Trouble Breathing/ Shortness Of Breath

[Jen]

I’m hypothyroid and started following Ray Peat over the last few months to help myself out. Recently having trouble breathing.

I think it may be progesterone or desiccated thyroid related. Since adding them in this month it’s slowly gotten worse, I’ve stopped until I can figure out what’s going on. Anyone else have experience with this?

Thank you for any info or help, I’m fairly new to this but have been dealing with hypo symptoms and doctors that didn’t help for the better part of 20 years and now that I’ve finally found RP, I’m really bummed to be having trouble following it.

 

[YourUniverse]

How much glucose do you eat? Can you give an outline of your regular diet, maybe through a cronometer screenshot?

 

[TeaRex14]

Could be hyperventilation due to low CO2. When I was doing low carb I had a almost constant shortness of breath problem. I figured I was just getting asthma or something, when I started eating carbohydrates/sugar this problem resolved itself for the most part. Taking thyroid, pregnenolone, and eating a modest amount of coconut oil seemed to fully resolve it. Personally I think lowering adrenaline plays a key role too, so don't skimp out on the salt. Theanine is a good anti-adrenaline supplement as well.

 

[Jen]

Sure, I just downloaded and put a typical day in, not sure what to screenshot to show best? Here’s one. Sorry if that’s lame I’m not familiar with it. I didn’t add supplements... I’m also taking a b vitamin complex, vitamins ADK, vitamin E, and added a really small amount of desiccated thyroid capsule and progesterone oil from forefront health (which is how I found ray peat and seems to follow his guidelines. Let me know if I can send something else

 

[Jen]

Thank you. Yes, I did low carb for the better part of 10 years at the suggestion of doctors I had seen (paleo/Keto/aip). Pretty sure it just made things worse. I have been eating a lot more fruit/OJ, salt, dairy and collagen over the last few months since finding peat (and forefront health which is how I found him, seems to follow his beliefs). I felt so much better almost immediately. I added the supplements and for the last two weeks I felt kind of short of breath/ heart pounding but didn’t pay much attention to it. Then over the last couple of days it got pretty bad, makes me feel like I’m going to pass out even when I’m laying down. Wakes me up in the middle of the night. I started bag breathing but the tightness in my chest hasn’t gone away. I have a history of really itchy skin on my legs, I assume I’m pretty high estrogen/histamines so I thought the progesterone would be great but now I’m confused. I suppose it could be inflammation too. I started taking some Benadryl to counter any histamines or inflammation (a derm once suggested this). Really scary feeling though.

 

[TeaRex14]

Thank you. Yes, I did low carb for the better part of 10 years at the suggestion of doctors I had seen (paleo/Keto/aip). Pretty sure it just made things worse. I have been eating a lot more fruit/OJ, salt, dairy and collagen over the last few months since finding peat (and forefront health which is how I found him, seems to follow his beliefs). I felt so much better almost immediately. I added the supplements and for the last two weeks I felt kind of short of breath/ heart pounding but didn’t pay much attention to it. Then over the last couple of days it got pretty bad, makes me feel like I’m going to pass out even when I’m laying down. Wakes me up in the middle of the night. I started bag breathing but the tightness in my chest hasn’t gone away. I have a history of really itchy skin on my legs, I assume I’m pretty high estrogen/histamines so I thought the progesterone would be great but now I’m confused. I suppose it could be inflammation too. I started taking some Benadryl to counter any histamines or inflammation (a derm once suggested this). Really scary feeling though.

Do you know what your b vitamin status is? Thiamine (B1) is a pretty crucial vitamin in glucose metabolism. Without it you will waste glucose, it'll turn into lactate instead of CO2. Supplementing thyroid will cause you to use up micronutrients at a faster rate too, so you could be burning through your b vitamins at a faster rate with thyroid causing deficiencies that didn't use to exist. Just a guess though, hard to put your finger on the exact cause. Do your extremities ever get cold, like hands and feet?

 

[Jen]

Yes, always cold, have been for years, started getting better when I changed to peat diet but now I feel them again, along with adrenaline symptoms, heart rate, nervousness, cold sweat. I did jut get a b vitamin complex so I haven’t been taking it more than a few days but I will make sure I do that. Didn’t know about the glucose wasting, thank you!

 

[Penelope70]

I’ve experienced the same (breathing problems) and in my case I’m highly certain it’s because of progesterone. I stopped taking Progest-e three times and each time I reintroduced it the problems returned - shortness of breath, mostly. I found this intriguing blurb from an article on a Harvard U. health advice website. I haven’t read the full article but I intend to. I’m presently taking a lower dose of the Progest-e and so far, so good.

