Vileplume’s Log: Getting my life back

Vileplume

Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2020
Messages
1,697
Location
California
When I was a teenager, I could write with such emotion that it would make people cry. That’s how I won over my first high school girlfriend — stuck an eloquent note in her locker, which made her tear up and laugh. I’m not sure when in my life I lost this ability, but I first noticed it in college. Still able to attain a girlfriend, I tried writing her love letters with the same voracity I did with my first girlfriend. The ability left me. The same is true for academic writing too — I notice my confidence, my vocabulary, my sense of humor, and my verbal fluency are all fragments of what they used to be.

Sadly it’s not just the writing that’s taken a hit. Everyday of my life I feel like I’m operating at 65% of my total potential, every social interaction as a reminder that my brain isn’t firing on all cylinders. I know many on this forum can relate to this chronic sub-par state. I wake up with high adrenaline most days, I have minimal libido, I’ve developed quite a bit of belly fat in addition to my man boobs, I haven’t had a day without stomach problems in months, and my brain sits in a fog all day long.

But I’m never giving up. I’m going to heal myself. I’m going to improve my 65% subjective rating, not stopping until I’m at 90% at a minimum.

How did I get like this?
It started at 16. A chubby high schooler who wanted to look like Robert Plant, I decided I was going to lose weight no matter what it took. So I stopped eating, and I hit the stair master. Everyday. I would wake up, eat a 100 calorie yoplait light yogurt, and go to thw gym, where I would pour buckets of sweat for about an hour, burning hundreds and hundreds of calories. I did this for about 7 months, and I succeeded in losing weight. 220 to 145 pounds. At this low weight, I was thin. But I also temporarily blacked out whenever I stood up, I lost the attraction to any girl, I became irritable, stopped appreciating physical touch, and I became a socially awkward pushover.

It was at this point, 17, that I developed bad constipation that no doctor could solve. I would poop once a week, pebbles. My TSH had reached 2.3, quite high for a high schooler. Still, I never suspected that I might have damaged my metabolism because I didn’t know anything about physiology.

In college, I improved a bit unintentionally. I began eating more, but also partied a lot, drinking lots of alcohol and smoking lots of weed. My stomach remained a problem, but I managed it all right. I also remained a big pushover, I remained spacey and aloof, and I remained awkward, lacking confidence. The next big turning point came when I began my teaching career.

2015: Teaching and stress

At 25 I began my career teaching high school English. Very quickly I became depressed due to the stress level. An non-confrontational person, I wasn’t prepared to manage 120 high schoolers throughout the day. But, hearing that “the first few years are always the hardest,” I stuck with it. I tried antidepressants for a few months my second year, but I quickly felt like I had lost my soul so I stopped taking them, seeking out dietary interventions. And who did I find first? Dr. Eric Berg.

2018-20: Fasting, to Keto, to Carnivore
Dr. Berg and Rhonda Patrick said that fasting could help depression and anxiety, so I dove in. I began eating in a 12 hour window, which felt good. So I shortened it to 10 hours, to 8, to 6. Before I knew it, I was eating two meals a day, within a six hour window, following a ketogenic diet—beef, eggs, and spinach formed the bulk of my diet.

Before long I developed some terrible gas issues, which I now realize indicates some sort of overgrowth, indicative of a lowered metabolism. At the time I knew nothing of this, and I thought I felt good (stress hormones?), so I persisted. I moved from the CA Bay Area to Denver, Colorado, hoping social rejuvenation would recharge my life. In one of my first doctor visits in Denver, summer 2019, I registered a temperature of 94.5. How this didn’t get me to stop the keto, I’m not sure. On the contrary, I doubled down and decided to go carnivore in October 2019 for my gut issues.

At first, carnivore helped. My bloating went away. But after a month or so, things crept up. The inability to sleep. The inability to get an erection. The constant feeling of coldness. The complete lack of laughter. I went about 8 months without laughter or an erection. Many carnivore influencers said that if I felt bad, it was because I wasn’t eating enough fat. Before I knew it I was making special calls to Safeway to pick up extra beef fat trimmings, which I would fry up and eat on the side of my ribeyes. The fat helped temporarily, but then I would feel worse again. So I’d eat more fat. Again, I would feel worse. By May of 2020, I finally had had enough. Mid-afternoon, sitting in my parents’ home by myself at the kitchen table, I thought “wow, how do I feel this bad?” I remember hoping that a family member wouldn’t walk in, because of how irritable and anxious and miserable I felt. The very next meal, I added in a cup of frozen Costco berries with my ribeye, and it felt like a weight instantly lifted. Suddenly, I wanted to go play ping pong with my brother again. Suddenly, I felt love, rather than irritation, for my dad again.

