Suspected "too Low Cortisol" And Iron Deficiency

[Insomnia]

I am curious what a doctor would say about the 140 bpm. Maybe you can try asking them?

That's actually a wise thing to do, I will ask him that aswell. I wrote everything down on paper so I know what to ask for, since there will be some bloodtests aswell.

PTH, lactate, cortisol, estrogen, etc., increases TSH.

Progesterone decreases TSH and increases free T4.
T4 levels and TSH is usually inversely correlated, because high T4 reduces TSH levels.
Your T3 seem a bit low so I assume conversion rate is low. This can be due to elevated cortisol, inflammation, mineral deficiencies, such as selenium, etc.
It might be good to test T4 (not free) and PTH.

Your T is also above the mentioned upper limit. Maybe it would be good to test estrogen (estradiol & estrone sulphate) and prolactin too.

So it's actually elevated cortisol? What would describe or be the cause of the nightsweat attack (hypoglycemic like symptom) where I had where I had to eat some food before everything calmed a bit down. Or perhaps it was just something between the ears, I honestly am starting to doubt myself at this point XD.

 

[Insomnia]

Can you describe in more detail the "hallucinating" state you were in? Were your lymph nodes swollen? If you have anemia then you should probably eat a lot of beef liver (high in both iron and vitamin A, vitamin A deficiency can cause anemia as well). I know you take a lot of vitamin K but perhaps you should stop for a little bit and see if it helps, vitamin K can definitely cause rapid heart rates and other weird symptoms by lowering tissue calcium too much. In fact I would stop all supplements for at least a week and see if anything changes. Big changes in calcium metabolism can cause symptoms that resemble anemia.
Its worth noting that I've had symptoms very similar to yours before in the past when on too many supplements and overstimulating my metabolism.

The hallucinating part was when I just woke up. I opened my eyes, then closed them. I literally saw the weirdest things. The moment didn't last long and I thought I was still dreaming at that point but at the same time I realized I was awake, perhaps I was still transitioning from sleeping to being fully awake. I can't recall that this "hallucinating" has happened before though.

After hallucinating and waking up the first tiem, the lymph node/throat area did feel a bit swollen all the way down to the upper abdomen and the other side of the back. When I ate the food, some time later it literally IMMEDIATELY relieved the tight feeling, as if a switch turned off. 2-3 hours later I got tired and went to sleep again.

 

[Makrosky]

As other user mentioned I would stop all supplements, fasting, training, strange food combinations and focus on calming down. 3 meals a day mixed carbs, protein and saturated fat. Real meals not monomeals of OJ, sugar, milk or coffee with gelatin or weird things. Get plenty of rest, ask the doctor about the 140bpm and maybe even using short term benzodiazepines like 4-5 days (the ammount that can't cause any addiction or whithdrawal, ask the doc) and see. You seem very anxious and probably in a feedback loop. Then as you gradually calm down you can start thinking more clearly.

Also I would focus on the MAIN symptoms you are experiencing right now, otherwise it is really difficult to follow, at least for me. If you can elaborate a simple list it will help everyone: the docs, you and us. Use bulletpoints, like if it was a powerpoint presentation.

Ask the doc to check your lymph nodes by hand. They know if they are inflammed.

 

[Insomnia]

As other user mentioned I would stop all supplements, fasting, training, strange food combinations and focus on calming down. 3 meals a day mixed carbs, protein and saturated fat. Real meals not monomeals of OJ, sugar, milk or coffee with gelatin or weird things. Get plenty of rest, ask the doctor about the 140bpm and maybe even using short term benzodiazepines like 4-5 days (the ammount that can't cause any addiction or whithdrawal) and see. You seem very anxious and probably in a feedback loop. Then as you gradually calm down you can start thinking more clearly.

Also I would focus on the MAIN symptoms you are experiencing right now, otherwise it is really difficult to follow, at least for me. If you can elaborate a simple list it will help everyone: the docs, you and us. Use bulletpoints, like if it was a powerpoint presentation.

