New And Need Advice On My Situation - Very Fearful

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I know there is only so much insight I can get on my situation without bloodwork, but I just feel like something is terribly wrong. I have this overwhelming sense of fear constantly. I have been taking synthetic thyroid for 7 weeks now, taking 2 grains daily. It is very cold where I am, so I plan on increasing in a week as my temperatures are still not in the 98's. Or should I just increase now? Idk. These are the questions I struggle with because no doctor has really been helpful to me.

I found a broda barnes doctor, but he was pushing iron and hydrocortisone on me. This process of "being your own doctor" is incredibly overwhelming.

I experimented with vitamin b6 and got some scary symptoms with bad anxiety, and have stopped that for atleast a week. I won't be taking that ever again.

I was taking dollar store aspirin and then I switched over to a bayer brand from toxinless and also got some bad symptoms. Aspirin poisoning I guess its called. Thyroid hormone stopped working as well and I have stopped that for 2 days and will proceed cautiously in the future when using aspirin. I got a subconjunctival hemorrhage which was very minor and I am a bit better but still fearful.

Maybe i'm still recovering from these two events? Could the b6 still be causing this?

I'm thinking about just going to the emergency room to get checked out.

I take a lot of pregnenolone too, which I think helps with anxiety. But this recent fear/anxiety is unlike anything I've ever experienced.

So many variables here.

Idk this fear is worthy of going to a psych ward or whatever. I guess I fear I have a serious neurological disease like ALS or something because my body has been so weak and frail. Idk what to do any more. I don't trust doctors to help me because they'll tell me to get off the thyroid because TSH is too low. They'll tell me to stop the pregnenolone. I don't want them to push SSRI's on me. I have a doctor who is prescribing the thyroid, but he seems pretty clueless. maybe the mayo clinic?

I look forward to your responses. thank you in advance.
 

tara

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Welcome Peatarianways :)

I have this overwhelming sense of fear constantly. I have been taking synthetic thyroid for 7 weeks now, taking 2 grains daily.
Not sure I understand the dose - grains is most often used to measure natural dessicated thyroid (NDT), while mcg are more often used to describe synthetic T3 and T4. What do you have?
From scratch, or did you build up to it over a couple of months or more?

It is very cold where I am, so I plan on increasing in a week as my temperatures are still not in the 98's. Or should I just increase now? Idk. These are the questions I struggle with because no doctor has really been helpful to me.
How low are your temps? Resting heart-rate? What other symptom/ issues troubling you?
There are other factors to consider along with thyroid, including nutrition.

I experimented with vitamin b6 and got some scary symptoms with bad anxiety, and have stopped that for atleast a week. I won't be taking that ever again.
How much did you take? Peat has suggested that 10mg is a high dose.

I was taking dollar store aspirin and then I switched over to a bayer brand from toxinless and also got some bad symptoms. Aspirin poisoning I guess its called.
How much aspirin did you take? What for? What bad symptoms? Vit-K may help against any excess tendency to bleed that is caused by aspirin. Peat has recommended supplementing K2 if taking aspirin regularly.

Are you saying the conjunctival haemorage started after the aspirin or after the B6 or you had it before? How long have you had it? I think they normally just resolve themselves - as far as I know they are not dangerous in themselves, but might be nice to know why it happened. Have you got any symptoms that the emergency dept might consider serious?

Idk this fear is worthy of going to a psych ward or whatever. I guess I fear I have a serious neurological disease like ALS or something because my body has been so weak and frail. Idk what to do any more. I don't trust doctors to help me because they'll tell me to get off the thyroid because TSH is too low. They'll tell me to stop the pregnenolone. I don't want them to push SSRI's on me. I have a doctor who is prescribing the thyroid, but he seems pretty clueless. maybe the mayo clinic?
Does that mean you have a recent TSH reading?

Is the fear/anxiety your main issue that you are trying to resolve? Did something very scary/dangerous happen recently, or is this chronic?
I wouldn't put SSRIs at the top of the list of things to try either.

Here are some of my usual questions, if you want to give more info:
What have you tried so far to improve things, and how did they affect you?
What and how much are you eating?
Are you getting regular sunshine on your skin?
How is your breathing? Relaxed, nasal, diaphragmatic?

While you are considering your next steps, I'd recommend reading/listening to some of Peats articles or interviews.
 

tara

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They'll tell me to stop the pregnenolone.
Pregnenolone doesn't work for everyone, but my hunch is that if it feels helpful to you,it probably is.
 
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Hmm...Thanks for your help, a lot to think about but not enough energy to respond :(

But I appreciate it
 
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I find that I have panic attacks since starting thyroid and I wonder if this is just a normal part of the process as my addiction to stress hormones subsides. It's extremely scary when it happens, but it seems similar to what would happen when someone takes LSD. Maybe that is the ego death and there is a subconscious fear that my mind made self is dying as my metabolism improves. As I take thyroid the fearful thoughts become more and more intense, it's like the ego is trying to survive at all costs necessary. The fears become very real.

