Hypothyroid Maybe Hypoglycemia, But I Think It's Solely On Account Of Diet

[Giraffe]

What, just three meals a day? not 6 or 8?

It's no fun to be constantly stuffed with food, and hunger would not have the chance to say 'Hello, your internal guidance system is working again.'

Having said that, to look out for symptoms of stress hormones rising and sipping some juice when they show up, is an extremely useful tool for getting the internal guidance system work again.

 

[tara]

It's no fun to be constantly stuffed with food, and hunger would not have the chance to say 'Hello, your internal guidance system is working again.'

Yeah, I can see that letting at least mild hunger arise sometimes is probably helpful. I can also imagine that after having been starving for a long time, that the stomach and the rest of the digestive system etc are simply not up to accommodating 1/3 of a day's food needs in one go. The stomach itself can shrink.
Personally, my recovery from what I think was (much much milder) undereating required me to reject the surrounding norm of three meals a day in favour of more frequent meals. On three meals a day, even eating quite solid meals to satiation, I was still stressfully hungry far too much of the time. Quite possibly I'd have managed it better if I'd been drinking juice in between meals, but at that time I believed the sugars were detrimental. Or I might have needed a little protein in snacks between meals too. I was generally hungry two hours after a meal, and often really stressed from hunger if I had to wait more than 3 hrs.
I agree that watching for and responding to the stress of hunger is a really useful practice.
I guess meal-timing is another one of those variables to experiment with on an individual basis - how best to be able to eat and digest enough to rebuild.

 

[Dragon]

Given that both your mind and your body are used to 'drinking your food'...I'd suggest adding a high-nutrition DRINK to your daily routine. I don't mean to replace all the good suggestions about solid foods, but simply as a transition-phase kind of thing, or an add-on to the solid foods. Something that you might find easier to 'eat' more of right now, today.

As a wise member already noted, you need to DO something to fix your diet, something significant, and do it right ******* now. So, here's an easy way to get a bunch more nutrition, while working with your current/existing "habits of thought"...both mental and physical.

I typically have one meal a day as 'liquid food'...it's my 'lunch' meal, although it's usually around 2pm.

Blender....1-2 cups milk, 1 cup cold coffee, 3 eggs, 30-40g of protein-powder (like whey or casein, or pea protein, etc...whey may be the most easily digested), and 1-2 heaping tablespoons of high-grade cocoa powder.

I don't usually add sugar, as I actually enjoy the taste of unsweetened cocoa (weird, I know :) )....but you probably SHOULD add sugar...maybe 1-3 heaping tablespoons?

Best to dump the sugar in the coffee beforehand, to get it dissolved, instead of dumping it into the blender as crystals.

Sometimes I have BCAA around in bulk-powder, and I'll dump in 10-20g of that also. Maybe other supps-powders, if I'm currently using them and they're taste-neutral.

If you have ice-cream around, and want to turn this into a real 'frappe', just start dumping in scoops until it gets as thick as you want it.

These days, I just use ice-cubes....add...add...add the cubes as the blender is spinning....until it hits the right 'thick' consistency.

Anyway, dump the stuff in, spin up your blender for 30 secs, and there ya go....lunch ! :)

healthy lunch.

and cheap lunch!

tasty too.

High nutrition value, easy to get down in quantity, and nothing bad in it.

(bit of pufa in eggs, but lots of good things in them too, especially raw like this).

This 'frappe' suggestion might seem redundant to the good suggestions already given to eat ice-cream...

...but I like these drinks better, because almost all commercial ice-cream these days is LOADED with Bad Things. Gums, carrageenan, soy, bad chems, etc..

I know what's in my 'lunch-drink', and know it's all Good, so I feel good about it...it adds to the enjoyment of eating it. I think that's important too...to feel 'good' about what we're eating. Takes another bit of subliminal stress/worry out of our lives...adds a bit of hope, self-confidence and esteem...

Also, with the eggs and protein powder(s), these drinks have more protein per gulp, and much less fat per gulp, than ice cream does. I think this is important for you at this time because your habits/adaptations make it difficult for you to ingest large amounts at one time.

These drinks are also much cheaper than ice-cream per gram of 'good' nutrition. I'm a big ice-cream lover myself, never doubt it,...but for a 'meal', I like these drinks better.

Anyway, whatever you do end up eating....eat MORE of it, ok? :)

good fortune to you jimmerz,

dragon

 

[Jimmerz]

Again,Thank you all for your replys! Haven't been feeling too well, so I haven't been online. I had a thought though today, about the possibility of trying Haiduts T3, albeit in a diluted doseage. Do you think that'd be a good, or bad idea at this point?

