Insomnia--high Cortisol-so Down

[Tourist]

I'm brand spabking new to Pete so bear with me

I am trying to undue a mess I mostly brought on...,

Pretty fit and active mom of 4. Have hashis (20 years) controlled with diet, exercise and Levo. Always seem to keep anxiety at bay but grew up with a violent father and anxious mother. So feel it's a life long battle.

Went Keto in spring and stopped in July (2016) due to insomnia. Added in carbs and got diarrhea. I now know it was likely due to milk casein and egg intolerances and I was eating lots of.

Saliva cortisol showed high early morning cortisol but not bad dhea ratio.

My thyroid #s have fluctuated so much that I've had to lower my dose 3 x on the past 10 months. (Maybe the cortisol causing this?)

I had considerable stress during Keto (helping my mother through hospice care and taking crisis calls from my father all day and night).

I'm eating zero processed foods, no dairy recently eliminated lectins, no caffeine. Include evoo and coconut oil.

I've only recently started sleeping a few hours a night with the help of Seriphos. I've been breaking open the capsule (put in a tsp of coco oil) to dose smaller as at first the 1000 mg was too much. It can wear off only an hour or two later as I'm instantly awake from beating heart rate. Last night ended up taking an entire capsule when smaller dose didn't help. I got 3 consecutive hours of sleep--joy!

Please make suggestions on what I ought to read as well as consider supplementing. Already using magnesium in all forms, found some considerable gut relief with l- glutamine and am healing leaky gut with diet and hci with pepsin and pancreatic enzymes.

A million thank you's
Laura

 

[Orion]

Staples that RP has mentioned are milk and OJ, having 2quarts low fat milk and 1quart OJ will provide calcium, magnesium, high quality protein, sugar that you will need.

Ray's articles can be a little overwhelming at first, but these are a good start:

http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/thyroid-insanities.shtml
Preventing and treating cancer with progesterone.
Glucose and sucrose for diabetes.
Glucose and sucrose for diabetes.
Glycemia, starch, and sugar in context
Diabetes, scleroderma, oils and hormones
Unsaturated fatty acids: Nutritionally essential, or toxic?
Coconut Oil
Fats and degeneration
Unsaturated Vegetable Oils: Toxic
Cholesterol, longevity, intelligence, and health.

 

[Orion]

Good sleep happens when you have adequate liver sugar storage (glycogen). This allows you to sleep through the stressful darkness of night, otherwise cortisol/adrenaline rise to early in the night to restore blood sugar levels. This will keep you awake, sweating, pounding heart, etc. Sugar, salt, coconut oil before bed and on nightstand for wakings can help.

Very low PUFA intake, sucrose, taurine, caffeine (increasing slowly), gelatine(glycine), salt, calories can all be beneficial for sleep.

EDIT: should have mentioned, very bright light during the day; full sun exposure, or bright incandescent lights, heat lamps.

 

[Tourist]

Can't tolerate milk products--was doing loads of milk prior to crashing and my gut is still healing. Doesn't processed sugar (like oj) need constant replenishment therefore not reliable?

Already very low pufa

Staples that RP has mentioned are milk and OJ, having 2quarts low fat milk and 1quart OJ will provide calcium, magnesium, high quality protein, sugar that you will need.

Ray's articles can be a little overwhelming at first, but these are a good start:

Thyroid, insomnia, and the insanities: Commonalities in disease
Preventing and treating cancer with progesterone.
Glucose and sucrose for diabetes.
Glucose and sucrose for diabetes.
Glycemia, starch, and sugar in context
Diabetes, scleroderma, oils and hormones
Unsaturated fatty acids: Nutritionally essential, or toxic?
Coconut Oil
Fats and degeneration
Unsaturated Vegetable Oils: Toxic
Cholesterol, longevity, intelligence, and health.

Staples that RP has mentioned are milk and OJ, having 2quarts low fat milk and 1quart OJ will provide calcium, magnesium, high quality protein, sugar that you will need.

Ray's articles can be a little overwhelming at first, but these are a good start:

Thyroid, insomnia, and the insanities: Commonalities in disease
Preventing and treating cancer with progesterone.
Glucose and sucrose for diabetes.
Glucose and sucrose for diabetes.
Glycemia, starch, and sugar in context
Diabetes, scleroderma, oils and hormones
Unsaturated fatty acids: Nutritionally essential, or toxic?
Coconut Oil
Fats and degeneration
Unsaturated Vegetable Oils: Toxic
Cholesterol, longevity, intelligence, and health.

 

[sweetpeat]

Life-long anxiety sufferer here too. I find that this often goes hand in hand with calorie restriction, whether intentional or not. Especially if certain foods are being avoided. Makes it harder to get in enough.

I mention it because it's my number one cause of insomnia. It doesn't matter what I eat before bed, if I don't get in enough calories on the day I will wake up 2-3am.

 

[Tourist]

Great insight and I agree that I have to sometimes remember to eat more.

Life-long anxiety sufferer here too. I find that this often goes hand in hand with calorie restriction, whether intentional or not. Especially if certain foods are being avoided. Makes it harder to get in enough.

I mention it because it's my number one cause of insomnia. It doesn't matter what I eat before bed, if I don't get in enough calories on the day I will wake up 2-3am.