Ask the doc to check your lymph nodes by hand. They know if they are inflammed.

I'm going to stop all supps for now. I will train however as I want to see how I respond to it, and if I get similar symptoms in the morning then bloodworks that 'll be done tomorrow might show something (otherwise I'd do you what you recommend, as it seems wise to not overburden the body right now by incorporating training). I was actually going to write it down everything, so I can indeed focus on the main points. It will be easier to follow for people reading the thread. Thank you btw!

 

[Makrosky]

And also, don't be obsessed with cortisol. Normally all stress hormones go hand by hand : cortisol, adrenaline, noradrenaline, etc.

 

[Makrosky]

I'm going to stop all supps for now. I will train today however as I want to see how I respond to it, and if I get similar symptoms in the morning then bloodworks that 'll be done tomorrow might show something (otherwise I'd you what you recommend, as it seems wise to not overburden the body right now by incorporating training). I was actually going to write it down everything, so I can indeed focus on the main points. It will be easier to follow for people reading the thread. Thank you btw!

It will be easier for you as well. You have to discard the noise right now.

You are welcome! You'll get better. Try to stay calm.

 

[Insomnia]

It will be easier for you as well. You have to discard the noise right now.

You are welcome! You'll get better. Try to stay calm.

I took bloodtests this thursday and friday. They will be measuring my thyroid / vitamin D/ testosterone / iron status (transferrine etc.) / cortisol.

They printed my results of 2 months ago also, which was after the bad experience of 2 months ago I also had this test, it shows really high b12 levels (which was from the multivitamin, very high dosed b12). It's one of the few things besides TSH that's standing out. Also, my TSH at that time was 4.0, which isn't as ridiculous as the 8-12 range I've been in before.

Results of 7-12-2018:

gamma GT 17U/L Limit is 55
ALAT 30U/l Limit is 45
kreatinine 89 umol/L Range is 64-104
eGFR (MDRD) >60mL/min Minimum is 60
eGFR (CKD-EPI) > 90mL/min/1. Minimum is 60
cholesterol 5.00 mmol/L Limit is 5.00
glucose 4.6mmol/L Limit is 7.8
vitamin B12 1380 pmol/L Range is 140 - 600

Hemoglobin 10.6 mmol/L Range is 8.5 - 11.0
MCV 86 fL Range is 80 - 100
RDW 13 % Range is 11 - 15.2
Leukocytes 6.7 /nL Range is 4.0 - 10.0
TSH 4.0mIU/L Range is 0.40 - 4.7
CRP <4 mg?l Limit is 5

 

[Insomnia]

I also bought iron pills this (iron bisglycinate) dosed at 15mg and I planned to use it for about a week or 2. After using a couple, I quickly noticed relief when it came to getting "enough air" and my body warmth was also increasing. I felt (during my training) that I had an easier time to get a warm feeling/to get things going and it was easier for me to sweat. While I normally belief that one needs more days of supplementing before you can actually feel the difference, I thing it definitely did something (whether it's for the good I don't know). I also had reintroduced OJ before training to load up on some carbs.

Getting down to the "waking up at night" thingy I noticed that this Friday, after having a big meal which consisted of 4 eggs and meat (which was rich in protein) and I drank alcohol free beer to get some carbs. I also salted the food heavily to make it taste good. One last thing I had before bed was a glass of milk with 1-2 chocolate pieces. What happened was, I had a similar thing (but without the pain) like Monday night. I woke up and I was quite nauseous and it felt like a hot flash, where I was feeling very hot (all over the body) and didn't feel like I wanted to eat anything but I forced myself to drink regular 7-up for quick carbs. Soon after I ate a couple of dates and again, I noticed symptoms were quickly going away. This has to be something regarding blood sugar and I think I just had too few carbs which caused hypoglycemic symptoms. I also filled big bottles with hot water to keep myself warm because soon after eating I cooled down alot. I slept for another couple of hours and got up for work afterwards on Saturday morning.

