Shrimp's Peat Log- Thyroid, Anxiety And Acne Issues, Oh My!

[Mittir]

Re: Shrimp's Peat log- thyroid, anxiety and acne issues, oh

Your prolactin is quite high. RP thinks prolactin is a major indicator of good health and it should be 4-7 for male fertility and for female 2- 12. Normal lab range used to be 2-12 . In "KMUD: Hair loss, Osteoporosis " he mentioned that estrogen and serotonin increase prolactin ,and prolactin increases hairloss and boneloss. Your serotonin test will be useful in understanding your high prolactin. He mentioned that thyroid, Vitamin A and calcium helps to lower prolactin. In another interview 'East West Healing: Estrogen, Progesterone" he discussed prolactin too. Here is the link
http://eastwesthealing.com/podcasts/ray-peat/
There is this study that showed how high serotonin rich foods like banana and pineapple increased serotonin in urine.
They recommend avoiding these foods before test.
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/42/4/639.full.pdf

 

[Shrimp]

Re: Shrimp's Peat log- thyroid, anxiety and acne issues, oh

Thank you everyone for the info and suggestions about prolactin, Vit. A, progesterone etc. I did notice the prolactin, but wasn't sure what to do about it. I'll try to get more sunlight and calcium.

I'm posting now to note that despite feeling decent the past few days, I've been having what seems like random heart palpitations/flutters. They had been sporadic, but today they got worse and my heart rate rose to 105, and has been a constant 90-100 for the past two hours now. Body temp is normal. I took 1/2 of a small Ativan pill because I began getting extremely anxious about why my heart rate sped up so much, and it was just making it worse. I am afraid because the time I ended up hyper in the ER my heart racing was my main symptom, though it shot up to 140 then and was coupled with sweating, shakiness, excessive urination and extreme lightheadedness. The feeling now is uncomfortable and worrisome, but I am hoping it will pass eventually. I was doing well and now I feel like I am backtracking...it gets frustrating. I'm going to try to rest and keep it together so I can work tomorrow.

 

[Shrimp]

Re: Shrimp's Peat log- thyroid, anxiety and acne issues, oh

I skipped my second and third dose of thyroid medicine yesterday (I take 30mg 2x/day and 15mg at night)and my pulse was back down to the 70s/80s by the evening. Couldn't sleep due to jolts of anxiety/fluttering and pounding heart, but managed to sneak a few hours in somehow. Woke up with 98.2 temp and 79bpm pulse still feeling lousy. Reluctantly called in sick to work because I don't want to push it today when I'm still iffy on what's going on. E-mailing my doctor to ask what to do about my dose.

I don't know how people self-treat with thyroid; with me at least, it has been such a struggle to get this dose right and the way I feel when I overshoot it is so awful that I can't imagine experimenting with these powerful hormones on my own.

 

[jyb]

Re: Shrimp's Peat log- thyroid, anxiety and acne issues, oh

You meant 30 and 15 mcg?

 

[Shrimp]

Re: Shrimp's Peat log- thyroid, anxiety and acne issues, oh

You meant 30 and 15 mcg?

Whoops should have specified 30 and 15mg of NDT, so about 75mg/1.25 grain total over the day.

 

[charlie]

Re: Shrimp's Peat log- thyroid, anxiety and acne issues, oh

Shrimp, I understand the issues of trying to find the right dose as I am dealing with that myself. Anytime I get up to 2 grains I start getting this real intense feeling over my whole being, energy plummets, and just feel all around not good at all. Then, when I drop my dose, say like to 1.25 grains. For a couple of nights I will also have to deal with the shocks waking me up right when I try to get to sleep. I just really have to pay super close attention to how I feel and if I start to get those over dose feelings then back off the dose. I dont see how a dr will help in this situation because only I know how I feel. And if I wait for a dr to tell me to back off the dose, or to take more, then things can get out of hand. So for me, I just back off the dose a bit. And just wait it out till things stabilize.... at least for a couple weeks, even longer would be good. Then I slowly raise .25 grains and then wait for at least a couple of weeks again. A longer wait might even be better, say 3 weeks.

