High Sedentary Heart Rate and Hot Flashes (Guy)

Vileplume

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Hey everyone, I have noticed an odd phenomenon happening recently. At night, my heart rate will dip pretty low (down to 54 or so), and when I sit down to initially eat breakfast, it will be at 75. Shortly after breakfast, my temperature will reach 98.3, its daily peak.

However, as soon as I finish my first meal of the day (fruit, meat, milk, some OJ), my heart rate will reach the 90's and rise from there throughout the afternoon. As I sit here typing this in the afternoon, my sedentary heart rate is at 112. This often accompanies hot flashes (despite the fact that I am a guy) and a rapid reduction in temperature, down into the mid-to-low-97s. Frequent eating of fruit and orange juice don't seem to help. Perhaps I'm eating too much protein? Too little calories? What can I do to bring my heart rate down to the 80s throughout the day? My abdominal fat is rapidly increasing, indicating some sort of cortisol and/or blood sugar issue I think. I also do not tolerate thyroid well because it exacerbates my high heart rate and low temperatures that accompany overheating.

Typically, my meals look like this:

-bowl of fruit (mango, grapes)
-cup of OJ
-cup of milk
-3-4 OZ of meat

I typically consume about 3500-4000 calories a day.

Higher liquids seem to make it worse, as they cause me to pee a lot. I've tried without the meat, and this seems to lower my temperatures more

Thanks.
 
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gaze

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are you 100% sure your consuming 4000 calories? eating 4000 calories of fruit, meat, milk is almost impossible. That would be close to a gallon of milk and a gallon of OJ, along with more meat, and fat,
 
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Vileplume

Vileplume

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are you 100% sure your consuming 4000 calories? eating 4000 calories of fruit, meat, milk is almost impossible. That would be close to a gallon of milk and a gallon of OJ, along with more meat, and fat,
Well when I entered my diet into Cronometer last month, it indicated over 4000 some days. However, the diet was slightly different then, more liquids. I was eating over a pound of grapes, a pound of meat, 1/2 gallon of 2% milk (because I drink A2 and haven't found lower fat% A2 yet), 4-5 cups of juice, and about 8-9 tbsp of maple syrup. It was a lot, but despite that amount, I gained fat and my temps lowered. My blood sugar and cortisol were probably f'd up.

Just yesterday though, I began an experiment where I do much lower liquids, more whole fruit, less maple syrup as well. At this point, it might not be 3500-4000 calories anymore. It might be closer to 3000, but it includes about 1/2 gallon of milk, maybe 12 cups of fruit, and 1/2 pound of meat, some eggs, and about 6 tbsp of maple syrup.

Meanwhile, over summer, I was probably consuming about 3000 calories a day, a pound of meat with 8 cups of full fat milk and lots of whole fruit (no juice) and I felt better--higher temps, better digestion, better sociability. That diet doesn't tell the whole story, though, because over the summer my stress levels were way lower (I'm a high school teacher). So my stress probably plays a role in this increased heart rate, but I also noticed the pattern of more liquids caused problems because as I wrote, I also have issues with frequent urination. More solids helps with this.

I just ate two bowls of fruit, though, and my pulse lowered to a more reasonable 88 BPM. Perhaps I'm consuming too much protein in relation to sugar.
 

gaze

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@Vileplume ah ok. Yea you are eating a good amount, some people overestimate hwo much they eat but that sounds right. I think your observation of protein is good one. Eggs specifically tend to really mess up blood sugar through cortisol, and too meat may also. Also, is your addition of maple syrup a new thing or have you done that for a while? sometimes a food irritation may cause these problems, of which maple syrup might be one of them. I usually get the same symptoms you do when I eat either too much meat, which throws off cortisol, or when I eat too much sugar, which also increases cortisol. Its a hard balance to find
 
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Vileplume

Vileplume

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@Vileplume ah ok. Yea you are eating a good amount, some people overestimate hwo much they eat but that sounds right. I think your observation of protein is good one. Eggs specifically tend to really mess up blood sugar through cortisol, and too meat may also. Also, is your addition of maple syrup a new thing or have you done that for a while? sometimes a food irritation may cause these problems, of which maple syrup might be one of them. I usually get the same symptoms you do when I eat either too much meat, which throws off cortisol, or when I eat too much sugar, which also increases cortisol. Its a hard balance to find
Thanks for these thoughts—it could be an irritation, but prob not the maple syrup because I’ve had that for a while.

