new, need help single mom: thyroid and progest-e

[Mittir]

RP has mentioned that endotoxin is related to dental problems.
I do not remember if he mentioned endotoxin only causing dental infection
or other problems too. My experience with OJ is that i get sensitive teeth
even when i use baking soda. My guess is that pectin in OJ is causing that.
There are many posts about females getting major benefits from using
large dose of progesterone. I do not remember the doses they used.
High dose of progesterone has sedative effect. I think RP also recommends
large dose of progesterone in the beginning. You can check old threads
for more information.

 

[sunmountain]

Mittir,

I have progest-e. That's what brought me to this forum. I got it and started using it, and got terrible symptoms. This was before I came to the forum when I was low-carbing and restricting calories and was hypo.

Now that I've been Peating 2-3 months, I can try progest-e again with the high starting dose regimen.

Will progest-e help with endotoxin?

And, what about the cypro? I'm wondering what might help me more to begin with.

Also, does RP say to first fix the hypo before trying progest-e? I'm still very hypo.

 

[Mittir]

Progest-E can minimize the effect of endotoxin by energizing the whole system,
particularly the liver. Endotoxin is one of the major cause of hormonal imbalance
as it increases estrogen. RP recommends against using progesterone when
there is enlarged thyroid gland. Progesterone can increase secretion of
stored thyroid hormone by lowering estrogen, which blocks thyroid hormone
secretion and conversion. This can cause temporary hyperthyroid state.
I have seen here people had to experiment a lot in finding the right dose of progesterone.
I do not know if you should start with large dose or not.
But, if i see small dose is not working it would be reasonable to try large dose.
Cypro lowers serotonin and histamine and improves everything in right direction.
If you do not have digestive problem with cypro, it can be very helpful.
Have you tried cronometer to figure out your carb, protein,vitamin and mineral intake?

Edit: Cypro helps with sleep by lowering histamine and the drowsiness goes away
after few days of regular intake. RP recommends starting with low dose, half mg.
I was having good results with one fourth mg.

 

[sunmountain]

Thanks so much, Mittir!

I started progest-e last night with the first dose 3 drops.

Today so far 4 x 3 drops, with a final dose at bedtime, bringing it up to 5 x 3drops.

So far so good. None of the awful symptoms that I got before Peating. Hope it continues. I haven't noticed much difference so far, but let's see. Perhaps I didn't feel as down as yesterday.

Now about the cypro. Do people take progest-e and cypro at the same time?

Also, I ate chinese food tonight...couldn't help it. Lots of pufa and soy, though I tried to minimize the broccoli. Is there something I can do to minimize the effects?

Thank you!

 

[sunmountain]

Also where can I get cypro? Farmacia has the liquid only, and I prefer tablet. Canada is very expensive.

 

[sunmountain]

I took only 4 doses of progest-e yesterday because my knees got a slight pain by the evening. I didn't sleep much last night. This morning, I was very fatigued, and the fatigue has lasted through the day. It was hard getting to work today and staying there. My morning mood was also low.

Progest-e seems to be intensifying the fatigue that was already there. Perhaps it increases the need for nutrients...I am eating as much as I can. I also believe I've been estrogen dominant for most of my life, so could it be the initial estrogen release, in which I should raise the dose.

What puzzles me is why my body doesn't let me increase T3 (prior to starting progest-e). I've been on a third tablet dose (divided) for several weeks, but when I try to increase, I get joint pains etc. On the other hand, I continue to feel fatigued (less so than when on progest-e) on this dose. From reading others' posts, people generally seem to be able to increase their T3 after a while.

 

[sunmountain]

Helloooo, I've discovered a major missing nutrient!!

Salt!!

Woo-hoo!!

I wasn't supplementing salt! Can you believe it?? I was so focused on sugar and all the other stuff, I forgot about salt.

I took a pinch of salt today with meals several times, and it has made my stomach considerably softer and flatter (though by now there is blubber that didn't used to be). I feel more energy!!!

Hooray!

Now for the questions. How will I recognize if I have too much salt? Will it give me diarrhea?

Can not enough salt cause waterlogging? Is that why I was having joint pains? Can water collect in joints and make them ache??

I can see now that when I started eating more calories, I'd need more salt to flush out the water because previously I was hardly eating much and almost not drinking, so there was no bloating.