Also, as you get more sun during the summer you will need less thyroid. So keep that in mind to.

Oh, and when I have those shocks, or that intense feeling. I tell myself without a doubt this is only from a little too much thyroid and I am going to be fine soon as the levels come down a bit. I think, if I sat there and freaked myself that things would seem much worse then they really are. So I just take it as part of the process and work through it.

 

[Shrimp]

Re: Shrimp's Peat log- thyroid, anxiety and acne issues, oh

Shrimp, I understand the issues of trying to find the right dose as I am dealing with that myself. Anytime I get up to 2 grains I start getting this real intense feeling over my whole being, energy plummets, and just feel all around not good at all. Then, when I drop my dose, say like to 1.25 grains. For a couple of nights I will also have to deal with the shocks waking me up right when I try to get to sleep. I just really have to pay super close attention to how I feel and if I start to get those over dose feelings then back off the dose. I dont see how a dr will help in this situation because only I know how I feel. And if I wait for a dr to tell me to back off the dose, or to take more, then things can get out of hand. So for me, I just back off the dose a bit. And just wait it out till things stabilize.... at least for a couple weeks, even longer would be good. Then I slowly raise .25 grains and then wait for at least a couple of weeks again. A longer wait might even be better, say 3 weeks.

Also, as you get more sun during the summer you will need less thyroid. So keep that in mind to.

Oh, and when I have those shocks, or that intense feeling. I tell myself without a doubt this is only from a little too much thyroid and I am going to be fine soon as the levels come down a bit. I think, if I sat there and freaked myself that things would seem much worse then they really are. So I just take it as part of the process and work through it.

Hi Charlie,
Do you get an increased heart rate when you start feeling unwell? I find that the most alarming, along with that feeling of dread that makes it hard to sleep. Also shortness of breath, tightness in chest...not good feelings.

I try to tell myself that it is too much thyroid but then I find myself wondering, why is it too much now when the same dose was fine two weeks ago? Or is it some weird adrenaline response instead? What separates hyper symptoms from symptoms of excess adrenaline? It's also odd because I go from very clearly hypo to having these "hyper" symptoms with no real normal middle ground where I feel healthy. I guess it's just a balancing act. Thanks for sharing your experience. :) I'm fortunate in that I can get an almost immediate response from my doctor via e-mail when things get rocky; she told me to take no thyroid today and start back up on 1/4 grain less of a dose tomorrow.

I'll definitely keep in mind the sun's being a factor in dosage, as I think that may be partly why I went hyper last summer after not adjusting my dose from the winter.

 

[Shrimp]

Re: Shrimp's Peat log- thyroid, anxiety and acne issues, oh

Took about 50mg of NDT yesterday, a little less than what my doctor told me to start back up on. Had some vanilla Haagen Dahz before bed per usual. Went to bed at 11:30pm, woke up at 4:30am. Was fine when I woke up then BOOM, anxiety/sick feeling washed over me. Had some fruit, didn't seem to do much. Water seems to, erm, go right through me soon after I drink it. Pacing around the house seems to help somehow; high adrenaline? Odd tight/heavy feeling in chest and heart palps still there. I seem to run hot/cold in waves. BP 114/69, pulse 85. Temps all over the place. Sometimes I'm cold so I don't think I'm hyper...

Gotta go to work in four hours; I'm so anxious and tired and just plain awful feeling but I feel like staying home and doing nothing while feeling like this may be worse than trudging through work. This is beyond frustrating. I was doing ok and now it feels like I am back to square one. I want to cry. Venting here helps some because my friends and family don't really understand, so I don't wanna bother them by talking about how I feel.

 

[Shrimp]

Re: Shrimp's Peat log- thyroid, anxiety and acne issues, oh

Still having uncomfortable and unnerving heart palps, anxiety and generally feeling extremely uneasy. I've been nibbling on a 60mg NDT tablet/day instead of the 75mg I was on before. Temps today are between 98.2-98.5, pulse from 75-85. So, not hyper; prob weird adrenaline stuff at this point.