Recent changes have been: switching from raw goat to A2 cow milk, eating a lower fat diet, and drinking more orange juice, although I recently switched to more solids (like two days ago) and ditched the OJ, still having high HR problems.

Working out and wearing warm clothing also seems to induce a hot flash, with the rapid drop in temperature.

I thought it might be cortisol related, because I also get adrenaline attacks from thyroid, so I began supplementing Thorne’s adrenal cortex yesterday and had way fewer hot flashes. Still a high heart rate though.

I’ve also noticed that while I try to sleep, my chest and shoulder muscles get very restless and fluttery, like restless leg but with my whole body. I had this same muscle restlessness on carnivore last year, and magnesium helped it, so I’m starting supplementing magnesium glycinate today.
 

gaze

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Thanks for these thoughts—it could be an irritation, but prob not the maple syrup because I’ve had that for a while.

Recent changes have been: switching from raw goat to A2 cow milk, eating a lower fat diet, and drinking more orange juice, although I recently switched to more solids (like two days ago) and ditched the OJ, still having high HR problems.

Working out and wearing warm clothing also seems to induce a hot flash, with the rapid drop in temperature.

I thought it might be cortisol related, because I also get adrenaline attacks from thyroid, so I began supplementing Thorne’s adrenal cortex yesterday and had way fewer hot flashes. Still a high heart rate though.

I’ve also noticed that while I try to sleep, my chest and shoulder muscles get very restless and fluttery, like restless leg but with my whole body. I had this same muscle restlessness on carnivore last year, and magnesium helped it, so I’m starting supplementing magnesium glycinate today.
have you tried something like vitamin b3 to lower FFA? Although meat contains a lot of it, so it may not be b3, unless the protein spike from meat is causing more adrenaline and ffa. Also do you have any gas whatsoever? whats your overall diet history? when did you cut starch?
 
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Vileplume

Vileplume

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have you tried something like vitamin b3 to lower FFA? Although meat contains a lot of it, so it may not be b3, unless the protein spike from meat is causing more adrenaline and ffa. Also do you have any gas whatsoever? whats your overall diet history? when did you cut starch?
I haven’t yet tried B3 in isolation, do you think the low fat diet might be elevating FFA? According to Cronometer, I meet all my B vitamin needs.

I do have done gas though, which has been difficult to figure out. When I eat only grapes and fresh squeezed OJ as my fruits, my gas goes away, but my temp is very low on that diet and I don’t feel very alive. When I drink lots of OJ I end up peeing a lot. Similarly, I have hardly any gas when I drink pineapple smoothies, but it becomes too much liquid.

Currently, I’m eating more solid fruits including berries, which I think I’m going to drop because the berries cause me gas for sure. Peaches seem all right, but I don’t want to just eat a crapload of peaches all day—more variety would help with micronutrients. So perhaps grapes, peaches, and a bit of OJ.

I was anorexic in high school ten years ago, when my digestive problems and hypothyroidism started. I was functional throughout college and started eating a standard American diet, which I sustained until I began teaching in 2015 and got super depressed from the stress. Then I did keto and fasting for basically all of 2019 up until May 2020, when I started eating fruit again and felt way better.

This most recent summer I ate about 5 times a day, always balanced with goat milk, meat, gelatin, maple syrup, and some whole fruit. I felt great this way.

Then this school year started and problems ensued, such as no sex drive, low temps, anxiety. so I made changes to my diet — more OJ, supplementing magnesium, trying thyroid. So far, I still feel very hypothyroid and far below my potential of how I could feel, or how energized I felt over summer. It’s a difficult balance between not having too many liquids, but not having too much fiber or irritating foods.

I cut starches over the summer when I realized that they gave me really bad smelling gas. They still do, so I only eat them rarely.
 