Good sleep happens when you have adequate liver sugar storage (glycogen). This allows you to sleep through the stressful darkness of night, otherwise cortisol/adrenaline rise to early in the night to restore blood sugar levels. This will keep you awake, sweating, pounding heart, etc. Sugar, salt, coconut oil before bed and on nightstand for wakings can help.

Very low PUFA intake, sucrose, taurine, caffeine (increasing slowly), gelatine(glycine), salt, calories can all be beneficial for sleep.

EDIT: should have mentioned, very bright light during the day; full sun exposure, or bright incandescent lights, heat lamps.

Good sleep happens when you have adequate liver sugar storage (glycogen). This allows you to sleep through the stressful darkness of night, otherwise cortisol/adrenaline rise to early in the night to restore blood sugar levels. This will keep you awake, sweating, pounding heart, etc. Sugar, salt, coconut oil before bed and on nightstand for wakings can help.

Very low PUFA intake, sucrose, taurine, caffeine (increasing slowly), gelatine(glycine), salt, calories can all be beneficial for sleep.

EDIT: should have mentioned, very bright light during the day; full sun exposure, or bright incandescent lights, heat lamps.

Good sleep happens when you have adequate liver sugar storage (glycogen). This allows you to sleep through the stressful darkness of night, otherwise cortisol/adrenaline rise to early in the night to restore blood sugar levels. This will keep you awake, sweating, pounding heart, etc. Sugar, salt, coconut oil before bed and on nightstand for wakings can help.

Very low PUFA intake, sucrose, taurine, caffeine (increasing slowly), gelatine(glycine), salt, calories can all be beneficial for sleep.

EDIT: should have mentioned, very bright light during the day; full sun exposure, or bright incandescent lights, heat lamps.

 

[sweetpeat]

I had a couple of other thoughts in regards to your levo. You said you'd had several dosage changes lately. Does your doctor mainly use TSH to prescribe your dosage? If so, you may be under- or over-medicated, which will certainly affect sleep. Cortisol does affect TSH, as does even a change of seasons. So TSH alone isn't the best way to determine dosage. An easy self test is taking your basal temperature (before getting out of bed in the morning).

Also, some people find they get better sleep taking levo in the evening or at bedtime. Doing it this way is more natural with the body's t4 production, and may even help regulate your cortisol. If it makes things worse though, don't force it.

 

[biggirlkisss]

sleep with the light on

 

[Tourist]

I lead the way on getting a dose change as due to rapid heart rate and lots of anxiety. Is there a specific type of thermometer to use? Also, what do u do with the information of basal temps?

I had a couple of other thoughts in regards to your levo. You said you'd had several dosage changes lately. Does your doctor mainly use TSH to prescribe your dosage? If so, you may be under- or over-medicated, which will certainly affect sleep. Cortisol does affect TSH, as does even a change of seasons. So TSH alone isn't the best way to determine dosage. An easy self test is taking your basal temperature (before getting out of bed in the morning).

Also, some people find they get better sleep taking levo in the evening or at bedtime. Doing it this way is more natural with the body's t4 production, and may even help regulate your cortisol. If it makes things worse though, don't force it.

 

[sweetpeat]

I think most people use a typical digital thermometer. The idea is to cross-check temps with other signs and symptoms plus lab work to get a better idea on the state of your metabolism and whether thyroid dosage is working. A basal temp lower than around 97.8 is considered possibly hypothyroid.

I was under the impression that you might be using strictly lab work to determine dosage, but high heart rate and anxiety are certainly symptoms to pay attention to as well.

 

[Deleted member 5487]

I'm brand spabking new to Pete so bear with me

I am trying to undue a mess I mostly brought on...,

Pretty fit and active mom of 4. Have hashis (20 years) controlled with diet, exercise and Levo. Always seem to keep anxiety at bay but grew up with a violent father and anxious mother. So feel it's a life long battle.

Went Keto in spring and stopped in July (2016) due to insomnia. Added in carbs and got diarrhea. I now know it was likely due to milk casein and egg intolerances and I was eating lots of.

Saliva cortisol showed high early morning cortisol but not bad dhea ratio.

My thyroid #s have fluctuated so much that I've had to lower my dose 3 x on the past 10 months. (Maybe the cortisol causing this?)

I had considerable stress during Keto (helping my mother through hospice care and taking crisis calls from my father all day and night).

I'm eating zero processed foods, no dairy recently eliminated lectins, no caffeine. Include evoo and coconut oil.

I've only recently started sleeping a few hours a night with the help of Seriphos. I've been breaking open the capsule (put in a tsp of coco oil) to dose smaller as at first the 1000 mg was too much. It can wear off only an hour or two later as I'm instantly awake from beating heart rate. Last night ended up taking an entire capsule when smaller dose didn't help. I got 3 consecutive hours of sleep--joy!

Please make suggestions on what I ought to read as well as consider supplementing. Already using magnesium in all forms, found some considerable gut relief with l- glutamine and am healing leaky gut with diet and hci with pepsin and pancreatic enzymes.

A million thank you's
Laura

Adequate saturated and medium chain fats at night spare energy requirement of sugar for more important processes such as liver glycogen.
Tablespoon of coconut oil
Big glass of Oj with some salt and 1g taurine will knock me out for 9 hours.