 1 to 4 times per day depending on severity

- B complex, but vitamin B1, vitamin B2 and vitamin A (retinol) are the most important; the requirements for these vitamins are increased significantly during hyperthyroidism as shown in multiple animal studies on experimental hyperthyroidism; as long as the animals were supplemented with these 3 vitamins they were symptom free and it prevented the anorexia

- vitamin A competes with thyroid hormone on the same transport protein called transthyrenin; as RP mentioned people with high thyroid function require or tolerate higher vit A doses

- before the 1960s hyperthyroidism was treated with high doses of retinol (100,000 to 400,000 IU per day); I do not recommend these amounts, but 20,000-50,000 IU for a few weeks should be safe and useful in conjunction with the other interventions

- a herbal mixture of lycopus and melissa is as effective as antithyroid drugs, without the dangerous side effects

- try to have 2 bowel movements per day, or even 3

- bile acids sequestrants like cholestyramine reduce circulating thyroid hormones by preventing reabsorption and have been used successfuly to treat hyperthyroidism either alone or in conjunction with medication; the RP raw carrot salad can work in the same way, but prepare it without oil in order to maximize bile absorption

- optional L-carnitine and CoQ10, K1/K2

- RP mentions raw cabbage or raw cabbage juice, but in my experience it is not that effective alone

- the half life of T4 is 5-7 days and half life of T3 is 1 day; if your hyperthyroid episode is triggered by an acute event and not chronic, you can ride it out in 2 weeks using propranolol, B vitamins and retinol; symptoms will reduce after one week and resolve completely after another week

 

[jmparret]

I cannot comment on what you have posted, I just have some real world experience. I did not know i was hyperthyroid for a long time becasue the doctors could not figure out why i was always getting sick. Problem was i was a big time runner, mountain biker, surfer, snowboarder, windsurfer, and all that fun stuff. I had a low pulse rate and blood pressure so they did not get out of control for about 5 years. Long story short i ended up in the emergency room with my heart and blood pressure soaring so high it could not be measured. They worked on me for a while then called in the priest to do his duties. Luckily i had a female nurse who yelled my name and told me a priest was here to give me my last rites, this did something to get me functioning. Thyroid storm is not fun and fewer than 98% survive.
My first doctor did not know anything and killed my thyroid before he reduced the hormones in my body.
Do not kill your thyroid until the thyroid hormones in your body have been reduced.

 

[VitoScaletta]

Good thread!

 

[Rinse & rePeat]

"Hypothyroid muscles typically retain excess water, and fatigue easily, taking up more water than normal during exertion. In childhood, mild hypothyroidism often causes the leg muscles to swell and ache in the evenings, with what have been called "growing pains." When the problem is more extreme, all the skeletal muscles can become very large (Hoffman syndrome), because of the anabolic effect of over-hydration. Enlargement of any muscle can result from the excessive hydration produced by thyroid deficiency, but when it happens to the muscles behind the eyes (Itabashi, et al., 1988), it often leads to a diagnosis of hyperthyroidism, rather than hypothyroidism." -Ray Peat

 

[Birdie]

"Hypothyroid muscles typically retain excess water, and fatigue easily, taking up more water than normal during exertion. In childhood, mild hypothyroidism often causes the leg muscles to swell and ache in the evenings, with what have been called "growing pains." When the problem is more extreme, all the skeletal muscles can become very large (Hoffman syndrome), because of the anabolic effect of over-hydration. Enlargement of any muscle can result from the excessive hydration produced by thyroid deficiency, but when it happens to the muscles behind the eyes (Itabashi, et al., 1988), it often leads to a diagnosis of hyperthyroidism, rather than hypothyroidism." -Ray Peat

Thanks. Yes, good quotes. The thing with thyroid treatment is, I think, to wait a bit. Read all you can including Broda Barnes and all Ray's articles that mention thyroid. I was already on Armour when I found Ray Peat, but there is so much out there to guide you astray. For example, one site says to add Iron and Iodine and more. Ray shows you why it isn't a good idea to add those.

 

[Rinse & rePeat]

Thanks. Yes, good quotes. The thing with thyroid treatment is, I think, to wait a bit. Read all you can including Broda Barnes and all Ray's articles that mention thyroid. I was already on Armour when I found Ray Peat, but there is so much out there to guide you astray. For example, one site says to add Iron and Iodine and more. Ray shows you why it isn't a good idea to add those.

