Need help with afternoon crash/anxiety attacks/stress tolerance

[coffeelover]

Hello all. I am a mother of 4 kids, ages 1 to 9. I'm 33. Although I feel better overall and have more energy (especially in the morning) than I used to, I'm really struggling with crashing in the afternoons/evenings.
I haven't started taking my Temps yet because it is just overwhelming to think about. I think I probably should though. I sleep better than I used to, I fall asleep pretty quickly around 11 and sleep til about 6 when I have to pee then I try to go back to sleep til 7. I should go to bed earlier but my oldest sometimes isn't asleep until 9 or 9:30 and I take a while to destress/decompress/relax after they all go to bed.
So right now, I am crashing hard every afternoon...coincidentally, I crash from about 3-7 pm, basically from school pickup until after dinnertime....which is the busiest time of the day. So my kids only see me when I'm struggling to stay awake while driving, and short tempered at all their noise and questions. I really want to give them my best but I feel awful at that time of day and just want to crawl into bed. It's so sad.
I also get this heart-racing feeling almost every afternoon. It's almost always when I'm driving the kids somewhere, trying to make dinner, supervise homework, keep baby happy, or whatever and I just have a lot to juggle. When things are really stressful it can be almost like a panic attack. I'm getting so snappy with the kids because I feel awful and don't have patience when my heart is racing. How can I fix this? It is an awful feeling. It doesn't seem to matter if I've had a snack recently or not. Any help will be most welcome.
Happy to provide more details if it's helpful. Thanks.

 

[Peatful]

Don’t underestimate the stress of four children.
Im not saying you should feel anxious and stressed.
But let’s acknowledge that being a mom to four littles is a demanding full time job.
Best and most fulfilling job in the world-
But it requires great emotional and physical stamina.

So-
If you are doing any restricting diet wise - i would immediately stop that.
That is primary.

Second-
Please make sure you try to keep your blood sugar steady.
No crashes.

Third-
Get to bed earlier.
Rest. Rest as much as you can.

Probably six small meals a day with supportive snacks when needed.

I think you should respond quickly.
You are only 33 and are clearly reproductively healthy.

But you are in a stressed state.
A real physiologically one- and that is usually due to an energy deficit and poor blood sugar regulation.

Eat.
Rest.
Give yourself a break.
And eat some more.
Guilt free.

Best.

 

[coffeelover]

Don’t underestimate the stress of four children.
Im not saying you should feel anxious and stressed.
But let’s acknowledge that being a mom to four littles is a demanding full time job.
Best and most fulfilling job in the world-
But it requires great emotional and physical stamina.

So-
If you are doing any restricting diet wise - i would immediately stop that.
That is primary.

Second-
Please make sure you try to keep your blood sugar steady.
No crashes.

Third-
Get to bed earlier.
Rest. Rest as much as you can.

Probably six small meals a day with supportive snacks when needed.

I think you should respond quickly.
You are only 33 and are clearly reproductively healthy.

But you are in a stressed state.
A real physiologically one- and that is usually due to an energy deficit and poor blood sugar regulation.

Eat.
Rest.
Give yourself a break.
And eat some more.
Guilt free.

Best.

I immediately started tearing up reading this. Because I weigh 194 lb, down from 202 at the beginning of September, and I haven't even been able to lose 10 lb for YEARS. I've been feeling like maybe the calorie deficit is not a good idea right now, (the stress but also my hands are incredibly dry and scaly) but I'm so so so wanting to get the extra weight off. It's been 8 years of being overweight and super uncomfortable in my body (and also not really restricting food for most of that time)...My body is finally responding to something...and it backfires like this. Makes me so sad and frustrated.

 

[Peatful]

I immediately started tearing up reading this. Because I weigh 194 lb, down from 202 at the beginning of September, and I haven't even been able to lose 10 lb for YEARS. I've been feeling like maybe the calorie deficit is not a good idea right now, (the stress but also my hands are incredibly dry and scaly) but I'm so so so wanting to get the extra weight off. It's been 8 years of being overweight and super uncomfortable in my body (and also not really restricting food for most of that time)...My body is finally responding to something...and it backfires like this. Makes me so sad and frustrated.

You have months and years ahead to let your body work with you.
The weight will come off.
But- just a hunch- I literally know nothing about you other than what you have noted above- but your body is telling you clearly now is not the time.
You have four littles!
My goodness- you need to nurture yourself.
Feed yourself.

Im only going on your original story. And the fear behind it.

You are simply in a stressed state. An energy deficit.

If you think Im off- please discount my assessment.

And don’t think eating equates with weight gain.
Eating equates with health.
Life.
I was so skinny I couldn’t get pregnant nor hold on to the embryo/fetus once pregnant.

