Ray Peat Email Exchanges

Ray Peat regularly answers to e-mails from people all around the world. Danny Roddy categorized several of these responses in 2012 -- with Ray’s permission. We have added onto this collection with emails submitted to the Ray Peat Forum Email Depository.

It's difficult to know whether or not a submission is really a response from Ray, so you might want to keep an open mind while reading this page.

5-Alpha Dihydroprogesterone (5a-DHP)

Pregnenolone, DHEA, and progesterone are basic stabilizing molecules, and I think it’s dangerous to use novel substances that are likely to interact with those, in the absence of large amounts of preliminary experimentation with animals and in vitro. (Reference) Forum Discussion

The farther a substance is from its precursor material, the easier it is to cause unwanted effects when supplementing it. (Reference)

Acacia Gum

[On Acacia Powder/Acacia Gum/Gum Arabic] Yes, acacia gum is very allergenic. It has taken me two or three weeks to get over symptoms from it, when I accidentally got it in a food. But other irritating foods might keep the symptoms going, so it's good to watch for changes with different foods.

Acetaminophen

[Reaction to Excedrin] Yes, although the aspirin and caffeine help to detoxify acetaminophen.

Acne

Have you tried anything topical, such as sulfur, or an antibiotic such as minocycline? 10% sulfur soap leaves an antiseptic residue on the skin that can prevent infection.

I think it would be good to try the sulfur soap first.

[SULFUR SOAP] The simple ones are what I use; I haven't tried one with salicylic acid.

Is it okay to shower twice a day and use sulfur soap? The sulfur lingers on the skin for at least a day. It can leave you fairly smelly.

[Can FLOWERS OF SULFUR taken internally help with acne? Would minocycline also help?] Either of them can help, but with prolonged use the intestine can develop sensitivity to the sulfur. causing irritation instead of stopping it.

Vitamin A affects the differentiation of skin cells, the production of steroids, and resistance to infection and inflammation. The great increase in formation of the sex steroids at puberty increases the need for vitamin A, and makes its regulatory actions more important. Thyroid's important functions for the skin are the production of steroids and preventing their imbalance, and maintaining the immune function and production of sebum. Other nutritional deficiencies, especially the balance between vitamin E and unsaturated fats, affect the functions of vitamin A and thyroid, so it's important to include foods like liver, eggs, oysters, fruits, and milk in the diet. Sometimes it's easier just to use Benadryl or minocycline to reduce the inflammation and infection.

A solution of aspirin in water on the skin helps with the inflammation, and is mildly germicidal.

[Why do many women get rid of acne using CONTRACEPTIVES (estrogen)?] Estrogen causes the oil glands to atrophy, so the skin doesn't support bacterial growth so well. Topical sulfur's germicidal effect can help, and topical aspirin and caffeine are antiseptic as well as antiinflammatory. One function of vitamin A is to increase progesterone in the skin, and it has to be in balance with thyroid to do that. Another function is to differentiate the skin cells, reducing keratin plugging of the glands.

ANTIBIOTICS can be used topically, but the tetracycline type is usually taken internally, for their antiinflammatory effect. Changing the diet while using an antibiotic can make the effect permanent. [Best topical form of tetracycline for acne?] I think the easiest thing would be an over-the-counter neomycin lotion.

[BENZOL PEROXIDE] I suspect that it will age the skin. Have you tried topical sulfur and oral tetracycline? [follow up: Tetracycline safe when pregnant?] Antibiotics generally shouldn't be used during pregnancy. Sulfur (precipitated or sublimed) can be mixed into a slurry with water and patted onto the area. Dissolved aspirin used with it increases the antiseptic effect and reduces inflammation. [follow up: Is BRIMSTONE POWDER safe?] The people who wrote the label should be removed to fresh air immediately, their brains aren't getting enough oxygen. There are forms of sulfur that are ground, rather than precipitated, and they aren't as effective, but they aren't harmful. If it has a very strong smell, it might be contaminated; the smell should be mildly unpleasant. Ground sulfur/brimstone is commonly used in animal feed, so it isn't toxic. [Does the precipitated sulfur smell like a match also?] Yes, the smell varies slightly. When there's a skin fungal infection, there's a hydrogen sulfide stink, which is what kills the fungus.

ZINC isn't directly an oxidant, but when it's used as a chemical supplement it can cause problems that it wouldn't in the form of foods. Both vitamin A and zinc are essential in the right amount for good skin health, but too much of either can disturb the immune function. Irritation of the intestine is often involved in skin problems, and supplements always contain trace contaminants that can cause reactions. When ADM bought Distillation Products from Eastman several years ago, the composition of their vitatmin E products went through several changes, and competing companies began making similar changes. Since then research results haven't been as consistent as they were 40 to 60 years ago, and I stopped recommending amounts up to a few hundred units per day, waiting to see more results of research. Some of the products sold as vitamin E now contain significant amounts of PUFA, and lack some of the substances such as octacosanol that were in traditional products. The right amount of thyroid is essential for skin immunity and metabolism of steroids in the skin. Topical anti inflammatory things such as tetracycline and aspirin often produce the quickest response.

Activated Charcoal

It does destroy some vitamins by oxidation, that's why he [V.V. Frolkis] used it only intermittently. Usually fibers, such as carrots or bamboo shoots, are preferable for reducing toxin absorption.

Addiction

I knew someone who had been addicted to morphine and alcohol for 30 years, who was drinking quarts of beer and wine daily when he didn't have morphine, who had an opportunity for a good job if he could get sober. Starting progesterone at bedtime (and stopping the wine), he said it was the first time he didn't have a hangover in the morning. He used enough progesterone to neuter most people, but said it didn't affect his sex function; he was taking a lot of Cytomel and magnesium, but wasn't drunk again as long as I knew him, and his general health improved.

[Continued] The person I described who recovered so completely took about 1000 mg of progesterone during the first night, and more than 1000 mg daily for a few weeks, but that much could make some people comatose; it's a matter of individual hormone status. I think the SSRI drugs continue to do harm, even when they reduce withdrawal symptoms.

Age Pigment (Lipofuscin), Freckles

[What is your opinion on Centrophenoxine/Meclofenoxate, piracetam or DMAE, for lipofuscin removal? The former particularly seems to have interesting effects on neurotransmitters in the brain.] I don't think there's nearly enough knowledge about its interactions with diet, stress, and hormones. (Reference)

[FRECKLES] Yes, the pigment cells are very mobile--they can swim through solid tissue at a surprising speed, more than a centimeter per day, if the skin is warm, and if they are motivated. Sometimes Wikipedia is stupidly dogmatic.

Alcohol

Have you ever had a thyroid test or tried a thyroid supplement? High serotonin activity is often present in hypothyroidism, and alcohol can probably provide temporary compensation for that.

Small amounts of alcohol can have some good antioxidant effects, but beer, wine, and dark whiskey, etc., contain enough estrogen to be harmful.

People have very different reactions to it, probably depending on thyroid activity. It can have an antioxidant effect, but it can also cause hypoglycemia with pro-oxidative effects. If a person eats polyunsaturated fats, alcohol is more likely to cause oxidative reactions between iron and the fats.

[WODKA] No, it is likely to increase the absorption.

Heavy drinking inhibits cellular respiration and sets up an inflammatory process, involving iron, which will still be harmful, but less so than in the presence of PUFA. If absolutely none of the dietary PUFA were in the body, no one really knows what that metabolic stress would do, maybe nothing cumulative.

[Least estrogenic?] Pure colorless highly distilled alcohol is the safest. It can have antioxidant effects, but in some people it can interfere with the respiratory enzymes and lower blood sugar. Fructose is protective against some of its toxic effects.

[Alcohol and cannabis? What is the best immediate measure to mitigate any harmful effects you see in these two drugs?] Small amounts of alcohol can have some good antioxidant effects, but beer, wine, and dark whiskey, etc., contain enough estrogen to be harmful. Cannabis is antiandrogenic or estrogenic, but it can be protective in some situations. Protein, thyroid, sugars, and saturated fats are protective against both.

Alice in Wonderland / Todd's Syndrome

I have experienced that; I suspect that it has to do with the depletion of brain energy, and endotoxin and serotonin (and fever) are good candidates for causes.

Alliums (garlic & onions)

Raw, they do have some germicidal effects, sometimes improving intestinal function. The effect depends on the nature of an individual's intestinal flora.

It's about as hard on the stomach as on the germs.

Aloe Vera

A milliliter of real aloe juice is a strong laxative, and unless it's dried it doesn't last without preservatives. I doubt that it would be useful.

Altitude

High altitudes are usually sunny.

[5,740 feet = 1,750 m] That's high enough to make a difference.

[6,000 feet = 1,830 m] I think those moderate elevations are very helpful. My place in Coeneo is only 6600 feet, but my nearsightedness always improves when I'm there for a few weeks. People who are very sensitive to altitude would have a headache at 14000 feet, so that was a good test.

[6,560 feet] 2000 meters has a noticeable effect after a couple of weeks, higher is better, but it's necessary to take some time to adapt to the higher altitudes before being very active.

[How long does it take to reap benefits?] During the first couple of weeks, the body usually has stress reactions that have to settle down, then the improvement continues for years. A couple of months at altitude will usually cause changes that last for several months even at lower altitude.

[What is the lowest elevation, that one could reap good benefits?] Statistics for New Mexico showed improvement for every increase of altitude within the state--I think it's continuous, from below sea level up to around 12,000 feet.

[Are there any conditions which high altitude is negative for? I think I remember saying something about asthma?] I should have said respiratory diseases, meaning things like emphysema and pulmonary fibrosis. Asthma is usually improved at high altitude, above 6000 feet, for several reasons. Even in polluted Mexico City, at 7500 feet, there's very little asthma, but people who vacation in Acapulco often get asthma.

[After settling in for a week or two, is light exercise OK? Short runs?] I think walking should be the main exercise for the first several weeks.