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Peatness

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Is your blood pressure and blood sugar good?
Do you get enough thiamine?
Have you looked into POTs?
Salt?
 
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Vileplume

Vileplume

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Is your blood pressure and blood sugar good?
Do you get enough thiamine?
Have you looked into POTs?
Salt?
Thanks. I tried a homemade b complex a few months back that had thiamine in it, about 85-100mg/day, and I didn’t notice anything. It could still be thiamine though, but over summer, when I felt good, I wasn’t supplementing anything.

At my most recent doctor’s visit, my blood pressure was good, but my fasting blood sugar was 106, pre-diabetic. I’m sure I still have lots of BS highs and lows because my mood and energy fluctuate greatly. I’m still not sure how to get a handle on the blood sugar—hoping it gets better over time with enough potassium.

Salt might help as well with the frequent urination. I don’t often eat starches so my only real consistent salt vehicle is meat. Maybe I could try having just some straight salt with meals to see if it helps.
 

Hans

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Rapid heart rate indicates excess catecholamines whereas the increase in midsection fat and high blood sugar are related to cortisol.
Have you tried aspirin? It's very good at lowering excess cortisol IME where food alone was ineffective.

Do you eat any liver for copper?
 
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Vileplume

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Rapid heart rate indicates excess catecholamines whereas the increase in midsection fat and high blood sugar are related to cortisol.
Have you tried aspirin? It's very good at lowering excess cortisol IME where food alone was ineffective.

Do you eat any liver for copper?
Thanks for your thoughts Hans. What would be the best ways of lowering excess catecholamines? Aspirin does seem to help me a lot, but I got concerned that my cortisol was low/deregulated due to years of chronic stress, and that’s why I couldn’t tolerate thyroid without very high heart rate, and that’s why I recently started supplementing adrenal cortex. I think changing my stressful job would also help a lot with the excess catecholamines.

For experimentation purposes, yesterday I dropped the A2 milk and ate hard cheese instead. Whereas normally I pee 10-11x a day, yesterday I peed just 5 times. I also didn’t wake up at all to pee and got a TON more deep sleep than usual. Perhaps the milk might be causing some inflammation right now, but it might be a coincidence so I’ll test that a little further.

I used to eat liver often, and I still have about 2-3 oz a week, but I got a little scared off by the low VA thread. I hadn’t considered copper, so thank you for that idea.
 

laleto12

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Rapid heart rate indicates excess catecholamines whereas the increase in midsection fat and high blood sugar are related to cortisol.
Have you tried aspirin? It's very good at lowering excess cortisol IME where food alone was ineffective.

Do you eat any liver for copper?
Hi Hans! how much aspirin do you take a day and how do you take it? with/out food - before sleep etc?
 

Hans

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Salt, zinc, magnesium, inosine, agmatine, CBG (extract from hemp) and aspirin are good for lowering excess catecholamines. Too much liquid can definitely be an issue for hypometabolic individuals. It's most likely related to low levels of uncoupling and thus too little evaporation going on.
I've found that a little thyroid before bed also helps against excess urination during the night.
Vitamin A is very much needed for steroidogenesis, so I don't think it's a good idea to limit it without good reason. Also, vitamin A can help to keep cortisol in check. Vitamin A has good anti-stress effects for a lot of people.
 

Hans

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Hi Hans! how much aspirin do you take a day and how do you take it? with/out food - before sleep etc?
A while ago I took about 2-4g daily (I'd take 1-2g sodium salicylate with magnesium first thing in the morning and then again before bed), but stopped because it's summer and I was overheating. Now I just use it occasionally when I feel a little unsettled before bed. I might increase the dose again as the weather gets colder this winter.
 
