Insomnia / Hypothyroid / Liver

[FitnessMike]

Hi All,

I will try to be as straight as possible.

My symptoms are:

Insomnia(maintenance) / frequent urination(low aldosterone -licorice help as it imitate aldosterone / blood sugar fluctuations (need to have some carbs at night to fall back to sleep in best case), constipations(its better now when i use licorice which helps with hydration)

Over two years ago i started having insomnia caused by chronic stress (fasting+calorie deficit+heavy lifting+years of coffee+relationship stress+anything else i was unaware of) - all these at the same time.

This is when i started researching forums/articles etc and seeking solution, over this time i was testing most of supplements for reducing stress lvls, tried few drugs as amitryptyline and mifepristone, basically i was super fixated on the high cortisol/adrenaline. Trying to slow down and decrease stress, stop lifting, keep eating healthy i was hoping that over time homeostasis somehow will pop in eventually. Over two years passes and it was getting worse slowly but surely.

I recently came across this forum and read how most adrenal fatigue/hpa axis dysf cases are basically caused by low thyroid, my TSH is 3.5 which is on the high end of norm in UK, i was told that in Poland it would be high already, im going to do full thyroid panel tomorrow but im quite sure im hypothyroid caused from high stress, my liver enzyme Alanine Transferase is high at 77 IU/L, and it cant store glycogen as liver need T3 to do it, i need eat all the time over 24h to keep my blood sugar stable.

I read few posts here about similar problems and i decided to implement few changes in my routine:

-i ordered desiccated thyroid to try to boost my t3 to help liver and hopefully help with glycogen and sleep(still waiting for it)
-i will decrease PUFAs fats, i need to admit i was using plenty of these, nuts, seeds, plenty of nut butters
-i will reintroduce low IG fruits and honey, i had to take them off my diet as they were causing blood sugar dips and highs so i excluded them for long time, i was low sugar for awhile
-i will eat few carrots a day, like twice a day, to help clean estrogen from intestine
-i increased iodine, selenium, zinc, and my good multi twice a day


Do you have any advice please?

 

[HLP]

Reduce water intake substantially. Drink fruit juice or milk instead. My husband was up peeing 3 or 4 times per night until he stopped drinking so much water. He sleeps all night most nights now. Take an aspirin and some glycine about 2 hours before bed.

 

[FitnessMike]

Reduce water intake substantially. Drink fruit juice or milk instead. My husband was up peeing 3 or 4 times per night until he stopped drinking so much water. He sleeps all night most nights now. Take an aspirin and some glycine about 2 hours before bed.

was your husband having problem with aldosterone as a result of chronic stress?, also do you have any advice in regards to improving thyroid and liver function?

 

[HLP]

Stress could have played a part in things. He's a workaholic. Not sure what your weight is like, but eating an abundance of Peat friendly foods should boost thyroid function which will support liver regeneration. I don't think there's such a thing as doing a liver cleanse per se. Quality sleep is top of the list for me. Sunshine without sunscreen. Steam bath or sauna once a week if possible. Not over exerting with exercise protects thyroid function.

 

[maillol]

How is your caffeine tolerance?

 

[FitnessMike]

How is your caffeine tolerance?

i quit caffeine long time ago, even cacao and decaf, i remember that caffeine was making me urinating more at night and day which was indicator to stop, im posting my thyroid blood test today and will have results next week but im quite sure its going to be hypo.

Ill add im 6.6 and around 250 pounds, not obese as i got decent amount of muscle mass.

 

[maillol]

i quit caffeine long time ago, even cacao and decaf, i remember that caffeine was making me urinating more at night and day which was indicator to stop, im posting my thyroid blood test today and will have results next week but im quite sure its going to be hypo.

Ill add im 6.6 and around 250 pounds, not obese as i got decent amount of muscle mass.

That's a good sign that your liver is not working well. I went through a very similar thing. My suggestion would be to focus on healing your liver before trying to boost your metabolism. I know the two go hand in hand but you're going to struggle with fruit and sugar while you have poor liver function.
These are the two threads that helped me the most:
RP Says Glucose Helps T4 To T3, Then Why Fructose?
Caffeine Reverses Stress, Insulin Resistance, Hypertension
Staying away from weightlifting, like you mentioned, is also a good idea I think.

 

[FitnessMike]

That's a good sign that your liver is not working well. I went through a very similar thing. My suggestion would be to focus on healing your liver before trying to boost your metabolism. I know the two go hand in hand but you're going to struggle with fruit and sugar while you have poor liver function.
These are the two threads that helped me the most:
RP Says Glucose Helps T4 To T3, Then Why Fructose?
Caffeine Reverses Stress, Insulin Resistance, Hypertension
Staying away from weightlifting, like you mentioned, is also a good idea I think.

Thank you for your input maillol, can you just briefly mention what steps did you adapt in improving your liver?. I started slowly eating fruits yesterday and today and so far doesn't seem to get blood sugar flactuations, i might try some green tea tommorow and see how it feels, also do you think that giving a try thyroid glandular is good idea?, i read that liver need t3 to store glycogen, if supplementation would help with that maybe i could sleep longer as i wouldnt wake up with low blood sugar as much, also did you think that you have "adrenal fatigue" initially?

 

[FitnessMike]

Reduce water intake substantially. Drink fruit juice or milk instead. My husband was up peeing 3 or 4 times per night until he stopped drinking so much water. He sleeps all night most nights now. Take an aspirin and some glycine about 2 hours before bed.

what asprin before bed would [potentially help with?

 

[maillol]

Thank you for your input maillol, can you just briefly mention what steps did you adapt in improving your liver?. I started slowly eating fruits yesterday and today and so far doesn't seem to get blood sugar flactuations, i might try some green tea tommorow and see how it feels, also do you think that giving a try thyroid glandular is good idea?, i read that liver need t3 to store glycogen, if supplementation would help with that maybe i could sleep longer as i wouldnt wake up with low blood sugar as much, also did you think that you have "adrenal fatigue" initially?

It will be interesting what your bloods say. In my case my thyroid numbers were normal but my liver enzymes were elevated. I ate a pretty normal diet, meat potatoes veg milk eggs cheese bread (I don't have any issues with starch but I know some do). Not too many calories so my liver wasn't constantly working. Gradually built up my caffeine tolerance with coffee. I was afraid at first that caffeine would make my insomnia worse but to be honest it couldn't really get much worse and as I got used to it it really helped. I can have coffee right before bed now and it's no problem. Adrenal fatigue, I don't know, I was lifting way too much and I was a mess. It was quite difficult to admit to myself that I had to stop lifting and eating so much and that I was going to lose some muscle. I haven't actually lost as much as I thought I would. I've never tried thyroid so I can't really speak on that.

 

[FitnessMike]

It will be interesting what your bloods say. In my case my thyroid numbers were normal but my liver enzymes were elevated. I ate a pretty normal diet, meat potatoes veg milk eggs cheese bread (I don't have any issues with starch but I know some do). Not too many calories so my liver wasn't constantly working. Gradually built up my caffeine tolerance with coffee. I was afraid at first that caffeine would make my insomnia worse but to be honest it couldn't really get much worse and as I got used to it it really helped. I can have coffee right before bed now and it's no problem. Adrenal fatigue, I don't know, I was lifting way too much and I was a mess. It was quite difficult to admit to myself that I had to stop lifting and eating so much and that I was going to lose some muscle. I haven't actually lost as much as I thought I would. I've never tried thyroid so I can't really speak on that.

hows now your sleep and liver function?, were you having blood sugar fluctuations during day/night?, also did you adapt carrot stuff and low PUFA oils as its often suggested on this site?, im currently trying to implement these stuff from site i found somewhere here on the forum as below, they do mention liver there but they do not really explain what can you do to fix high liver enzymes.

8 Simple Tips to Naturally Boost Thyroid levels and Reduce Symptoms

 

[maillol]

I haven't retested my liver enzymes yet, I'm sure I still have some work to do but my sleep is pretty much back to normal. I have a blood glucose monitor but I never really used it regularly. When I did it was never worryingly high or low. My blood pressure used to be a bit high but that has normalised now so that could be a good metric to follow. I eat carrots occasionally and yes I avoid PUFAs.

 

[FitnessMike]

would you please be kind to suggest anything? @Orion @haidut

 

[DaveFoster]

Hi All,

I will try to be as straight as possible.

My symptoms are:

Insomnia(maintenance) / frequent urination(low aldosterone -licorice help as it imitate aldosterone / blood sugar fluctuations (need to have some carbs at night to fall back to sleep in best case), constipations(its better now when i use licorice which helps with hydration)

Over two years ago i started having insomnia caused by chronic stress (fasting+calorie deficit+heavy lifting+years of coffee+relationship stress+anything else i was unaware of) - all these at the same time.

This is when i started researching forums/articles etc and seeking solution, over this time i was testing most of supplements for reducing stress lvls, tried few drugs as amitryptyline and mifepristone, basically i was super fixated on the high cortisol/adrenaline. Trying to slow down and decrease stress, stop lifting, keep eating healthy i was hoping that over time homeostasis somehow will pop in eventually. Over two years passes and it was getting worse slowly but surely.

I recently came across this forum and read how most adrenal fatigue/hpa axis dysf cases are basically caused by low thyroid, my TSH is 3.5 which is on the high end of norm in UK, i was told that in Poland it would be high already, im going to do full thyroid panel tomorrow but im quite sure im hypothyroid caused from high stress, my liver enzyme Alanine Transferase is high at 77 IU/L, and it cant store glycogen as liver need T3 to do it, i need eat all the time over 24h to keep my blood sugar stable.

I read few posts here about similar problems and i decided to implement few changes in my routine:

-i ordered desiccated thyroid to try to boost my t3 to help liver and hopefully help with glycogen and sleep(still waiting for it)
-i will decrease PUFAs fats, i need to admit i was using plenty of these, nuts, seeds, plenty of nut butters
-i will reintroduce low IG fruits and honey, i had to take them off my diet as they were causing blood sugar dips and highs so i excluded them for long time, i was low sugar for awhile
-i will eat few carrots a day, like twice a day, to help clean estrogen from intestine
-i increased iodine, selenium, zinc, and my good multi twice a day


Do you have any advice please?

I had a similar TSH to your own, and I ended up taking 2 grains of thyroid, which brought my TSH down to 0.4. Three grains suppressed it. This isn't to say that this will do the same for you, but I did not become hyperthyroid from larger amounts of thyroid, and my pulse and temperature did not raise above 80 and 98.6 degrees either.

 

[FitnessMike]

I had a similar TSH to your own, and I ended up taking 2 grains of thyroid, which brought my TSH down to 0.4. Three grains suppressed it. This isn't to say that this will do the same for you, but I did not become hyperthyroid from larger amounts of thyroid, and my pulse and temperature did not raise above 80 and 98.6 degrees either.

but you manage to increase your temps to 86.6? how long did it take to increase them?

 

[DaveFoster]

but you manage to increase your temps to 86.6? how long did it take to increase them?

No, they're well below that. I'm still working on doing so.