[Can one really reap the same benefits with bag breathing, and other artifical ways, as they would with actually LIVING in high altitude?] No.

Aluminium / Bentonite

<Please read this and the following post.>

Androsterone

[Joint pain from excessively lowering estrogens?] I doubt the low estrogen theory. Forum Discussion

Anemia of Chronic Disease and Leukemia

Estrogen is a stress and crisis hormone, so there’s a steady upward tendency in its effect with age, which is interrupted during the fertile years by progesterone. Progesterone decline usually starts around age 40 because of things interfering with thyroid function. Declining liver function and increasing pituitary activity influence the way problems develop. Oxygen tension is normally low in bone marrow, and stimulates constant cell proliferation, but when estrogen’s oxygen-wasting effect is added, it changes the balance of cell growth; its worst effect is to stimulate fibroblasts and collagen production in the marrow, displacing the red and white cells. Estrogen shifts cells from oxidative production of carbon dioxide to the glycolytic formation of lactic acid, tending to prevent normal differentiation of cell function. The effects of estrogen include the leakage of the lactic acid-forming enzyme LDH into the serum, and the increase of copper in the serum, and these are recognized as signs of CLL, but the genetic-clonal ideology of cancer prevents recognition of the metabolic pattern. Estrogen causes relative hyperventilation, reinforcing the cellular changes. CLL seems to be less common in people adapted to high altitude, where lactic acid formation is inhibited. (Reference)

Antibiotics

No, I just do it occasionally.

I usually break the tablets up, and use fourths or halves, at intervals according to need. It's important to get some vitamin K1 or K2 when you use an antibiotic (liver or kale, or supplements). Have you checked your thyroid? Low thyroid function is usually behind the dark circles.

For myself, I judge by symptoms; if I feel an effect from a first dose, I take a smaller dose, usually 100mg, the next time, and similar amounts as long as the symptom is decreasing, and when I don't notice any symptom, I take a few smaller doses.

Since most people get some vitamin K from intestinal bacteria, it's important to eat liver or to take a K supplement if you use antibiotics for a long time. After a first big dose or two, you should be able to sense when you have enough in your tissues; it has a noticeable smell or sensation while exhaling. I have found that 3 doses of 100mg per day for a few days is usually enough, after one or two bigger doses.

[Raw garlic as an antibiotic] It's about as hard on the stomach as on the germs.

Anti-Depressants

[Decreasing SSRI dose] It takes time to adapt to decreasing those drugs, keeping sugar up and inflammation down, including bag breathing, should help. Starting with a little, a sixth or fourth of a tablet, of cynoplus in the evening would be the best way to try it.

[Weaning off anti-depressants] Keeping the metabolic rate and cholesterol up is important, so that repair and adaptation will be quick. Progesterone reduces pain and anxiety, and pregnenolone would be the most convenient supplement for men, but it's hard to find products without allergens. Combining progesterone and DHEA or testosterone can produce the stabilizing effect without suppressing the libido. Benadryl and cyproheptadine are probably both helpful. Withdrawal from morphine and SSRIs and migraine involve some similar processes. (Reference)

[continued] It depends on how much pregnenolone you can assimilate. People would use progesterone in amounts needed to stop the withdrawal symptoms, but pregnenolone doesn't have the powerful effects of progesterone, even in multi-gram quantities, so it's just a matter of seeing what it can do. As I understand the mechanism (migraine, withdrawal, etc.), estrogen-histamine-serotonin rise on a background of hypothyroid liver malfunction, cytomel (and/or sugar, selenium, B vitamins) allows the liver and other detoxifying systems to lower them, and the lower they are, the less progesterone or pregnenolone it takes to block the symptoms.

[Long-term antidepressant use: Permanent damage to the brain?] [Peat sent this reference: "exposure to inescapable stress, but not escapable stress, caused a decrease in T(3) levels"]

Antimicrobial Drugs

[Nitazoxanide (sold as Alinia, Nizonide, etc) is for intestinal pathogens? pdf It seems to be safe to use for a few days. [complementing] That isn’t a chemical that I’ve had any experience with, it’s just that I don’t know of any reports of toxicity from it. Forum Discussion

Antiserotonin Drugs

[Cyproheptadine] I think cyproheptadine is a safe antiserotonin drug [serotonin syndrome].

[Mirtazapine] I think its antiserotonin effects might be helpful, but I haven’t tried it myself.

[Tianeptine] I have known a few people who had very good results with tianeptine, and a couple who got side effects from it. I think any of the antiserotonin drugs will eventually cause side effects, and should only be used until a problem is corrected, for example when an enlarged pituitary is normalized. I think the same effects can be produced with nutrition and hormones, without the possible problems.

[Can anti-serotonin drugs permanently fix a problem, even if taken only for a short while?] Yes, but it's important to keep adjusting thyroid and progesterone according to temperature, pulse, etc.

Thyroid is the best thing for controlling serotonin's effects. The drugs that act on "receptors" act simultaneously on many things; one effect of some of them is a selective "agonist" effect on the "receptor" which is involved in negative feedback, turning off the cells that produce serotonin. Wikipedia is a function of consensus; according to them, serotonin is a happy hormone, and there are no conspiracies of government officials and bankers.

[Ritanserin] I haven’t had any experience with ritanserin, don’t recommend it, and don’t recall discussing it.

Forum Discussion: Safety of Antiseronin Drugs

Arachidonic Acid: Unessential

[EFA deficiency symptoms in carnivore animal] I think people have extrapolated ideas from EFAD rats to cats, without recognizing that carnivores have higher metabolic rates and nutritional needs, so that the mistakes of the Burrs are even easier to make. (Reference)

Forum Discussion

Aspirin

I don't know anyone who has a stomach reaction when they dissolve the aspirin in hot water, and then take it with food. There are alternatives, such as magnesium salsalate or just plain salicylic acid (which should be used dissolved and with food). People using it with cancer usually take a daily total of 6 grams or more. Vitamin K protects against bleeding and other effects of prolonged aspirin use.

I mostly use the pure crystals, but in Mexico I use the Bayer tablets.

If the aspirin smells like vinegar it's decomposing, otherwise the expiration date doesn't matter. I have some aspirin, USP, that's at least 10 years old that's still good.

[Starch in aspirin tablets problematic?] Only if it causes symptoms such as hemorrhoids, asthma, or headaches.

[Safety of animal aspirin] They sell aspirin, USP, for animals, which is the same as used for people, except that it doesn't contain the toxic additives of the tablets.

[Use of Aspirin in bath] Some therapists have advocated it.

People sometimes take that much aspirin attempting suicide, but I don't think that's relevant to a conclusion about antinociception.

It depends on the context; aspirin makes you need more vitamin K, even when you aren't using much. People who use aspirin for arthritis or cancer often take several grams a day.

7000 mg is a lot, and it's very important to take vitamin K with aspirin.

When aspirin and niacinamide lower the temperature I think it's because they lower the stress hormones.

I think a little aspirin, regularly if not daily, is good prevention [CANCER], if you are sure to get enough vitamin K, to prevent excess bleeding. The amount depends on how you react to it, and can change as your metabolism adjusts. Taking some at bedtime can be very helpful for sleeping; sometimes I take about 500 mg at night, but other times just a little. I think the crystals are more stable, but I keep the big container (a multi-year supply) in the freezer, and keep out enough for a couple of months. The powdered forms developed an acetic acid smell with time, the crystals don't.

USP aspirin from any source is usually good. I buy it by the kilo.

[Aspirin allergy] I know people who had lifelong "aspirin allergy" who now use it regularly. I think part of it is the metabolic problems caused by PUFA and low thyroid function.

[Safe upper limit?] It depends on the context; aspirin makes you need more vitamin K, even when you aren't using much. People who use aspirin for arthritis or cancer often take several grams a day.

[Right dosage of aspirin for use as anticoagulant?] Clotting time must be measured when taking any anticoagulant.

[Aspirin prior to surgery? (testicular cancer)] If vitamin K is used generously, aspirin wouldn’t be likely to cause a bleeding problem. Progesterone could be used to lower luteinizing hormone before surgery, if that’s high. I think tetracycline (or a derivative) would be helpful to use with the aspirin. It’s important to check thyroid function and vitamin D.

[Aspirin smells like vinegar. Is it safe?] It breaks down into salicylic acid and acetic acid, and both of those are safe.

Athletes

[Do you think all athletes should supplement thyroid?] No, if the diet and level of activity are right, it shouldn't be necessary.

Autism

I suspect that it's an adaptive reaction to prenatal exposure to stress. The imbalances of endorphins, serotonin, catecholamines, and other nerve-regulators that have been seen in autism sometimes can be produced in adults by combined fatigue and poor nutrition, and when the liver's glycogen is depleted, it can be hard to restore the balance. Prenatal influences of different types could damage connectivity, which permitting cells to survive. Normally, a large proportion of brain cells die before birth, because of limited availability of glucose.

Since autism typically involves high serotonin, things like thyroid, lisuride, tianeptine, and gelatin could be helpful.

Autoimmune Diseases

[Do high level of Thyroglobulin Antibodies and Thyroid Peroxidase (TPO) Antibodies show autoimmune thyroditis?] When TSH is too high for a long time, it causes inflammation in the gland, and the antibodies are in reaction to that

[Type 1 diabetic with TPO antibodies] Was your TSH tested? Usually the antibodies just mean that the thyroid gland is inflamed, and increased TSH can be responsible for that. T4 can suppress TSH protectively, but since intracellular glucose is needed for making T3, diabetes can interfere with that. I think some T3 is always appropriate with diabetes. [TSH was 3.9] I think the high TSH explains the antibodies, and a combination of T4 and T3 is usually all that’s needed; it usually takes a few months after suppressing TSH for the antibodies to decrease. Cortisol would be important to know, also estrogen and prolactin would be more informative than the common thyroid tests.

