My Journey To Optimal Health

[Cirion]

I actually had to take the day off because I felt ill, I suspect from the halogen detox from intaking Iodine in large dosages. I have decided to take the plunge and go for 50 mg of iodine a day. Nate thinks I should only have 20mg a day (probably to avoid my situation where I had to call in sick lol), but if you read his book he himself mega-dosed iodine a few times which likely then reduced his need to continue high dosages (on one day he said he went as high as 900mg DO NOT TRY THIS AT HOME KIDS - I AM NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY ER VISITS DUE TO SEVERE BROMINE TOXICITY LOL just saying what he did). Bromine toxicity can kill if you release something on the order of 2-3 grams of it at once (and presumably, a 2-3 gram dosage of Iodine would cause this). While that would make the detox faster, it'll also make you die, so yeah, don't do that. So yeah, be careful going that crazy. I am reading that 50 mg a day for 6 months should saturate most people with at least 90% iodine, at which point you can drop to around 20-25mg probably. You can do urine tests to see how saturated you are, if you want. You can tell if you are 100% saturated if all the iodine you take gets excreted immediately (this is why Iodine toxicity is not really a thing, apparently the body easily gets rid of it compared to the other halogens) in your urine. I may do a test in a couple months to see where I'm at.

Also, had grass fed liverwurst just now and WOW I can just say that it is providing a lot of nutrients I was deficient in because instantly I got clarity of mind, energy, and a stimulation of the appetite too lol. This stuff is probably here to say.

For anyone who has never tried organ meats before - I can definitely say that liverwurst is 1000% better than any other meat, even grass fed beef, for nutrients. I will never go back to any other meats ever again. Liverwurst is the first meat I've ever had (first protein source for that matter) that doesn't make me lethargic after eating it. Super pro-metabolic, even more than gelatin (IMO).

I'm also excited to try out Grass-fed raw milk this weekend.

 

[Cirion]

Learned some things over the weekend, or rather, got a better appreciation for it.

The only way you can have restful sleep is if you can maintain a 98.6F deg body temperature while sleeping. The whole nonsense of it's "normal" to drop body temperature while sleeping is 100% BS. Sleeping in a cold room is also bad and false "advice" for sleeping. Sleeping in a dark room may even be a load of crap also (the jury is still up on this, I may experiment with some light in my room also).

The reason why so many of us Hypo have bad sleep is because our body temperatures drop (that is actually NOT a good a thing despite it being "normal" to drop a degree or more, which its not).

I keep my house at around 70-72 deg at all times now, even while sleeping. Here's something interesting I just learned though. I get too hot if I try to sleep when its 70-72 deg normally under a comforter. But I read someones' success story of bring their sleeping temperature up - and it involved a sleeping bag. I own a sleeping bag already, so I figured why not try it? I thought I'd get hotter, if anything, since my sleeping bag is rated for pretty much 0F. Well here's the interesting part... yeah I was warm, but I didn't actually didn't feel as warm as I did under a much lighter blanket, weird. What's more, I managed to get my highest waking temperature yet (98.1F). Still not totally rested upon waking, but I am very close. The reasoning is it takes less work for your thyroid to keep you warm if the ambient temperature is warmer therefore it gives your thyroid a break rather than constantly pumping out TSH to get your T3/T4 up. This is some what of a "Band-Aid", but I feel like restful sleep is CRUCIAL for healing the thyroid, so I am going to do every thing I can to make it happen.

 

[Motif]

Wouldn't that much vitamin c deplete copper?


Btw. I wish I would gain more weight, but stagnating unfortunately

 

[InChristAlone]

I have a lot of experience with sleep and temps. When my temps were high, they ran over 98.6 all day and would only drop a bit at night and then start rising too quickly I had to eat when that would happen because adrenaline would kick in. It's not fun to have to pound food. Now my temp does go down at night but I sleep well and haven't needed to eat at night for a few yrs. Waking temp is usually 97.9-98.2 depending on if I ovulated then quickly rising to 98.6. I do sleep warm but two blankets with the heat on is too much and I wake up more. It feels good to be regulated.