 

[tara]

Again,Thank you all for your replys! Haven't been feeling too well, so I haven't been online. I had a thought though today, about the possibility of trying Haiduts T3, albeit in a diluted doseage. Do you think that'd be a good, or bad idea at this point?

Supplementing thyroid while in chronic fuel deficiency looks to me like risking more stress and catabolism. Whether you can make good use of very small amounts of T3 concurrently with upping calories to reasonable levels, I don't know. If you decide to try, I strongly recommend not having more than very small doses, at least to begin with. Eg less than 1mg at a dose.

 

[Jimmerz]

Supplementing thyroid while in chronic fuel deficiency looks to me like risking more stress and catabolism. Whether you can make good use of very small amounts of T3 concurrently with upping calories to reasonable levels, I don't know. If you decide to try, I strongly recommend not having more than very small doses, at least to begin with. Eg less than 1mg at a dose.

Thanks Tara! Maybe i'll hold off for the time being. Btw, something I just read about was the correlation btwn Dopamine deficiency and Hypothyroid, and I have all the symptoms. Perhaps boosting my intake of L-tyrosine would be the right move at this point.

 

[Jimmerz]

Update- While still not eating regular meals, I have increased my consumption of solid foods. The problem is, its like my digestive system doesn't want to play ball. I woke up this morning and almost started crying when I tried to sit up, as the gas pains were so bad. My lower back is killing me. I was prescribed Linzess for constipation a couple years ago, and as I felt this coming on, I took two yesterday and another early this morning. It was so bad today, I used 3 Fleet enemas, and while I got much of it out, there's still a blockage further up the pipe.
I think this is the reason I never feel extremely hungry, as it's like my intestines are packed with concrete.
I don't think there's a worse feeling in the world, than when you have laxative induced diarrhea up top, and a small intestine full of concrete.

 

[Simonsays]

RP's carrot salad for the constipation?

 

[tara]

There are various approaches you could take, all with some possibility of progress, none with a guarantee:

• Just force yourself to eat anyway for a while, as much as you can tolerate. It is possible that you are suffering serious gastroparesis and slow transit precisely because of severe energy deficit, and that the key thing that will get it moving is a regular supply of food - rebuilding the digestive system and signalling that there will be more food coming, so you don't have to hold onto this lot forever. (Not from Peat, but related to slow gut from undereating: Tummy Troubles)
• As far as you can figure out, choose easiest foods to digest. This varies a bit from person to person. Mittir has some nice posts on common gut irritants. (But don't stop eating in order to stop the irritation). Choose high calorie food and drink where possible. Drink food not water.
• Can't remember if you've tried aged cascara sagrada. If not it may be helpful for helping calm gut inflammation and keep things moving. There may be risks with overdoing the laxative, but a trying a little might help you get going.
• Try various things. This isn't my major issue, but there are others here who have improved digestion a lot from a significantly weakened state - they didn't all take the same route. Maybe if you go searching you'll find a story that is worth experimenting with. Some have done well starting out with juice, milk, potatoes or rice as their major fuel.

Good luck.

 

[Jimmerz]

There are various approaches you could take, all with some possibility of progress, none with a guarantee:

• Just force yourself to eat anyway for a while, as much as you can tolerate. It is possible that you are suffering serious gastroparesis and slow transit precisely because of severe energy deficit, and that the key thing that will get it moving is a regular supply of food - rebuilding the digestive system and signalling that there will be more food coming, so you don't have to hold onto this lot forever. (Not from Peat, but related to slow gut from undereating: Tummy Troubles)
• As far as you can figure out, choose easiest foods to digest. This varies a bit from person to person. Mittir has some nice posts on common gut irritants. (But don't stop eating in order to stop the irritation). Choose high calorie food and drink where possible. Drink food not water.
• Can't remember if you've tried aged cascara sagrada. If not it may be helpful for helping calm gut inflammation and keep things moving. There may be risks with overdoing the laxative, but a trying a little might help you get going.
• Try various things. This isn't my major issue, but there are others here who have improved digestion a lot from a significantly weakened state - they didn't all take the same route. Maybe if you go searching you'll find a story that is worth experimenting with. Some have done well starting out with juice, milk, potatoes or rice as their major fuel.

Good luck.

Tara, I've been eating a lot of brown rice and baked potatoes. Been drinking orange juice too, which I haven't had in years, as well as whole milk mixed with dairy cream. I also got a glucometer and checked my blood sugar levels. usually around 80-90 in the a.m. and 120-150 after eating.

Something really interesting though, today I took 44 mcg. of Levothyroxin, and feel so much better. Prior to taking it, my heart rate was about 55 BPM. Going to check it again here shortly. I think I'm going to order Tyromix or Tyromax from Haidut, and implement it (On my pet Gerbils) lightly until Ithings are operating a little closer to normal. Also my temp was 97.7 prior to the Levothyroxin.