Peat: June 2020-present

At first, I just ate berries with my meat. One cup. I noticed that I felt lighter, my digestion got better, music sounded better, and I began laughing more. Over time, I began to add more and more frozen fruit to my meals, and I began feeling even better. I bought a thermometer and found my average temp in the afternoon was 97.7. This was in June 2019. I also began tracking my sleeping heart rate, a bit alarmed to see it has dipping down into the mid 30s nearly every night.

Eventually, with persistence eating fruit along with my meat, I brought my temperature up to 98.6. However, my sleeping heart rate would still dip down to 45 or so every night.

Picked up the Peating. Felt better, then worse.

I got in touch with a local goat farmer in July 2020 and began drinking raw goats milk. I went down to the local river every day in July, getting tons of sun and relaxation. My nighttime pulse rate rose from ~45 to ~58, and everybody around me noticed the increase in energy. My parents, after several months of not having seen me, commented on my increased energy immediately. By early august 2020, I felt amazing. I was sold on my new dietary framework.

New school year, new problems

Then, in August 2020, this school year began. I stuck with my dietary framework, and very quickly I started to notice problems. Waking up with feelings of high adrenaline, foggy thinking, poor digestion again, bloating. These problems all came back with the school year, and they’ve stayed. Up until a few weeks ago, my nighttime heart rate still dipped down below 50 most nights (supplementing progesterone, pregnenolone, and DHEA help keep it above 55 now).

Nowadays

Nowadays, I am not well. Here are my big issues:

-Low temperatures: My heart rate doesn’t dip as low as it did in July, but my temperatures are definitely suboptimal. I usually only reach about 98.2 at the highest, after reaching 98.7 often during the summer.

-Low Libido: I never have morning wood, and often it takes a lot of stimulation to get an erection.

-Poor digestion: I’m often bloated, and my poops are not satisfying or frequent. Can’t remember the last time I had a good poop.

-Depression: I don’t enjoy much — I rarely laugh and often shy away from social situations. This is definitely not the case when I feel high energy, but the high energy state is extremely rare for me nowadays.

-Blood sugar swings, hot flashes, lots of fat gain the belly, man boobs, waking up with feelings of panic.

I’m not where I want to be. I’ve recently tried NDT (Tyromax), which worked very well for two days but then led to a stress reaction with very high pulse and low temps. When I emailed Dr. Peat about this he said that pregnenolone and progesterone and DHEA would prevent the temperature drop, so I’m currently supplementing those three to see if I can get my hormones regulated.

I think the stress from my job makes things much worse, but at the same time, when I’m well energized, I can engage with my students and enjoy my job. I tried T3 a few months ago and it worked for a few days, before my nighttime pulse started getting low and my temps lowered too. Perhaps I’ll try T3 again, but at this point I’m lost.

I’m squeezing my own oranges because every other orange juice wrecks my gut, and I can’t tolerate any other fruits besides red grapes, but even then I’m not sure if they mess up my gut. Gelatin helps my mind, but soon enough it starts to give me endotoxins symptoms.

My roommates see me as the quirky, aloof, silly guy who eats too much fruit, milk, and meat. I see myself as an isolated and depressed hypothyroid person who desperately wants to feel better. And I will solve my problems. I just wanted to get this down so one day I can look back to the beginning of this log and think, “Damn, look where you were, and look where you are now. You did it.”

-Tyler
 

lvysaur

Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2014
Messages
2,286
I succeeded in losing weight. 220 to 145 pounds. At this low weight, I was thin. But I also temporarily blacked out whenever I stood up
Very interesting, I had the same thing when I was 19.

I lost a lot of weight (unintentionally), and I started having fainting problems after standing up. It was a distinct feeling of lightheadedness after getting up, most of the time it would correct, but sometimes it would go too far and I would faint.
 
OP
Vileplume

Vileplume

Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2020
Messages
1,697
Location
California
Very interesting, I had the same thing when I was 19.

I lost a lot of weight (unintentionally), and I started having fainting problems after standing up. It was a distinct feeling of lightheadedness after getting up, most of the time it would correct, but sometimes it would go too far and I would faint.
That is interesting. Did you notice any other metabolic problems creeping in as a result of the weight loss?

I sometimes cringe to think about damage I might have done to my developing brain by undereating and overexercising like that.
 

lvysaur

Member
Joined
Mar 15, 2014
Messages
2,286
Did you notice any other metabolic problems creeping in as a result of the weight loss?
Around the same time I was losing weight, I had a couple of "serotonin attacks" after waking up. Both times I had vivid dreams, woke up and had to poop, and the poop was liquid diarrhea. I had a very fast heartbeat both times, thought I was going to die. This is actually very similar to some COVID symptoms.

About a year and a half after the fainting spells, I started getting pains in my right knee, like really bad pains. The fainting had stopped by then.
Another thing is that I was eating a lot of sushi when I lost that weight. So I'm considering if I may have contracted some parasites as well back then. I wasn't intentionally trying to lose weight.

