How To Solve Chronically Low BP (How To Increase Blood Pressure)?

[Logan-]

How much thyroid do you supplement and what brand is it? What are your pulse and temperature like?

Different doses, calculated based on RP’s recommendations in his writings and email exchanges. 1/8 cynoplus two times a day or once a day, plus 4 micrograms of cynomel after meals. Something like this. A month ago I stopped taking thyroid as it was making me even more tired. I will address the bowel with cascara sagrada, I think it can increase my thyroid if it has been inhibited by NO, histamine, serotonin, estrogen etc., the usual gut suspects. I will also try supplemental vitamin A to see if it will make any difference, or if I will notice anything from it.

I may also try taking a higher dose of T4 alone, to see if it will change anything. Like taking 25 milligrams of T4 alone adter a meal. Anyone know what Peat thinks of using higher t4 initially? Is that dose o.k.?

 

[Energizer]

Different doses, calculated based on RP’s recommendations in his writings and email exchanges. 1/8 cynoplus two times a day or once a day, plus 4 micrograms of cynomel after meals. Something like this. A month ago I stopped taking thyroid as it was making me even more tired. I will address the bowel with cascara sagrada, I think it can increase my thyroid if it has been inhibited by NO, histamine, serotonin, estrogen etc., the usual gut suspects. I will also try supplemental vitamin A to see if it will make any difference, or if I will notice anything from it.

I may also try taking a higher dose of T4 alone, to see if it will change anything. Like taking 25 milligrams of T4 alone adter a meal. Anyone know what Peat thinks of using higher t4 initially? Is that dose o.k.?

That seems like a good starting dose. I don't know if he recommends it, but if you've already tried 1/4 cynoplus without it having much positive effect you could try increasing by small increments and tracking your pulse and temperature. T4 alone is unlikely to be better than T4 with T3, your liver converts much of the T4 to the active hormone when you're healthy. When you're not healthy, that can cause an excessive buildup of T4 and people have reported that it tended to make their symptoms worse on just T4.

I have used this book for helping me understand the thyroid and would recommend checking it out if you haven't already:
Hypothyroidism: The Unsuspected Illness

Although Albert Szent-Gyorgyi is known mostly for his discovery of vitamin C and his contribution to understanding the tricarboxylic acid or Krebs cycle, his main interest was in understanding the nature of life itself, and he focused mainly on muscle contraction and cancer growth regulation. In one of his experiments, he compared the effects of estrogen and progesterone on rabbit hearts. A basic property of the heart muscle is that when it beats more frequently, it beats more strongly. This is called the staircase effect, from the way a tracing of its motion rises, beat by beat, as the rate of stimulation is increased. This is a logical way to behave, but sometimes it fails to occur: In shock, and in heart failure, the pulse rate increases, without increasing the volume of blood pumped in each contraction.

https://raypeatforum.com/community/threads/heart-and-hormones-may-2013-newsletter.2269/#post-26809

 

[yerrag]

What color is your stool?

@Logan does your stool have a color?

 

[Logan-]

That seems like a good starting dose. I don't know if he recommends it, but if you've already tried 1/4 cynoplus without it having much positive effect you could try increasing by small increments and tracking your pulse and temperature. T4 alone is unlikely to be better than T4 with T3, your liver converts much of the T4 to the active hormone when you're healthy. When you're not healthy, that can cause an excessive buildup of T4 and people have reported that it tended to make their symptoms worse on just T4.

I have used this book for helping me understand the thyroid and would recommend checking it out if you haven't already:
Hypothyroidism: The Unsuspected Illness

https://raypeatforum.com/community/threads/heart-and-hormones-may-2013-newsletter.2269/#post-26809

The problem is, when we’re taking 1/4 cynoplus, doesn’t that contain too much T3 at once? I thought one shouldn’t take more than 3-4 micrograms of T3 at once, no?

Thanks for the recommendation, I will read that book.

 

[Energizer]

The problem is, when we’re taking 1/4 cynoplus, doesn’t that contain too much T3 at once? I thought one shouldn’t take more than 3-4 micrograms of T3 at once, no?