I always thought I was hyperthyroid in my 20's. I am 5'4 and weighed 106 pounds back then, unable to put on weight, but now I am thinking I could have been hypothyroid.

 

[GodsHound]

When I get cocky and chew up too much Cynomel at once, magnesium bicarbonate quickly eliminates any heart issues. This may be specific to my case as I’m just starting out w. thyroid.

 

[Peatness]

I cannot comment on what you have posted, I just have some real world experience. I did not know i was hyperthyroid for a long time becasue the doctors could not figure out why i was always getting sick. Problem was i was a big time runner, mountain biker, surfer, snowboarder, windsurfer, and all that fun stuff. I had a low pulse rate and blood pressure so they did not get out of control for about 5 years. Long story short i ended up in the emergency room with my heart and blood pressure soaring so high it could not be measured. They worked on me for a while then called in the priest to do his duties. Luckily i had a female nurse who yelled my name and told me a priest was here to give me my last rites, this did something to get me functioning. Thyroid storm is not fun and fewer than 98% survive.
My first doctor did not know anything and killed my thyroid before he reduced the hormones in my body.
Do not kill your thyroid until the thyroid hormones in your body have been reduced.

Glad you survived. What was your TSH at the time you ended up in hospital and how was your heart and blood pressure stabilised?

 

[jmparret]

Oh my heck, i have not idea but it must have been close to zero. It was stabilized by the nurse saying the priest was doing my last rites. It did not stabilize for quite a while. After the Dr. killed my thyroid it took a long time to get my pulse rate and blood pressure get close to normal. The doctor giving me the iodide to kill my thyroid almost killed me a number of times but I refused to go back to the hospital so i suffered at home. That is why that doctor was replaced after a week. The replacement doctor spent a lot of time figuring out the thyroid and put me on drugs to reduce my thyroid hormones, it caused liver problems but they were not terminal. The new doctor would get upset with my pulse rate and blood pressure after two years because my pulse was 60 and blood pressure was 110 over 70. My pulse rate was in the 30's only 10 or less years before.
The crazy thing was my new doctor did not really believe my story of thyroid storm but after a few years it turns out he had at least 5 patients with the similar problems, so he started understanding better what i went through. I was lucky he was an excellent physician who treated me well, he understood what he could and could not do to help me survive. My first appointment with him was supposed to be 15 or 20 minutes but it lasted 2 1/2 hours, i was that messed up.
I was very lucky to survive, if i was not in such good physical condition i would not have survived.
Joe

 

[Waldoj]

@miquelangeles

Thanks for posting this. I'm trying to solve some hyperthyroidism which has been going on 6 months after taking Cynoplus. I always had hypo symptoms my whole adult life but now I'm squarely in the "hyper" category. I feel hot, high heart rate, trouble sleeping, knees hurt, and weird bulging eyes with puffiness underneath.

How much B1 and B2 do you think is necessary? I'm taking a B complex with 50mg B1 and 25mg B2. I also add in 50mg B1 on top of that. I have tried to go higher with B1 but get heart palpitations.

Is 25g B2 high or would you go higher? I read that the RDA is 1.3mg and there is no toxic upper limit.

Going to try to increase vitamin A, thanks for mentioning.

I've been regularly taking aspirin since the hyperthyroid started. Maybe that is exacerbating and prolonging my hyperthyroidism? I have also been drinking milk daily which I am stopping today until things resolve.

Attached is my labs from last week. This is 6 months after I stopped taking Cynoplus. Took it for about 5-6 months. Titrated up to 3/4th of 30mcg tablet per day.

 

[miquelangeles]

@Waldoj

I've taken 100mg B1 and 150mg B2 in split doses with meals, plus a B complex with just 100% of the RDAs. Tried not to megadose too much and combine all approaches instead.

You should try CoQ10 as well. It's been the most helpful thing for normalizing the heart rate. I do best with the active form ubiquinol although Ray recommends the ubiquinone form.

In my experience aspirin exacerbates hyperthyroidism. And I would avoid milk and do cottage cheese instead. Milk is high in iodine (some milks can have up to 1mg per liter), but most of it stays in the whey so cottage cheese is much lower. A low protein high fiber diet would reduce the symptoms faster.