Then I started taking krill oil, then my hair loss started, and then I found ray peat and everything got somewhat better.
 
OP
Vileplume

Vileplume

Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2020
Messages
1,697
Location
California
@Ivysaur interesting that you had those serotonin attacks in addition to the weightloss. I did develop an anxious personality with my weightloss, but did not have those serotonin attacks. It sounds like your body had a lot to deal with at once, with the possible parasites, fainting, and serotonin attacks. How's your health journey going nowadays? It sounds like COVID has affected your health wellbeing from what you've written, but would you say your health over the past few years has headed in a positive direction?
 
OP
Vileplume

Vileplume

Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2020
Messages
1,697
Location
California
Today I took 1 drop of Tyromax and didn't have a stress reaction! Yay! I took it with a big meal of stewed apples/bananas, orange juice, eggs with mushrooms, and milk with maple syrup. It's now been about 2.5 hours and my pulse never jumped above 92 BPM. It's been steady in the mid-80s for a few hours, and my temperature even reached 98.3F for a bit, which is higher than it's ever been in the past few weeks.

Previously, when I took Tyromax, my pulse would elevate to above 100 and my temperature would drop. Even yesterday, when I took 1 drop, my pulse reached over 100 while sitting. A few weeks ago, I tried 3 drops of Tyromax and it sent my pulse over 100 in addition to temperature reaching down into the 96's.

I've been taking progesterone (18 mg/day), pregnenolone (100 mg/day) and DHEA (5 mg./day) for the past week and I think that's provided my body with some of the hormonal material it needs to remain stable with thyroid. Also, 1 drop of Tyromax is tiny. That's 1/7th of a grain. But baby steps. Hopefully in a week I will be able to bump up to 2 drops, then 3. Fingers crossed for no impending stress reactions.
 
OP
Vileplume

Vileplume

Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2020
Messages
1,697
Location
California
Update: when I took Tyromax, as alluded to in my last post, failed again due to a stress reaction—my heart rate got super high, I got large anxiety and scattered thoughts, and my temp tanked. So I stopped.

My main issues remain:
-low temperature (can’t get above 98.3)
-brain fog
-gynocemastia
-bad digestion/bloating
-high morning anxiety and panic
-high heart rate during day (95 sedentary) low heart rate at night (dips down to 53 in sleep)
-frustration and anger
-lack of deep sleep
-low physical energy
-lots of abdominal fat
-frequent urination
-creaky ankle and knee joints
-poor libido/ no morning wood
-hot flashes throughout the day

I feel like I’m at about 70% of my total potential, in mood and mental performance. Can’t wait to feel 90% or above some day.
 
Last edited:
OP
Vileplume

Vileplume

Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2020
Messages
1,697
Location
California
Now I’m trying a different route with the following supps:

-cynomel T3 during the day (3mcg taken every three hours), cynoplus before bed (15 mcg T4 and 3.5 mcg T3) totaling 15-18 mcg T3 and 15 mcg T4
-1 mg cypro split into AM/PM dose
-200 mg selenium
-1200 mg mag glycinate, which is only about 200 mg elemental magnesium
-Thorne’s adrenal cortex (x3 a day to help with adrenal function)

I’ve been trying to support my adrenals because my heart rate has been very high lately, even when taking no thyroid. Adrenal cortex doesn’t seem to have any direct effects, but my hot flashes have decreased since I started taking the adrenal cortex.

Been taking the thyroid as indicated above for two days, and so far my sedentary heart rate has been a little high, but my temperatures have not dropped at all, perhaps even increasing for small bits of time. Hopefully the adrenal cortex and thyroid together will get my thyroid function strong and increase body temp, so then my thyroid can support my adrenals and I can stop taking adrenal cortex.

I’ve done soooo many diet tweaks to figure out what I can digest. So far, here’s what I’ve tried that hasn’t worked (and why).

-lots of Costco OJ and goat milk (Costco OJ upsets my stomach and makes my joints creakier, plus this diet makes me pee a lot)
-lots of ripe melon (worked SO WELL but ripe melon is out of season now in California, where it is winter)
-lots of frozen whole fruit like berries, peaches (too much fiber, made me really gassy and heavy)
-lots of meat (blood sugar issues and not appetizing at all)
-starches (gave me heavy endotoxin symptoms, namely bad smelling gas)
-home squeezed OJ (digests well but a lot of liquid)
-low fat (hard to pull off with all the above issues at play)

SOOOO what diet am I doing now? Well I’m doing the below, which seems to be working all right for the last two days. My main focuses are to keep bloating down (lowish fiber and carrot salad), get plenty of fruit carbs (not much refined sugar), get plenty of salt (cheese and... salt), and get enough calories. So, my resulting diet currently looks like:

-cheese
-coconut oil
-OJ
-low fat goat milk
-some meat
-other easily digestible fruit options (grapes, canned pineapple, melon when I can get it).