I'm wondering if I may be low on some mineral leading to the palps. I was somewhat low on magnesium and have been supplementing, but not really getting much calcium. Going to try to be consistent with calcium supps and see if that helps.

 

[Beebop]

Re: Shrimp's Peat log- thyroid, anxiety and acne issues, oh

Hi Shrimp. I have experienced some similar symptoms to the ones you're posting about - night time palpitations etc. I thought it was due to too much thyroid meds, but when I asked Peat about it, he said it was probably endotoxin-related. Based on later observations I made, I think he's right. So I am now in the process of trying to sort that out.

Of course, I don't know if that is what is happening with you, but it could be worth looking into. The thing is, night time endotoxin symptoms seem to mimic hyperthyroid symptoms pretty well (at least in my experience)...

 

[Shrimp]

Re: Shrimp's Peat log- thyroid, anxiety and acne issues, oh

Hi Shrimp. I have experienced some similar symptoms to the ones you're posting about - night time palpitations etc. I thought it was due to too much thyroid meds, but when I asked Peat about it, he said it was probably endotoxin-related. Based on later observations I made, I think he's right. So I am now in the process of trying to sort that out.

Of course, I don't know if that is what is happening with you, but it could be worth looking into. The thing is, night time endotoxin symptoms seem to mimic hyperthyroid symptoms pretty well (at least in my experience)...

Hi Beebop,
That is interesting about the endotoxin causing palpitations. Are you doing anything in particular to sort that out? I have been eating the carrot salad pretty much daily but it doesn't do much. I'd like to try charcoal but it's hard to fit it in since you have to take it away from food. Not sure if antibiotics would do more harm than good...The palps have decreased in the past few days, fortunately.

---
Some random notes for the log:

I have serious difficulty handling physical and emotional stressors right now, and all this Peat stuff is supposed to help with that, but I'm not having much luck. I thought thyroid was supposed to help with anxiety, but it doesn't seem to at the moment. The only thing that has definitely helped so far is Progest-E, and when I'm desperate to stop a panic attack, 0.5mg of Ativan, but that is less than 1x/month usually. I've started taking inositol as well and it seems to be helping a bit, but needs more time for me to tell for sure.

It probably doesn't make much sense, but I feel like I have two different types of adrenaline response. When I get panicky and feel chest tightness/shortness of breath and generally really lousy, that is one type, and it comes on fairly randomly. Another type I experience is after playing certain video games, I get REALLY warm (99.6 last time I measured!) and somewhat sweaty, heart beats faster but doesn't really pound and I'm not any more anxious. No idea what causes this. I hope I'm not stressing my body out more by playing games because I do enjoy them. :/

 

[FunkOdyssey]

Re: Shrimp's Peat log- thyroid, anxiety and acne issues, oh

That is interesting about the endotoxin causing palpitations. Are you doing anything in particular to sort that out?

As someone who has experienced palpitations that I also attribute to endotoxin, here is how I have addressed it:

1) Starve gut bacteria by consuming avoiding all forms of indigestible carbohydrate. No starch, no sugar alcohols (sorbitol, maltitol, etc), no fructans. Very limited fiber (less than 10g daily, mostly insoluble). Fructose consumed in 1:1 balance with glucose. Lactose-free milk and white grape juice are my favorite, most easily assimilated sugars.

2) Keep the gut moving efficiently so toxins cannot accumulate. Use laxatives as necessary. Some people like cascara sagrada, I prefer magnesium oxide. One or two 400mg mag oxide capsules at bedtime is all I need.

When I stick to that plan I am in good shape.

 

[Beebop]

Re: Shrimp's Peat log- thyroid, anxiety and acne issues, oh

I am still working out what works for me. I eliminated a few things from my diet and have been re-introducing them one at at time. Then I notice if I get night sweats or if I sleep well. It's taking me a while to work out, and I don't necessarily think it's a static situation. Not sure. I'll report back when I have figured out more.

