SQu
Member
- Joined
- Jan 3, 2014
- Messages
- 1,308
I need help because I’m not getting results. In terms of health, energy and weight loss. See history below (warning: encyclopedic; but trying to provide all relevant info). Have had much help here already to which I attribute my successes (thank you!).
Attempts to raise things like caffeine and aspirin end in tears though revisiting often pays off, gone from 100 to 200, sometimes 400mg caffeine a day.
Pregnenolone now out of reach (prescription-only), but got strong positive then negative reactions, would like to revisit.
Flushing worse (it’s also hot) and missed period led to estrogen bad patch (swelling, weight gain, depression, energy slump, hangover, etc.). Progesterone helps. But my supply is threatened and can’t get anything via mail.
Recent 6g a day aspirin fail (malaise, tinnitus, headache then migraine, nausea, liver pain).
History:
Female, 51, recently started menopause, long dieting history, yo yoing, mostly low fat, marked by severe mid morning, mid afternoon energy dips with hypoglycemic symptoms and sugar cravings. Low carb 11 years ago, for 7 years, impressed by initial effects on weight loss, energy dips and cravings. Migraines began 1 year in, by 2011 I was permanently nauseatingly light headed and dizzy, deepening into migraine weekly.
About 15 years of fatigue and bad aching. Tested positive for rickettsia, chlamydia and another I forget – gulf war syndrome? CRP and blood pressure high. Treated with flagyl (very ill on this) and doxycycline, for a year. Much but not entirely improved, fatigue better for a few years.
PMS from about my 30s.
Minor symptoms a classic list of hypothyroidism. Insomnia, constipation, weight gain, brittle crumbling nails.
In 2010 – 11 I compounded the damage with rounds of hcg dieting because of the weight creep. I lost a ton of weight but the permanent dizziness got scary. I read Matt Stone’s blog and stopped dieting, prepared to pick up some weight if it would heal me.Put on a lot of weight (about 60 pounds, from trim to huge) especially on stomach. Health got worse. Slight cushinglike fatty hump on the shoulders. I felt I had aged 40 years, hair went grey, feet and ankles ached and swelled, I bloated, struggled to get out of a chair, muscles, strength and stamina vanished, I was breathless, exhausted, aching, insomnia went from bad to terrible, constipation about the same, without taking something like cascara, I’m in trouble. My voice got deeper and husky for a while. Better now, sometimes slight recurrence.
This is getting very long! Sorry!
Peating since September 2013, joined forum Jan 2014. Initially big boost from aspirin and sugar. Pattern of good and bad patches soon began/more noticeable. Bad patches – dizzy, hangover, nausea, exhaustion, aching, depression, bloating, weight gain, migraine, light sensitive.
Successes: migraines ended June 2014 due I think due to cyproheptadine, steadier ‘blood sugar’. What I thought was hypoglycaemia was more hyper in spite of having most symptoms, so I am confused as to cause. Most importantly forcing myself to eat to nip migraine in the bud.
Light sensitivity vanished, haven’t needed sunglasses since.
Aching much better thanks to aspirin and mostly avoiding yoghurt, cottage cheese. During bad patches it comes back.
Some improvement in bloating, feel a bit more comfortable.
Measurements
Temps stubbornly low, 36.4 on waking on a good day. Up to 36.9 on a hot day!
Pulse in 70s-80s. About 90 on T3.
Blood pressure tended to be high from about 2008, I took taurine, kept the doctor at bay.
In spite of hypoglycemic symptoms, when I started testing I found I was on the high side, always. Usually around 5.9 (100ish) between meals. Like temps, unresponsive. Today 1 h after breakfast, 7.4. (130-135) 2 h later, 6.3 (110-115). Late afternoon an hour after fruit juice and cheese, 7.7 (135-140). Haven’t tested before breakfast for a while but used to be just over 6.
By 2014 cholesterol was so high doc was shouting about statins to me. FFAs high, LDL, liver enzymes had surprised doctors since my 20s – levels of an alcoholic. Felt hungover much of the time. Alcohol intake dropped from light to almost zero over the years.
From log March 2014, the landmark day he admitted that TSH of 4.5 now officially made me hypothyroid:
cholesterol - 290. Triglycerides 241
Progesterone 14.3 nmol/ L on day 23 of cycle - range 5.3 – 86
estradiol 541 pmol /L (nice and high ) doc says I'm not peri menopausal.