SIDE NOTE: I just saw my endocrinologist and she heavily disapproved of my current supplement stack. She thought T3 was risking my heart health, which kinda scared me. She said my temperature of 97.5 is totally normal and that my TSH of 1.3 is totally normal too. However, my main priority is getting my temp to 98.6 at least everyday. So I’m going to stick with the T3
 

Bart1

Member
Joined
May 21, 2018
Messages
445
Now I’m trying a different route with the following supps:

-cynomel T3 during the day (3mcg taken every three hours), cynoplus before bed (15 mcg T4 and 3.5 mcg T3) totaling 15-18 mcg T3 and 15 mcg T4
-1 mg cypro split into AM/PM dose
-200 mg selenium
-1200 mg mag glycinate, which is only about 200 mg elemental magnesium
-Thorne’s adrenal cortex (x3 a day to help with adrenal function)

I’ve been trying to support my adrenals because my heart rate has been very high lately, even when taking no thyroid. Adrenal cortex doesn’t seem to have any direct effects, but my hot flashes have decreased since I started taking the adrenal cortex.

Been taking the thyroid as indicated above for two days, and so far my sedentary heart rate has been a little high, but my temperatures have not dropped at all, perhaps even increasing for small bits of time. Hopefully the adrenal cortex and thyroid together will get my thyroid function strong and increase body temp, so then my thyroid can support my adrenals and I can stop taking adrenal cortex.

I’ve done soooo many diet tweaks to figure out what I can digest. So far, here’s what I’ve tried that hasn’t worked (and why).

-lots of Costco OJ and goat milk (Costco OJ upsets my stomach and makes my joints creakier, plus this diet makes me pee a lot)
-lots of ripe melon (worked SO WELL but ripe melon is out of season now in California, where it is winter)
-lots of frozen whole fruit like berries, peaches (too much fiber, made me really gassy and heavy)
-lots of meat (blood sugar issues and not appetizing at all)
-starches (gave me heavy endotoxin symptoms, namely bad smelling gas)
-home squeezed OJ (digests well but a lot of liquid)
-low fat (hard to pull off with all the above issues at play)

SOOOO what diet am I doing now? Well I’m doing the below, which seems to be working all right for the last two days. My main focuses are to keep bloating down (lowish fiber and carrot salad), get plenty of fruit carbs (not much refined sugar), get plenty of salt (cheese and... salt), and get enough calories. So, my resulting diet currently looks like:

-cheese
-coconut oil
-OJ
-low fat goat milk
-some meat
-other easily digestible fruit options (grapes, canned pineapple, melon when I can get it).


SIDE NOTE: I just saw my endocrinologist and she heavily disapproved of my current supplement stack. She thought T3 was risking my heart health, which kinda scared me. She said my temperature of 97.5 is totally normal and that my TSH of 1.3 is totally normal too. However, my main priority is getting my temp to 98.6 at least everyday. So I’m going to stick with the T3
I would look into Thiamin for your high heart rate. It is very very probable to have a (functional) thiamin deficiency. There are a lot of topic on the forum about it.
 
OP
Vileplume

Vileplume

Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2020
Messages
1,697
Location
California
I would look into Thiamin for your high heart rate. It is very very probable to have a (functional) thiamin deficiency. There are a lot of topic on the forum about it.
Nice, I’ll look into it. I have some thiamine at home. Thanks.
 
OP
Vileplume

Vileplume

Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2020
Messages
1,697
Location
California
Since my last post, I’ve faced some challenges. At first, the T3, salt, and magnesium lowered my heart rate enough for me to try NDT again. Before, NDT always caused adrenaline rushes, but when I tried it a few weeks ago after lowering heart rate, my body tolerated the NDT. It gave me deep sleep and lowered stress hormones, and I felt good! I felt calm and energized!

So I stuck with the combo: T3 throughout the day and NDT mixed in. Gradually, I increased the NDT from 2 drops tyromax, to 4 drops, to 6 drops, then to 8 drops last Tuesday. I noticed that my body responded best to it when my heart rate was low, so on that last Tuesday (2/23), I took 2 drops of tyromax at 3 am, when my heart rate is lowest. I felt excellent that day, with focus and a calm heart rate, so I took 5 more drops throughout the day, and then 3 drops of tyromax the next morning (2/24) at 3 am. That morning around 10 is when the anxiety started, along with a heart rate back up into the 90s and a stressed out disposition. I backed off the NDT and just used the T3, but the anxiety persisted.

I still have a high heart rate to this day, and for the life of me I can’t get my HR back down to the 70s until bed time. On the plus side, I haven’t had a hot flash in a few days (improvements!) and my sleep is pretty solid.