[Autoimmune diets] Have you seen my website article on milk? It mentions some of the things behind gluten sensitivity. Hypothyroidism is one thing that commonly causes leaky gut, as well as leaky liver, muscles, heart, thyroid gland, etc. The immune system reacts to the leakiness, and although it might be an effect, rather than a cause, the presence of antibodies is sometimes said to show autoimmunity.

[Test for cross-reactive foods] The presence of specific antibodies means that someone has been exposed to an antigen, but it doesn't indicate that they will react badly to it. (Reference)

Baking Soda

[OK with protein meals or does it buffer stomach acid?] It slows digestion down for a few minutes.

Bath, Washing, Shower, Sauna, Jacuzzi

Warm showers can lower stress, and if the bath isn't too warm, it's effective, too; if the bath raises the body temperature, that can cause the metabolism to increase, sometimes causing low blood sugar.

A sauna or hot bath, by increasing your metabolic rate, can quickly deplete the glycogen in your liver, causing hypoglycemia. If you eat protein without enough sugar or other carbohydrate it can cause hypoglycemia, too, so it's important to have lots of orange juice and milk, for frequent snacks.

[Jacuzzi and hot tubs] Getting the body temperature too high can deplete glycogen and lower blood glucose, sometimes causing fainting, probably why people occasionally drown in hot tubs; high temperature can damage the testes, reducing sperm production.

[Fluoride in showering/bath water] I don't think it's a problem. The soaps and shampoos people use are worse problems. Just washing the skin with pure soap alters the skin's endocrine function for days. and doing it every day is an "endocrine disrupter," even if there are no toxic additives in the soap.

[Shower with a little instant coffee: feeling, looking better] Some caffeine can be absorbed through the skin, but caffeine is a diuretic, so you probably aren’t absorbing enough. Do you drink coffee with your meals? [Yes. I still don’t know what it is doing in my body.] It might be from the cafestol and kahweol—they are fat soluble and well absorbed by the skin.

Blood Tests

I don't think saliva hormone tests are reliable. They are a convenient way to see whether the changes of cortisol during the day follow the normal pattern, but for judging its adequacy in an absolute sense I wouldn't pay any attention to them, since the saliva is subject to many influences that don't have much to do with the blood and other fluids. The hormones in the urine are mostly glucuronidated or sulfated, and so represent liver metabolism more than hormonal effects. Total cortisol is good. Some articles below discuss the problems with the 'free hormone' hypothesis.

[Cortisol] [What could a cortisol test help with?] It could show whether it’s chronically high. It can help to judge the doses of the things that lower it—pregnenolone, progesterone, aspirin, sugar, thyroid, calcium, etc.

[Ferritin] High ferritin suggests that there's continuing inflammation. Iron and calcium interact, so it might be worth having your parathyroid hormone tested. Despite your good vitamin D, you might not be getting enough calcium in relation to phosphate, and elevated PTH can cause generalized inflammation. Safe antiinflammatory things would be aspirin, calcium carbonate, coffee especially when taken with meat or eggs, salt or baking soda, and sugar. In the US and Canada, I have noticed that the "normal range" for prolactin has been expanded upward, after a period in the '80s when it was lowered. I think this reflects a change in the population, from estrogen and PUFA, for example, and that the lower range was better for judging health.

[Follow-up] Although I think knowing your PTH and free fatty acids will be useful (in judging use of calcium, sugar, aspirin, niacinamide, etc.), another test that could help to clarify the nature of the inflammation would be the serum interleukin-18, since it's associated with liver damage and increased ferritin, and symptoms of inflammation. Since TSH increases IL-18, finding it elevated would be another argument for keeping your TSH very low.

Uric acid is important as an antioxidant. High ferritin doesn't directly imply high iron stores, it has a defensive effect, and can be increased by inflammation. TSH promotes inflammation. Hypothyroidism usually involves low temperature of the extremities, and the bones of the arms and legs form red cells slowly at low temperature, so it's possible that ferritin is involved in an adaptive mechanism, too.

Have you had your thyroid checked? Abnormal ferritin can result from thyroid malfunction.

[Testosterone] It has to be interpreted in relation to cortisol, estrogen, and sex hormone binding globulin.

[for 35-year-old male] It’s best to have cortisol no higher than the middle of the range, estrogen below the middle, testosterone above the middle. A vitamin D supplement often helps to improve the balance, good thyroid function is essential, adequate protein, good digestion.

[SHBG] I think the SHBG might be less important for men than for women.

It’s best to check around the middle of the luteal phase.

[Thyroid] [on T4 for a week] Since the half-life of T4 is about two weeks, your adaptations to it have just begun, but your TSH would already be significantly lowered by it. After you have been on a certain dose for at least two weeks, the blood tests would be easier to interpret.

[Are thyroid blood tests (full panels) a worthwhile exercise prior to supplementing Cynomel and a few months later?] They are interesting, but usually free T3 and TSH are the most important ones. Judging by symptoms, temperature, and pulse rate is really the basic thing.

[TSH (Thyroid Stimulating Hormone)] I think it's best to keep the TSH around 0.4

I think it's good to have TSH below 0.4, and that probably contributes to loss of hair.

I think it's good to have lower TSH. It contributes to some of the circulatory and inflammatory problems seen in hypothyroidism. People with TSH below 0.4 were the freest from thyroid cancer. The amount of body fat contributes to both prostate and breast cancer, largely because it's a chronic source of estrogen, by converting the protective androgens. Milk drinkers tend to be the least obese (e.g., the Masai people). One study saw an association of skimmed milk with prostate cancer, but not whole milk, probably because fat people avoid whole milk. Powdered eggshells are a good alternative source of calcium, but milk and cheese are better. When the TSH is lower, the estrogen will probably be lower too.

Body Odor

A topical aspirin solution might slightly reduce odors. Women with low thyroid, high estrogen, are over-sensitive to odors.

Bowel Movements

[number of bowel movements increased since chewing gum] I think it’s healthiest for the bowel to move after each meal, chewing the gum might be reinforcing a natural reflex.

Brain

[Large Brain] It makes the body's glycogen stores more important, so thyroid function can benefit especially from avoidance of PUFA; coffee's protective effects, increasing metabolic efficiency, are probably especially helpful.

Regarding intelligence and a big head---the brain is energetically a very expensive organ in terms of its energy requirements, and the liver has to be very efficient to meet its needs, so when there is a nutritional or hormonal problem, the problems can be especially intense. Nutritional needs for sugar, protein, vitamins, and minerals can be very high.

[Recovering from traumatic brain injury (concussions)] Pregnenolone and progesterone are the most important things for the after-effects of concussions. Pregnenolone, if it’s pure, doesn’t have any side effects, so it’s safe in large doses. 100 mg per day is usually an effective amount (I took 3000 to 4000 mg per day for a year, with no side effects). Progesterone is usually helpful in moderate, physiological amounts, maybe 20 to 30 mg per day (with food), but more would be o.k. if the effects seem better. The frontal lobes of the brain are involved in focussing attention and planning, and these hormones stabilize the major frontal lobe nerves. Vitamin D and calcium are essential for the protective effects of these hormones, so it would be good to have a vitamin D blood test. Many people, when they don’t get much direct sunlight exposure, need about 5000 i.u. of vitamin D3 per day to keep the blood level around the normal 50 ng/ml.

Brewer's Yeast

I would use about a fourth of a cup, and let it stand until it finished settling, and then just pour off the clear yellow part.

Because of the phosphate, it depends on your need for it, and the amount of milk and cheese in your diet, etc.

Bruising

[type 1 diabetic] Diabetes usually causes some interference with the formation of the active thyroid hormone, leading to increased cortisol relative to progesterone and DHEA. Those vitamins, and pregnenolone and progesterone help to strengthen capillaries.

Bruxism / Restless leg syndrome

I think it's caused by irritation and inflammation in the intestine, increasing serotonin. Starches and fibers support bacterial growth and can increase serotonin. Restless leg syndrome is another night-time reaction to bacterial overgrowth..

Caffeine

Caffeine increases your metabolic rate, so it's important to take it with food, including enough sugar. Coffee and cocoa are very good magnesium sources. Cocoa contains both bromocriptine and caffeine, bromocriptine seems to be more stimulating to the heart than to the brain.

[Do you think it is safe to use caffeine tablet of 600 mg or more to treat fatty liver?] That would be too much caffeine at once, unless it's with a big meal to slow its absorption.

[Caffeine and Estrogens?] [Peat was sent the abstract of a study that showed that estradiol is increased by 70% in women consuming >=500 mg caffeine daily. Replying to that mail he sent abstracts of several studies. See post.]

Calcium

Unless you like cheese and milk, a calcium supplement would be the only way to balance the phosphate. Powdered eggshells are the best calcium supplement, oyster shells are the next best. Having some fruit, such as orange juice each time you eat meat will make the protein assimilation much more efficient, so less is needed. The natural sugar in fruit is mostly sucrose, equal parts of glucose and fructose, and the fruits have some of the minerals needed to use carbohydrate efficiently.

Milk and cheese are the best foods for getting enough calcium, and they will help to keep your protein intake up; an active person needs at least 100 grams daily for efficiency. ...80 grams of protein daily is probably enough for a medium sized person who isn't very active. I have known people whose thyroid function improved noticeably when they increased their protein from 20 grams to 40 grams daily. (A quart of milk has 32 grams of protein, an egg about 6 grams.) If you depend on chicken for your major protein, it will contribute to suppressing your thyroid and progesterone. Increased salt helps to increase your metabolic rate. Low thyroid makes you lose salt too easily, and temporarily just eating more salt helps to make up for low thyroid-adrenals-progesterone.

Did they mention the CO2 or bicarbonate? That's usually low with hypothyroidism, and CO2 is what regulates calcium. Powdered eggshell (mixed with food) is a safe way to supplement calcium.