“An even bigger cause for shortness of breath is progesterone, a hormone that increases during pregnancy. High progesterone levels cause pregnant women to breathe faster. The rise in progesterone begins early in pregnancy, and the shortness of breath it causes can come as a surprise.”

Shortness of Breath In Pregnancy - Harvard Health

 

[methylenewhite]

I’m hypothyroid and started following Ray Peat over the last few months to help myself out. Recently having trouble breathing.

I think it may be progesterone or desiccated thyroid related. Since adding them in this month it’s slowly gotten worse, I’ve stopped until I can figure out what’s going on. Anyone else have experience with this?

Thank you for any info or help, I’m fairly new to this but have been dealing with hypo symptoms and doctors that didn’t help for the better part of 20 years and now that I’ve finally found RP, I’m really bummed to be having trouble following it.

Get your blood glucose checked during breathing difficulty attack repeatedly every 30 mins. It could be blood glucose roller coaster going on.

 

[Jen]

Thank you for the responses. It is comforting to know I’m not alone and get advice on what to look out for. I did stop the progesterone and will be keeping an eye on glucose. I wound up in the ER the other night, after a few days of feeling short of breath I started getting some crazy adrenal symptoms, or at least that’s what it felt like. My heart would feel like it was beating very hard and I would get shaky and sweat and feel like I was going to pass out. After two nights of no sleep, because as soon as I would nod off my body would jerk awake, and not being able to eat or drink without the same feeling, I’d had enough. They did a full blood panel and ekg and didn’t find anything irregular. I’m not sure where to go from here. I stopped taking everything except my magnesium, vit d and vit k supplements, only because I’ve been taking them a long time and know they don’t cause any symptoms other than feeling dizzy and nauseous when I don’t take them. Really confused and sad, I thought I was making progress and now I just feel like a mess. I thought maybe it was blood sugar or liver/glycogen issues but I don’t know how to gauge that as so far my blood sugar has been normal.

 

[biffbelvin]

I think this could be a case of running before you can walk? It sounds like you're trying to ramp up metabolism too high, whilst you're still building up your health.

I have been in a similar position, and experienced those same symptoms. I've managed to reduce the frequency of these episodes drastically by doing the following:

• Stop taking supplements that increase metabolism (aspirin, caffeine/coffee, thyroid)
• Spending less time being sedentary, and breaking up sedentary periods with exercise.
• Improving sleep quality by:

1. Stopping computer usage in the evening completely, and avoiding all screens from 8pm
2. No eating from 8pm (a piece of fruit is not usually disruptive)
3. keeping bedroom no greater than 20˚C (less is probably fine)

• Making the following dietary changes:
  1. Eating 3 solid meals a day, every day
  2. No grazing except for fruit as a snack in between meals
  3. No fruit juice/Soda/Free Sugar
  4. Spending more time eating and chewing food.
  5. Eating a higher proportion of protein and always pairing carbohydrates with protein (milk does not work for me here)
  6. Taking Betaine HCL with meals to improve digestion of food
  7. Relatively Low fat intake
• Immaculate oral hygiene:

1. Using an electric Toothbrush
2. Rinsing with mouthwash standard listerine and following it with a lightly fluoridated mouthwash (controversial i'm sure)
3. Flossing every evening
4. Rinsing mouth and chewing gum after eating meal/snacking

If you want me to explain any of these points further let me know.

 

[ecstatichamster]

Do bag breathing. It will help a great deal.

 

[Tarmander]

Are you taking vitamin D or A?

 

[methylenewhite]

• Immaculate oral hygiene:

1. Using an electric Toothbrush
2. Rinsing with mouthwash standard listerine and following it with a lightly fluoridated mouthwash (controversial i'm sure)
3. Flossing every evening
4. Rinsing mouth and chewing gum after eating meal/snacking

If you want me to explain any of these points further let me know.

Avoid electric toothbrush due EMF cancer risks. Already been discussed here.