 

[InChristAlone]

So keep sleeping warm to get the temps up but don't overdo it or you then switch on adrenaline because you run out of fuel.

 

[Cirion]

Yeah my temps and pulses these days are mostly fairly good except for night time and I never wake up properly refreshed so that's the only thing I can figure why. Having to constantly be eating is a pain for sure, I am eager for that to tone down a bit. How did you get to where you didn't need to eat at night anymore? I can't even seem to make it past sleeping 2 or 3 hours. And yeah, like I say, I get too warm with just the comforter but the 70-72 deg ish range plus the sleeping bag works out for me it seems. I also seem to dream more with the sleeping bag.

Wouldn't that much vitamin c deplete copper?
Btw. I wish I would gain more weight, but stagnating unfortunately

I don't know much about the relationship between vitamin C and copper... but these days I have added liverwurst to my foods, which I believe is high in copper?

Haha, want my weight?? I have plenty of unwanted weight lol

Another update - I believe I have started to become accustomed to my high dose Iodine intake. I barely even noticed any negative effects of 50mg intake this morning. It's my belief now then that the benefits of Iodine bonding to my thyroid gland have now overshadowed the drawbacks of the other halides being released from the gland. Let's hope now that it only gets better from here. I ordered Dr. Brownstein's book on Iodine and will look more into the protocol in detail. It's probably worth doing a test soon to see how saturated I am in halides vs. Iodine. You have to do both tests, because the Iodine test can show that you're saturated, when in fact you're not if the halide test shows lots of halides (other than Iodine) - this means your body, even though it needs the Iodine, isn't taking it properly. I think he mentions that he had two daughters with Hashimoto's, both of whom he has cured with his Iodine protocol. That's pretty impressive. I think most Dr.'s basically consider Hashimoto's a death sentence these days, not realizing there is in fact a relatively simple fix. Women are the most susceptible to Iodine deficiency for various reasons (one being that during pregnancy they apparently lose a lot, probably to give to the baby and whatnot). This is interesting and probably helps to explain why a lot of women become obese after childbirth. I used to think it was just because they eat a lot, but I now believe hormones play a greater role than calories at weight management. Dr. Brownstein said 95-97% of the 6000 patients he has seen over the years have at least some deficiency, with the vast majority of Iodine deficient being SEVERELY deficient. Is it no surprise that obesity and thyroid problems are so rampant? Not to me. 97%!!! that's basically the entire human population... It is now my belief (certainly up for adjustment if I'm proven wrong) that the vast majority of people on thyroid meds could easily ditch them if they had correct Iodine levels. In fact, and this may be heresy to suggest that Ray Peat is wrong, but I think he wouldn't need to take thyroid or at least not as much if he optimized his iodine levels. I am willing to wager he is deficient, given his negative stances on Iodine.

 

[Whichway?]

If it were me I would NOT go to a dose of 50mg of Iodine so quickly.

1. Your thyroid gland needs 48 hours to adjust to each new increase in dose of iodine, which it initiates as a protective effect to prevent it over-producing thyroid hormones.
2. Detox is a process that relies on several steps in handling and escorting harmful substances out of the body. While iodine may liberate bromine from binding sites in the body there will be other proteins and enzymes involved in dealing with the liberated bromine. Your body will also need time to make more of these to deal with the clean up.

Move up slowly so your body can adjust and that way you have less chance of overloading your body during the detox.

 

[Cirion]

Yes you're probably correct. I am very headstrong and like to dive into things quickly, for better or worse, lol. Anyway, as of today, my reaction to 50 mg seems to be minimal, so I think I'm past most of the initial detox symptoms now and really they weren't THAT bad. Just felt kinda like the onset of a cold and a little fatigue. I think I heard somewhere that you will get around 3 days of symptoms if you are dumb like me and jump straight to 50 mg, and that's about right, it was about 3 days of symptoms.

