How long till Thyroid kicks in?

tomisonbottom

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How long after you take thyroid (I'm taking Cynomel) should you take another temp to see the effect?
1/2 hour, 1 hour, 3 hours?

Also, if I get a racing heart what's the quickest thing to slow it down?
I'm guessing Salt? Or sugar? And how much would you suggest? I'm 110 pounds.


Thanks!
 

jaguar43

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tomisonbottom said:
How long after you take thyroid (I'm taking Cynomel) should you take another temp to see the effect?
1/2 hour, 1 hour, 3 hours?

Also, if I get a racing heart what's the quickest thing to slow it down?
I'm guessing Salt? Or sugar? And how much would you suggest? I'm 110 pounds.


Thanks!

Cynomel ( T3)should be felt within 20 minutes.
 
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tomisonbottom

tomisonbottom

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Ok, so I definitely haven't had any issues with adrenaline response on Cynomel. It seems to be all smooth sailing so far and always makes me feel better.
I've read about the temporary effects of adrenaline seemingly increasing as the body is "waking Up" in response to thyroid but are there any other problems or long term issues I should look out for?
At the moment, it seems to be my cure all, but I don't want to unknowingly over do it.
At the same time, I haven't found any negatives about thyroid anywhere on here or in RP's writings. Of course, I haven't read every single article or interview of his yet so wanted to know if anyone has knowledge of this off the top of their head.
Basically, is there any reason why I couldn't just take thyroid throughout the day as needed even if its 25-50 mcg/day as long as I'm following a Ray Peat diet? I normally take 1/4 tablet (4-6mcg) between 1-5 times a day depending on what temperature or symptoms I have.
I seem to be meeting most of the RDA requirements except for Niacin but I'm going to try to start drinking more coffee for that. I always try to get at least 60-80 grams of protein a day.

Thanks!
 

charlie

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What you are shooting for is having a waking temp(basal metabolic rate) of 97.8 - 98.2 and a pulse of 80-90.

I would watch out for estrogen dominance symptoms, it seems some of us are susceptible to this. When the metabolism starts to rise, estrogen can rear its ugly head at the same time. IIRC estrogen will also bring up cortisol. So if this happens, which happened to me, I started attacking it with progesterone and whammo, gave it the ole knockout punch.

I try to keep my dose exact, until I decide to raise or lower it. I was having problems raising because the darn estrogen would kick in, and make me all kinds of uncomfortable. This is not the case anymore so I will be pushing up the dose about as fast as possible, every 2-3 weeks, until I hit the pulse and temp that I am looking for.

My opinion most of us need thyroid, Ray Peat still takes it till this day. I have no problem taking it forever if I have to, the alternative being hypothyroid, no thanks! lol I have been hypothyroid all my life and it stinks!
 

HDD

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I have been crankier and down lately. Unable to shake it off. Just finished 2nd week of thyroid. Estrogen? I guess I will up my progesterone. I thought maybe I was lacking in nutrients.
 
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tomisonbottom

tomisonbottom

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Charlie said:
What you are shooting for is having a waking temp(basal metabolic rate) of 97.8 - 98.2 and a pulse of 80-90.

I would watch out for estrogen dominance symptoms, it seems some of us are susceptible to this. When the metabolism starts to rise, estrogen can rear its ugly head at the same time. IIRC estrogen will also bring up cortisol. So if this happens, which happened to me, I started attacking it with progesterone and whammo, gave it the ole knockout punch.

I try to keep my dose exact, until I decide to raise or lower it. I was having problems raising because the darn estrogen would kick in, and make me all kinds of uncomfortable. This is not the case anymore so I will be pushing up the dose about as fast as possible, every 2-3 weeks, until I hit the pulse and temp that I am looking for.

My opinion most of us need thyroid, Ray Peat still takes it till this day. I have no problem taking it forever if I have to, the alternative being hypothyroid, no thanks! lol I have been hypothyroid all my life and it stinks!

