Very Bad Reactions To Cynomel, Please Help

[mandance]

Hey everyone, I am new here, but have been lurking for awhile. I have been eating more and more peat-ish, trying to gain better health. Like many others, I came off of paleo before and I believe that did me more harm than good. Anyways, I have been suffering from odd brain fog and headaches for quite some time, almost a year now with no change ever. I thought since my TSH was at 3, by lowering it might help me, also found since eating peat, my cholesterol is high now, and my testosterone is extrememly low. Its under 300 and im only 29. I also am on SSRIS but tapering off if it helps at all.

So I had emailed the man himself, he recommended I take some cynoplus to possibly cut the cholesterol down and make more testosterone and help the thyroid. I had some cynomel, so I decided to try that first to see how my body reacts to t3. I never took more than an 8th or so of a tablet. I dosed once a day in the mornings, before eating...which was probably bad becayse the syptoms I now have seem like true hypo issues, which I never experienced before. Extreme fatigue and heaviness, I feel like I cant even move. Chest pain, anxiety etc. I only took it 3 days in a row, I havent taken it in 2 days and still feel this way. Sleep does not help. Should I seek medical help? Its starting to really worry me but I figure my doctor wont really actually do anything.

I dont have any other health conditions, oh and my foggy head and headaches are alst much worse. any insights on these reactions to cynomel? Thanks

Chris

 

[4peatssake]

Hey everyone, I am new here, but have been lurking for awhile. I have been eating more and more peat-ish, trying to gain better health. Like many others, I came off of paleo before and I believe that did me more harm than good. Anyways, I have been suffering from odd brain fog and headaches for quite some time, almost a year now with no change ever. I thought since my TSH was at 3, by lowering it might help me, also found since eating peat, my cholesterol is high now, and my testosterone is extrememly low. Its under 300 and im only 29. I also am on SSRIS but tapering off if it helps at all.

So I had emailed the man himself, he recommended I take some cynoplus to possibly cut the cholesterol down and make more testosterone and help the thyroid. I had some cynomel, so I decided to try that first to see how my body reacts to t3. I never took more than an 8th or so of a tablet. I dosed once a day in the mornings, before eating...which was probably bad becayse the syptoms I now have seem like true hypo issues, which I never experienced before. Extreme fatigue and heaviness, I feel like I cant even move. Chest pain, anxiety etc. I only took it 3 days in a row, I havent taken it in 2 days and still feel this way. Sleep does not help. Should I seek medical help? Its starting to really worry me but I figure my doctor wont really actually do anything.

I dont have any other health conditions, oh and my foggy head and headaches are alst much worse. any insights on these reactions to cynomel? Thanks

Chris

This may help.

When I used only Cytomel, any little stress would make me suddenly hypothyroid, and my heart would stop several times in a minute; when I started using some thyroid, USP, that contained both T4 and T3 it stopped happening.

Thyroid is the only thing that safely lowers cholesterol, but when your stress hormones are very high, you shouldn't take more than about one microgram of Cytomel at a time, and should accompany it with things like milk and orange juice.

T4 builds up slowly in the tissues, over about 14 days, but the T3 acts immediately. With any product, a single dose of T3 of about 4 mcg is close to the physiological range; sometimes a smaller amount is enough.

These quotes by Ray Peat are all taken from the section on Thyroid at Ray Peat's Brain: Building a Foundation for Better Understanding on Danny Roddy's website

Thyroid is powerful stuff. Ray recommended both cynoplus and cynomel to me and it has made a huge difference for me, but you do have to dose carefully. My thinking is if he recommends something to us, we are wise to follow his advice.

Hope this helps! Keep us posted how things go.

 

[mandance]

Thanks so much for the reply, he did originally recomend cynoplus, an 8th to a 6th, a day. I thought id try cynomel first but maybe that was a bad idea and I should just dose the cynoplus from here on out with milk and oj? He did mention that since I did not take it with food, it could have entered my blood stream faster, causing the liver to create enzyhmes to eliminate it. Stress levels are very high as I have a lot of anxiety, especially with trying to get off anti depressants, and struggling with brain fog, ive been very on edge. Do you think I should resume dosing, but cynoplus only? That extreme fatigue and chest pain, that has lasted days really freaked me out. Thanks so much! i really appreciate it.

 

[Dan W]

Are the symptoms completely returned to normal yet? It would be weird for them to continue much longer, since the longest estimates I've heard for T3's half-life is 2.5 days.

If I were as sensitive as you seem to be to T3, I'd take the tiniest possible doses of the cynoplus and also space them out a few days...I can't remember the exact ratio, but there's still a decent amount of T3 in cynoplus.

 

[mandance]

Symptoms seem to be returning. I feel more energy once again, after sleeping for most of today. Body does not feel heavy anymore and muscles dont feel weak. Brain fog and headaches still, but not as bad as they were yesturday which is normal for me. I heard of people taking cynomel and cynoplus to get a 1-3 ratio? But im guessing I should probably try to keep a dose of like a 10th of cnynopus only at first? Thanks so much for the response.

 

[kiran]

Are you getting enough sugar? Brainfog seems to point toward inadequate sugar. Also protein ...
Perhaps try some OJ/sugared milk?

Whats your diet like?