I also tried pregnenolone for the first time in my life (yesterday) and it was a very low dosage but I definitely experienced something unique yesterday. I will write a follow-up regarding the experiences.

 

[Insomnia]

I also came across a publication where they even say that an iron deficiency without anemia is very possible: Iron deficiency without anemia – a clinical challenge
I thought it might be worth sharing.

 

[wintagal]

Stop iodine supplementation. In some people it can cause very high TSH. You have had high TSH but your free T4 is consistently in range so docs are reluctant to treat you as hypothyroid.

 

[Insomnia]

Stop iodine supplementation. In some people it can cause very high TSH. You have had high TSH but your free T4 is consistently in range so docs are reluctant to treat you as hypothyroid.

I was thinking of reintroducing it, but I guess I will hold off for now (haven't touched it for a very long time)

 

[ebs]

I'm suprised how it's possible you have high testosterone with shitty thyroid. I was under the assumption the two were positively correlated.

Anyone care to explain how you can have above reference range T while being hypothyroid?

How's your libido anyway?

 

[Insomnia]

I'm suprised how it's possible you have high testosterone with shitty thyroid. I was under the assumption the two were positively correlated.

Anyone care to explain how you can have above reference range T while being hypothyroid?

How's your libido anyway?

I am surprised myself too, lol. I'm glad that you pointed it out, because it was something I wanted to mention myself. Perhaps someone can give a clarification regarding the high T while having a sluggish thyroid.

My libido (when I look awhile ago, can't exactly recall when but let's say a bit longe then a year) was a bit low. I drove estrogen very very low, I had joint paints everywhere and I took almost every estrogen antagonist you can think of when you look at vitamins/minerals and dosed them very high.

The thyroid being sluggish to that degree didn't help either. I think iodine also played a role, because I was taking massive doses. I did get good things from iodine too, but it's something that needs to be done cautiously. I still won't use it for now though.

Nowadays, I feel way better and as of lately, my libido feels very strong.

 

[Douglas Ek]

All of the other tests were fine I think, I'll post some lab results below so you can see how it shifted:


23-02-2017 (an old one of 2017 while I was using iodine, not sure):

TSH 8.4 mIU/L range is 0.40 - 4.7
T4 (free) 14 pmol/L range is 12 - 22
Testosterone 34nmol/L range is 7.0 - 25)
Anti-TPO <28 kU/l range is, should not exceed 60
25-OH Vitamin D3 130 nmol/l range is 50 - 150

03-11-2017:
TSH 12 mIU/L range is 0.40 - 4.7
T4 (free) 13 pmol/L range is 11.5 - 23.0
Testosterone 30nmol/L range is 7.0 - 25
Ferrithin 90 ug/L range is 20.0 - 280.0
Transferrin 2.4 g/L range is 2.0 - 4.1
Transferrin saturation: 28% range is 20 - 45
Iron 17 umol/L range is 14 - 35
25-OH Vitamin D3 90 nmol/l range is 50 - 150
Anti-TPO <28 kU/l range is, should not exceed 60

20-12-2017:

TSH 7.6 mIU/L range is 0.30 - 4.2
T4 (free) 14 pmol/L range is 12 - 22
Testosterone 29nmol/L range is 7.0 - 25)
25-OH Vitamin D3 96 nmol/l range is 50 - 150

01-08-2018:

TSH 2.8 mIU/L range is 0.40 - 4.7
T3: 1.2 nmol/L range is 1.0 - 2.8
T4 (free) 14.6 pmol/L range is 11.5 - 23.0
Testosterone 28nmol/L range is 7.0 - 25 (I think 28 nmol is 808 ng/dl)

02-03-2018

TSH 8.5 mIU/L range is 0.40 - 4.7
T4 (free) 13.5 pmol/L range is 11.5 - 23.0
Ferrithin 38.7 ug/L range is 20.0 - 280.0

22-06-2018 (I think this was right after the fasting month)

TSH 3.7 mIU/L range is 0.40 - 4.7
T3: 1.2 nmol/L range is 1.0 - 2.8
T4 (free) 16.7 pmol/L range is 11.5 - 23.0
Testosterone 29nmol/L range is 7.0 - 25
Ferrithin 53..5 ug/L range is 20.0 - 280.0
Transferrin 2.4 g/L range is 2.0 - 4.1
Transferrin saturation: 30% range is 20 - 45
Iron 18 umol/L range is 14 - 35

A couple of months after that I had another (wet)cupping session btw, removing bad blood.