This afternoon, even though my HR was at 90, I thought some NDT might not be so bad, that maybe some T4 would help with the high adrenaline I still had, with using T3 only. Right now, my heart rate is chilling at around 90, two hours after that dose of NDT. My current plan is to do two drops of tyromax, spread throughout the day, with T3 doses interspersed. I’m going to stick with this dose of 2 drops for at least two weeks before I think about upping the dose.
 

crazypatriot

Member
Joined
Oct 19, 2020
Messages
52
I can relate to a lot here. Wondering if you've considered its some anemia related to iron, copper, vitamin A imbalances? Iron tested? Thats the research rabbit hole im going down at least lately for myself.
 
OP
Vileplume

Vileplume

Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2020
Messages
1,697
Location
California
I can relate to a lot here. Wondering if you've considered its some anemia related to iron, copper, vitamin A imbalances? Iron tested? Thats the research rabbit hole im going down at least lately for myself.
I have not considered that yet! Thanks for the idea. I used to have constant anemia, with low iron on blood tests, but my most recent blood tests indicate normal iron. What sorts of things should I look for on blood tests as indicators of imbalance?
 

FitnessMike

Member
Joined
Jan 18, 2020
Messages
1,647
I can relate to a lot here. Wondering if you've considered its some anemia related to iron, copper, vitamin A imbalances? Iron tested? Thats the research rabbit hole im going down at least lately for myself.
will high iron antagonize copper?
 

crazypatriot

Member
Joined
Oct 19, 2020
Messages
52
Im gonna be lazy and just copy paste from another thread I was reading.

Douglas Ek:
There are 100 of studies showing iron is an integral part of dopamine production in the brain especially the dopamine neuron dense substantia nigra which is extremely rich in iron. Low iron is also linked to ADHD (treated with dopamine agonists), Parkinsonism has region specific iron-dysregulation in the brain. And also restless leg syndrome which is also treated with dopamine agonists and is related to low dopamine is linked to low iron. Like I showed 3 studies where low iron is also linked with high prolactin (low dopamine). Anyone who is rejecting all this research is a denier. Funny how pro dopamine ray peat is. Anyway iron dysregulation is more than just low iron. Copper, vitamin A, and many other substances help the body utilize iron properly by boosting the main transporter ferroxidase (Ceruloplasmin) and so these nutrients also increase dopamine by boosting iron utilization. It's when these nutrients are deficient that iron becomes a problem it just starts building up in tissues. Iron is key in cellular respiration and function of every cell in your body. But I now believe that people tend to have a dysregulation of iron function instead of iron deficiency. I previously had "low iron" and had all the symptoms I took iron pills and it helped but whenever I stopped iron the symptoms came back even though my ferritin went up. Every time I stopped iron my serum-iron fell. What you want to have are high serum-iron and lower ferritin. It mean's your body is using and absorbing iron but not storing it. I found out I had low ferroxidase and thus now I focus my diet to increase ferroxidase and now I don't need supplements anymore. I have more energy and starting to feel fantastic.

...

Actually, it's the opposite. Vitamin A is needed for ferroxidase synthesis which is how the body utilizes iron. Along with copper. Higher vitamin A means higher ferroxidase which means better utilization and absorption of dietary iron which means less need for an iron supplement. Dysfunction of ferroxidase is probably one reason how iron overload exhibits its dangerous effects by storing iron everywhere and storing it in tissues and organs leading to organ failure. Without ferroxidase, iron can't be utilized. If you can't utilize it will just get stored as ferritin in your tissues. Without copper, your body can't make hephaestin which is necessary to transport dietary iron from intestinal enterocytes into the circulatory system. And without copper you can't make ceruloplasmin which is ferroxidase 1 the bodys main iron utilizer and transporter.
 

Razvan

Member
Joined
Jul 5, 2019
Messages
949
Location
Romania
Stop the thyroid, try to raise NAD to NADH ratio with 1-15mg methylene blue, niacinamide and k2. Also try 3 weeks of high dosage aspirin: 2g in the morning than 500 mg in the afternoon and 500mg before bed. This will work better than thyroid. You could than add 50-100mg of pregnenolone a day.Also very crucial is to keep the calcium to phosphate ratio.
Nice combo to try out is 1mg of methylene blue with 150 mg of niacinamide and tobacco/nicotine.
 
OP
Vileplume

Vileplume

Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2020
Messages
1,697
Location
California
My life from ages 16-27. Depression and anxiety that eventually got so bad, I needed to change something

The school year began about a month ago, and normally by this time, the stress sets in. I teaching four classes of high school freshmen and one class of AP Literature advanced seniors, and the freshman this year have reached a new level of insanity in their behavior. They say rude things, they throw things, they take things, they damage school and classroom materials, and they push every rule and consequence as far as possible, testing boundaries relentlessly. This behavior seems like a topic for another thread, but I want to focus on my own reaction to this behavior.