Yeah, I agree!
So basically, you're saying if I don't notice any issues then I'm not going to mess anything up by taking generous amounts of thyroid?
I think I've avoided the estrogen dominance symptoms (at least any more than I'd normally have) because I take progesterone like there's no tomorrow. Love that stuff.
Ray Peat says that when you're a woman (which I am) , and you have severe symptoms (which I do/did) that you don't have to worry about taking too much if you don't care about your cycle. There's literally no such thing as too much; the worst it can do is make you euphoric or put you to sleep.
So I just take drops of it constantly; and take even as much as a teaspoon or two at a time if I'm in pain or feeling stressed. Either way I haven't noticed any increase at all in any of my symptoms since starting thyroid and it seems to make me feel better almost instantly when I take it which I love! So glad I found Cynomel! ;)
 
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tomisonbottom

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Haagendazendiane said:
I have been crankier and down lately. Unable to shake it off. Just finished 2nd week of thyroid. Estrogen? I guess I will up my progesterone. I thought maybe I was lacking in nutrients.


Yeah, see my post above; if you aren't worried about your cycle, my understanding is that you can take as much progesterone as you want to help your symptoms.
 

charlie

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tomisonbottom said:
So basically, you're saying if I don't notice any issues then I'm not going to mess anything up by taking generous amounts of thyroid?

You want to be able to take enough to get you to the basal metabolic rate above. Slowly increasing amount of thyroid supplement until you get there. Ray Peat talked about the 12 grain lady. So she had to take 12 pills to get her there. She got herself better and was able to come down to 2 or 3 pills IIRC. So taking enough to get you there is what you want, some people need more then others. Just watch your temps and pulse to see when you are moving into hyperthyroid territory and thats when you would want to back off. Some of us are aiming for slightly hyperthyroid. Ray Peat says it feels really good. lol
 

charlie

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Haagendazendiane said:
I have been crankier and down lately. Unable to shake it off. Just finished 2nd week of thyroid. Estrogen? I guess I will up my progesterone. I thought maybe I was lacking in nutrients.

Yes it could be that Diane. Below is a list of estrogen dominance symptoms. Irritability is one of them.

Also, notice zinc deficiency is one of them. That made me think of all the recent zinc stuff we have been talking about here.

The symptoms and conditions associated with estrogen dominance are:

Acceleration of the aging process
Allergies, including asthma, hives, rashes, sinus congestion
Autoimmune disorders such as lupus erythematosis and thyroiditis, and possibly Sjoegren's disease
Breast cancer
Breast tenderness
Cervical dysplasia
Cold hands and feet as a symptom of thyroid dysfunction
Copper excess
Decreased sex drive
Depression with anxiety or agitation
Dry eyes
Early onset of menstruation
Endometrial (uterine) cancer
Fat gain, especially around the abdomen, hips and thighs
Fatigue
Fibrocystic breasts
Foggy thinking
Gallbladder disease
Hair Loss
Headaches
Hypoglycemia
Increased blood clotting (increasing risk of strokes)
Infertility
Irregular menstrual periods
Irritability
Insomnia
Magnesium deficiency
Memory loss
Mood swings
Osteoporosis
Polycystic ovaries
Premenopausal bone loss
PMS
Prostate cancer (men only)
Sluggish metabolism
Thyroid dysfunction mimicking hypothyroidism
Uterine cancer
Uterine fibroids
Water retention, bloating
Zinc deficiency
Source
 

HDD

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Thanks for that list, Charlie. I need to get back on cronometer to make sure I am getting my nutrients, too. I was being lazy.
 
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tomisonbottom

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Charlie said:
tomisonbottom said:
So basically, you're saying if I don't notice any issues then I'm not going to mess anything up by taking generous amounts of thyroid?

You want to be able to take enough to get you to the basal metabolic rate above. Slowly increasing amount of thyroid supplement until you get there. Ray Peat talked about the 12 grain lady. So she had to take 12 pills to get her there. She got herself better and was able to come down to 2 or 3 pills IIRC. So taking enough to get you there is what you want, some people need more then others. Just watch your temps and pulse to see when you are moving into hyperthyroid territory and thats when you would want to back off. Some of us are aiming for slightly hyperthyroid. Ray Peat says it feels really good. lol

Great, thank you!
How high is too high of a temp?
98.7? .8? .9? 99?
I guess I'm wondering what the safe hyperthyroid range is.........
 

charlie

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I am not sure. We should probably look into that though.
 

aquaman

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Charlie said:
I would watch out for estrogen dominance symptoms, it seems some of us are susceptible to this. When the metabolism starts to rise, estrogen can rear its ugly head at the same time. IIRC estrogen will also bring up cortisol. So if this happens, which happened to me, I started attacking it with progesterone and whammo, gave it the ole knockout punch.