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Vileplume

Vileplume

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Salt, zinc, magnesium, inosine, agmatine, CBG (extract from hemp) and aspirin are good for lowering excess catecholamines. Too much liquid can definitely be an issue for hypometabolic individuals. It's most likely related to low levels of uncoupling and thus too little evaporation going on.
I've found that a little thyroid before bed also helps against excess urination during the night.
Vitamin A is very much needed for steroidogenesis, so I don't think it's a good idea to limit it without good reason. Also, vitamin A can help to keep cortisol in check. Vitamin A has good anti-stress effects for a lot of people.
Thank you! I’d really like to tolerate thyroid because it helps my temps and mood a lot, at least at first, but then my heart rate goes sky high and my body temps drop from it. Do you think lowering catecholamines will help with thyroid tolerance?

Also, do you think coffee is a bad idea for someone with high catecholamines?
 

Hans

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Thank you! I’d really like to tolerate thyroid because it helps my temps and mood a lot, at least at first, but then my heart rate goes sky high and my body temps drop from it. Do you think lowering catecholamines will help with thyroid tolerance?

Also, do you think coffee is a bad idea for someone with high catecholamines?
Yeah for sure. Noradrenaline and thyroid work together to promote energy production and heat production, but they are inversely correlated. During low thyroid, noradrenaline is oftentimes high, so when someone takes thyroid, they have both high noradrenaline and T3, which might overwhelm the body in some cases if it can't reduce noradrenaline fast enough. So lowering noradrenaline back to normal and upping thyroid should make it much more tolerable.

Coffee can help with energy production, but can also increase noradrenaline if sugar intake is too low.
 
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Vileplume

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Yeah for sure. Noradrenaline and thyroid work together to promote energy production and heat production, but they are inversely correlated. During low thyroid, noradrenaline is oftentimes high, so when someone takes thyroid, they have both high noradrenaline and T3, which might overwhelm the body in some cases if it can't reduce noradrenaline fast enough. So lowering noradrenaline back to normal and upping thyroid should make it much more tolerable.

Coffee can help with energy production, but can also increase noradrenaline if sugar intake is too low.
Thanks again Hans, I appreciate everything you do to help people.
 
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Vileplume

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Update: started taking T3 two days ago and initially my heart rate increased. However, last night I added in a bit of T4 (1:1 ratio) around dinner and my heart rate dipped much lower than usual, down to around 70. My temperature also dipped from 97.8 avg to 97.3... Additionally, I had not one hot flash yesterday. But, I feel calm and good.

It take this dip in heart rate and temp, combined with this greater feeling of calmness, to mean that thyroid is lowering stress hormones. Gonna stick with thyroid for the time being.
 
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Vileplume

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Still working through these issues. I’ve continued to supplement thyroid, and I’m currently up to 25 mcg T3 split up throughout the day, and 1 grain of NDT (7 drops tyromax).

My hot flashes are less severe since starting thyroid, but they aren’t gone. I recently noticed that if I sip on orange juice all day long, I can avoid the hot flashes — this ties in with what Peat writes about hot flashes being triggered by low blood sugar. The only problem with sipping OJ all day is that recently, I’ve developed this gnarly nausea and grey-coated tongue. I’m not sure the cause, but I think it’s caused by my mostly liquid diet that I’ve adopted in recent months. I’ve been drinking lots of fresh squeezed OJ and milk, which eases my bloating, but I haven’t had a full, solid poop in months.

My heart rate is still high (90 sedentary) but better than it used to be (around 100). I think thyroid helps to lower it, as does stabilizing blood sugar often — these two totally in line with what Peat says.

I tried B1 but the hcl form messed up my digestion, and mushrooms caused me to become paranoid and gave me an orange-coated tongue. It’s hard to pin these issues down solely to these causes though.

I’ve been taking magnesium glycinate for a while, thyroid as mentioned above, vitamin D and K as well.

So my major issues still are hot flashes, high heart rate, gynecomastia, and recently this darn grey-coated tongue. I still feel suboptimal in terms of energy. Temps rarely break 98.2 or so during the day.

Next, I’m going to try more solid foods (fruit and meat) while reducing my milk and OJ a bit, and increasing my salt intake. I’m going to stay the same in my supplements. Open to any suggestions, and I’ll keep reporting back until, one day, I solve this and can make a victory post.

Tl;dr: tachycardia from low blood sugar I think, but also my digestion sucks these days.
 
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