DHEA bit low
Cortisol 226/nmol /l fasting ( midrange)
Vit d 25.2 ( 'moderate deficiency ')n T3 and a bit of T4 since March 2014. Somewhat helpful but 6 months later cholesterol not much down confirming my impression of underdosing. Taking about the max without adrenalin backlash – approx. 6x5mcgT3 and about 12T4 at bedtime. Eltroxin and tertroxin. The former gives me adrenalin. The latter, not if I’ve eaten. Adrenalin is a problem but not aware of link to dosing T3.
Diet
2 occasionally 3 eggs for breakfast in 1tsp coconut oil. Can’t do without them or within days, hangover, dizziness. Choline and the liver I assume. A strong Vietnamese coffee, guessing 200mg caffeine. This is really the only successful meal of the day in terms of how I feel, and lasting effects.
Fruit, fat free milk, juice, gummies, cheese at intervals all day before t3 dose and if I feel stressed, or hyper, which I think are signals of stress hormones. Caution with liquids or I go backwards.
I underdo lunch and pay for it with late afternoon slumps. Never feel like much. Fruit and greek yoghurt (but lactic acid). Jellies made with fruit, sugar, gelatin (but averse at the moment). Gummies, cheese.
Supper is family supper, usually chicken or beef, mince, a bit of veg/salad. Homemade pizza. Sugared milk before bed and during the night.
Eat little starch, almost never higher pufa than what I get in eggs. Avoid fat but without jumping through hoops seems about 30g a day unavoidable, probably more like 50.90% homemade food.
I haven’t counted calories for ages but used to be about 2500.
Supps
B1,3, eggshell if not having much milk. Cypro, progesterone, clonidine (pretty much daily, 25ug, yes I know you’re not supposed to stay on it but it's brilliant for flushing, sometimes for mind racing at night) T3 and T4 as above. All these had marked effect initially, but other than clonidine, now don’t feel much unless I stop …
Sadly, I used to take a tablespoon of fish oil, 5htp, melatonin, liquorice root. To name but a few. Stopped 4 years ago. Birth control pill during my 20s. I’ve been lucky to dodge many bullets by avoiding docs but fell right into the health shop trap.
Considering more promising woman doc who might consider progesterone, pregnenolone. Otherwise stuck with: mediocre, push statins, don’t listen; or overpriced, overhyped, 5 mins max, still don’t listen.
Thank you for reading.
Attempts to raise things like caffeine and aspirin end in tears though revisiting often pays off, gone from 100 to 200, sometimes 400mg caffeine a day.
Pregnenolone now out of reach (prescription-only), but got strong positive then negative reactions, would like to revisit.
Flushing worse (it’s also hot) and missed period led to estrogen bad patch (swelling, weight gain, depression, energy slump, hangover, etc.). Progesterone helps. But my supply is threatened and can’t get anything via mail.
Recent 6g a day aspirin fail (malaise, tinnitus, headache then migraine, nausea, liver pain).
History:
Female, 51, recently started menopause, long dieting history, yo yoing, mostly low fat, marked by severe mid morning, mid afternoon energy dips with hypoglycemic symptoms and sugar cravings. Low carb 11 years ago, for 7 years, impressed by initial effects on weight loss, energy dips and cravings. Migraines began 1 year in, by 2011 I was permanently nauseatingly light headed and dizzy, deepening into migraine weekly.
About 15 years of fatigue and bad aching. Tested positive for rickettsia, chlamydia and another I forget – gulf war syndrome? CRP and blood pressure high. Treated with flagyl (very ill on this) and doxycycline, for a year. Much but not entirely improved, fatigue better for a few years.
PMS from about my 30s.
Minor symptoms a classic list of hypothyroidism. Insomnia, constipation, weight gain, brittle crumbling nails.
In 2010 – 11 I compounded the damage with rounds of hcg dieting because of the weight creep. I lost a ton of weight but the permanent dizziness got scary. I read Matt Stone’s blog and stopped dieting, prepared to pick up some weight if it would heal me.Put on a lot of weight (about 60 pounds, from trim to huge) especially on stomach. Health got worse. Slight cushinglike fatty hump on the shoulders. I felt I had aged 40 years, hair went grey, feet and ankles ached and swelled, I bloated, struggled to get out of a chair, muscles, strength and stamina vanished, I was breathless, exhausted, aching, insomnia went from bad to terrible, constipation about the same, without taking something like cascara, I’m in trouble. My voice got deeper and husky for a while. Better now, sometimes slight recurrence.
This is getting very long! Sorry!
Peating since September 2013, joined forum Jan 2014. Initially big boost from aspirin and sugar. Pattern of good and bad patches soon began/more noticeable. Bad patches – dizzy, hangover, nausea, exhaustion, aching, depression, bloating, weight gain, migraine, light sensitive.
Successes: migraines ended June 2014 due I think due to cyproheptadine, steadier ‘blood sugar’. What I thought was hypoglycaemia was more hyper in spite of having most symptoms, so I am confused as to cause. Most importantly forcing myself to eat to nip migraine in the bud.
Light sensitivity vanished, haven’t needed sunglasses since.
Aching much better thanks to aspirin and mostly avoiding yoghurt, cottage cheese. During bad patches it comes back.
Some improvement in bloating, feel a bit more comfortable.
Measurements
Temps stubbornly low, 36.4 on waking on a good day. Up to 36.9 on a hot day!
Pulse in 70s-80s. About 90 on T3.
Blood pressure tended to be high from about 2008, I took taurine, kept the doctor at bay.
In spite of hypoglycemic symptoms, when I started testing I found I was on the high side, always. Usually around 5.9 (100ish) between meals. Like temps, unresponsive. Today 1 h after breakfast, 7.4. (130-135) 2 h later, 6.3 (110-115). Late afternoon an hour after fruit juice and cheese, 7.7 (135-140). Haven’t tested before breakfast for a while but used to be just over 6.
By 2014 cholesterol was so high doc was shouting about statins to me. FFAs high, LDL, liver enzymes had surprised doctors since my 20s – levels of an alcoholic. Felt hungover much of the time. Alcohol intake dropped from light to almost zero over the years.
From log March 2014, the landmark day he admitted that TSH of 4.5 now officially made me hypothyroid:
cholesterol - 290. Triglycerides 241
Progesterone 14.3 nmol/ L on day 23 of cycle - range 5.3 – 86
estradiol 541 pmol /L (nice and high ) doc says I'm not peri menopausal.
DHEA bit low
Cortisol 226/nmol /l fasting ( midrange)
Vit d 25.2 ( 'moderate deficiency ')n T3 and a bit of T4 since March 2014. Somewhat helpful but 6 months later cholesterol not much down confirming my impression of underdosing. Taking about the max without adrenalin backlash – approx. 6x5mcgT3 and about 12T4 at bedtime. Eltroxin and tertroxin. The former gives me adrenalin. The latter, not if I’ve eaten. Adrenalin is a problem but not aware of link to dosing T3.
Diet
2 occasionally 3 eggs for breakfast in 1tsp coconut oil. Can’t do without them or within days, hangover, dizziness. Choline and the liver I assume. A strong Vietnamese coffee, guessing 200mg caffeine. This is really the only successful meal of the day in terms of how I feel, and lasting effects.
Fruit, fat free milk, juice, gummies, cheese at intervals all day before t3 dose and if I feel stressed, or hyper, which I think are signals of stress hormones. Caution with liquids or I go backwards.
I underdo lunch and pay for it with late afternoon slumps. Never feel like much. Fruit and greek yoghurt (but lactic acid). Jellies made with fruit, sugar, gelatin (but averse at the moment). Gummies, cheese.
Supper is family supper, usually chicken or beef, mince, a bit of veg/salad. Homemade pizza. Sugared milk before bed and during the night.
Eat little starch, almost never higher pufa than what I get in eggs. Avoid fat but without jumping through hoops seems about 30g a day unavoidable, probably more like 50.90% homemade food.
I haven’t counted calories for ages but used to be about 2500.
Supps
B1,3, eggshell if not having much milk. Cypro, progesterone, clonidine (pretty much daily, 25ug, yes I know you’re not supposed to stay on it but it's brilliant for flushing, sometimes for mind racing at night) T3 and T4 as above. All these had marked effect initially, but other than clonidine, now don’t feel much unless I stop …
Sadly, I used to take a tablespoon of fish oil, 5htp, melatonin, liquorice root. To name but a few. Stopped 4 years ago. Birth control pill during my 20s. I’ve been lucky to dodge many bullets by avoiding docs but fell right into the health shop trap.
Considering more promising woman doc who might consider progesterone, pregnenolone. Otherwise stuck with: mediocre, push statins, don’t listen; or overpriced, overhyped, 5 mins max, still don’t listen.
Thank you for reading.
so sorry your struggling SQu. I'm about to walk out the door for work atm but I will be keeping you in my thoughts and reply in more detail tomorrow. I hope you receive some valuable and helpful responses in the meantime.