If you’re ferritin went from 90 to 50 in one year then you donated more blood in my experience you are sure iron deficient now specially since you’re male. A lot of people here will disagree with me but I see the symptoms like clockwork when men tend to fall lower than 90. At 50 you really start noticing effects and under 50 most people feel like crap and a lot of people I spoken to get better taking iron within just a month. Its good to experiment whats the right level for you to feel good. We already have an antioxidant system in place with vitamin C and E to controll the oxidation of iron. A lot of process requires controlled oxidation and iron as a co factor for this an example is dopamine production. Tyrosine hydroxlyase cant convert tyrosine to l-dopa in the brain without enough iron. Thats why iron deficiency is linked to ADD and Restless legs. Just wiki tyrosine hydroxylase and the second sentence says iron is a co factor. Iron is also a co factor in the liver for the deiodinaise enzyme to convert T4 to T3 thus iron deficiency can cause increased TSH and rT3. Theres tons of studies showing this and tons of anecdotal evidence of this happening all over the webb. But a lot of people here tends to say iron deficiency is bull**** and iron is only bad. Kinda ****** up when you look at the real evidence and also considering how important dopamin, low prolactin and thyroid is for ray peat and its followers. Glad you’re figuring out the reality for yourself and not following all these advice blindly. Although this forum is probably what made you donate all that blood in the first place. You really think losing all that blood is healthy? Most studies showing the positive effects of blod donation are done in older men with already elevated iron, possibly hemochroma suseptible men. With normal iron stores in place and a good functioning antioxidant system in your body you’re all good. With increased inflammation from iron the body just raises the production of ferritin and traps it. Only if you have ferritins over 150 you could focus a bit on lowering it. Just eat Zinc, vitamin E, Aspirin and Vitamin C in that case and within weeks you can halve your elevated ferritin as the body is comfortable releasing the iron again once the excess inflammation is under control. Hemoglobin will also rise a bit and you’ll stay healthy. Dont believe the trolls.
Its just like nitric oxide. Excess iNos is bad. Controlled regulated eNos is good and has its functions. Same goes for iron. Why do you think we even have these oxidants and anti-oxidants? Its just tools your body use to regulate itself and keep an homeostasis. Same with estrogen. Excess bad too low is bad. Serotonin excess is bad and too low is not good either because it has a certain degree of function. You want to focus on having enough for health and the right tools to keep them in healthy range.

 

[sunraiser]