The milk estrogen research isn't good. It also contains thyroid and progesterone and other protective substances. The high calcium content helps to increase the metabolic rate, and probably contributes to maintaining the anabolic balance.

Regarding milk and its tryptophan content, The calcium helps to keep the metabolic rate high, and the other nutrients help to steer tryptophan away from the serotonin path.

[Is 2000 mg calcium and 1000 mg phosphorus a safe ratio?] Yes, that's safe. Even a 1 to 1 ratio is probably safe, but the ideal hasn't been clearly defined.

Cancer

Genetic Dogma

[Mainstream science beliefs: What is right and what is wrong ?] Some of the basic ideas about the mechanisms of energy production are mistaken, for example that glycolysis is controlled by random diffusion, and the chemiosmotic theory of mitochondrial phosphorylation, but there’s still useful information available regarding the bigger picture, looking at the “energy charge” and the ratios of oxidized and reduced molecules, for example. Cancer involves a shift in the direction of reduction—an idea that has been around for over 60 years, but kept in the background by the genetic dogma. Oxidative metabolism shifts the balance away from cell multiplication, allowing specific functions, and so allows an organism to recover from cancer. The doctrine that cancers are genetically mutated cells justifies the standard treatments—surgery, radiation, cytotoxic chemotherapy—intended to kill 100% of the mutant cells. The problem is that the damaged region where the tumor had been is left in a reductive state, and signals the organism for repair cells, and those become abnormal when they enter the region of destruction. Cancer mortality figures have been manipulated to convince the public that the standard treatments produce a certain rate of cure, but cancer deaths have increased parallel to the increased number of people treated. For example, the biggest surge in prostate cancer deaths came in the 1990s after the discovery of the prostate specific antigen, PSA, which greatly increased the number of people receiving treatment. In the 1950s, Dan Mazia and Albert Szent-Gyorgyi were showing how the reductive condition of a cell relates to cancer; Frances Knock was another person working in that direction. In just the last few years, there are signs that this approach is coming to the foreground of biological research. But it can’t be officially acknowledged, because it would reveal the carcinogenic and irrational nature of the standard treatments. (References)

Forum Discussion

Breast Cancer

Orange juice and guavas contain aromatase inhibitors, and aspirin and progesterone are other inhibitors. Aspirin and progesterone also oppose the effects of HER2/neu on aromatase and estrogen. (Reference)

Eye Melanomas

I had some probable melanomas years ago, and I found that progesterone and DHEA and increased thyroid caused them to disappear quickly.

His other symptoms are very suggestive of a deficiency of pregnenolone, progesterone, and thyroid, as well as the vitamin and minerals. Once when I had four ounces of beer daily for a few weeks several moles grew rapidly, and I realized it was probably the estrogen in the beer that was responsible, and two weeks after I stopped the moles dried up and fell off. Orange juice contains naringenin which is effective against melanoma, and guavas contain apigenin, also effective. A diet consisting of milk, orange juice, guavas, cheese, and some eggs, liver, and oysters, with aspirin would be protective against the spread of the tumor. Thorne's high potency vitamin K drops would help with the blood pressure, and vitamin K also has some anticancer activity, and is necessary when you use a lot of aspirin. At least 15 milligrams per day would probably quickly regulate his blood pressure.

Pregnenolone isn't a hormone, but it normalizes the steroid hormones, preventing excess cortisol and helping to normalize aldosterone, so it should be helpful for any stress including surgery. Progesterone has a wide spectrum of anticancer activity, but as far as I know only synthetic progestins have been used medically. Although I used myself it on things that appeared to be very active melanomas, I usually recommend a slightly hyperthyroid state for helping to control it.

Glycine & Cancer

[see http://www.sciencemag.org/content/336/6084/1040.short] They are forgetting the organism and the liver and gluconeogenesis, and the glucogenic amino acids. They are approaching the issue of cancer metabolism from the perspective of "cancer genes." Cancers have multiple ways to convert the body into fuel to support their growth.

The interesting thing about that article is that 10 people working at Harvard and related institutions would choose to do a Science- Fair-suitable project; I'm not surprised that the AAAS magazine would publish it, since it doesn't clash with the doctrine of cancer as the result of mutated genes. For about 70 years, the cancer establishment denigrated Warburg for commercial reasons. The present use of his name by mainline researchers for immature ideas about cancer physiology shows the quality of biomedical education in the US and Europe.

An enzyme that activates glycolysis, PFKFB4, is normally increased by oxygen deprivation and the hypoxia inducible factor (HIF), but it is also increased by heme oxygenase (Li, et al., 2012). Gluconeogenesis is normally inhibited by heme, which is removed by heme oxygenase. Lactic acid produced by glycolysis activates an enzyme (thioredoxin) that increases cellular sulfhydryl reduction, and increases HIF and also stimulates the formation of new blood vessels by inducing VEGF, the permeability and growth factor which is essential for the growth of cancer, and which is induced by heme oxygenase. While interfering with the functions of mitochondria, heme oxygenase also stimulates the growth of new mitochondria, along with new blood vessels.

Lung Cancer

Lung cancer cells produce increased amounts of some things that promote abnormal growth, and some of these can be inhibited by common harmless materials. The effects of adenosine and (leaked) ATP are inhibited by caffeine, prostaglandins are inhibited by aspirin and pregnenolone, estrogen by progesterone, aromatase inhibitors, orange juice and cooked mushrooms, histamine and serotonin by antihistamines, cyproheptadine, nitric oxide by tetracycline, progesterone, agmatine, etc. Emodin, in cascara, blocks various things in lung cancer, and its laxative effect helps to lower nitric oxide, histamine, and serotonin. (Reference) Forum Discussion

Skin Cancer

Yes, avoidance of unsaturated fats is the most important thing. Aspirin, caffeine, and orange juice are protective. Keeping the TSH low is important, because it stimulates melanoma growth. (Reference)

[Topical fluorouracil for skin cancer] About 6% of the fluorouracil is absorbed systemically.

Tongue Cancer

[Recurrent tongue cancer] Besides large amounts of aspirin (grams per day), and vitamin K1 or K2 to prevent abnormal bleeding from the aspirin, I think I would use DCA (dichloroacetate), which is available from Canada on the internet (and forums describe its use), and maybe an enzyme related to vitamin D, called GCMAF, that activates the immune system.

Cannabis / Cannabinoid Compounds

Cannabis is antiandrogenic or estrogenic, but it can be protective in some situations.

[CBD] It can probably be helpful for lowering nitric oxide in some situations, but there’s some evidence that it increases prostaglandins, which could be harmful in a person whose tissues have a lot of PUFA. The acidic form, CBDA, seems likely to be more broadly protective. (Reference)

Carrot

Just chewing a carrot is best, any saturated fat around the same time is o.k. What doesn't work very well is to grind the carrot very fine.

If you want to avoid the carotene of carrots, they can be rinsed after shredding; washed and cooked bran or psyllium husk can be effective, too.

Cascara

The bulk powder from Farmalabor in Italy is the kind I like best, but US Customs can cause problems with that. Naturlich Kost Co-op, 4260 TR 628, Millersburg, OH. 44654, sells it mixed with glycerine, which is o.k.

I think cascara's most important effect is the reduction of the pro-inflammatory nitric oxide, which poisons mitochondrial energy production. Raw carrot or bamboo shoots can sometimes have a similar effect by reducing NO synthesis.

Cassava

Cyanide is a goitrogen, and its quantity varies with the way the cassava is prepared. It's essential for the starch to be very well cooked, and eaten with some fat.

Cellulite

Building muscle with an anabolic diet, and the right kind of activity, causes a hormonal shift.

Cetirizine

I avoid drugs that contain chlorine or fluorine, because of the risk to the liver. [Clarification] Our enzymes aren't designed for the combination of chlorine with carbon molecules. (Reference)

Cheese

[In cheese,] When the label says 'enzymes,' it is likely that they are using one of the new products; lots of people are having serious intestinal reactions to commercial cheeses. Real animal rennet is still safe, as far as I know. Industrial grade citric acid is a serious allergen for some people, because it contains contaminants that aren't in natural fruit citric acid, but it's probably safer than the industrial 'enzymes.' The producers of the enzyme products claim they are highly purified, but some people react as though they still contain some antigens from the microorganisms. The traditional cheeses were made with milk that soured with the bacteria that lived in the cows, but now it's common to sterilize the milk, and then add cultures, or enzymes, or citric acid, for standardization---but they often put their faith in a commercial product that seems to work well, but that could have serious allergenic contaminants. The same thing has been happening with aged cheeses, many places are no longer letting the native molds infect the cheese curds. Homogenizing doesn't cause any problems---unless they use solvents/detergents for adding the vitamins A and D that are required in milk with reduced fat. The vitamins aren't normally added to whole milk or cream.

[TRYPTOPHAN CONTENT OF CHEESE] It varies a little with the method of making cheese, and the calcium content varies even more.

The calcium content [of ricotta cheese] can vary greatly, depending on whether the whey is separated by acid or by bacterial proteolysis.

The ratio of calcium to phosphate is more important than the absolute amount of calcium. 4 ounces [Parmegioanno Regiano] would usually be enough.

Chest Pain

Intestinal gas is the most common [cause], but when it’s in the heart, a magnesium deficiency is often involved. Forum Discussion

Chocolate

[ALKALIZED COCOA] The idea is to remove the fat so that it mixes easily with milk.

[Is cocoa as good as coffee to inhibit iron absorption?] Yes.