You are “healthy”.
The weight will come off as they age and grow.
You’re husband thinks you are a queen.
Be kind to yourself.
You’ve birthed four humans.
You are raising four children.
Name a job that requires more energy!

 

[biohacker]

Salt!

 

[coffeelover]

Salt!

Haha. details??

 

[biohacker]

Haha. details??

Sorry for the brevity and belated reply! Salt is great for blocking stress hormones. Your description of what you experience seems to strongly suggest an overproduction of the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol and perhaps a deficiency of salt.

Also, pregnenolone might help a lot according to what Haidut posted yesterday.

Pregnenolone (P5) blocks stress-induced anxiety, hypertension and cocaine cravings

A great new study, and with humans too! As the study aptly demonstrates, the primary driver of cocaine cravings is likely stress and the anxiety it causes. This finding is another corroboration of the findings of the great Rat Park experiment/study on "addiction". In the study below, the...

bityl.co

I like Jigsaw's Adrenal Cocktail and Ideallabs StressNon. I take both every day once or twice per day. I also use Ideal's Allopregnenalone.

Hope this helps!!

 

[coffeelover]

I will definitely work on including more salt. If I eat mostly fruit and dairy I have to work on including salt; if I'm eating "normally" I tend to salt my food very well.

I haven't tried pregnenalone but am using progesterone.

So, since writing this, I have started reading Broda Barnes' Hypothyroidism book. Wow. I am classic subclinical hypothyroid. I've suspected it for years but I really match up to his description. I've always been someone who needed a lot of sleep, gets sick a lot, shy, tend toward depression/overwhelm, tend toward super dry itchy skin, eczema, plugged ears/hearing loss, fatigue, high cholesterol.... and as an adult have also put on weight during pregnancies and had some sleep disturbances and anxiety crop up. Since my last pregnancy I have been getting sick every 4-6 weeks (about 10 or 11 times total in 15 months!!) and my basal body temp is low (97.1-97.5). So, I'm experimenting with more desiccated thyroid, gradually, and also eating more, resting more, not doing the heavy weight lifting right now until my metabolism/thyroid are running better. Progesterone is regulating my cycle, thankfully. I am seeing gradual changes and I'm assuming weight loss will be the last thing to happen once my body feels safe and healthy.

My 3 older kids actually have certain symptoms of his "hypothyroid patient" also which makes sense because if I was hypothyrpid during pregnancy, I could have passed on the deficiency to them. I'm thinking I'll take their basal body temperatures also just to see. I highly recommend this book!

 

[biohacker]

I will definitely work on including more salt. If I eat mostly fruit and dairy I have to work on including salt; if I'm eating "normally" I tend to salt my food very well.

I haven't tried pregnenalone but am using progesterone.

So, since writing this, I have started reading Broda Barnes' Hypothyroidism book. Wow. I am classic subclinical hypothyroid. I've suspected it for years but I really match up to his description. I've always been someone who needed a lot of sleep, gets sick a lot, shy, tend toward depression/overwhelm, and as an adult have put on weight during pregnancies and had some sleep disturbances and anxiety crop up. Since my last pregnancy I have been getting sick every 4-6 weeks (about 10 or 11 times total in 15 months!!) and my basal body temp is low (97.1-97.5). So, I'm experimenting with more desiccated thyroid, gradually, and also eating more, resting more, not doing the heavy weight lifting right now until my metabolism/thyroid are running better. Progesterone is regulating my cycle, thankfully. I am seeing gradual changes and I'm assuming weight loss will be the last thing to happen once my body feels safe and healthy.

Hypothyroid is a very big deal and seems almost never diagnosed by typical docs. I like Broda Barnes! I also like "The safe uses of cortisol" by McJefferries. Out of print and very expensive. You can get most of what he says in "Stop the Thyroid Madness". Also a great book!

 

[Peachy]

Adrenal cocktails and naps! Even a 5-10 minute snooze while some of the kids are at school. You’re doing heroic things and you need to squeeze in that extra rest.

 

[coffeelover]

Adrenal cocktails and naps! Even a 5-10 minute snooze while some of the kids are at school. You’re doing heroic things and you need to squeeze in that extra rest.

man you guys make me feel good about myself! heroic!

 

[biohacker]

man you guys make me feel good about myself! heroic!

Being a great mother is heroic!

 

[Peachy]

man you guys make me feel good about myself! heroic!

We need that reminder sometimes! This made me think of you today.

 

[coffeelover]

We need that reminder sometimes! This made me think of you today.

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That is beautiful!! Thank you! I've known for years that I'm a "small plate" girl (can't put too much on it or I fall apart) but I also like this analogy of the small cup.