If you’re ferritin went from 90 to 50 in one year then you donated more blood in my experience you are sure iron deficient now specially since you’re male. A lot of people here will disagree with me but I see the symptoms like clockwork when men tend to fall lower than 90. At 50 you really start noticing effects and under 50 most people feel like crap and a lot of people I spoken to get better taking iron within just a month. Its good to experiment whats the right level for you to feel good. We already have an antioxidant system in place with vitamin C and E to controll the oxidation of iron. A lot of process requires controlled oxidation and iron as a co factor for this an example is dopamine production. Tyrosine hydroxlyase cant convert tyrosine to l-dopa in the brain without enough iron. Thats why iron deficiency is linked to ADD and Restless legs. Just wiki tyrosine hydroxylase and the second sentence says iron is a co factor. Iron is also a co factor in the liver for the deiodinaise enzyme to convert T4 to T3 thus iron deficiency can cause increased TSH and rT3. Theres tons of studies showing this and tons of anecdotal evidence of this happening all over the webb. But a lot of people here tends to say iron deficiency is bull**** and iron is only bad. Kinda fu cked up when you look at the real evidence and also considering how important dopamin, low prolactin and thyroid is for ray peat and its followers. Glad you’re figuring out the reality for yourself and not following all these advice blindly. Although this forum is probably what made you donate all that blood in the first place. You really think losing all that blood is healthy? Most studies showing the positive effects of blod donation are done in older men with already elevated iron, possibly hemochroma suseptible men. With normal iron stores in place and a good functioning antioxidant system in your body you’re all good. With increased inflammation from iron the body just raises the production of ferritin and traps it. Only if you have ferritins over 150 you could focus a bit on lowering it. Just eat Zinc, vitamin E, Aspirin and Vitamin C in that case and within weeks you can halve your elevated ferritin as the body is comfortable releasing the iron again once the excess inflammation is under control. Hemoglobin will also rise a bit and you’ll stay healthy. Dont believe the trolls.
Its just like nitric oxide. Excess iNos is bad. Controlled regulated eNos is good and has its functions. Same goes for iron. Why do you think we even have these oxidants and anti-oxidants? Its just tools your body use to regulate itself and keep an homeostasis. Same with estrogen. Excess bad too low is bad. Serotonin excess is bad and too low is not good either because it has a certain degree of function. You want to focus on having enough for health and the right tools to keep them in healthy range.

Ferritin can also increase under general inflammation that has nothing to do with iron overload - this could leave you thinking you're sufficient as ferritin levels look good when in fact you're deficient.

If infection or immune challenge are at the root of the inflammation then you won't solve it until restoring iron levels (conversely this might eventually show a slightly lower ferritin level). It plays a key role in our immune system and also helps uptake copper (and vice versa).

I have also been realising a few iron related things recently, as follows:

- eating lots of copper and b12 puts a higher burden on iron stores/requirements.
- taurine seems to deplete both iron and copper for me.
- with a high copper and zinc and b12 intake, iron is really ******* hard to restore without supplements or eating animal hearts. Also all ceruloplasmin cofactors including retinol seem to ask for more iron.

It's vitally important and I think people should feel changes very quickly if iron itself is the root when supplementing (I'm literally using iron enriched cereal!).

I feel that the paranoia and craze over iron toxicity stems from a western diet extremely deficient in copper and rich in iron fortification (uk and us). Hitting iron cofactors like b12, folate, copper should solve most, but iron intake is also extremely important.

 

[Douglas Ek]

Ferritin can also increase under general inflammation that has nothing to do with iron overload - this could leave you thinking you're sufficient as ferritin levels look good when in fact you're deficient.

If infection or immune challenge are at the root of the inflammation then you won't solve it until restoring iron levels (conversely this might eventually show a slightly lower ferritin level). It plays a key role in our immune system and also helps uptake copper (and vice versa).

I have also been realising a few iron related things recently, as follows:

- eating lots of copper and b12 puts a higher burden on iron stores/requirements.
- taurine seems to deplete both iron and copper for me.
- with a high copper and zinc and b12 intake, iron is really ******* hard to restore without supplements or eating animal hearts. Also all ceruloplasmin cofactors including retinol seem to ask for more iron.

It's vitally important and I think people should feel changes very quickly if iron itself is the root when supplementing (I'm literally using iron enriched cereal!).

I feel that the paranoia and craze over iron toxicity stems from a western diet extremely deficient in copper and rich in iron fortification (uk and us). Hitting iron cofactors like b12, folate, copper should solve most, but iron intake is also extremely important.