I also upped the progest-e today from 3 drops per instance to a bigger blob each time. I need to figure out if today's diarrhea was due to too much salt or progest-e.

My mood is better cuz my body feels lighter.

Also I figured out I don't need to cook in the evenings, which helps me avoid beans/lentils. I like to eat 3-4 toasts with lotsa butter, strawberries with HG vanilla ice cream, a fruit, a cup of tea with 2 T green can gelatin, etc. This fills me up nicely, so I don't need a traditional "dinner."

Is there anything else I should take to drain the water from my body, or will salt be enough? I'm assuming I'm still carrying water.

Thanks!! Wow!!

 

[sunmountain]

oh and the chinese food craving the other day was salt craving, I know now!

 

[Blossom]

That's great news about the salt! I'm glad that it's helping you. Sometimes it really is the simple things that make such a big difference.

 

[tara]

Yes, according to Peat low sodium can contribute to waterlogging. I would not expect a pinch on meals to cause diarrhea, though a salt-heavy drink of water can apparently cause a cleanse (never tried this). I would expect too much salt to result in increased thirst and/or reduced taste for salt on your food. As long as you are going by how much salt on your food tastes good, and drinking according to thirst, I doubt it will get you into trouble.

 

[sunmountain]

I'm taking the pinches with water or juice!

I put the pinch on tongue, then swallow with water or juice. I have the pinches after or during when I'm eating other things.

So I've been cleansing all day?! That's kinda funny! :)

How else to take salt? I'm already salting food to taste, so the pinches would make the food taste bad. I can try reduce the amount of liquid needed to swallow to a couple swallows?

Definitely did not feel thirsty. So I'll keep eating more salt till I feel thirsty or reduced taste.

 

[Mittir]

Salt is a major part of RP's recommendation for many issues particularly in
lowering adrenaline, sleep problem, managing blood sugar and water logging. He regularly recommends high salt intake for female health issues. Extra salt can cause stomach upset.
I asked RP about it and he mentioned that people had fewer problems with
baking soda as sodium source. I think salt bath would be a safer route for sodium.
I could not find much information about sodium absorption through skin.
Though there are studies that measured magnesium absorption from
epsom salt. My guess is that absorption rate is probably similar for magnesium and sodium.
I use extra calcium, potassium to compensate for relatively lower intake of
magnesium and sodium. RP has mentioned endotoxin causing joint pain.
He also mentioned low thyroid /high estrogen causes cells to take up water.
Here is quote on that

Some of the nerve problems associated with hypothyroidism (e.g., carpal tunnel syndrome and "foot drop") are blamed on compression of the nerves, from swelling of surrounding tissues, but the evidence is clear that hypothyroidism causes swelling in the nerve cells themselves. For example, in hypothyroidism, nerves are slow to respond to stimulation, and their conduction of the impulse is slow. These changes are the same as those produced by hyper-hydration caused by other means. Hypothyroid nerves are easily fatigued, and fatigued nerves take up a large amount of water. Swelling of the spinal cord is probably responsible for the "spinal stenosis" commonly seen in domestic animals and people; the mobility of intracellular water molecules is distinctly increased in patients with compression of the spinal cord (Tsuchiya, et al., 2003; Ries, et al., 2001).

The hyperhydration of hypothyroidism has been known to cause swelling and softening of cartilage, with deformation of joints, but somehow it has never dawned on surgeons that this process would lead to deformation of intervertebral disks.
http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/water.shtml

 

[sunmountain]

Thanks, Mittir!

I took the salt with much less fluid today, and had diarrhea only once and mild. The absence of bloating is truly wonderful! I've been putting baking soda in juice for a while now, but it didn't prevent the bloating. If I had increased the quantity, the juice doesn't taste good. I think the salt intake will not be a problem.

Joint pain is not an issue right now. I was wondering if the bloating might have been one reason for it in the past, and it seems RP is saying it might.

I'm wondering right now whether I should continue the progest-e. I'm taking the mega doses, but not feeling any of the wonderful changes that other posters have mentioned. Unless the progest-e is contributing to the elimination of bloating, along with salt, I can't say I feel anything else. Today was day 4 of mega dose. I wonder if the effect might be cumulative in some cases.

The fatigue is now less after the bloating, but still significant. I have not gone hiking for a long time now because of it, which has contributed to my low mood. I think until my temps/pulse come up more, it will probably not go away. I can try increasing the T3 again, and perhaps my body will tolerate it now that the bloating is out of the way.

Last night I again did not sleep much, though perhaps more so than the day before. I will continue experimenting with juices and salt at bedtime a little longer, but if this continues, I will order cypro.

 

[Mittir]

1 tsp of baking soda is 4 grams and 1 tsp of table salt is 6 grams
and approximately 30 percent of baking soda is sodium and
40 percent of table salt is sodium. When i take 1 tsp of baking soda
i am really getting 1200 mg of sodium and with table salt 2400 mg of sodium.
You probably did not get much sodium from baking soda added to juices.
I do not like the taste of juice when i add too much baking soda but it taste
quite good when there is a little bit of acidity in the juice.
I can easily get a lot of salt when i eat it with french fries and
fruits like guava and orange. Another possibility is that you had low stomach acid
before and chloride from salt increased that. This should improve digestion and
decrease bloating.

 

[sunmountain]

Thanks, Mittir! Your comparison of salt and baking soda is very helpful. Do you supplement with baking soda apart from putting it in juice?

I do think I have low stomach acid. My mother too.

Last night I did not sleep at all. I could not drink a lot of juice at bedtime and might have taken a bit too much T3. I also felt hot all over, and thought it might be a hot flash, and took an extra mega dose of progest-e, which seemed to help with the heat.

Before bedtime I had racing heartbeat (which I've not had for a long time since Peating) and pulse of 100. Again that could be too much T3 (I'm cutting back again today), though I don't think I took all that "too much." But perhaps my body is very sensitive to T3. And not enough juice, while salt and mega progest-e.

I'm going to order cypro today and get some benadryl for tonight. I haven't been sleeping well for days.

Drinking enough juice continues to be a problem because my body doesn't like much fluid.

 

[sunmountain]

Hello wonderful forum friends,

Something good is happening with the progest-e, I think.

My mood is better. Not feeling weepy or too sad.

I think I have more energy. Still not like I used to be, but better than, say, 2 days ago.

Insomnia still bad. But I had Friday off from work, so I slept during the day to catch up sleep, and today too.

I'm also getting a hive on my right cheekbone -- yesterday evening and this evening. So some histamine type stuff going on.

I really should get benadryl tomorrow and take it at bedtime.

Too early to tell for sure, but it feels like something is happening deep inside that's good. It has to do with progest-e and salt.

 

[sunmountain]

Last evening I ate a lot of very ripe watermelon at a friend's house. And slept through.

My waking today was 97.1 and 77. This is correct reading because I slept through. It's an increase. I was stuck at 96.8 and 74/75 for a long time. During those days, I would get 97.1 only when I did NOT sleep through the night.

Even a small increase has helped significantly with fatigue. This morning and yesterday morning I did not have the dreadful tiredness upon waking and at the thought of getting out of bed.

 

[sunmountain]

Didn't sleep much last night (after eating watermelon), and got quite bad diarrhea today. I think lotsa adrenalin going on...but why?

Can't figure out why diarrhea. Too much salt? (About 2 small pinches today.) Is progest-e dose too high? Feeling a bit shaky right now. Just took homeopathic remedy for diarrhea. Had to cancel work meeting that had been difficult to schedule.

On the plus side, I got my doc to call in cypro at my local Rite-Aid!! They had to order it, so I can pick it up tomorrow. I don't know what strength she ordered. I plan to start with 0.5mg, or as close to it as possible. Hopefully the diarrhea resolves by tomorrow.

 

[sunmountain]

Have been drinking a bit of milk lately. A 4 oz cup in the afternoons, in addition to couple ounces in tea and oatmeal in mornings. Also took 200mg magnesium glycinate today and yesterday.

Hmm. If anyone has ideas...

 

[tara]

Sometimes diarrhea is just a tummy bug - ie we sometimes accidentally pick up some pathological microorganisms from somewhere. It may not have all that much to do with whatever else you are doing, other than that good strong stomach acid is better at killing off some of them. Have you tried a couple of large doses of activated charcoal over a couple of days?