Catecholamine
Member
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2017
- Messages
- 27
I'm in a bit of a pickle. I have a smorgasbord of symptoms, ranging from annoying to devastating (which I'll get into in a bit), and I'm doing Birthright Israel starting on July 23. I'm 26, so this is my last chance to do it, and I'm not going to let my health issues screw me on this.
The symptoms are:
- Low energy/sex drive/mood
- Learned helplessness/social withdrawal (more on this in a bit)
- Chronic headache
- Insomnia
- ADHD
- Frequent urination
- BMI of 31
- Cracked tongue(?)
I had blood drawn recently, and can post the full results if requested. The values that seem immediately relevant are:
TSH: 3.63 uIU/mL (0.4-5)
Total Testosterone: 333ng/dL (248-836)
Prolactin: 10ng/mL (0.1-15)
Sadly I didn't get any more thyroid or androgen work done, my insurance isn't great and my primary care doctor might as well be a 1st year medical textbook in a human costume. As such, while I know all these levels are "normal," they're probably deplorable, given my symptoms.
While obviously I'm looking to get a better doctor and solve these problems once and for all, I'm looking for a stopgap solution to enable me to enjoy the trip. You get a choice of which type of trip you go on; I made the choice back when I was feeling somewhat better, and I chose a highly active/"adventurous" variant of the trip. As such, there are some unique aspects of the trip that I want to feel better for, and minimize damage of:
- ~15h/day of activity (with a huge amount of hiking, biking and swimming)
- Limited time in bed (so I need to actually sleep when I'm in it)
- Constant social interaction
- Lack of choice in food (helloooo falafel PUFAs)
While these are all concerns, I'm pretty sure the trip itself will have some major therapeutic effects for me, especially in the learned helplessness department. I currently live with my dad, who is neurotic and controlling, and conflict between him and me has been on the rise. He's constantly trying to make me chicken out of this trip, and I'm standing my ground. I've never actually lived away from home before, as my chronic headache started at 16 and prevented me from going to a traditional college. I've also never actually traveled outside the US before. Even my neurologist said that, while she couldn't figure out my headache, she thought a change of scenery would be the best possible thing for me.
My current Peat-inspired routine includes:
- Aspirin (325-975mg/day)
- Coffee (ad lib. usually 2 cups/day)
- Niacinamide (occasionally ~1000mg at night)
- Estroban (2-4 drops/day)
- Pansterone (1-4 drops occasionally)
- Vitamin E (if I get hit with PUFAs)
- 660nm red light on thyroid (15m in morning, 5m at night) and on testicles (1m, ad lib.); I use this light
- Unlimited dietary fructose
- ~100g protein/day
- Relatively low fat (majority of which is saturated obviously)
- Bodyweight exercises 1-3x week (used to be heavy lifting at the gym before I started feeling worse)
I took Pimpom's Thiroyd (a Thai NDT product) for a while and started feeling relatively good, but I ended up catastrophically overdosing, getting horrific anxiety for a month. I'm open to trying thyroid in the future (and will probably have to, in order to actually solve my issues) but for now I'd prefer to avoid it. Additionally, I would prefer to avoid taking anything illegal or barely legal on the plane with me, for obvious reasons.
My questions are as follows:
1. What changes can I make, or supplements can I take, in the short term to get more energy and improve my mood? (While a long-term permanent solution is the best, I currently have a looming deadline to get into at least acceptable shape.)
2. What supplements or haidutplements do you recommend to help deal with the lack of choice in food?
3. Do you think the trip (with the novelty, activity and relative independence) will have positive therapeutic effects in itself? If so, what?
4. Any other advice?
Thanks everybody. If you need more information, feel free to ask.
The symptoms are:
- Low energy/sex drive/mood
- Learned helplessness/social withdrawal (more on this in a bit)
- Chronic headache
- Insomnia
- ADHD
- Frequent urination
- BMI of 31
- Cracked tongue(?)
I had blood drawn recently, and can post the full results if requested. The values that seem immediately relevant are:
TSH: 3.63 uIU/mL (0.4-5)
Total Testosterone: 333ng/dL (248-836)
Prolactin: 10ng/mL (0.1-15)
Sadly I didn't get any more thyroid or androgen work done, my insurance isn't great and my primary care doctor might as well be a 1st year medical textbook in a human costume. As such, while I know all these levels are "normal," they're probably deplorable, given my symptoms.
While obviously I'm looking to get a better doctor and solve these problems once and for all, I'm looking for a stopgap solution to enable me to enjoy the trip. You get a choice of which type of trip you go on; I made the choice back when I was feeling somewhat better, and I chose a highly active/"adventurous" variant of the trip. As such, there are some unique aspects of the trip that I want to feel better for, and minimize damage of:
- ~15h/day of activity (with a huge amount of hiking, biking and swimming)
- Limited time in bed (so I need to actually sleep when I'm in it)
- Constant social interaction
- Lack of choice in food (helloooo falafel PUFAs)
While these are all concerns, I'm pretty sure the trip itself will have some major therapeutic effects for me, especially in the learned helplessness department. I currently live with my dad, who is neurotic and controlling, and conflict between him and me has been on the rise. He's constantly trying to make me chicken out of this trip, and I'm standing my ground. I've never actually lived away from home before, as my chronic headache started at 16 and prevented me from going to a traditional college. I've also never actually traveled outside the US before. Even my neurologist said that, while she couldn't figure out my headache, she thought a change of scenery would be the best possible thing for me.
My current Peat-inspired routine includes:
- Aspirin (325-975mg/day)
- Coffee (ad lib. usually 2 cups/day)
- Niacinamide (occasionally ~1000mg at night)
- Estroban (2-4 drops/day)
- Pansterone (1-4 drops occasionally)
- Vitamin E (if I get hit with PUFAs)
- 660nm red light on thyroid (15m in morning, 5m at night) and on testicles (1m, ad lib.); I use this light
- Unlimited dietary fructose
- ~100g protein/day
- Relatively low fat (majority of which is saturated obviously)
- Bodyweight exercises 1-3x week (used to be heavy lifting at the gym before I started feeling worse)
I took Pimpom's Thiroyd (a Thai NDT product) for a while and started feeling relatively good, but I ended up catastrophically overdosing, getting horrific anxiety for a month. I'm open to trying thyroid in the future (and will probably have to, in order to actually solve my issues) but for now I'd prefer to avoid it. Additionally, I would prefer to avoid taking anything illegal or barely legal on the plane with me, for obvious reasons.
My questions are as follows:
1. What changes can I make, or supplements can I take, in the short term to get more energy and improve my mood? (While a long-term permanent solution is the best, I currently have a looming deadline to get into at least acceptable shape.)
2. What supplements or haidutplements do you recommend to help deal with the lack of choice in food?
3. Do you think the trip (with the novelty, activity and relative independence) will have positive therapeutic effects in itself? If so, what?
4. Any other advice?
Thanks everybody. If you need more information, feel free to ask.
Last edited: