CentralCoastIan
Member
- Joined
- Nov 3, 2013
- Messages
- 16
Hello everybody,
I've been having a lot of sleep, adrenaline, and stress issues lately. I already posted this in the meet and greet forum, but I'll post it here again, as it really outlined my problems well.
It seems like it would be easier to answer this question with a story of my health issues, as opposed to a direct answer. I went Paleo last year during the beginning of the summer. At first, I felt great, full of energy, wanted to go outdoors all the time to "fulfill my primal needs" or some bs like that, lost A LOT of weight (over the whole course of going Paleo I actually lost too much weight), and my depression and anxiety disappeared--hell, I'm sure a kid who was obese their childhood would lose their depression too if they lost weight. Over the course of 8 months, I progressively lost more and more weight; however, my mental cognition started to deteriorate, and so did my happiness and general well-being. I started having symptoms such as cold hands and feet, even when the weather was about 60-65 degrees Fahrenheit--eventually I developed Raynaud's, you can bet that was scary the first time I saw my fingers turning purple! I also started to have intense sugar and carbohydrate cravings, but I didn't feed into them because I thought carbs would cause, "insidious weight gain," to steal a term from Mark Sisson. And then things just got worse, I started having extreme panic attacks in the middle of the night. I would wake up gasping for air, my heart beating, feelings of death hanging over me, complete anxiety and hysteria. I thought that it might've been central sleep apnea (luckily I didn't waste money on a sleep study). And then the worst of it all, DUN, DUN, DUN!.... Severe constipation. I would literally have to take enemas every day so I could eliminate on a daily basis--talk about embarrassing, and well, very, um, un-manly. Eventually, after I was sick and tired of all this crap I had been dealing with, I thought, hey maybe I should go vegan (my brain must've really not been thinking!). So I did that for a week, until I decided that my food needed flavor and that salads and bland vegetables wasn't gonna cut it. So I went back to low-carb Paleo, and did that for another month and half or so, until I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism (oh really, never woulda guessed with all the symptoms), that I had pretty much self-diagnosed. The really sad part about this, is that the doctor didn't think I had it, even when the bloodwork came back and showed low t4 and high TSH :/.... Anyways, after searching the topics about hypothyroidism on Paleohacks, I found out about Peat and Matt Stone. So, after reading Diet Recovery 2 in an evening, I decided I would fall into my extreme sugar cravings. I ate cupcake after cupcake, and ice cream, and buttered toast with sugar and cinnamon on top (oh my lord, cinnamon toast, as I call it, was amazing for recovering from extreme carbophobia), and just about everything that contained sugar that was in the house. I cried. I had been going against what my body had said for so long, thinking I had to overcome my cravings, thinking I was doing the right thing, thinking I was the healthiest one in my family, thinking I had such will power and self discipline, thinking I was superior. I was wrong, dead ******* wrong! So after a few months of eating Matt Stone style, I gained some weight at first, but started to lose it naturally, gained muscle, libido increased, became happy, could think clearly (holy crap this really helped for my chem class), I never felt nervous or jittery, I felt, normal... Well, this amazingness, was cut short. I had to get a job, because living out here in California is very expensive, and when your family lives on welfare and social security, a child working to help pay family expenses is nothing abnormal. The only job I could find (I live in a college town, mind you, so job pickins is far and few) was one where I worked a night shift. Uh-oh, I had been going to sleep at 10 PM to 10:30 PM, and now I'll be working until 12:15 AM, and I probably won't be able to go to sleep until 1:15 AM or possibly later. This was a disaster for me, the first month I was OK, just OK. I expected things might get worse, but I just ignored and tried to have a good time, and I did for the most part. About 2 months in, though, I started having really bad sleeping problems, and I gained weight again, and I could tell I was heading in the direction of obesity if I kept up this 6 hours of sleep a night routine--remember, my body still hadn't fully healed from going low carb, and the hypothyroidism didn't help. I really pushed myself some days, and eventually I started having adrenaline cycles, where my I would feel really good, then CRASH, horrible feeling, then up, and then down, up, down, all throughout the day. This really affected me mentally and physically, I lost strength, libido, energy, etc. Luckily, this only carried on for another few weeks before I quit. I knew school was coming up, and I could use my financial aid as means to help pay for family expenses. Well, I thought my problems would improve since I wasn't working anymore, and I thought I could get back to a regular sleep schedule. Wrong. My sleep schedule actually got worse, and this is really where I am now. I try to go to bed around 9:30-10:30 PM, if my adrenaline doesn't kick in and keep me up till 11:30. However, I only sleep for about 3 hours, then, BAM, wake up feeling tense, hot flashes, pounding heart, not really hungry at all. And I can't really go back to sleep then after that. This has basically interfered with everything in my life. I can't play basketball anymore, which I love to play; I don't have the energy to play guitar at all, which I love even doing more; and going to school feels like a death wish.
I should mention that my elimination has been very good; lately, I've been eliminating about 1 time a day, sometimes 2.
During the day, I try to eat cheese and gelatin for most of my protein, getting egg and some meat in there too. I eat raw carrot on an empty stomach and in between meals throughout the day, I really do love the taste of raw carrots. I do about 50% my own homemade OJ and 50% store bought, pulp free, non concentrate OJ--remember, I'm on gov. money, so buying lots of fresh, good quality fruit is very hard to do. I have coffee with milk and sugar--the best and only way to drink it! I like tortilla chips fried in coconut oil with lots of salt, and then most of the time, I'll put cheese on top and heat it up to make nachos, and then down a big glass of OJ with a bit of sugar in it.
I normally drink a glass of warm milk with sugar, salt, bit of coconut oil, and some gelatin before bed, and some nights that helps and I get to sleep for about 5 hours before I wake up. I will drink this concoction again in the middle of the night to try to go back to sleep.
I also supplement with Pregnenolone 50mg, 400mg Magnesium, and 50mcg of levothyroxine. Sometimes, I take a TB of vinegar in water to help raise stomach acid, as I have achlorhydria as well.
I'm really trying everything I can to get better sleep. I wonder if maybe it's a nutrient absorption problem or a possible glycogen storage issue.
Any responses would help greatly, and thank you.
I've been having a lot of sleep, adrenaline, and stress issues lately. I already posted this in the meet and greet forum, but I'll post it here again, as it really outlined my problems well.
It seems like it would be easier to answer this question with a story of my health issues, as opposed to a direct answer. I went Paleo last year during the beginning of the summer. At first, I felt great, full of energy, wanted to go outdoors all the time to "fulfill my primal needs" or some bs like that, lost A LOT of weight (over the whole course of going Paleo I actually lost too much weight), and my depression and anxiety disappeared--hell, I'm sure a kid who was obese their childhood would lose their depression too if they lost weight. Over the course of 8 months, I progressively lost more and more weight; however, my mental cognition started to deteriorate, and so did my happiness and general well-being. I started having symptoms such as cold hands and feet, even when the weather was about 60-65 degrees Fahrenheit--eventually I developed Raynaud's, you can bet that was scary the first time I saw my fingers turning purple! I also started to have intense sugar and carbohydrate cravings, but I didn't feed into them because I thought carbs would cause, "insidious weight gain," to steal a term from Mark Sisson. And then things just got worse, I started having extreme panic attacks in the middle of the night. I would wake up gasping for air, my heart beating, feelings of death hanging over me, complete anxiety and hysteria. I thought that it might've been central sleep apnea (luckily I didn't waste money on a sleep study). And then the worst of it all, DUN, DUN, DUN!.... Severe constipation. I would literally have to take enemas every day so I could eliminate on a daily basis--talk about embarrassing, and well, very, um, un-manly. Eventually, after I was sick and tired of all this crap I had been dealing with, I thought, hey maybe I should go vegan (my brain must've really not been thinking!). So I did that for a week, until I decided that my food needed flavor and that salads and bland vegetables wasn't gonna cut it. So I went back to low-carb Paleo, and did that for another month and half or so, until I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism (oh really, never woulda guessed with all the symptoms), that I had pretty much self-diagnosed. The really sad part about this, is that the doctor didn't think I had it, even when the bloodwork came back and showed low t4 and high TSH :/.... Anyways, after searching the topics about hypothyroidism on Paleohacks, I found out about Peat and Matt Stone. So, after reading Diet Recovery 2 in an evening, I decided I would fall into my extreme sugar cravings. I ate cupcake after cupcake, and ice cream, and buttered toast with sugar and cinnamon on top (oh my lord, cinnamon toast, as I call it, was amazing for recovering from