Thank you!!! Finally!!!
100% agree!
An you are so true about iron and its co factors.
Iron isnt even that good at stimulating hemoglobin produktion. Only drops when iron stores are nullified
The real hemoglobin stimulaters are B12, retinol, zinc and copper.
This is why the mineral cobalt is used in doping since its even more powerful at stimulating hemo produktion than cobolamine.
If you are supplementing with any of these bloodbuilders my experience is that a lot of people will find it extremly hard to keep iron levels up.
And iron do have other functions than blood production in the body like thyroid health and dopamin production. Thats why iron deficiency and hypotyroid and dopamine deficiency share identical symptoms.
Iron is safe as long as levels are kept at a good level and you have a functioning antioxidant system. The problem with high iron is in fact not the iron is high by itself. Its that your antioxidant/immune/inflammatory systems are out of whack thus causing this cascade of events leading to disease and diabetes etc metabolic disorders. Treat the root cause instead of what seems to br the cause on paper ”high iron”.
The fact that people here dont seem to get that is worrying and could be a reason why a lot of people here are suffering without success on the peat protocol. People are more focused on following a guru and belonging to a group on these forums than actual health so they never question anything. Obviously peat is right and excess iron is a problem. But there’s other ways to approach it than reducing iron really low which will only give people hypo symptoms.
Like to add that i took iron and ferritin went from 50 to 190. My hemoglobin produktion basically stayed the same but my iron deficiency symptoms went away and i finally had energy again. So i started taking B12, retinol, copper and a bit of zinc. Within a month my ferritin went down from 190 to 90 and my hemoglobin went from 140 to 158. And even at 190 I didnt get diabetes or metabolic disease probably because I live healthy and consume vitamin E and C tons daily. Americans get diabetes from high iron because they dont consume any antioxidants. Makes perfect sense.
A lot of peaters are to ignorant to realize this. Not sunraiser! Bravo!

 

[Douglas Ek]

I bet our ancestors got much more iron from the diet aswell than we do. Like other minerals iron is most likely depleted in veggies and humans used to eat more organ meats richer in iron. Today we eat muscle meat drained of the blood. Stupid. But peaters wanna take blood thinners like aspirin and drink coffee with their liver. Its madness. Aspirin should be used as tool in states where there is an excess inflammation. Scenarios are when you are sick, when you are depleted of antioxidants thus leading to inflammation, high PUFA diets and iron overload. But vitamin E would probably be a safer and better alternative long term to treat those causes of excess inflammation. Aspirin should not be taken as a daily supplement. Rather be used as a short term substitute in emergencies

 

[Pete073]

I see copper is a stimulator of hemoglobin, I am thinking of just taking the iron.

 

[Insomnia]

If you’re ferritin went from 90 to 50 in one year then you donated more blood in my experience you are sure iron deficient now specially since you’re male. A lot of people here will disagree with me but I see the symptoms like clockwork when men tend to fall lower than 90. At 50 you really start noticing effects and under 50 most people feel like crap and a lot of people I spoken to get better taking iron within just a month. Its good to experiment whats the right level for you to feel good. We already have an antioxidant system in place with vitamin C and E to controll the oxidation of iron. A lot of process requires controlled oxidation and iron as a co factor for this an example is dopamine production. Tyrosine hydroxlyase cant convert tyrosine to l-dopa in the brain without enough iron. Thats why iron deficiency is linked to ADD and Restless legs. Just wiki tyrosine hydroxylase and the second sentence says iron is a co factor. Iron is also a co factor in the liver for the deiodinaise enzyme to convert T4 to T3 thus iron deficiency can cause increased TSH and rT3. Theres tons of studies showing this and tons of anecdotal evidence of this happening all over the webb. But a lot of people here tends to say iron deficiency is bull**** and iron is only bad. Kinda fu cked up when you look at the real evidence and also considering how important dopamin, low prolactin and thyroid is for ray peat and its followers. Glad you’re figuring out the reality for yourself and not following all these advice blindly. Although this forum is probably what made you donate all that blood in the first place. You really think losing all that blood is healthy? Most studies showing the positive effects of blod donation are done in older men with already elevated iron, possibly hemochroma suseptible men. With normal iron stores in place and a good functioning antioxidant system in your body you’re all good. With increased inflammation from iron the body just raises the production of ferritin and traps it. Only if you have ferritins over 150 you could focus a bit on lowering it. Just eat Zinc, vitamin E, Aspirin and Vitamin C in that case and within weeks you can halve your elevated ferritin as the body is comfortable releasing the iron again once the excess inflammation is under control. Hemoglobin will also rise a bit and you’ll stay healthy. Dont believe the trolls.
Its just like nitric oxide. Excess iNos is bad. Controlled regulated eNos is good and has its functions. Same goes for iron. Why do you think we even have these oxidants and anti-oxidants? Its just tools your body use to regulate itself and keep an homeostasis. Same with estrogen. Excess bad too low is bad. Serotonin excess is bad and too low is not good either because it has a certain degree of function. You want to focus on having enough for health and the right tools to keep them in healthy range.