Thanks for the recommendation, I will read that book.

Right, ideally I think you'd probably want to split it up into smaller than 4ths... to hit that few mcg per hour of T3 that the body naturally produces and not over-consume too much t3 at once. Maybe 8ths or even 16ths if you can manage to cut it into small enough pieces. I don't have an exacto knife or razor on hand so I just make do with 4ths and try to slow the absorption with food. Ray would have better advice on the dosing as well so I would encourage emailing him if you have questions or someone else on the forum hopefully can chime in, I am not an "expert" on it. Sorry if that was confusing.
From the Ray Peat wiki about dosing:

Starting Thyroid Supplementation
Sometimes it takes many months to get the metabolic rate stable at a higher level, and it's often necessary to use a thyroid supplement.

Thyroid is the only thing that safely lowers cholesterol, but when your stress hormones are very high, you shouldn't take more than about one microgram of Cytomel at a time, and should accompany it with things like milk and orange juice.

With your TSH so high, you should probably add a thyroid supplement, until you get it down to about 1.0, or less. (The normal range, according to the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, is from 0.3 to 3.0.)

A starting dose of about 1 mcg can produce a noticeable effect, and can be repeated at intervals according to the effect. 5 mcg with a meal is another way to start it. Thyroid tends to lower cholesterol by converting it into pregnenolone and other steroids, and yours is high enough to easily improve your steroid hormone balance.

Cynoplus (www.farmaciadelnino.com has a good price) is cheaper than Armour, and an eighth to a fourth of a tablet would be a reasonable amount to start with; thyroxine's half-life in the body is two weeks, so the effect is cumulative, and if you get the desired effects in less than two weeks the dose should probably be reduced.

At the beginning, once a day, but if your temperature and pulse and symptoms aren't just right after two weeks you could add another dose at a different time of day. Change of seasons affects the amount of thyroid you need, sometimes it isn't needed after using it for a while, but it's always good to watch for signs of change.

 

[Logan-]

Right, ideally I think you'd probably want to split it up into smaller than 4ths... to hit that few mcg per hour of T3 that the body naturally produces and not over-consume too much t3 at once. Maybe 8ths or even 16ths if you can manage to cut it into small enough pieces. I don't have an exacto knife or razor on hand so I just make do with 4ths and try to slow the absorption with food. Ray would have better advice on the dosing as well so I would encourage emailing him if you have questions or someone else on the forum hopefully can chime in, I am not an "expert" on it. Sorry if that was confusing.
From the Ray Peat wiki about dosing:

thanks again.

 

[Cara]

thanks again.

How are you doing? I suffer from low BP, my norm is 85/55. I had to take blood labs and passed out. Blood sugars are great but always cold hands and feet so thyroid.

 

[Vins7]

Due to this, I’ve been battling with low energy, somnolence, decreased productivity for years. Anyone know how to solve it?

What can I do to increase my blood pressure?

My systolic pressure is around 95-105, my diastolic pressure is around 65-72.

The lower it gets, the worse I become, the higher it goes, the better I get.

I add good amounts of salt to my foods, I never drink water unless I am thirsty (even then I drink fruit juice), I am careful against hypotonicity, I don’t have diarrhea, I take vitamin d, vitamin K2, b-vitamins, vitamin C, thyroid, more than 1500 milligrams of calcium every day, sometimes also take magnesium glycinate. I also eat well cooked mushrooms every day.

I don’t think this is related to electrolytes, or PTH, renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system etc.

I don’t consume starch, I consume about 250 grams of sugar every day in the form of fruit juice.

Are there any ways to increase blood pressure? I am open to any methods, suggestions.

Do you drink 2 litera of juice fruit everyday for having 250g of sugar?

 

[Logan-]

Taking a little thyroid after every meal helps. That’s what I have been doing.

 

[nigma]

Any progress with this? I have the same struggle

 

[Logan-]

Any progress with this? I have the same struggle

Thyroid supplementation and the general principles of Ray Peat help. You have to increase your metabolic rate in a healthy way.

 

[nigma]

Yes, I've had the same experience. But also drinking extra water seems to help, even though I am constantly having to go pee.