Five years ago, teaching brought my depression out into the open so that I could no longer ignore it. This happened in 2017, and in the 8 or 9 years before, ever since early 2009, I had effectively ignored my depression. From 2009 to 2017, although always the pushover of the group, although always anxious, although I had sexual troubles, although antisocial, I still got by. Everyone on the outside told me it seemed I didn't have any problems, and my tests came back fine, so I weathered through for 8 years and lived a somewhat normal life. I thought everyone had the same inconvenient and less-than-ideal neuroses as me. Teaching, though, in 2017, hit me like a truck. Faced with a class full of high school students who I had to not only discipline but educate, my thread wore thin in a matter of weeks. I let them break rules because I had none, I couldn't speak in front of them because I would lose control of my internal dialogue, I didn't have enough energy to stay happy and focused throughout the day, so my last class of the day would run wild, knowing I wouldn't do anything to stop it. As a result, my self-respect tanked along with my class' respect or me, and it got to the point where I would drive home everyday thinking to myself "How did my life get so bad? I cannot keep doing this." I remember one point in particular, when I received a scathing review on ratemyteachers.com, that I thought to myself "this is the worst moment of my life." I would get the worst Sunday scaries -- every Sunday, paralyzed with fear about the impending work week, I couldn't even socialize or enjoy myself. This would come to a peak at around 3:00 am every Monday morning, when I would get woken out of sleep my visceral anxiety that I could feel pulsing through my arms, shoulders, and chest.

At the time, 2017-2019, I didn't realize that I had hypothyroidism. I had all the signs -- low sex drive, low energy and focus, low ambition, erratic mood and nervousness, the worst digestive woes of anybody I knew. To make matters worse, I tried to eat a standard healthy diet and subscribe to a traditional exercise health plan: I ate tofu and chicken and guacamole and oatmeal, I ran three miles every morning, fasted. My mood got so bad that I eventually felt like antidepressants offered the only means of escape. Then, I decided to try intermittent fasting (IF) as a way of getting off my antidepressant medication. IF blunted my emotions, which I took for relief, a positive sign. Perhaps the positives came from the inflammatory foods (fibers, starches, PUFAs) that I reduced during my non-eating window, but inspired by Dr. Eric Berg, I continued down the IF path, gradually adding in a keto diet, which turned to carnivore diet with two meals a day by November 2019. Finally, in April 2020, when my average meal consisted of a pan full of 1/3 lamb and 2/3 fried beef fat, I sat down one day, feeling utterly terrible, and thought to myself "holy ***t, I cannot believe I feel this bad." I added in berried and that night, I felt like a weight lifted off my shoulders. Thus, I began researching Peat, I found this forum, and experimenting with his ideas.

May 2020: My first year Peating, and things went.... okay

However, my first year of Peat from May 2020-May 2021, I still didn't feel very good. As you can see in my above posts, I had hot flashes, tachycardia, digestive woes, morning anxiety, panic attacks, depression, sexual issues, brain fog, poor memory. Basically, all of these issues still existed, with just minor bouts of temporary improvement sprinkled in. I tried tyromax in February, which seemed to help by left me with hot flashes and tachycardia. I tried a diet of mostly OJ and cheese, which again seemed to help but also seemed to give me hot flashes. I tried eating mostly frozen fruit, which was too coarse and fibrous for my stomach. I tried every fruit imaginable, starch and without starch, I tried with meat and without, until June 2021. In June 2021, I had dropped tyromax because of the hot flashes and tachycardia, and these symptoms seemed to improve without tyromax. Instead, I used cynoplus and cynomel at a low dose (1/4 cynoplus and 1/4 cynomel per day, split into a total of 4 8ths). With this switch, my hot flashes improved.

June 2021: Things took a major positive turn

Then on June 21, 2021, I was forced to take a long drive and took only raw goat milk, mixed with sugar and coffee, in the car with me. The entire car ride, my heart rate stayed around 70, a miracle for me. That night, when I went to bed having consumed pretty much only raw goat milk, sugar, and coffee, I got more deep sleep than I had in months. My heart rate variability increased drastically, indicating a massive and instantaneous reduction in stress hormones. From this moment forward, I stuck with goat milk and sugar as a majority of my diet. To this day, three months later, goat milk and sugar makes up most of what I eat, and my stress levels remain low and energy remains high despite having my most stressful school environment yet. This lowered heart rate and increased metabolism, which both came from the decreased inflammation of replacing meat and whole fruit with goat milk and sugar, have allowed me the energy to teach my wild students without losing my cool. I remain calmly in charge of my class, even when things go awry. On my drives home nowadays, I listen to Peat interviews or teaching videos or music, and I let go of the school day, which before I could never do. I drink goat milk, sugar, and coffee all day, until I get home, where I drink fresh-squeezed OJ, eat liver and grapes, shellfish, eggs, mushrooms, and carrots. This current diet has not solved all my problems, but it has improved pretty much all of them.