 

[Penelope70]

Are you by chance entering or experiencing menopause? Our symptoms sound so similar and menopause ended up being the culprit in my case. I had no idea because I had my uterus removed 10 years ago, so no periods since then. I too ended up experiencing debilitating insomnia and subsequently found myself in the emergency room with extreme anxiety/heart palpitations/vertigo. A blood test revealed my FSH to be sky-high. (The doctor prescribed SSRIs, of course.) The experience caught me completely off guard. I had no idea it would be like this. I proceeded to research and read a lot, mostly on here and sites containing articles by Ray Peat. However, I believe I attempted to run before I could walk, just as Biff describes: high-dosing progesterone and taking multiple supplements, gelatin, OJ, etc. Too much too soon. I’ve since stopped taking supplements and am focusing on getting my eating/sleeping under control. Am slowly reintroducing progesterone and might do the same with supplements. So far so good ... sewing machine heart and breathing problems are gone as is anxiety for the most part. Sleep is still not brilliant unfortunately. But better ...

 

[Jen]

I could not agree more with you biffbelvin. After feeling so awful I just felt like I couldn’t handle ANY of the changes I made and it was just way too much. And every point you made there was a solid, healthy lifestyle point. I will absolutely do that. I see you put an emphasis on oral hygiene, and I am careful about those things other than than using the mouthwash religiously (or flouridated) but if you think that it is important, I am happy to follow. Thank you so much for the response, it really made all the things I was feeling seem valid and reversible.

Ecstatichamster, I did try the bag breathing often. A few times I think the visual part of it might have been calming but the CO2 component didn’t seem to be helping and when it got bad, it didn’t help at all sadly.

Tarmander, I was taking both, now went back to only taking D as I’ve been taking that a long time with no adverse effects.

Penelope, no unfortunately, it’s too early for menopause for me, but I have no doubt much of my imbalances now and I’m the past we’re hormone related. And I empathize with your experience completely. We sound extremely similar. I’m sorry you went through all that too, it’s a scary, awful feeling but I’m SO glad to hear that you are doing the same that biff described and it helped. I feel much better knowing you dealt with the same and came out of it! Also the FSH being so high gives me something to watch for. Really, thank you for sharing your experience and information, it’s both comforting and helpful.

I really appreciate all the responses, it makes me feel a LOT less helpless and lost. When you have a doc telling you he doesn’t see anything wrong and you’re just panicking, it can make you feel a little crazy. Going to the ER in the middle of the night with no insurance is not an easy decision, obviously I was feeling very bad and very desperate. I know the responses my body is having, and hearing valid experiences from others gives me a lot more confidence to understand and fix the problem. And what you all said MAKES SENSE. I’m really grateful for this forum/community.

 

[Rafael Lao Wai]

It may be intestinal irritation caused by an allergic reaction to an impurity the progesterone or the thyroid. I started having breathing problems when I was about 9 or 10 years old. I think it was because my belly was always bloated( although I was really lean and had very little fat in the belly). When I have very little bloating, my breathing is almost perfect, but when I have a lot of water retention, it gets hard to breathe.

Also, hypoglycemia reliably causes shortness of breath for me. Fructose makes breathing easier for me, probably because it increases CO2 more than starch, and also because it's stronger for the homeostasis of the blood sugar.

 

[Rafael Lao Wai]

I really appreciate all the responses, it makes me feel a LOT less helpless and lost. When you have a doc telling you he doesn’t see anything wrong and you’re just panicking, it can make you feel a little crazy. Going to the ER in the middle of the night with no insurance is not an easy decision, obviously I was feeling very bad and very desperate. I know the responses my body is having, and hearing valid experiences from others gives me a lot more confidence to understand and fix the problem. And what you all said MAKES SENSE. I’m really grateful for this forum/community.

Yeah, if doctors were only useless, it wouldn't be as bad, but the fact that they are dangerous makes things that much worse. They use the gaslighting technique a lot more often than people think, and also prescribe a bunch of toxic drugs and say that things that you do won't affect your health. Making a person doubt themselves is just downright cruel, and making them lose hope is just as bad.

 

[Jen]

Rafael, Thank you! Yes, that wasn’t the first doc to dismiss what I was feeling and sadly happens all the time to people. If I wanted to become an Ativan/Xanax addict I’m sure I could’ve done so by now with ease at their suggestions lol.

You made interesting points on digestive and breathing problems/water retention and fructose. My face seemed puffy that night and I could see how that could factor in, I will take your points to heart and remember that in the future.

 

[Rafael Lao Wai]

Rafael, Thank you! Yes, that wasn’t the first doc to dismiss what I was feeling and sadly happens all the time to people. If I wanted to become an Ativan/Xanax addict I’m sure I could’ve done so by now with ease at their suggestions lol.

You made interesting points on digestive and breathing problems/water retention and fructose. My face seemed puffy that night and I could see how that could factor in, I will take your points to heart and remember that in the future.

​

You're welcome! Haha, yeah, they love prescribing SSRI's as well

Hope you improve!