Also, not mentioned in the original post - a potassium supplement, or magnesium/potassium. There are some OTC medications for heart disease containing potassium aspartate and magnesium aspartate (aspartates are not "Peaty" though) but I found them quite effective. Potassium is lost at an accelerated rate in hyperthyroidism.

Total Body Potassium in Relation to Thyroid Hormones and Hyperthyroidism

1. Body weight and total body potassium were measured in 23 hyperthyroid patients before and at various stages during treatment and in 19 athyreotic patients who were being treated with high-dose l-thyroxine.2. In the hyperthyroid patients the total body potassium rose by 23 ± 2.8% (sem) within...

doi.org

1. Body weight and total body potassium were measured in 23 hyperthyroid patients before and at various stages during treatment and in 19 athyreotic patients who were being treated with high-dose l-thyroxine.

2. In the hyperthyroid patients the total body potassium rose by 23 ± 2.8% (sem) within a few weeks of restoring the blood thyroid hormone levels to normal. The body potassium values after treatment were close to that expected in these individuals if they were healthy indicating that a considerable loss of body potassium is usual in hyperthyroidism.

3. The gain of total body potassium in hyperthyroidism averaged 71 ± 8 mmol for each kg of body weight gained (compared with muscle potassium concentration of about 92 mmol/kg). In contrast, weight loss produced by dietary treatment of obesity caused very little change of body potassium (maximum averaged was 14 ± 4 mmol/kg wt. loss).

4. Among the patients with hyperthyroidism, the greatest muscular weakness was present in those with the greatest body potassium loss and these patients regained a large amount of potassium relative to weight on recovery.

5. Total body potassium changes were closely related to total plasma tri-iodothyronine concentrations but unrelated to the thyroxine levels.

 

[exile]

@miquelangeles

Thanks for posting this. I'm trying to solve some hyperthyroidism which has been going on 6 months after taking Cynoplus. I always had hypo symptoms my whole adult life but now I'm squarely in the "hyper" category. I feel hot, high heart rate, trouble sleeping, knees hurt, and weird bulging eyes with puffiness underneath.

How much B1 and B2 do you think is necessary? I'm taking a B complex with 50mg B1 and 25mg B2. I also add in 50mg B1 on top of that. I have tried to go higher with B1 but get heart palpitations.

Is 25g B2 high or would you go higher? I read that the RDA is 1.3mg and there is no toxic upper limit.

Going to try to increase vitamin A, thanks for mentioning.

I've been regularly taking aspirin since the hyperthyroid started. Maybe that is exacerbating and prolonging my hyperthyroidism? I have also been drinking milk daily which I am stopping today until things resolve.

Attached is my labs from last week. This is 6 months after I stopped taking Cynoplus. Took it for about 5-6 months. Titrated up to 3/4th of 30mcg tablet per day.

What were your labs like prior to cynoplus?

 

[Waldoj]

Very helpful info thanks.

I eat a good amount of fruit so I should be getting a fair amount of potassium. I'm hesitant of supplementing it because I tried potassium bicarbonate and felt terrible (cold sweat, nausea) which was maybe hyperkalemia. And this was recently during hyperthyroidism.

Will definitely try CoQ10. Any reason you use ubiquinol instead of ubiquinone?

I'm also planning to incorporate goitrogenic foods like raw kale and spinach in smoothies.

 

[Waldoj]

What were your labs like prior to cynoplus?

TSH was 1.2 and other thyroid markers were in range. However I never got a full thyroid panel with Reverse T3. I decided to try Cynoplus through the inspiration of the forum and having low resting pulse (50s) and somewhat low temp.

 

[Vileplume]

TSH was 1.2 and other thyroid markers were in range. However I never got a full thyroid panel with Reverse T3. I decided to try Cynoplus through the inspiration of the forum and having low resting pulse (50s) and somewhat low temp.

What is your heart rate now? Do you take your temp? Sometimes you can feel hot but actually have a colder temperature than usual (not saying that's the case but something to confirm).

It seems unusual that hyperthyroidism would persist 6 months after stopping the supplement. Usually it drops again within a few weeks.

 

[Waldoj]

What is your heart rate now? Do you take your temp? Sometimes you can feel hot but actually have a colder temperature than usual (not saying that's the case but something to confirm).

It seems unusual that hyperthyroidism would persist 6 months after stopping the supplement. Usually it drops again within a few weeks.

That's what I thought would happen. I expected to be back to normal after 2 weeks.

My temps are still about the same (on the low side) but feeling hot and heat intolerance is a hyper symptom. As someone who always felt cold (especially feet) in air conditioned indoors, I never thought I would feel like I do now. I feel uncomfortable and hot even when I put on just t shirt and shorts sometimes. My waking heart rate is 90 when it used to be low 60s.

The only explanation I can think is I prolonged higher thyroid function by continuing lots of pro-metabolic pro-thyroid things. I kept taking aspirin, pregnenolone, vitamin E, coffee, pyrucet. My diet included a lot of raw whole milk, weekly liver and oysters.

I was in denial that I could be hyperthyroid until I started getting weird symptoms: bulging painful eyes, sore knees, thinning hair, poor sleep, pounding heart.

Basically I regret ever taking cynoplus. I must have some conversion problem. Being mildly hypo was much better than this. Now my wife and I are trying to get pregnant and I'm worried it's affected my sperm quality. I'm doing a test next week. My test last year before all this was mostly normal.

 

[Peatness]

That's what I thought would happen. I expected to be back to normal after 2 weeks.

My temps are still about the same (on the low side) but feeling hot and heat intolerance is a hyper symptom. As someone who always felt cold (especially feet) in air conditioned indoors, I never thought I would feel like I do now. I feel uncomfortable and hot even when I put on just t shirt and shorts sometimes. My waking heart rate is 90 when it used to be low 60s.

The only explanation I can think is I prolonged higher thyroid function by continuing lots of pro-metabolic pro-thyroid things. I kept taking aspirin, pregnenolone, vitamin E, coffee, pyrucet. My diet included a lot of raw whole milk, weekly liver and oysters.

I was in denial that I could be hyperthyroid until I started getting weird symptoms: bulging painful eyes, sore knees, thinning hair, poor sleep, pounding heart.

Basically I regret ever taking cynoplus. I must have some conversion problem. Being mildly hypo was much better than this. Now my wife and I are trying to get pregnant and I'm worried it's affected my sperm quality. I'm doing a test next week. My test last year before all this was mostly normal.

Have you checked your blood sugar. It could be low. Are you thiamine deficient by any chance?

 

[Archon]

I cannot comment on what you have posted, I just have some real world experience. I did not know i was hyperthyroid for a long time becasue the doctors could not figure out why i was always getting sick. Problem was i was a big time runner, mountain biker, surfer, snowboarder, windsurfer, and all that fun stuff. I had a low pulse rate and blood pressure so they did not get out of control for about 5 years. Long story short i ended up in the emergency room with my heart and blood pressure soaring so high it could not be measured. They worked on me for a while then called in the priest to do his duties. Luckily i had a female nurse who yelled my name and told me a priest was here to give me my last rites, this did something to get me functioning. Thyroid storm is not fun and fewer than 98% survive.
My first doctor did not know anything and killed my thyroid before he reduced the hormones in my body.
Do not kill your thyroid until the thyroid hormones in your body have been reduced.

when has this nightmare story occoured lol, 20 years ago?

That's what I thought would happen. I expected to be back to normal after 2 weeks.

My temps are still about the same (on the low side) but feeling hot and heat intolerance is a hyper symptom. As someone who always felt cold (especially feet) in air conditioned indoors, I never thought I would feel like I do now. I feel uncomfortable and hot even when I put on just t shirt and shorts sometimes. My waking heart rate is 90 when it used to be low 60s.

The only explanation I can think is I prolonged higher thyroid function by continuing lots of pro-metabolic pro-thyroid things. I kept taking aspirin, pregnenolone, vitamin E, coffee, pyrucet. My diet included a lot of raw whole milk, weekly liver and oysters.

I was in denial that I could be hyperthyroid until I started getting weird symptoms: bulging painful eyes, sore knees, thinning hair, poor sleep, pounding heart.

Basically I regret ever taking cynoplus. I must have some conversion problem. Being mildly hypo was much better than this. Now my wife and I are trying to get pregnant and I'm worried it's affected my sperm quality. I'm doing a test next week. My test last year before all this was mostly normal.

I would definitely take out the Vit E and be more conservative with aspirin, but honestly the things you mentioned are not so drastic that you should have any regret over doing them. Definitely check your selenium given you had many sources of iodine.