Ferritin can also increase under general inflammation that has nothing to do with iron overload - this could leave you thinking you're sufficient as ferritin levels look good when in fact you're deficient.

If infection or immune challenge are at the root of the inflammation then you won't solve it until restoring iron levels (conversely this might eventually show a slightly lower ferritin level). It plays a key role in our immune system and also helps uptake copper (and vice versa).

I have also been realising a few iron related things recently, as follows:

- eating lots of copper and b12 puts a higher burden on iron stores/requirements.
- taurine seems to deplete both iron and copper for me.
- with a high copper and zinc and b12 intake, iron is really ******* hard to restore without supplements or eating animal hearts. Also all ceruloplasmin cofactors including retinol seem to ask for more iron.

It's vitally important and I think people should feel changes very quickly if iron itself is the root when supplementing (I'm literally using iron enriched cereal!).

I feel that the paranoia and craze over iron toxicity stems from a western diet extremely deficient in copper and rich in iron fortification (uk and us). Hitting iron cofactors like b12, folate, copper should solve most, but iron intake is also extremely important.

@Douglas Ek and @sunraiser I am really glad and thankful that you 2 tuned in and posted these comments. The restless legs is something that decreased in the past days, something I really noticed. Also thanks, reinsuring and reminding me of not following everything that's being said. It made me realize that I sometimes have to trust my guts on what's happening. I think my lowest ferrithin was around 33 at some point. I don't know what kind of results to expect this week, I am very curious what the labworks will tell me. Taurine, zinc, copper were all things I took without even supping iron that time. I don’t know if the diet was providing me with enough iron either.

I think by not supplementing anything for 2-3 months, I was able to recover some of the iron because I stopped taking everything else. I am also using iron supps since a few days, and one the first day I definitely noticed a difference in breathing when I took a pill. I was able to generate more warmth during exercise. I usually think that relief/improvement happens after supping for longer then a day, but it was odd how quickly I noticed a change in my body. I know that I have some topics where I make assumptions/suggestions when I take supplements, but when I supped iron I definitely noticed a relief in certain symptoms. The day after I also woke up way better then I used to do. I won't get my hopes up to high and I might get another attack in the night, because I am reintroducing supps again. I will be cautious supplementing because I want to get to the bottom of this, it's one of the very few things that I am desperate in solving and figuring out what just happened.

I will try it for a few weeks and see if I get increased energy levels and perhaps get lab/bloodworks done again.

 

[Insomnia]

I bet our ancestors got much more iron from the diet aswell than we do. Like other minerals iron is most likely depleted in veggies and humans used to eat more organ meats richer in iron. Today we eat muscle meat drained of the blood. Stupid. But peaters wanna take blood thinners like aspirin and drink coffee with their liver. Its madness. Aspirin should be used as tool in states where there is an excess inflammation. Scenarios are when you are sick, when you are depleted of antioxidants thus leading to inflammation, high PUFA diets and iron overload. But vitamin E would probably be a safer and better alternative long term to treat those causes of excess inflammation. Aspirin should not be taken as a daily supplement. Rather be used as a short term substitute in emergencies

I know I used Aspirin (like 5-6 months ago) but at a certain point I became nauseous (my doses were never over 100-200mg and I would do that once or twice a week). Why would such a reaction occur, because I was always taking it with K2. Is it possible that Aspirin also depletes the body from Iron? I don't know why I became nauseous when I tried it for a few times, I think it was around that time my first symptoms showed up when I think of it (not pointing my finger to Aspirin in particular) because I was trying out different supps and was on a protocol for quite a long time.