Cholesterol

If low cholesterol is combined with slightly low thyroid, the protective steroids aren't produced in normal amounts, and inflammatory processes develop. Connective tissue pain, waist fat, and constipation relate to the stress-inflammation processes, for example endotoxin slows the liver's detoxifying process, estrogen and serotonin signal defensive reactions that lead to cumulative problems. Sweet fruits are anti-inflammatory and help to keep the liver functioning, including keeping cholesterol up and keeping estrogen and cortisol under control. When estrogen is relatively high, tryptophan turns into serotonin and slows the thyroid, lowers the temperature. Glycine is the main anti-inflammatory amino acid, and it can normally be made in adequate amounts, but some proteins, especially muscle meats, don't have enough Glycine in relation to tryptophan. Fruits and milk or cheese will usually provide a good balance of the main nutrients, but sometimes gelatin is very useful to balance the other proteins. The calcium content of milk and cheese is important for lowering inflammation, and helps to prevent excess fat deposition. Sodium and vitamin K are closely involved in calcium metabolism.

Circumcision

It's effects are almost exclusively negative, except when the foreskin is extremely constricted.

CO2

[Bag breathing] Just until it's uncomfortable, usually a minute or two, depending on the size of the bag. If you do it a few times in a day, you might notice that it makes your skin (e.g., under nails) pinker, by improving circulation.

[At sea level, roughly how often would someone need to do it (2 mins duration) during a day to maintain a significant, noticeable elevation in CO2 levels?] 2 or 3 times a day will usually do it, you can check blood pressure to see its cumulative effect, but you should see a lingering increase of the pinkness of your nail beds.

[Do carbonated drinks have a significant effect on tissue concentrations of CO2?] In a crisis situation, it (or baking soda in water) can be helpful, but it's more effective to rebreathe in a paper bag.

[When you say several effects of CO2 shuts off glycolysis, do you mean anaerobic glycolysis or all glycolysis, if all glycolysis how does glucose enter mitochondria without breaking down to pyruvate?] Meaning the entry of lactate into the blood stream inappropriately, which would usually be called aerobic glycolysis, though you can't be sure how much oxygen is getting to the cells when CO2 is deficient, since its absence causes many problems in oxygen delivery and use. [So when CO2 isn't deficient glycolysis, meaning glucose to pyruvate, is fine?] Yes, as part of oxidative metabolism, it's better than burning too much fat.

Coca Cola / Coke

The coca leaf and cola seed extracts are valuable antiinflammatories. The amount of phosphate is very small compared to the amount in meat, fish, beans, nuts, and grains.

Coconut

[Coconut meat] It often causes gas and irritation symptoms.

[Coconut water] If it is fresh from the coconut, it's good, also if it has been bottled without additives.

[Coconut fiber: If it lowers cholesterol (study), does it also lower estrogen?] Do you know how the fiber is manufactured, and from what? Fibrous foods can lower both absorbed cholesterol and estrogen, but some fibers are broken down by bacteria to produce estrogenic materials. The husk fiber, coir, is being sold as a food additive. I don't know whether coir has been tested for the release of lignans, which could be carcinogenic. If it's just dried coconut meat, the problem would probably just be gas from the starches.

[follow-up: I have cooked finely shredded coconut meat with some sugar and I have used it occasionally and it works a lot like carrot salad for me but there was some mild gas problem. ] I think gas is the only problem from the mature meat.

Coconut Oil

If you are using coconut oil regularly, that's a possible source of allergens, if it isn't well refined and deodorized.

Most cities have wholesale grocers that either stock it (in five gallon buckets) or can get it, and they usually charge about $50 per bucket. GloryBee in Eugene is one place I have bought it, and Tropical Traditions has a good one, called expeller expressed, non-certified, and I think it's shipped from Nevada.

It's just filtered, usually through diatomaceous earth, to remove materials other than the fat; the main problem with the unfiltered oil is that it's allergenic for many people. It also degrades quicker.

The problem lots of people have is diarrhea or other bowel reaction when they take more than a very small amount at a time. The first times I used it I smelled like a goat for several days, and even a small amount is enough for me to notice on my skin the next day. [MCT OIL]

Coffee

A couple of times I have seen coffee that had been stored near herbs that made it slightly allergenic, but that could probably be noticed in the flavor.

Dry instant coffee is close to 0.5% magnesium, so a cup of strong coffee has about 40 mg. I make strong drip coffee.

The antioxidants in very fresh coffee might have some special value, but I think instant coffee is on average just as good as brewed coffee. The high temperature of espresso gets the most caffeine, lower temperature processes get the minerals and vitamins (mostly niacin) and aroma, but a little less of the caffeine.

It's important not to drink coffee on an empty stomach, it should always be with food, since it increases the metabolic rate, and can deplete glycogen stores.

Drinking coffee with meals will greatly reduce iron absorption. Abnormal thyroid status can affect ferritin level, without necessarily affecting your iron load.

[Coffee enemas - "He takes one or two cups of filter coffee and uses it as an enema (holding it in for 15-20 minutes)."] Coffee in such small amounts probably is more effective for protecting against bowel cancer and liver disease when it's used by enema, rather than orally, but I think the general effects might be better when it's drunk.

Organic coffee is preferable (in the coffee orchards I have seen no pesticides were needed), but the roasting process probably eliminates any added chemicals.

[Coffee withdrawal] I suspect that it happens mostly with hypothyroidism, because in the 1970s I averaged dozens of cups a day, and thought about it as soon as I woke up, then suddenly after I took some thyroid, I didn't feel any need for it.

[How beneficial are coconut oil and coffee to a healthy person with a good diet?] If the basic foods were chosen for minimal unsaturated fats, then coconut oil wouldn't add much of value. Coffee is a good source of magnesium and niacin, and has smaller amounts of other essential nutrients, besides the caffeine and antioxidants.

Contraception

[chemical free or safe enough to use?] Some condoms are coated with silicone lubricant, and could cause allergic or immune problems. A fitted cervical cap, as described by Barbara Seaman, is probably the ideal. Some women have had success with a plastic diaphragm coated with progesterone.

Cooking

Plant enzymes aren't much help after they are eaten. Slow cooking is the worst for oxidizing cholesterol, quick cooking is safer.

Basically wrong, but there are some areas that would be worth investigating, such as the different physiological effects of raw onions and cooked onions. It's possible that the enzymes inhibit some toxic effects of the irritating chemicals in onions. [RAW FOODS]

Copper

[Copper Acetate] I made it myself, soaking a piece of pure copper with aspirin in water, until a very pale blue color developed. Later, the solution became a deeper blue color, and at a certain concentration I think it's toxic.

CoQ10

I think it's safe.

[What do you think of ubiquinol supplementation? Is it dangerous?] I would prefer to use ubiquinone; the reduced form is more likely to be interactive with iron, etc.

Corn

[GE corn] The bacterial genes that are meant to be toxic to insects can be allergenic to people. Barbara McClintock's work with corn showed that a change in the plants' environment causes them to shift their genes around, sort of equivalent to internal hybridization. When something new is added to the genome, it changes the results of the rearrangement, unpredictably. Since seeds always contain toxins, anyway, a new allergen probably isn't too important, and the traditional alkali processing of corn might take care of it.

Cortisol

[Jefferies and Safe Uses of Cortisol] I don't think his arguments are correct. The amounts he sometimes prescribed weren't always safe.

[Cortef] I think William Jefferies' book created a lot of interest in that. Since ACTH can interfere with ovarian function, cortisol can sometimes help the ovaries to make progesterone, by suppressing ACTH. But I knew people who followed his prescription and got Cushing's symptoms. Pregnenolone is something that can always be used with thyroid, to guarantee an easy adrenal response.

[Why do prednisone users get diabetes?] The doses they prescribe as "replacement" are much more than the adrenals would produce, so they in themselves are diabetogenic. William Jefferies told people that, since the adrenals produce 20 mg of cortisol per day, they should take 30 or 40 mg, as a replacement dose, because only half of it is absorbed. They got fat faces quickly. Using pregnenolone, they were able to taper off the cortisol in a month or two.

[Cortisol - Cortisone - Cortef] Cortisol works in the body although the body can convert cortisol to cortisone. Synthetic cortisol-like drugs, such as prednisone are more like cortisol. Also, hydrocortisone is a drug that acts like cortisol. The body makes 20 mg of cortisol daily. Taking 10 mg of prednisone is equivalent to about 50 mg of cortisol or 2.5 times the daily amount made in-vitro. Cortef is Hydrocortisone which acts like cortisol.

[Cortisol & weak adrenals] Cortisol is a little more water soluble than progesterone, and a diurnal cycle can be seen in the saliva, but the absolute amounts aren't as meaningful as in the serum. Thyroid is needed for the adrenals to function well, and adequate cholesterol, as raw material. It's popular to talk about "weak adrenals," but the adrenal cortex regenerates very well. Animal experimenters can make animals that lack the adrenal medulla by scooping out everything inside the adrenal capsule, and the remaining cells quickly regenerate the steroid producing tissues, the cortex. So I think the "low adrenal" people are simply low thyroid, or deficient in cholesterol or nutrients.

Addison's disease, with adrenal cortex degeneration, can cause cortisol deficiency, in which case progesterone would compensate, but doctors often tell people they "don't have enough cortisol" without proper confirmation. [Would pregnenolone correct this?] Pregnenolone should usually do it, but progesterone is more certain if the adrenals are really destroyed.

Cosmetics & Perfumes

[Is there anything to worry about/look out for when using deodorant or shaving cream?] It's possible to make them without toxic ingredients, but I don't know of any such products.

Cramps

It [PROGEST-E] can help with cramps, but it would probably take a lot; I think it's better to use thyroid (including T3) to solve the basic problem, since it will let you regulate the balance between estrogen and progesterone, while allowing your cells to balance the minerals, retaining the magnesium needed to prevent cramping. Increasing your intake of all the main minerals, calcium, sodium, potassium, and magnesium usually helps in the short term, but the balance isn't stable if your thyroid is low. Milk, orange juice, coffee (even decaffeinated coffee is a good source of magnesium), and well salted foods, support thyroid functions. Aspirin helps with thyroid function and mineral balance, even helps to prevent excessive estrogen production.

Cyproheptadine

[TOPICAL USE] It would be hard to regulate the dose via the skin.

It's good to start with about half a milligram, at bedtime, to judge its effects when sedation isn't risky.