Despite drinking a gallon (yes, a GALLON) of full fat goat milk every day, I have lost weight over the past three months. I walk 10,000 steps per day and lift weights for 45 minutes every other day. My tongue has become clearer, although it's still not totally clear and I work toward improvement in that area. My feelings of happiness have increased, my enjoyment of music, my energy to go outside for a walk, all has improved. My confidence and ability to assert myself, my ability to hold an academic and thoughtful conversation, my sense of humor, my ability to let bothering things go, these all have improved.

These things have helped:

-making unfortified goat milk with sugar my primary source of nutrition.
This combo causes me no inflammation and has helped calm my heart rate while increasing my metabolism, enough that I've lost weight and gained muscle, despite eating more calories and fat.
-minimizing intestinal irritation. Not eating too many whole fruits, because they're usually unripe. Instead, I get lots of nutrients from liver, shellfish, milk, and eggs, and about a quart per day of OJ. Then, I eat a good amount of sugar.
-Increasing thyroid supplement. I currently take 1.25 cynoplus tablets, or 27.5mcgT3 and 150mcgT4, per day as fall season begins.
-Getting plenty of minerals. I take some magnesium bicarbonate, take about 1.5-2 tablespoons of salt per day, get loads of calcium from milk, and potassium from OJ.
 

laleto12

Member
Joined
Nov 1, 2019
Messages
474
Congrats and I am very happy for you.
A quick question: Do you drink raw/unpausterized goat milk or just regular UHT ? And is your orange juice commercial one or do you juice fresh? thanks.
 
OP
Vileplume

Vileplume

Member
Joined
Jun 10, 2020
Messages
1,697
Location
California
Congrats and I am very happy for you.
A quick question: Do you drink raw/unpausterized goat milk or just regular UHT ? And is your orange juice commercial one or do you juice fresh? thanks.
Thanks so much for reading, and I hope the same for you as you move forward.

I prefer raw goat milk, but lately my supplier's milk started tasting kinda weird and it started to upset my stomach, so I just switched to local pasteurized whole goat milk, unfortified. It has been treating me very well, and I love the taste. I know Peat selects his milks based on taste as well.

I squeeze my own orange juice everyday. I buy them at the grocery store, looking for the sweetest brand I can find. Every commercial orange juice I ever tried has upset my stomach, if drunk daily.
 

Jennifer

Member
Joined
Jul 8, 2014
Messages
4,635
Location
USA
My life from ages 16-27. Depression and anxiety that eventually got so bad, I needed to change something

The school year began about a month ago, and normally by this time, the stress sets in. I teaching four classes of high school freshmen and one class of AP Literature advanced seniors, and the freshman this year have reached a new level of insanity in their behavior. They say rude things, they throw things, they take things, they damage school and classroom materials, and they push every rule and consequence as far as possible, testing boundaries relentlessly. This behavior seems like a topic for another thread, but I want to focus on my own reaction to this behavior.

Five years ago, teaching brought my depression out into the open so that I could no longer ignore it. This happened in 2017, and in the 8 or 9 years before, ever since early 2009, I had effectively ignored my depression. From 2009 to 2017, although always the pushover of the group, although always anxious, although I had sexual troubles, although antisocial, I still got by. Everyone on the outside told me it seemed I didn't have any problems, and my tests came back fine, so I weathered through for 8 years and lived a somewhat normal life. I thought everyone had the same inconvenient and less-than-ideal neuroses as me. Teaching, though, in 2017, hit me like a truck. Faced with a class full of high school students who I had to not only discipline but educate, my thread wore thin in a matter of weeks. I let them break rules because I had none, I couldn't speak in front of them because I would lose control of my internal dialogue, I didn't have enough energy to stay happy and focused throughout the day, so my last class of the day would run wild, knowing I wouldn't do anything to stop it. As a result, my self-respect tanked along with my class' respect or me, and it got to the point where I would drive home everyday thinking to myself "How did my life get so bad? I cannot keep doing this." I remember one point in particular, when I received a scathing review on ratemyteachers.com, that I thought to myself "this is the worst moment of my life." I would get the worst Sunday scaries -- every Sunday, paralyzed with fear about the impending work week, I couldn't even socialize or enjoy myself. This would come to a peak at around 3:00 am every Monday morning, when I would get woken out of sleep my visceral anxiety that I could feel pulsing through my arms, shoulders, and chest.