I think part of my problem too was I did my first workout after around 2 weeks off the gym and slightly over did it, sore etc, and the next day after I had some symptoms crop up. Lesson learned lol. Can tell my body is still not ready for anything more than a light workout. The day or so afterwards it was tough to keep my body temp elevated.

 

[Cirion]

98.1F again this morning. I think I'm starting to improve slowly but surely... a slight bit of fatigue from my iodine dosage this morning but it mostly went away fairly quick, so that's going well also.

I felt really good last night. I think it is really helping to watching entertaining/funny TV shows (anime) before bed. Laughter is definitely good for the thyroid!

I also bought Organic OJ, which I seem to respond to better than the OJ I was getting before. I may be on the hunt for Cold-Pressed OJ (which is the best you can buy) soon, and I'm picking up my Raw Grass-Fed Milk tomorrow. Realized that my oranges I have been eating were NOT organic also, which might explain why they didn't seem to 100% agree with me. Wal-mart seems to have organic oranges, limes, and lemons, all of which I plan to make use of now. Organic spinach... organic everything. I am really cleaning up my diet.

I have also been religiously using my 300W lamp that Nate recommended to me, every time I'm home. Am now using distilled water for any and all water that goes into my mouth to avoid any potential halides, pesticides, etc from tap water.

 

[Cirion]

This morning is perhaps my best morning yet.

Woke up with new milestones:
98.1F Temp
80 bpm pulse !!!! Incredible, I have never been able to wake up with anything better than 70-75.

I actually felt pretty good soon after I got out of bed. Right upon waking I felt groggy but as soon as I got to the bathroom I felt good, so it passed even before getting caffeine.

I am still sleeping in the sleeping bag, though I dropped my whole house heat to 68F, because it got a little too toasty in there at 72. I am convinced the sleeping bag is part of my secret. Some of this may sound like quackery science but here's my reasoning. Because I also sleep inclined, and CO2 is heavier than oxygen, I could see how it could "fall inside" the bag and get stuck (sleeping on an incline) inside the bag. Whatever the reasoning, it works for me, so I'm gonna keep doing it. I suppose another reasoning could be that sleeping in an enclosure reduces stress naturally, because it makes your body feel "safe". Another plausible explanation. I am going to start looking into more CO2 boosting options like bag breathing. I used to think CO2 was quackery, but now that I've seen its effects first hands, I am a believer of CO2 now.

Anyway, pulse almost perfect, now I just need to get my waking temperature to 98.6...

Oh, and another thing I've changed, is I now have organic coconut sugar instead of cane sugar. I hadn't realized that cane sugar is refined "junk" sugar. Virtually all my food is now transitioned to Organic / raw. I will be getting my raw milk this afternoon.

 

[Cirion]

So I just tried raw milk for the first time! It has a very mild flavor to it. Not strong like commercial milks. It definitely does seem more "pure", and I don't seem to get brain fog after drinking it. I'm happy with it.

I have been reading Dr. Brown's book on Iodine some more. I got to his section on treatment protocol for Thyroid AutoImmune disorders.

Iodine 12.5mg - 50 mg a day (doing 50 mg already)
Vitamin C 3-10 grams (I do at least 10 grams a day so good here too)
Vitamins B2 (Riboflavin) - 200 mg a day. Could do better here. I was only doing 50 mg a day. Doubled up on mushrooms, 100mg.
Vitamins B3 (Niacinamide) - 1000 mg a day. Could do better. Need to double my dosage here.

One thing that's worth noting. In the book he has seen people make "Miraculous" recoveries after the B2 and B3 protocols, because B2 and B3 are the drivers to utilize the high dose Iodine (skipping all the science/technical details unless someone is interested to learn a little more)

It's worth noting that I feel fantastic, often euphoric, after my evening meal of nutritional yeast + mushroom + spinach etc. Which btw is high in B2/B3... I'm starting to think Dr. Brown truly is one smart man. I will see how I feel tonight after doubling up on both B2 and B3 and vitamin C also and report back.

 

[Cirion]

I've decided I need to go on a heavy anti-bacterial regimen. My bloat had been getting worse and worse. I may have parasites too.

Last night I had a tsp of flowers of sulfur, this morning I had 2 cups of coffee, 1 cup of coconut sugar, 2 tbsp. of coconut oil, 100 mg iodine, 325 mg aspirin, 4 gram vitamin C, and a tsp of salt. Let's just say I went to the bathroom 4 times in the span of an hr and I think I got rid of a lot of junk in my system, so I think it seems to be working, I plan to do this a few times until I'm happy with the bloat probably.

 

[Motif]

I've decided I need to go on a heavy anti-bacterial regimen. My bloat had been getting worse and worse. I may have parasites too.

Last night I had a tsp of flowers of sulfur, this morning I had 2 cups of coffee, 1 cup of coconut sugar, 2 tbsp. of coconut oil, 100 mg iodine, 325 mg aspirin, 4 gram vitamin C, and a tsp of salt. Let's just say I went to the bathroom 4 times in the span of an hr and I think I got rid of a lot of junk in my system, so I think it seems to be working, I plan to do this a few times until I'm happy with the bloat probably.

My bloating and coated tongue is gone since months of cds high dosed (two months ) and a few months on Oregano oil , cinnamon extract , Rizol , alimax.
This was years ago


Still constipatet unfortunately



Oh i forgot I took iodine over two weeks too and even teatree oil a few drops

 

[Cirion]

I think the saturated fats really matter, especially coconut oil. I was just reading some other guy saying he has 70 grams of saturated fats a day, all from coconut oil, and it cleaned out his system in a few days. The anti-septic properties of saturated fats is not unknown to us Peater's, and in fact it's a big reason RP wants you to have coconut oil with the "carrot salad" probably. I think those of us with more serious bloating problems though may need to have more than just 1-2 tbsp. of coconut oil a day (he says you only need like 1 tbsp. a day, but did admit that when he played around with increasing coconut oil intake he actually lost more weight).

I think the reason why coconut oil may have the strongest anti-septic properties out of all saturated fats is because of its high MCT oil content. I might start doubling up, maybe increase my intake to 4 TBSP a day with my coffee.

I think things are starting to make sense to me now. This probably also helps explain why the vast majority of people can't do a low fat diet starting off. If people are like me, they got lots of bacteria to kill, and unfortunately sugar can and does feed bacteria, but I guess if the anti-septic fat intake is high enough, it can counter this effect, until which point you've killed off all the bad guys and can drop fat intake a bit and increase sugars more.

 

[Motif]

Never felt any benefits from coconut oil and I used a lot.

Still using it.

 

[Cirion]

I think it seems to work better for me when its in the context of a larger regimen. I've had instances where it didn't do much for me either. Also I think it seems to work better when I take already melted in liquid form and with some other liquid, like with warm/hot coffee. If I just take a spoon to a jar of coconut oil it doesn't seem to be as effective for me.

My EMF scanner arrives today. I will probably update with what I learn about the EMFs in my home from this.

One possible explanation as to why it may be more effective in liquid form is I believe I read Nate Hatch saying some of it can absorb directly through the mouth and basically skip the digestive tract, but only if it is melted before going into you. This is where the idea of "Oil Pulling" came into being actually.

 

[Cirion]

I believe I have made a few beneficial strides. My sleep isn't what I'd call "Great" from last night BUT I did wake up somewhat refreshed, even though my sleep was fragmented, and I had a better time "waking up" my metabolism than normal.