Cyproheptadine, 2 to 4 mg at bedtime, would help with his sleep as well as the cancer. It also has calcium blocking action, aldosterone antagonism, and antagonizes serotonin's antidiuretic effect.

Depression

[Childhood cancer, PTSD, OCD, high blood pressure, constipation, ED, muscle wasting] A daily carrot, for constipation and to lower estrogen and cortisol, thyroid to lower blood pressure, and pregnenolone and DHEA to increase the neurosteroids. (Reference)

DHEA

It's very common for people in their forties to become deficient in both pregnenolone and DHEA, but occasionally it happens in younger people, usually because of an imbalance of thyroid and estrogen. In women, too much DHEA can have a masculinizing effect, so it's best to work on the diet, or to use pregnenolone, which doesn't lead to an imbalance between progesterone and DHEA, since it turns into either, according to need.

Ten milligrams of DHEA is pretty safe for men, the most common side effects are pimples, oily skin, and sex dreams.

If your thyroid is very low, you should be cautious with the DHEA, because stress hormones can cause it to turn to estrogen. 5 mg of DHEA taken with a little olive oil or butter can have a noticeable effect on your mood and muscle tone in a few hours.

[Oral or topical use?] Orally.

[DHEA, type 1 diabetic] If thyroid function is good, and inflammation is low, about 5 mg of DHEA is probably safe, but I think pregnenolone and cynomel would probably be as effective.

[15mg DHEA and 5mg testosterone every day for a woman?] DHEA and testosterone at those doses are likely to grow whiskers. 5 mg. of testosterone is about ten times what a woman produces in a day, and is about what a muscular young man produces. (Reference)

[Dosage] Its production decreases fairly steadily with age, from a daily maximum of 12 to 15 mg in the teens, to nearly zero at 90, so supplements of 5 to 10 milligrams are usually safe for middle aged people.

[Conversion to estrogen] Thyroid and other antiinflammatory things (even aspirin) help to prevent conversion to estrogen.

[Would a ratio of 2:1 (pregnenolone  : DHEA) help mitigate DHEA conversion to estrogen, given no more than 15 mg of DHEA is ingested in a day?] Yes, I think pregnenolone can protect against stress and conversion of DHEA to estrogen; larger quantities would be o.k.

DHT

The special difference between testosterone and DHT is that testosterone is easily aromatized into estrogen, and DHT isn't. There are several ways that the body can dispose of estrogen, but I haven't heard of that way of inactivating it; I don't think it happens in the body.'

I think it was the drug industry, thinking of villains [DHT=BAD] to justify their otherwise crazy treatments.

I haven't heard of any bad effects from DHT, but that might be because it's so rarely used. The liver problems I've heard about have always involved slightly modified molecules. I think the tendency to take too much might be a problem with androgens generally--4 milligrams of testosterone and 15 mg of DHEA is a normal daily production for young men, and half of that amount is effective for middle aged men, unless the problem is something else.

A little DHT should be safe, but I don't think mesterolone is safe in any quantity.

Diabetes

Diabetics typically have elevated lactate, which shows that glucose doesn't have a problem getting into their cells, just getting oxidized. Sugars, if they are consumed in quantities beyond the ability to metabolize them (and that easily happens in the presence of PUFA) are converted into saturated fatty acids, which have antistress, antiinflammatory effects. Many propaganda experiments are set up, feeding a grossly excessive amount of polyunsaturated fat, causing sugar to form fat, specifically so they can publish their silly diet recommendations, which supposedly explain the obesity epidemic, but the government figures I cited show that vegetable fat consumption has increased, sugar hasn't. My articles have a lot of information on the mechanisms, such as the so-called 'Randle cycle,' in which fatty acids shut down the ability to oxidize sugar. Polyunsaturated fats do many things that increase blood sugar inappropriately, and my articles review several of the major mechanisms.Several years ago, medical people started talking about the harmful effects of insulin, such as stimulating fat production, so 'insulin resistance' which keeps a high level of insulin from producing obesity would seem to be a good thing, but the medical obesity culture really isn't thinking very straight. One factor in the 'insulin resistance' created by PUFA involves estrogen---chronic accumulation of PUFA in the tissues increases the production of estrogen, and the polyunsaturated free fatty acids intensify the actions of estrogen, which acts in several ways to interfere with glucose oxidation.

The T3 component of the thyroid hormone makes muscles and other tissues oxidize sugar. Calcium, sodium, and aspirin are other things that increase the ability to use glucose.

[Adrenaline surge from thyroid supplementation] Free fatty acids are usually high in diabetes, and interfere with glucose use. Aspirin and niacinamide help to lower stress increased fatty acids, so allow exercised muscles to use more glucose. 2 or 3 mcg of cynomel with some food should help to avoid the adrenaline. Vitamins D and K, and salt and calcium, are other things that improve glucose use. Since the liver needs glucose and glycogen to convert T4 into T3, diabetes usually interferes with the conversion. A blood test could show if the ratio of T4 to T3 is very high.

Type 1 (insulin-requiring)

[BETA CELL REGENERATION] Starches and polyunsaturated fats keep stressing beta cells as they regenerate. Endotoxin and nitric oxide cause insulin resistance, besides being toxic to the beta cells, so it’s essential to keep the small intestine relatively free of bacteria. A daily raw carrot salad is helpful; well cooked mushrooms every day can help in a veriety of ways.

I have known people who believed they had insulin deficiency, who recovered completely. The pancreas beta cells can regenerate quickly, polyunsaturated fats are continually damaging them.

Pregnenolone does convert to either DHEA or progesterone. Sugar and brewer's yeast are other things that help with the regeneration. Keeping free fatty acids low is important, and niacinamide could help with that.

Glucose stimulates regeneration, and pregnenolone, progesterone, and DHEA help to keep them alive. Thyroid and good nutrition gradually help to detoxify the stored fats that are responsible for killing them. Aspirin and niacinamide help in different ways.

There are several articles relating to diabetes on my website. Polyunsaturated fats damage the pancreas and increase stress hormones, while glucose stimulates the renewal of insulin-secreting cells. Fruits provide minerals that help to regulate glucose metaboiism, and help to regulate thyroid function.

[BLOOD SUGAR CONTROL] Vitamin B1 helps to oxidize glucose, so if you try 50 or 100 mg with a meal you should watch for possible hypoglycemia from the insulin. Pantothenic acid is safe in doses of 100 or 200 mg, and helps to limit hypoglycemia. Brewers' yeast has other nutrients that help with repairing the pancreas, but can cause gas, so it's best to start by pouring hot water over an ounce or two of it, and using just the liquid.

Aspirin helps to increase the oxidation of glucose, reinforcing the effects of thyroid hormone. It can antagonize vitamin K, potentially increasing a bleeding tendency, but with a supplement of K it's safe to test the effects of a standard 5 grain tablet with a meal twice a day, to see if it helps to prevent hyperglycemia. The cynoplus should start with a sixth of a tablet per day, watching for effects during the first two weeks. Too much could raise blood sugar rather than regulating it; I hope no one is suggesting beginning with a whole tablet per day. The appropriate amount of progesterone depends on the need and time of month. Vitamin B1 helps to oxidize glucose, so its use should be adjusted according to need.

I think it’s valuable to have a blood test for vitamin D to regulate the dose; TSH can be useful, too, but it’s very important to check your temperature and pulse rate regularly to judge the effects of a thyroid supplement, since the need for it varies with season and type of activity. Has your cortisol been checked occasionally? I think it’s common for kids to be diagnosed as diabetic when they have high blood sugar following a sickness such as flu; insulin treatment can institutionalize an over-production of the stress hormones. Inflammation of the intestine (which can start with an infection) can be sustained by undigested starches, and the resulting endotoxin/nitric oxide/serotonin can cause insulin resistance, so it’s important to keep the small intestine relatively germ-free. Melons and potatoes can feed bacteria if they are present. Adequate calcium is extremely important, because of the interactions of parathyroid hormone and serotonin with stress and glucose metabolism.

Daily protein should be at least 80 grams, and fruit should provide a large part of the calories. A little vitamin B6 (10 mg) can help with amino acid metabolism. (Reference)

Diet (general)

[POTATOES] The carotene in sweet potatoes can make them harder to digest. Well cooked white potatoes, such as russets, are very nutritious, and the (cooked) juice is just something for people with extreme metabolic or digestive problems. The juicer I had was the kind that's commonly used for juicing carrots, and it was inexpensive. I don't think it was anything near 700 watts, that's nearly a horsepower, more than enough for a big cement mixer.

[NON-MAGICAL MUSHROOMS] Since reading about the chemicals in mushrooms I stopped eating them, but using them occasionally is o.k., probably better than many vegetables.

[THYROID FROM FOOD] Yes, people used to get very significant amounts from fish heads, chicken necks, various stews and sausages. I knew Norwegians who lived in fishing villages and ate fish head soup every week who said all their relatives were healthy into their 90s.

Orange juice and other sweet fruits (with very little starch) would be best. The muscle meats and starches don't provide a good balance of minerals and amino acids (high in phosphate, tryptophan, and cysteine, for example). Shellfish provide trace minerals that are often lacking from other foods. Mercury content is high in the big (old) fish, but not in the small shellfish or small fish such as cod and sole. You are probably deficient in calcium, so gradually adding cheese, eggs, and milk could be helpful.

Yes, squid is very good, with selenium, copper, etc. Some people say that goat's milk is good after they have had trouble with cow's milk. The food the animals eat can contribute allergens to the milk. I use pasteurized milk because the dairies in this region with raw milk happen to use feed that give the milk a bad taste. If you think you might have a real milk allergy, you should start with just a drop or a sip. Adding sugar or honey (if you aren't allergic to honey) will decrease any allergic reaction to the milk.