This response doesn't seem to be discussed much around here. I came across this quote:

"Bad food and other stressors can degrade the whole system, producing functional rigidities similar to those resulting from a bad up-bringing, but if a person has a hint of the way things could be, the system can recover, sometimes with a change of diet, or climate, or of mental context-possibilities, or a missing hormone. If a person has a very rigid idea of how existence is supposed to be, the changed metabolism from taking thyroid, for example, making energy flow strongly, can seem as unpleasant as being in a foreign culture." -Raymond Peat
 
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DrJ

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I had a similar experience of fear after about 8-10 months of Peating and high-ish pregnenalone doses (~400-500mg/week) with frequent aspirin. For about 1 month I had this constant irrational fear that I was about to die in some freak accident. That a plane was about to crash into my work, or a car jump the curb and hit me on the sidewalk or other pretty silly things. I was constantly imagining ways in which some crazy event was about to kill me. However, I should note that besides this fear, my energy level and alertness level were very high, and physically I felt awesome, which sounds a little different than your situation. It was mainly like my mind was running overtime on some silly subjects.

I don't know exactly which one it was since I started all 3 at the same time, but I started taking daily Vitamin A, Vitamin K, and Vitamin D and the fear went away and I have not had it since. What I suspect was going on was that I had managed to finally raise my metabolism to a higher level (this took me quite some time as measured by temperature if you see some of my other posts), and my need for vitamins had risen commensurately, but I was not supplying them. Probably the mind was trying to force me into some sort of cocooning mode to conserve vitamins. This is, of course, all speculation on my part, but at the least I'm suggesting you try a Vit. K supplement, especially if you are taking much aspirin. FYI I take 25,000IU Vit. A, 5,000 IU D3, and a 500mcg MK-4/100mcg MK-7 K2 supplement for my body mass of ~74kg. My money is on the Vitamin K putting the pep back in your step :)
 

Catcream

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I understand taking your health into your own hands can be very daunting. I also understand lack of faith in the medical profession. It is very difficult to know what is the right thing to do, what supplements, what amounts and when and which ones ! As a very cautious person by nature, I am loathe to take supplements or indeed prescriptions from doctors, including ssris which seem to be particularly dangerous things. I saw your other post regarding thyroid. Which one are you taking ? Is it under doctor's advice or from self diagnosis ? This forum is very pro thyroid supplementation and it is easy to become convinced that these supplements are the answer . AS Tara said, What is your life like ? What is your job ? Do you have fear and general anxiety in day to day living ? How is your diet ? Do you eat good food ? I personally have had amazing benefits on progest e. I am much calmer, happier, confident however I also gained a bit of weight which was perhaps caused by the progesterone. I take aspirin and K2 to help with bleeding and niacinimide, some say this helps with social anxiety. However I also changed my diet from low carb, no sugar to more Peaty and rid myself of a very stressful job. Change tkes time, I don't know what specifically helped...On this forum, people can share their experiences but we will all react in different ways. I found reading and listening to generative energy very helpful and reading pranarupa and Karen Mcc, listening to Dr Peat interviews also helpful...it takes you out of your head and allows you to realise you have a place in the world, whatever the place is, it is ok. It is very hard, like trying to fix your own car with a manual you can't quite understand but be kind to yourself and take it slowly. Warm regards.
 
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tara

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Panic attacks often go with hyperventilation. Bag breathing, as suggested by Goodandevil and Giraffe, is one of several tactics people here use to help raise low CO2 levels, and one that Peat has recommended. If you want to try it, get a paper bag and breath in and out in it until it gets uncomfortable - maybe a minute or three. If it's helpful, you can probably do it several times a day. Others include meditation, Buteyko exercises or other controlled/reduced breating techniques. Sometimes dietary changes can be helpful to support this. If you have habits of mouth or chest-breathing, these can be retrained.

Increasing thyroid hormone levels can apparently increase sensitivity to adrenaline - I don't know if that's part of what's going on for you since starting thryoid supps, but maybe it's a possibility. If it's a good dosage from other points of view, the adrenaline sensitivity is likely to calm down after a small number of weeks.
 

tara

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I think you are saying the strong fear is new, arising after you started supplementing thyroid, right?
I'm still not clear which symptoms made you start taking it in the first place?
I wonder if you have been taking too much?
 
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The fear is gone now. I have been taking 75 mcg t4 and 20 mcg t3 for 7 weeks now which from what I understand is equal to two grains of armour. I will be increasing to 100 mcg t4 and 25 mcg t3 in one week. I'd like to do it now, but I'll just wait like broda Barnes suggests to wait two months.
 

whit

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Yea,
Honey can be a great sleep aid too especially if the comb is included.
 

tara

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The fear is gone now. I have been taking 75 mcg t4 and 20 mcg t3 for 7 weeks now which from what I understand is equal to two grains of armour. I will be increasing to 100 mcg t4 and 25 mcg t3 in one week. I'd like to do it now, but I'll just wait like broda Barnes suggests to wait two months.
Are you dividing that T3 into several doses each day? Like 8? Peat's recommendation with T3 is usually to nibble tiny amounts every couple of hours. T3 has a short half life, so you can keep the blood levels more stable this way.
 
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peatarianways, Do you notice if your episodes of fear coincide with gut or digestive issues? Could be excess serotonin?

Red light can be very calming and warming during winter.
 

tara

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I find that I have panic attacks since starting thyroid and I wonder if this is just a normal part of the process as my addiction to stress hormones subsides.
I don't think panic attacks can be construed as a good thing.

What and how much are you eating?
And did you increase nutrition along with thyroid supps?
 
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