extreme carbophobia), and just about everything that contained sugar that was in the house. I cried. I had been going against what my body had said for so long, thinking I had to overcome my cravings, thinking I was doing the right thing, thinking I was the healthiest one in my family, thinking I had such will power and self discipline, thinking I was superior. I was wrong, dead ******* wrong! So after a few months of eating Matt Stone style, I gained some weight at first, but started to lose it naturally, gained muscle, libido increased, became happy, could think clearly (holy crap this really helped for my chem class), I never felt nervous or jittery, I felt, normal... Well, this amazingness, was cut short. I had to get a job, because living out here in California is very expensive, and when your family lives on welfare and social security, a child working to help pay family expenses is nothing abnormal. The only job I could find (I live in a college town, mind you, so job pickins is far and few) was one where I worked a night shift. Uh-oh, I had been going to sleep at 10 PM to 10:30 PM, and now I'll be working until 12:15 AM, and I probably won't be able to go to sleep until 1:15 AM or possibly later. This was a disaster for me, the first month I was OK, just OK. I expected things might get worse, but I just ignored and tried to have a good time, and I did for the most part. About 2 months in, though, I started having really bad sleeping problems, and I gained weight again, and I could tell I was heading in the direction of obesity if I kept up this 6 hours of sleep a night routine--remember, my body still hadn't fully healed from going low carb, and the hypothyroidism didn't help. I really pushed myself some days, and eventually I started having adrenaline cycles, where my I would feel really good, then CRASH, horrible feeling, then up, and then down, up, down, all throughout the day. This really affected me mentally and physically, I lost strength, libido, energy, etc. Luckily, this only carried on for another few weeks before I quit. I knew school was coming up, and I could use my financial aid as means to help pay for family expenses. Well, I thought my problems would improve since I wasn't working anymore, and I thought I could get back to a regular sleep schedule. Wrong. My sleep schedule actually got worse, and this is really where I am now. I try to go to bed around 9:30-10:30 PM, if my adrenaline doesn't kick in and keep me up till 11:30. However, I only sleep for about 3 hours, then, BAM, wake up feeling tense, hot flashes, pounding heart, not really hungry at all. And I can't really go back to sleep then after that. This has basically interfered with everything in my life. I can't play basketball anymore, which I love to play; I don't have the energy to play guitar at all, which I love even doing more; and going to school feels like a death wish.
I should mention that my elimination has been very good; lately, I've been eliminating about 1 time a day, sometimes 2.
During the day, I try to eat cheese and gelatin for most of my protein, getting egg and some meat in there too. I eat raw carrot on an empty stomach and in between meals throughout the day, I really do love the taste of raw carrots. I do about 50% my own homemade OJ and 50% store bought, pulp free, non concentrate OJ--remember, I'm on gov. money, so buying lots of fresh, good quality fruit is very hard to do. I have coffee with milk and sugar--the best and only way to drink it! I like tortilla chips fried in coconut oil with lots of salt, and then most of the time, I'll put cheese on top and heat it up to make nachos, and then down a big glass of OJ with a bit of sugar in it.
I normally drink a glass of warm milk with sugar, salt, bit of coconut oil, and some gelatin before bed, and some nights that helps and I get to sleep for about 5 hours before I wake up. I will drink this concoction again in the middle of the night to try to go back to sleep.
I also supplement with Pregnenolone 50mg, 400mg Magnesium, and 50mcg of levothyroxine. Sometimes, I take a TB of vinegar in water to help raise stomach acid, as I have achlorhydria as well.
I'm really trying everything I can to get better sleep. I wonder if maybe it's a nutrient absorption problem or a possible glycogen storage issue.
Any responses would help greatly, and thank you.