There isn't any MSG in gelatin, but the purity of the product is important. It's best when you extract it yourself, in things like ox-tail soup. Sugar helps the thyroid function, so can improve your blood sugar stability. Hypothyroid people are sensitive to even small amounts of lactic acid, since it tends to deplete the liver's glycogen stores. Squid amino acids are similar to other muscles, but the trace minerals are helpful.

Since cholesterol is the source of progesterone and testosterone (and pregnenolone, DHEA, etc.), and sugar increases it, having fruit rather than starch might increase the hormones. Those hormones, antagonistic to cortisol, can help to reduce waist fat. Chard, collard, and kale are good greens.

Usually the low carbohydrate diets have a high ratio of phosphate to calcium, and I suspect that your present diet does, too. If you powder some eggshells, that's the best way to supplement it, but two quarts of milk per day would be best, providing adequate protein and a safe ratio of P to Ca. Seafood, especially oysters, shrimp, squid, etc., would provide the iodine and selenium you need for good thyroid regulation. Increasing fruits in place of bread would increase blood sugar stability, and would provide vitamin C in a safer form. Taking your temperature before and after breakfast helps to interpret your circadian hormone cycle---hypothyroid people often have very high adrenaline, cortisol, and other stress hormones during the night, causing the temperature to be higher before breakfast than after. A daily raw carrot often helps to balance progesterone, cortisol, and estrogen, by improving intestine-liver functions.

It's best to have more calcium than phosphate, and your diet is deficient in calcium, and heavy on phosphate, and that by itself can cause serious stress. Cheese would be a good way to get enough calcium, if you don't use milk. Eating protein by itself can cause a big surge of cortisol. Preceding the protein with some carbohydrate makes the protein go farther, otherwise under the influence of cortisol a lot of protein is used just for energy. Your diet might below in vitamin A, so it would be better to have eggs for breakfast, preceded with a generous amount of orange juice. Bananas can be seriously allergenic, apples are allergenic for some people, but not as intensely as bananas. Well cooked potatoes, with butter or cream,are a very good way to get carbohydrate, if you aren't allergic to them, because they contain a good balance of amino acids, too, as well as minerals and B vitamins.

I normally use pasteurized (and homogenized) milk, and I know people who do best when they use ultrapasteurized milk, and many people who, especially in certain seasons, don't tolerate raw milk. Cows' bacteria change according to what they are eating, and sometimes even the low level of bacteria in pasteurized milk can upset the person's intestinal balance of bacteria. I advise against eating the solid parts of coconut, as a regular part of the diet, and recommend the deodorized refined oil, because so many people are allergic to the proteins (and starches) of coconut. My November newsletter, below, will explain why people tend to lose weight on milk and sugar.

For a while, the vitamin A is very important, and the PUFA isn't crucial in the short term, so 2 or 3 eggs would be o.k., though in the longer run it's good to eat liver about twice a month, limiting the daily eggs to one or two. The type of cheese doesn't matter much as far as calcium goes. If you don't get much sunlight, and during the winter, a vitamin D supplement is necessary to use the calcium effectively. Plain white rice, well cooked, with butter is o.k. The calcium, vitamin D and vitamin A will greatly improve your immunity,the colostrum wouldn't be necessary.

[POTATOES VS BANANAS: Potatoes can feed bacteria in the gut resulting in endotoxin and serotonin production; bananas contain serotonin -- yet which of the two is the lesser evil?] Potatoes are much better, unless you’re allergic to them (it usually goes with allergy to tomato and bell peppers).

They [conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) and Butyric acid] aren’t necessary, but the CLA in cream and butter are probably responsible for some of their good effects. I use 1% milk, some butter and hydrogenated coconut oil, to keep polyunsaturated fats to a minimum.

[Salt cravings] There are some very salty cheeses that help to satisfy salt appetite, for example pecorino or feta; sometimes I add salt to cheeses such as gouda, emmental, mozzarella, or cheddar. Sometimes pork rinds, chicharrones, are good for a salty snack; I usually heat them in coconut oil and then drain them, to remove some of the pork fat. Orange juice, guavas, watermelons, cherimoyas, cooked apples, cherries, and ripe papayas are good sources of sugar to have regularly.

[Low testosterone, high cholesterol] The problem with chicken is that the fat is highly unsaturated, and the meat provides very little calcium. Milk and cheese have a much better ratio of calcium to phosphate. Having the carrots raw (shredded, with a little olive oil, vinegar, and salt) would help with the hormone balance, and protect the intestine against inflammation. Supplementing pregnenolone wouldn't have the risk of the DHEA being converted to estrogen, which tends to happen when thyroid function is low. A small supplement of Armour thyroid or the equivalent could quickly lower the cholesterol, and since cholesterol is converted by thyroid into pregnenolone and DHEA, that would probably help the testosterone. Some shellfish (oysters, shrimp, squid, etc.) or low fat fish would provide trace minerals that might be lacking in your diet. Several eggs per week, or liver once a week, can help with other nutrients that are probably deficient in your present foods. Well cooked potatoes, with butter or cream, fruit, and well cooked greens are other foods have vitamins and minerals that are helpful.

Meal frequency

Small meals help to increase the metabolic rate, single big meals increase fat storage.

There are just occasional intervals when I'm not eating---cafe con leche several times a day, other things in between.

Frequent meals are helpful during hypothyroidism, and help to prevent obesity, but when the thyroid and liver are working, 2, 3, or 4 meals are good. For me, 2 meals and some snacks are most convenient. Orange juice is good by itself.

Yes, as the metabolism gets more effective, you don't have to eat as often as when you are starting to change. At first, when glycogen isn't being stored, temperature will rise and fall situationally.

Fiber

Cellulose is the safe fiber, and (boiled) bamboo shoots are another safe fiber. My May newsletter, below, has some information about the effects of other fibers, including pectin. If the fruits don't cause digestive problems, such as gas, then the fiber is good. Apples and pears are often so fibrous (because of incomplete ripening) that the fiber can be harmful.

They aren't necessary [FIBER], for example milk supports abundant bacterial growth that creates bulk, but when there are digestive and hormonal problems because of bad intestinal flora, the fibers of carrot and bamboo shoots have a disinfecting action. The carrots must be raw for that effect.

[Fiber-free diet possible?] I’ve had a fiber-free diet for many years.

Macronutrients (carbs, proteins, fats) and their ratios

[How much starchy food is safe?] There isn't enough information to judge, but a fair part of the carbohydrate should be in the form of sucrose, fructose, and/or lactose. If it's well cooked, and eaten with butter, it's probably safe for many people.

When starch is well cooked, and eaten with some fat and the essential nutrients, it's safe, except that it's more likely than sugar to produce fat, and isn't as effective for mineral balance.

Starch is less harmful when eaten with saturated fat, but it's still more fattening than sugars.

People can do well on high or low fat or carbohydrate, but when the carbohydrate is very low, some of the protein will be wasted as fuel, replacing the missing glucose.

I have often had a gallon of orange juice in a day, with 100 grams of other sugar, and didn't see any problem, even while being sedentary. If your metabolic rate is high, with a pound of sugar you will still have an appetite for quite a bit of fat and protein.

That depends on your size, metabolic rate, and activity, and the other nutrients, but I sometimes have more than that [400 G OF CARBOHYDRATE], including the sugar in milk and orange juice (and I'm about your size, and very sedentary). The fructose component of ordinary sugar (sucrose) helps to increase the metabolic rate. I think a person of average size should have at least 180 grams per day, maybe an average of about 250 grams.

Sugar helps the liver to make cholesterol, switching from starchy vegetables to sweet fruits will usually bring cholesterol levels up to normal. If the fat is mostly saturated, from milk, cheese, butter, beef, lamb or coconut oil, I think it's usually o.k. to get about 50% of the calories from fat, but since those natural fats typically contain around 2% polyunsaturated fats, I try to minimize my PUFA intake by having more fruit, and a little less fat, maybe 30 to 35%.

[SUGAR] Appetite should be the basic guide. When your liver has enough glycogen stored, sweet things aren't appetizing.

Although we can make our own fats from sugars, I think it's good to have some fat in our food, because of its effects on the intestine especially. Experiments on an isolated loop of intestine, measuring the nutrients entering the bloodstream, showed that relatively simplified mixtures of nutrients were poorly digested. Fat, protein, sugars, and minerals, in combination, activated the intestine, increasing the digestion of all of them, when they were present at the same time. If the fats are mostly saturated, as in butter, coconut oil, or beef or lamb fat, roughly a third of the calories is good, but the ideal proportion probably depends on the specific foods and the person's level of activity. Increasing either fat or sugar can have some specific therapeutic effects, but when more information becomes available about the composition of particular fruits, I suspect that the ideal balance of nutrients will lean toward the sugars, supported by ketoacids and short-chain saturated fats. The polyunsaturated fatty acids, which break down into toxic fragments and free radicals and prostaglandin-like chemicals, are--along with bacterial toxins produced in the intestine--the source of the main inflammatory and degenerative problems. Sugar and the minerals in fruits are fairly effective in keeping free fatty acids from being released from our tissues, and the fats we synthesize from them are saturated, and aren't likely to be stored as excess fat, because they don't suppress metabolism (as polyunsaturated fats and some amino acids do). The minerals of fruits and milk contribute to metabolic activation, and prevention of free-radical damage.

The fats in meat and cheese can be minimized by choosing low fat types, and skimmed or 1% milk can be used.

It's mostly from large fat meals, at first, but then it is increased by stress, and builds up over time. [AMOUNT OF FAT EATEN PER MEAL TO ACTIVATE THE RANDLE CYCLE, EVEN IF IT'S SATURATED]

[NAUSEOUS AFTER HIGH FAT MEALS] Diabetes tends to interfere with the activity of thyroid hormone, and low thyroid function is closely connected to gall bladder problems. It's important to have some carbohydrate with protein foods, to prevent decreased blood sugar symptoms.

[GRAVITATING TOWARD HIGHER FAT RATIO] Increased metabolic rate could increase fat appetite.