At the time, 2017-2019, I didn't realize that I had hypothyroidism. I had all the signs -- low sex drive, low energy and focus, low ambition, erratic mood and nervousness, the worst digestive woes of anybody I knew. To make matters worse, I tried to eat a standard healthy diet and subscribe to a traditional exercise health plan: I ate tofu and chicken and guacamole and oatmeal, I ran three miles every morning, fasted. My mood got so bad that I eventually felt like antidepressants offered the only means of escape. Then, I decided to try intermittent fasting (IF) as a way of getting off my antidepressant medication. IF blunted my emotions, which I took for relief, a positive sign. Perhaps the positives came from the inflammatory foods (fibers, starches, PUFAs) that I reduced during my non-eating window, but inspired by Dr. Eric Berg, I continued down the IF path, gradually adding in a keto diet, which turned to carnivore diet with two meals a day by November 2019. Finally, in April 2020, when my average meal consisted of a pan full of 1/3 lamb and 2/3 fried beef fat, I sat down one day, feeling utterly terrible, and thought to myself "holy ***t, I cannot believe I feel this bad." I added in berried and that night, I felt like a weight lifted off my shoulders. Thus, I began researching Peat, I found this forum, and experimenting with his ideas.

May 2020: My first year Peating, and things went.... okay

However, my first year of Peat from May 2020-May 2021, I still didn't feel very good. As you can see in my above posts, I had hot flashes, tachycardia, digestive woes, morning anxiety, panic attacks, depression, sexual issues, brain fog, poor memory. Basically, all of these issues still existed, with just minor bouts of temporary improvement sprinkled in. I tried tyromax in February, which seemed to help by left me with hot flashes and tachycardia. I tried a diet of mostly OJ and cheese, which again seemed to help but also seemed to give me hot flashes. I tried eating mostly frozen fruit, which was too coarse and fibrous for my stomach. I tried every fruit imaginable, starch and without starch, I tried with meat and without, until June 2021. In June 2021, I had dropped tyromax because of the hot flashes and tachycardia, and these symptoms seemed to improve without tyromax. Instead, I used cynoplus and cynomel at a low dose (1/4 cynoplus and 1/4 cynomel per day, split into a total of 4 8ths). With this switch, my hot flashes improved.

June 2021: Things took a major positive turn

Then on June 21, 2021, I was forced to take a long drive and took only raw goat milk, mixed with sugar and coffee, in the car with me. The entire car ride, my heart rate stayed around 70, a miracle for me. That night, when I went to bed having consumed pretty much only raw goat milk, sugar, and coffee, I got more deep sleep than I had in months. My heart rate variability increased drastically, indicating a massive and instantaneous reduction in stress hormones. From this moment forward, I stuck with goat milk and sugar as a majority of my diet. To this day, three months later, goat milk and sugar makes up most of what I eat, and my stress levels remain low and energy remains high despite having my most stressful school environment yet. This lowered heart rate and increased metabolism, which both came from the decreased inflammation of replacing meat and whole fruit with goat milk and sugar, have allowed me the energy to teach my wild students without losing my cool. I remain calmly in charge of my class, even when things go awry. On my drives home nowadays, I listen to Peat interviews or teaching videos or music, and I let go of the school day, which before I could never do. I drink goat milk, sugar, and coffee all day, until I get home, where I drink fresh-squeezed OJ, eat liver and grapes, shellfish, eggs, mushrooms, and carrots. This current diet has not solved all my problems, but it has improved pretty much all of them.

Despite drinking a gallon (yes, a GALLON) of full fat goat milk every day, I have lost weight over the past three months. I walk 10,000 steps per day and lift weights for 45 minutes every other day. My tongue has become clearer, although it's still not totally clear and I work toward improvement in that area. My feelings of happiness have increased, my enjoyment of music, my energy to go outside for a walk, all has improved. My confidence and ability to assert myself, my ability to hold an academic and thoughtful conversation, my sense of humor, my ability to let bothering things go, these all have improved.

These things have helped:

-making unfortified goat milk with sugar my primary source of nutrition.
This combo causes me no inflammation and has helped calm my heart rate while increasing my metabolism, enough that I've lost weight and gained muscle, despite eating more calories and fat.
-minimizing intestinal irritation. Not eating too many whole fruits, because they're usually unripe. Instead, I get lots of nutrients from liver, shellfish, milk, and eggs, and about a quart per day of OJ. Then, I eat a good amount of sugar.
-Increasing thyroid supplement. I currently take 1.25 cynoplus tablets, or 27.5mcgT3 and 150mcgT4, per day as fall season begins.
-Getting plenty of minerals. I take some magnesium bicarbonate, take about 1.5-2 tablespoons of salt per day, get loads of calcium from milk, and potassium from OJ.

What a journey, Tyler. Thank you for sharing it with us. I find your determination in the face of suffering inspiring, and it’s always a good day when I see someone who was once anxious and depressed, now standing in their power and able to enjoy life. Since your improvements, have you noticed any change in your students’ behavior and the way they respond to you? Have they nicknamed you the Milkman yet? If I were a teacher, I’d demand that my students refer to me as the Dairy Queen. :happy:
 

Similar threads

O
Replies
2
Views
674
O
Back
Top Bottom