I really want to thank all of you, as I truly feel as though I'm on the way out of this mess at last!

Anybody have any experience or advice on administering Haiduts thyroid concoctions to my gerbils? Or which particular one they may tolerate best?

 

[tara]

I really want to thank all of you, as I truly feel as though I'm on the way out of this mess at last!

I hope so. :)

Anybody have any experience or advice on administering Haiduts thyroid concoctions to my gerbils? Or which particular one they may tolerate best?

My usual main advice (non-expert and with very limited personal experience) if you are considering supplementing thyroid is:
- Make sure you provide generous nutrition- nutritional needs generally increase with increasing thyroid function; supplementing thyroid without sufficient nurtrition can cause more stress and catabolism and specific nutrient deficiencies,
- Monitor temps and heartrate before and while adjusting dose, to help avoid overdoing it.
- Start with smallest doses of thyroid supps (eg ~1/4 grain NDT or 1mcg T3 at a time a few times a day + a few mcg T4 in the evening ~T3:T4 ~1:4 - 1:2). Haidut's DMSO brews are supposed to give increased absorption over other forms, so may bet better to start with even less if using them. Most people seem to be OK with a little DMSO esp. if diluted with a little water; a few are more sensitive to it.

 

[Jimmerz]

Just wanted to thank everyone again. Turns out, I've had a severe magnesium deficiency going back decades. It just got progressively worse.

Feel 100x better after 5 days on a magnesium supplement, and I'm told it takes months to get levels back to normal, so I should notice continued improvements.

Anyone dealing with the issues that plagued me, do yourself a favor and google magnesium deficiency symptoms. Can't believe it was something so simple and was overlooked for so long.

 

[EIRE24]

Just wanted to thank everyone again. Turns out, I've had a severe magnesium deficiency going back decades. It just got progressively worse.

Feel 100x better after 5 days on a magnesium supplement, and I'm told it takes months to get levels back to normal, so I should notice continued improvements.

Anyone dealing with the issues that plagued me, do yourself a favor and google magnesium deficiency symptoms. Can't believe it was something so simple and was overlooked for so long.

So what kind of mag are you taking now and how much daily?

 

[tara]

Feel 100x better after 5 days on a magnesium supplement, and I'm told it takes months to get levels back to normal, so I should notice continued improvements.

That sounds promising. Could be other deficiencies to restore too, given it's been going on a long time.

 

[Jimmerz]

So what kind of mag are you taking now and how much daily?

The recommended daily dose is approx. 400 mg. , but I've been taking 750 mg. a day of Magnesium Oxide, which from what I've read is the most poorly bioavailable form of magnesium. I'm going to order

So what kind of mag are you taking now and how much daily?

Eire, I've been taking 750 mg. a day of magnesium oxide. However, I've read online this is the least bio-available form. It seems to me, soaking in epsom salts and absorbing the magnesium topically would be a good method of getting stores back up.

Also, I've read with the mag. oxide you'll start to get diarrhea well before your body is saturated, which supposedly takes months if you're extremely deficient. I'm starting to encroach on that neighborhood now, so need to look into picking up another form of magnesium.

Also, as Tara mentioned above, if your deficient in Magnesium your body can't properly assimilate B vitamins, leading to that deficiency, and Calcium goes rogue, as Magnesium steers calcium to your bones and teeth. Without sufficient magnesium, calcium stays in your bloodstream and leads to hardened arteries and heart issues. Crazy how much collateral damage occurs from a Mag. deficiency.

 

[Jimmerz]

I'm going to have to sit down, and write a complete list of all the symptoms that have abated, and those that have improved over the past few days.

Another that I've noticed, is I had severe inflammation in my fingers, which is completely gone now. Another symptom, is lack of hunger. I honestly have not had that "empty" stomach feeling of hunger since I was a teen, which has returned. Also had severe joint pain (Knees mostly), as well as aches and cramps in my lower legs (All completely gone).

The mental aspects of this are incredible as well. No more anxiety, no longer pissed off at everybody for absolutely no reason whatsoever, and the ability to sleep has returned as well. I can't even begin to tell you how good it feels to actually get tired at bedtime, as well as awaken refreshed, and not feeling worse than I did before I went to bed.

I sincerely hope that many here suffering from the same issues I did, can find some relief by supplementing with this mineral.
The worst part about this, is it's been known in the medical community for years, but often overlooked until just recently. They're now saying that up to 70% of the population could be affected by this.

 

[Jimmerz]

Ok, Not sure exactly what happened, but I was getting good REM sleep for the first time in 30 years, but it was short lived. Something is obviously lacking, but I can't put a finger on exactly what it is, or what I had done/taken that had turned things around. Damn this is frustrating! My memory had started improving, and I was recalling things from when I was 4-5 years old. Also, this salty taste in my mouth is back something fierce. It goes away only briefly during/immediately after eating.