How did you determine Estrogen had increased?
 

aquaman

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tomisonbottom said:
How long after you take thyroid (I'm taking Cynomel) should you take another temp to see the effect?
1/2 hour, 1 hour, 3 hours?

Also, if I get a racing heart what's the quickest thing to slow it down?
I'm guessing Salt? Or sugar? And how much would you suggest? I'm 110 pounds.


Thanks!

The book "Recovering with T3" says it takes 90 mins - 2 hours to get maximum effect.

It's also a great book if you are using T3... I had taken a bit of a "hey i'll just pop 1/8th of a pill when I remmeber" approach to T3, and it shouldn't be treated this lightly.

I learnt a lot from the book... recommended.
 

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aquaman said:
Charlie said:
I would watch out for estrogen dominance symptoms, it seems some of us are susceptible to this. When the metabolism starts to rise, estrogen can rear its ugly head at the same time. IIRC estrogen will also bring up cortisol. So if this happens, which happened to me, I started attacking it with progesterone and whammo, gave it the ole knockout punch.


How did you determine Estrogen had increased?

I posted a list earlier in the thread. Also look out for hot flashes.
 

aquaman

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Charlie said:
aquaman said:
Charlie said:
I would watch out for estrogen dominance symptoms, it seems some of us are susceptible to this. When the metabolism starts to rise, estrogen can rear its ugly head at the same time. IIRC estrogen will also bring up cortisol. So if this happens, which happened to me, I started attacking it with progesterone and whammo, gave it the ole knockout punch.


How did you determine Estrogen had increased?

I posted a list earlier in the thread. Also look out for hot flashes.

ok so based on symptoms not blood tests. It's hard, since half of those listed are Hypothyroid symptoms too, and most are caused by varied factors.
 
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tomisonbottom

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aquaman said:
tomisonbottom said:
How long after you take thyroid (I'm taking Cynomel) should you take another temp to see the effect?
1/2 hour, 1 hour, 3 hours?

Also, if I get a racing heart what's the quickest thing to slow it down?
I'm guessing Salt? Or sugar? And how much would you suggest? I'm 110 pounds.


Thanks!

The book "Recovering with T3" says it takes 90 mins - 2 hours to get maximum effect.

It's also a great book if you are using T3... I had taken a bit of a "hey i'll just pop 1/8th of a pill when I remmeber" approach to T3, and it shouldn't be treated this lightly.

I learnt a lot from the book... recommended.

Thanks Aquaman,

Well, it doesn't take more than 20 minutes for my temp to go up with Cynomel, I've been taking my temp constantly the last week or so and if it goes up it at all, it always happens rather quickly for me.

Do you think there's any problem with taking larger doses of T3 (1/4 tab/6mcg) right off the bat if I don't have any issues or symptoms from it? Isn't that what determines if you're causing any issues? So far, it's kept my temp up and makes me feel good; I can feel the adrenaline going down right after I take it, which has been a lifesaver for me.
Thanks for your input!
 
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tomisonbottom

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Well, just answered part of my own question. Found this quote on here:

"Ray Peat wrote:
If Cytomel [i.e. synthetic T3] is used, it is efficient to approximate the physiological rate of T3 formation, by nibbling one (10 or 15 mcg) tablet during the day. When a large amount is taken at one time, the liver is likely to convert much of it to the inactive reverse-T3 form, in a normal defensive response."

So that's one reason to not take too much anyway.
I'm a little confused by this quote though. I thought the body normally produces 4mcg/hour so only 10 or 15 per day doesn't seem like enough.
Any thoughts on that?
 

jaguar43

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tomisonbottom said:
Well, just answered part of my own question. Found this quote on here:

"Ray Peat wrote:
If Cytomel [i.e. synthetic T3] is used, it is efficient to approximate the physiological rate of T3 formation, by nibbling one (10 or 15 mcg) tablet during the day. When a large amount is taken at one time, the liver is likely to convert much of it to the inactive reverse-T3 form, in a normal defensive response."

So that's one reason to not take too much anyway.
I'm a little confused by this quote though. I thought the body normally produces 4mcg/hour so only 10 or 15 per day doesn't seem like enough.
Any thoughts on that?

Speaking for myself..I take a lot more than Ray Peat recommends. Sometimes you need a large dose in the beginning to over come the adapted hypothyroidism. However some people are real sensitive to t3.
 

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