hi All,
My name is Renaee and I am posting for the first time here, hoping for support, guidance and friendship too. I am 47 year old woman, living in Australia with my 10 year old daughter and partner.
I have loosely followed the work of writers influenced by Ray Peat’s work since 2011, starting with Matt Stone, then Joey Lott, EastwestHealing, Danny Roddy, and more recently a woman local to my home city of Melbourne, Emma Sgourakis.
Despite following the over all ‘ray peat’ principals that I have learnt and applied from these writers, my health took a turn for the worse in the beginning of 2015, and after a very rocky couple of years in 2015 and 2016, where I got severe depression and anxiety, I am now faced with the prospect of a partial thyroidectomy to remove a 5cm by 4cm goiter on my thyroid gland, as well as having recently been diagnosed with a condition that is a complication of my asthma, called Allergic Broncho Pulmonary Aspergilliosis (an allergy and infection by the Aspergilius fungi).
The lump on the thyroid was not tested with a Fine Needle Aspiration for cancer, as my surgeon said it would be too large to be conclusive and would need to many jabs, and he also said that even if it was benign, that he would still recommend removing it surgically, as it would continue to grow, at my age 47, which is young to have such a growth apparently. I came back euthyroid for the blood work meaning normal, and do not have any of the other usual symptoms that Drs check for.
The surgery has been held off however, until I get on top of the lung infection.
My surgeon also said that based on the type of nodule, round, mobile, some calcification, and a single nodule, not multiple, there is a 10% chance it is cancer.
When I found this out in November last year, I consulted with Josh of EastWesthealing, and started food and temp logging, and trying to ‘fine tune’ things to bring my temps up, but currently cannot get morning temp much over 35.2 C. Though by the end of the day i sometimes manage to bring it up to 36.5 at the highest.
I have been doing the morning carrot salad, making huge quantities of broth, eating shellfish/oyster, eating lots of good quality dairy, OJ in the morning and different times during the day. However I still do eat a fair amount of starch, as I find that I cannot get enough calories in without it, and will wake during the night if I stick to the more strict ray peat style of eating. I have found Joey Lott’s book on ‘the ray peat survival guide’ very helpful in this regard, as a reminder that nothing will slow metabolism more than overall calorie restriction. However I am extremely strict in avoiding all kinds of obvious PUFAs, and the starch I do eat is good quality and well prepared to get rid of phytates (coconut rice, some sourdough, masa corn) and I always eat some pineapple with it as well to get the fructose in.
Anyway.. As the prospect of going under the knife draws closer - I feel more convinced that it is not necessary and that I don’t want to have the surgery. I want to know if there are any other ‘no brainer’ things that I should be doing/taking or who I could ask for more help?
I do regular swimming and yoga, and don’t feel I have any particular stress in my life now, however as mentioned I did experience extreme and ongoing depression and anxiety/insomina that started in winter of 2015 and did not let up for about a year with gradual lessening intensity. (I also was on an SSRI unfortunately) The start of 2015 was also when I first developed the cough and worsening of asthma that has resulted in the current condition.
This was a very long post - I hope some one may be able to share any wisdom, insights or suggestions. I know there are no quick or easy answers out there and maybe this info is far to vague, but I just felt I owed it to myself to post and see what kind of feedback could come my way.
Many thanks,
Renaee.
My name is Renaee and I am posting for the first time here, hoping for support, guidance and friendship too. I am 47 year old woman, living in Australia with my 10 year old daughter and partner.
I have loosely followed the work of writers influenced by Ray Peat’s work since 2011, starting with Matt Stone, then Joey Lott, EastwestHealing, Danny Roddy, and more recently a woman local to my home city of Melbourne, Emma Sgourakis.
Despite following the over all ‘ray peat’ principals that I have learnt and applied from these writers, my health took a turn for the worse in the beginning of 2015, and after a very rocky couple of years in 2015 and 2016, where I got severe depression and anxiety, I am now faced with the prospect of a partial thyroidectomy to remove a 5cm by 4cm goiter on my thyroid gland, as well as having recently been diagnosed with a condition that is a complication of my asthma, called Allergic Broncho Pulmonary Aspergilliosis (an allergy and infection by the Aspergilius fungi).
The lump on the thyroid was not tested with a Fine Needle Aspiration for cancer, as my surgeon said it would be too large to be conclusive and would need to many jabs, and he also said that even if it was benign, that he would still recommend removing it surgically, as it would continue to grow, at my age 47, which is young to have such a growth apparently. I came back euthyroid for the blood work meaning normal, and do not have any of the other usual symptoms that Drs check for.
The surgery has been held off however, until I get on top of the lung infection.
My surgeon also said that based on the type of nodule, round, mobile, some calcification, and a single nodule, not multiple, there is a 10% chance it is cancer.
When I found this out in November last year, I consulted with Josh of EastWesthealing, and started food and temp logging, and trying to ‘fine tune’ things to bring my temps up, but currently cannot get morning temp much over 35.2 C. Though by the end of the day i sometimes manage to bring it up to 36.5 at the highest.
I have been doing the morning carrot salad, making huge quantities of broth, eating shellfish/oyster, eating lots of good quality dairy, OJ in the morning and different times during the day. However I still do eat a fair amount of starch, as I find that I cannot get enough calories in without it, and will wake during the night if I stick to the more strict ray peat style of eating. I have found Joey Lott’s book on ‘the ray peat survival guide’ very helpful in this regard, as a reminder that nothing will slow metabolism more than overall calorie restriction. However I am extremely strict in avoiding all kinds of obvious PUFAs, and the starch I do eat is good quality and well prepared to get rid of phytates (coconut rice, some sourdough, masa corn) and I always eat some pineapple with it as well to get the fructose in.
Anyway.. As the prospect of going under the knife draws closer - I feel more convinced that it is not necessary and that I don’t want to have the surgery. I want to know if there are any other ‘no brainer’ things that I should be doing/taking or who I could ask for more help?
I do regular swimming and yoga, and don’t feel I have any particular stress in my life now, however as mentioned I did experience extreme and ongoing depression and anxiety/insomina that started in winter of 2015 and did not let up for about a year with gradual lessening intensity. (I also was on an SSRI unfortunately) The start of 2015 was also when I first developed the cough and worsening of asthma that has resulted in the current condition.
This was a very long post - I hope some one may be able to share any wisdom, insights or suggestions. I know there are no quick or easy answers out there and maybe this info is far to vague, but I just felt I owed it to myself to post and see what kind of feedback could come my way.
Many thanks,
Renaee.