 

[Swandattur]

Re: Shrimp's Peat log- thyroid, anxiety and acne issues, oh

I only just started reading this thread and haven't read all of it, but wanted to comment. It sounds like your response to the video games is okay if it doesn't make you anxious and you like them. Maybe they are helping your metabolism. Maybe it is a good hormone response and the opposite of a bad stress response.

I seem to have histamine intolerance and gelatin among other things seems to cause me problems. Chocolate causes some sort of problem. Just thinking histamine intolerance might be something to consider.

 

[elka]

Re: Shrimp's Peat log- thyroid, anxiety and acne issues, oh

Hey, Shrimp!

You could try Vitex to reduce prolactin. See http://www.toxinless.com/vitex for supplement reviews. Also, Andrew Kim adviced some sort of stimulant laxative (like Dulcolax) to rid body of bacterial load in the intestine (thus endotoxin).

 

[charlie]

Re: Shrimp's Peat log- thyroid, anxiety and acne issues, oh

Shrimp, no I don't really ever get a fast heart beat. I just get this really intense feeling all over.

 

[Shrimp]

Re: Shrimp's Peat log- thyroid, anxiety and acne issues, oh

@FunkOdyssey: Do you feel full with the milk and grape juice as your main sugars? I'd like to try cutting out starch as I eat a decent amount of potatoes every day, but when I try to substitute the starch carbs with fruit I end up hungry. :/

@ Beebop: Thanks for keeping me posted; hope you can find some relief!

@ Swandattur: I'm hoping that's the case with the video games, as I do like playing them and only do so for an hour or two per day, anyway. I'll look into histamine intolerance as I'm not familiar with it, thanks!

@ elka: I think the prolactin is a byproduct of low thyroid instead of a cause of it, if I understand correctly. I'm hoping as my levels stabilize that it will decrease, but I'll look into the Vitex if it doesn't. Thanks!

@ Charlie: Ah ok. I'm guessing the symptoms of too much thyroid differ a bit in different individuals.

--------

Had another "attack" a few nights ago. Went to bed at 11pm, woke up at 1:30am extremely anxious, heart pounding and nauseous, short of breath. Spent the night pacing the house, far too uncomfortable to sleep. Ended up dry-heaving while having cold sweats a few times, and feeling like I had a brick in my chest. Burped a LOT. Was out of commission the whole day from the lack of sleep and anxiety/nausea; able to eat some rice toast, applesauce, yogurt, bananas, gelatin broth with salt. Temps were low/normal. I was supposed to get blood drawn that morning but I don't get THAT worked up over it...Still burping a lot/anxious. This anxiety and panic is driving me up a wall; my mom seems convinced everything is in my head. I want so badly for this Peat stuff to help, but I've found little relief so far. I just want to feel calm and comfortable, not constantly anxious and in pain.

 

[Jenn]

Re: Shrimp's Peat log- thyroid, anxiety and acne issues, oh

Sugar/fruit vs starch increases your metabolism...so yeah, you would need more food because you are using it better.

 

[FunkOdyssey]

Re: Shrimp's Peat log- thyroid, anxiety and acne issues, oh

@FunkOdyssey: Do you feel full with the milk and grape juice as your main sugars? I'd like to try cutting out starch as I eat a decent amount of potatoes every day, but when I try to substitute the starch carbs with fruit I end up hungry. :/

Yes, you just have to make sure you are getting enough calories overall. Whole milk helps vs. lower fat milk.

 

[honeybee]

Re: Shrimp's Peat log- thyroid, anxiety and acne issues, oh

Have you tried aspirin before bed? Last nite I awoke with choking sensation no breathing panicky jump out of bed unfortunate experience. Scared the crap out of me. I dissolved 325 mg aspirin in water and drank it down. Went right back to sleep. I don't usually have sleep issues though.