Something that really stands out, is my skin is like that of a 90 year old. 'Quilted' I believe is the term I've seen online to describe its' appearance. I guess it's possible that it's just dehydration, but I've been trying to drink more water. I worry though about throwing off my electrolytic balance, which already seems out of whack. I also have pilaris keratosis, but only on my knees and thighs. The build up of dead skin on my feet, and legs is unreal. In addition to showers, I bathe once ever couple of weeks to soak, and then exfoliate the build up of dead skin. I used to have sparse hairs on my toes and normal hair growth on my lower legs, but now there is none whatsoever. Something I just thought of, is when I was younger I was itchy all the time, worse than a cat. I haven't had itchy skin like that in years, probably since my teens.

Something else of note, is that on occasion, certain foods foods will cause a "Hot flash" for lack of a better term. Things that I remember, are a baked potato on one occasion and a bowl of Cheerios on another. Shortly after eating, I could feel by inner temperature rise by what felt like 5-10 degrees. It was noticeable enough that my forehead, and scalp actually broke out in a light sweat. There's was nothing unpleasant, or uncomfortable symptoms that went with this other than feeling as though I'd stoked my inner furnace. Is it possible I'm just not getting enough carbs? Would that cause the "hot flash"? I just now had a bowl of cheerios heavily sprinkled (Actually scooped) with granulated sugar, and about 15 minutes later felt my body temperature rise, and broke out in a light sweat. I'm guessing it's probably just the sugar that's kick starting my metabolism and causing the temperature rise? I think I mentioned before, for years I've drank 6-8 Cokes a day, and ate very little. I've reduced this to one 16 oz. bottle per day. Upon waking every day, I feel like total garbage until I get that bottle of Coke in me. The few days of good sleep I got, I woke in the a.m. after about 6 hours of sleep and felt energized as soon as I woke. I think my thyroid has gone back into hibernation from letting my poor eating habits creep back in again.

 

[tara]

Could it be that if you've been depleted for a long time, that Mg was just one of many nutrients you've been low on, so when you supplemented that it helped, but you soon came up against other deficiencies?

I guess it's possible that it's just dehydration, but I've been trying to drink more water. I worry though about throwing off my electrolytic balance, which already seems out of whack.

I'd suggest not drinking much water straight, or much coke, but going for juice, milk, smoothies, soups made with veges and stock, custards etc, so you get minerals/electrolytes, and fuel and maybe protein along with the water. Unless you are really thirsty for plain water. Are you using cronometer or similar to track mineral intake? Esp watch for getting enough of the big ones regularly - calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium - but you need others too.

I wonder if your skin would benefit from some regular protection with a thin layer of saturated fat? Some people here have found good tallow-based moisturising products. I've had benefit from a mixes of cocoa butter and coconut oil at times. There are threads. If your system is depleted, keeping up with replacing high-turnover skin cells can be taxing, so if you can slow down the losses a bit it might help?

 

[Jimmerz]

Could it be that if you've been depleted for a long time, that Mg was just one of many nutrients you've been low on, so when you supplemented that it helped, but you soon came up against other deficiencies?


I'd suggest not drinking much water straight, or much coke, but going for juice, milk, smoothies, soups made with veges and stock, custards etc, so you get minerals/electrolytes, and fuel and maybe protein along with the water. Unless you are really thirsty for plain water. Are you using cronometer or similar to track mineral intake? Esp watch for getting enough of the big ones regularly - calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium - but you need others too.

I wonder if your skin would benefit from some regular protection with a thin layer of saturated fat? Some people here have found good tallow-based moisturising products. I've had benefit from a mixes of cocoa butter and coconut oil at times. There are threads. If your system is depleted, keeping up with replacing high-turnover skin cells can be taxing, so if you can slow down the losses a bit it might help?

Thanks Tara! I just mixed up a shake with 2 cups of milk, 3 eggs, 2 Tbsps of Ground flax seed, a banana, and 2 big scoops of ice cream w/ 3 Tbsps of sugar. But even this ended up getting me gassy and bloated. I'm starting to wonder if I don't have a lack of stomach acid? Been taking a couple tbps of apple cider vinegar before meals, but just read about HCL with Pepsin that supposed to help with breaking down proteins. Thoughts?

 

[tara]

I'm starting to wonder if I don't have a lack of stomach acid? Been taking a couple tbps of apple cider vinegar before meals, but just read about HCL with Pepsin that supposed to help with breaking down proteins. Thoughts?

Could be, but not something I have experience or knowledge of. I have read of people getting benefit from those. I don't know whether there are down-sides. You could search the forum and see if there are others here with experience using them, or alternatives.