 

[mandance]

My diet has been a work in progress. I only started drinking milk a week ago. I will drink a big glass of 1 percent, followed by an 8oz glass of OJ. I drink probably 3 glasses of OJ a day, plus eat oranges with meals. Protein is not the best, its ok, but even on paleo when i was taking in tons of protein from meat, I still had bad brain fog.

It all happened working at microsoft, a high stress job. I was working, had anxiety and all the sudden was blinded by white light in my eyes, it went away, a headache set in, I took a nap and had the fog and headache issues every since.

I also just foundd out through blood work that my testosterone is extremely low, under 300..and im only 29. Peat thought that if the cynoplus works, it should cut down my cholesterol and hopefully help build more DHEA and testosterone but yeah.

My TSH levels were 3, which is actually .5 higher than from when I was paleo.

 

[kiran]

Vitamin A? D? Calcium?

 

[mandance]

Vitamin D is very low. I live in Seattle which is common here. But i am taking supps for that now as well as making it a point to get more sun since I work on a computer all day.

Calcium is probably low, I dont take any supps for that, just started with milk.

No Vitamin A either, Peat also recommened Vitamin B1, but I cant seem to find any source of B1 that you can dose on a 10mg level. Everything seems like 100 or higher.

He just wrote me back actually as well, recommending maybe trying a 6th or a 4th of cynoplus at night to get used to it. I suppose I can try that, but that is higher than what he initally suggested. Does that stuff screw up sleep at all? The one thing I am lucky with is I have zero sleep issues (knock on wood) and dont want to potentially mess that up.

 

[kiran]

You could try taking a quarter of a B1. vitamin K2 might be worth trying as well.

 

[4peatssake]

He just wrote me back actually as well, recommending maybe trying a 6th or a 4th of cynoplus at night to get used to it. I suppose I can try that, but that is higher than what he initally suggested.

I suggest following RP's advice and keeping him posted of your symptoms and progress. That and getting your diet right, as nailing the diet is a critical first step. Most important is to eliminate PUFA, get at least 80 grams of protein, (gelatin and bone broth are good sources and milk and cheese too of course), enough sugar, (OJ, ripe watermelon (whole fruit or juice) and grapes are recommended sources), salt and coconut oil. Daily raw carrot salad will probably help a lot too. And coffee, with milk or cream, sugar and gelatin. Go slow. Bag breathing may help with anxiety.

to the forum mandance!

 

[mandance]

Thanks so much for the responses everyone. Kiran, any source you recommend for the b1? I just seem to find the capules.

Thanks 4peatsake, I have been avoiding PUFAs much more now that ever, I still get a good amount of protein from chicken, but I know i need to replace that with other sources of protein. Just got gelatin from a friend, so I can start adding that in. The carrot salads have done wonders for digestion I have noticed though. Really turned things around. Funny also, Peat did mention bag breathing as well. I will have to keep doing that as well. I will follow his advice then and try cynoplus at night time to see how I do.

Thanks for the welcome also. I do feel after so long that I am finally on the right track, but what is that saying...things get worse before the get better? haha

Cheers,

Chris

 

[kiran]

I use NOW B1 it's a 100mg tablet. It's not perfect, it has cellulose though. But it's probably decent enough to check if thiamine is indeed the problem.

 

[mandance]

Cool, I will check it out. Thanks so much

 

[charlie]

Mandace,

... Peat also recommened Vitamin B1, but I cant seem to find any source of B1 that you can dose on a 10mg level. Everything seems like 100 or higher.

Did Ray Peat recommend 10mg of B1?

Also, would you mind posting your communications with Ray Peat in the "email depository"?

 

[Dan W]

Also, would you mind posting your communications with Ray Peat in the "email depository"?

I'd be curious to see this too (you can anonymize out any details) especially since I'm fuzzy on Peat's opinions of B1 supplementation.

You can also buy bulk B1 powder, though Kiran's suggestion is probably easier to start.

 

[mandance]

I am not sure what the email depository is? But I would be more than happy to pass a long our exchanges for future information to the forums. Thanks,

Chris

 

[4peatssake]

I am not sure what the email depository is? But I would be more than happy to pass a long our exchanges for future information to the forums. Thanks,

Chris

Email Depository

You can post your email exchanges with Ray there. Thank you Chris. It is helpful to all of us.

 

[mandance]

Thanks everyone, I posted Peats emails in the Depository if anyone was interested. To update everyone, I have not yet tried Cynoplus. Its been about 5 days since I took the Cynomel..I dont feel that extreme fatigue anymore but I still feel chest pain. Is it relatively safe to take small amounts? Everything I found seems to suggest it is, and I cant find anything related to dosing small amounts and chest pain so I am also thinking it could be un related. I dont have any heart issues that I know of. I want to try the cynoplus like Peat suggested at night time, but with the chest pain, I am a bit nervous about it. I am also on a super low dose of SSRIs after many years being on them so I have had a lot more anxiety, weakness and high stress feeling etc.

 

[Mittir]

I want to try the cynoplus like Peat suggested at night time, but with the chest pain, I am a bit nervous about it.

You are looking for specific medical advice . Only qualified physicians can answer this kind of problems.
Thyroid med is strictly prohibited for people with heart problems. Please see your doctor and discuss with him.