What I've done:

1. Eliminate EMF's everywhere possible. I stopped using headphones (lots of EMF there). Historically after work I like to plop in front of my TV and put on headphones and play video games or watch TV. I still do one or the other but I no longer use headphones. I also found out my CPAP machine emits a LOT of emf and was maybe too close to my bed. I moved it and now there is 0 EMF emitted at my bed. I think this made a difference.

2. Increase red light (incandescent lamp in house, f.lux on PC, blue light blocker glasses)

3. More carbs and saturated fats at night, emphasizing cholesterol high foods like egg. I woke up in the middle of the night hungry and made myself Egg Nog (6 raw eggs, 1 cup of raw milk (emphasis on raw milk, makes a big difference), 1/2 cup of honey, some salt). I got this idea after reading that this was the night time snack of choice from a guy that improved his T levels from 100-1000 (not a typo) naturally. Sure enough, I had some "activity" downstairs soon after this drink :P So, I'm sold lol

4. Starting to get more serious about implementing some ideas regarding Uncoupling & Liver health improvement
Specifically, I tried this this morning to great effect (No brain fog in the morning this time, and my metabolism almost turned on "immediately" from this).
2 cups of coffee (organic)

Each cup of coffee had:
1 TBSP coconut oil
1/2 cup of pure maple syrup
1/2 tsp or so of sea salt
5 mg vitamin K2
25 mg Iodine (Lugols)
100 mg riboflavin, 500 mg niacinamide (ATP cofactors)
100 mg selenium
2 grams of vitamin C
300 mg of Magnesium

This instantly brought my temp to 99 deg F.

I plan to add aspirin to the mix once it arrives in the mail.

 

[Cirion]

Holy crap the hunger is REAL. I really under-estimated how much the uncoupling stack would have on my appetite. I brought what I thought would be plenty of food to work, ate it all by 3 pm and was absolutely RAVENOUS after getting off work. I'll be eating a big dinner lol....

I had 2 more cups of coffee, with 5 mg of K2 and 2 gram of vitamin C each extra cup. That probably didn't help with the ravenous appetite :P I was able to keep my pulse and temps really high and fast the whole day. Caffeine really is a wonderful vitamin, RP was right lol

 

[Cirion]

Had some weird experiences last night.

Lots of fragmented sleep again, also a couple fairly vivid dreams (one in particular was VERY vivid). That's not the interesting part though.

I found myself sweating like crazy even though the house temp was fairly low (66F), and my temperature actually went UP through the night past a certain point. It did drop from 98.6 to 97.7-07.8 at something like 2 am, but by the time I got up this morning at around 9 am, it rose back up to 98.1. What's going on? Lol. Maybe I managed to achieve uncoupling after all, and the body was actually actively trying to up-regulate metabolism, while trying to fight back against stress hormones trying to bring it back down? I think it's good news. I feel like it's my metabolism finally fighting back, whereas before it would just give up lol.

I'm gonna go on a protein fast today at the suggestion of my coach (Nate Hatch). I will be having a LOT of carbs and fat to make sure I get plenty of calories still though.

 

[Cirion]

Protein fast had limited utility. Dunno if it really did a whole lot for me.

I think I have still been under-eating. On sunday in particular I tried to eat better/more. I woke up at the highest temp yet (also more sweating during the night) - 98.3F. I find my new favorite night time "snack" now is the home made egg nog, seems to keep temps up. Key seems to be ample fats and carbs. I can't seem to keep my temp up with carbs alone.

Perhaps not a surprise but this morning I also achieved my all time best temperature yet - 99.9F after my morning coffee.

I also learned, through starting to read "Food Babe"'s book that you should not mix liquids and solids together within 30-60 minutes of a meal. I was having some unexplainable fatigue problems on the weekend couldn't figure out why. I think her suggestion works. I didn't have problems after I followed that advice. If you must have liquids with a meal she suggests warm tea or something (so, never a cold drink with a meal). I often would have cold OJ/water/milk with a meal. Apparently that causes more problems than I realized for the digestive tract.