[HIGH FAT VS HIGH CARB] Because of the harmful effect of PUFA, I think it's good to keep all fat intake somewhat low, because even butter and coconut oil contain about 2% PUFA. Fruits and vegetables have sugar in a good balance with the minerals needed to metabolize it.

[40 Grams of fat a day enough?] I think that's enough, having a little with the other foods is best.

[Do you think someone eating 5000cals and 8g pufa is equivalent to someone eating 2500cals and 4g pufa; both being weight stable] I think so.

< Also see #Protein >

Minerals and Vitamins

I think it's good to choose foods with a high ratio of calcium to phosphorous. Supplementing calcium (and often vitamin D is needed too) is usually necessary with the typical modern diet.

If your temperature increases quickly after eating, that's good. I often eat a kilogram or more of oranges in a day, 150 grams of sugar per day wouldn't be excessive.

Ray Peat's diet

Over the years I averaged a gallon a day, and I liked to eat butter, fat meat, ice cream, and thick cream in my coffee, so 1% milk had enough fat. I didn't like the taste of skimmed milk, and the available 1% happens to be pasteurized. In Mexico when I get it from the farmer, I don't know how much fat it has, but on average it's probably similar.

I used to drink at least a gallon of 2% or 3% milk daily, and often ate more than 5000 calories, but when I'm completely sedentary for more than ten hours daily, my energy requirement is much lower. The calorie intake should be balanced to your heat production and activity.

I find that I need almost a pint of orange juice to balance one egg.

Our foods usually contain enough PUFA, unavoidably, to make fats matter to some extent. After about twenty years of carefully avoiding them, I'm still getting about 2% of my fat as PUFA (beef, oysters, eggs, etc.). That's why I'm making an effort to increase my sugar intake, to displace some fat.

Eggs and orange juice, milk and oysters, and a raw carrot. For variety, smoked oysters, crab, cod fried in butter, ox-tail soup, parmigiano reggiano, sapotas, lychees, liver. Completely avoiding unsaturated fats, such as canola and mayonnaise, and minimizing beans, cereals, and vegetables.

Normally, I usually have around 400 grams of carbohydrate. I have about 3 quarts of milk, varying amounts of orange juice (probably over a quart on average), eggs, and about 200 grams of meat or fish, with other things such as coca cola, cheese, ice cream, cheese cakes, some coconut oil and butter, occasional tropical fruits.

[GLYCINE SOURCE] I occasionally use some powdered gelatin for things like making marshmallows, but usually I get my gelatin from soup, such as ox-tails. lamb shanks, or chicken backs and wings.

Dilated Pupils

I would emphasize milk and orange juice, and some salty things, such as consomme or pork rinds (both with a lot of gelatin). Over a period of a few weeks, it helps the thyroid, pituitary, and liver to adjust. If the thyroid is low, estrogen is slow to be eliminated.

Temperature and pulse rate are important to watch; when the stress hormones are lower, they will increase after breakfast, and stay up until late afternoon.

The temperature rise during the day is the most important thing, since nocturnal stress hormones can give a misleading impression in the morning. Resting pulse rate is another good indicator. Milk and cheese are the best calcium sources.

[Dilated pupils and other symptoms when coming off marijuana] Adrenaline can increase to compensate for low thyroid function, and causes pupils to dilate. Thyroxin by itself works when your liver is in good condition, supplied with enough glucose, and not stressed by adrenaline and other stress hormones. Something that contains both T4 and T3 is better for getting out of a stress pattern. Armour thyroid or Novotiral might work better than Eutirox. Too much of the weed interferes with liver function, and while it’s recovering it’s necessary to be careful to get enough protein and other nutrients every day, for example orange juice, eggs, milk, cheese, cooked mushrooms, occasional shellfish.

Distilled Water

Distilled water is fine. The idea that distilled water is harmful probably derives from the fact that in areas where the water has a high mineral content, people have been healthier on average than in areas with naturally “soft” water, but that involves several factors, especially the fact that hard water doesn’t dissolve as much lead from the plumbing (such as soldered connections of copper pipes), and also that agricultural products in those areas are likely to have a higher trace mineral content. Generally, water is softer in areas with higher rainfall, and that means that people in those regions are more likely to have less sunlight, and a vitamin D deficiency affects mineral metabolism. In general, it’s best to drink water only when you’re thirsty.

DMSO

I got interested in it in 1965, after reading about Stanley Jacob’s ideas, and experimented with it occasionally over the next several years. I was interested in its effects on cell water, stabilizing it in a way that reduces some kinds of inflammation. It seems to accelerate some enzyme reactions. I later started to think about its own chemical properties, rather than thinking of it as just a solvent. It isn’t stable in the presence of water, and the odor seems to indicate the degree of its decomposition. It occasionally helps slightly with joint pain, but it can cause intense skin reactions, rashes; I think some of its effects depend on the breakdown products. People often forget that it has an intrinsic oxidative effect when they are thinking of it as just a solvent, to transport drugs. I saw a product sold as eye drops, consisting of vitamin C and glutathione in DMSO. Each of those reductants, in the presence of DMSO, immediately breaks down into other substances, and the composition changes continually over a long period. There has been very little investigation of the actual composition of solutions of DMSO with other substances. At least some of the mixtures will produce sulfite and metabisulfite, which are very allergenic for some people.

Small amounts are probably harmless; even large amounts seem harmless for some people. Its ability to release histamine and nitric oxide and to inhibit cholinesterase (articles below) suggest that its use shouldn’t be prolonged. (Reference)

[Safety] In low concentrations DMSO is usually safe, but since I have seen allergy-like reactions to it, and since the biological chemisty is complex (e.g., J Phys Chem A. 2006 Jun 22;110(24):7628-36. Theoretical study of the reduction mechanism of sulfoxides by thiols. Balta B, Monard G, Ruiz-López MF, Antoine M, Gand A, Boschi-Muller S, Branlant G.), I think it’s good to use it cautiously and watchfully.

[Joint pain] Thanks for the information; about 40 years ago I was interested in DMSO, but I lost interest in it when I saw some reactions like that.

DNP

The toxicity of DNP was known from the beginning of the 20th century. The cataract epidemic came on suddenly in the spring of 1935, probably because of a product with a larger dose. The cataracts caused by DNP appear within a few hours or days of taking the drug, and disappear spontaneously when the drug is stopped, more quickly with vitamin C supplement. The FDA used the cataract outbreak to get new powers. The production of permanent cataracts by estrogens and glucocorticoids hasn’t led to any action at all by the FDA. (Reference)

Eczema

Is he getting enough calcium? Liver and thyroid would be better than trying to use separate vitamins---vitamin A deficiency is the most likely, but some B vitamins could be involved, and a vitamin A supplement can increase the need for thyroid hormone, which is increased anyway during the winter.

[Do you recommend someone try omega 6 supplementation from say safflower oil in an extreme case on eczema? Or will the omega 6 appear to heal the eczema because of lowered metabolism?] Slowing metabolism and causing inflammation are its two basic functions.

Eggs

I think soft boiling eggs is probably best. Scrambling them probably does cause some heat damage, but the difference in vitamin content is too small to matter.

[RAW EGG YOLKS OK?] Yes, eggnogs for example.

To use the protein of 2 eggs efficiently it would be good to have a glass of milk and a large glass of orange juice.

There can be a great difference between eggs from chickens that really have adequate pasture, and the standard ones, but the labels aren't likely to contain enough information. 'Organic-free range' chickens in the US are usually fed soy and corn in a crowded outdoor pen. In the US I seldom eat more than one large egg per day, in Mexico where I know where the chickens live and what they eat, I eat more of them.

Electric sensations

Several things associated with that include reflexes from intestinal inflammation, hypothyroidism, and a pantothenic acid deficiency.

Electrotherapy to Treat Injuries

It can accelerate healing, especially bone.

Emodin

It's hard now (since the FDA's anticascara action) to find a standardized aged cascara product, but Western Botanical and (in Italy) Farmalabor are two sources that I know of. (Naturlich Kost Ko-op in Millersburg, Ohio, has cascara, but I think FDA is currently preventing them from doing business.) The Chinese rhubarb products are probably standardized, but I have never used them. An amount slightly less than a laxative dose has beneficial systemic effects.

Exercise

I think periods of intense muscular exertion should be limited to 20 or 30 seconds, followed by rest periods. Otherwise, T3 falls and the stress signals rise. If mental activity has a sense of obligation, of being pushed, it can raise the same stress mediators (serotonin, TSH, prolactin, CRH, cortisol, etc.), but if the attitude is one of opening and exploring new possibilities, it activates restorative processes throughout the body.

Concentric resistance training has an anabolic effect on the whole body. Sprinting is probably o.k. Endurance exercise is the worst. I don't think martial arts are necessarily too stressful.

A high protein diet is helpful, and avoiding polyunsaturated fats helps to increase testosterone (coconut oil, butter, maybe MCT instead). Excess tryptophan can promote the catabolic cortisol, so supplementing gelatin might be helpful.

Orange juice is very helpful, maybe some salty thing; I don't think niacinamide would be necessary, though it would be an interesting experiment.

[Do you consider stretching or yoga healthy? Or lifting weights or sprinting infrequently for that matter?] Those can all be helpful. The two things that most often make exercise harmful are activity that keeps the lactic acid high chronically, and "eccentric" exercise, in which muscles are stretched while contracting, as in running downhill.

[So to clarify, lifting weights with only concentric exercises, while making sure to not get out of breath would be the best practice? Does high intensity/low volume produce greater lactic acid then high volume/low intensity?] If volume refers to the mass of muscle involved, probably not, depending on the exact intensities and volumes. Ten pound dumbells, lifted quickly for 30 to 60 seconds, for example, is usually good for increasing the anabolic and protective hormones.

I think intermittent training is good if it avoids increased cortisol. Some nutrients, like vitamin K, can be stored in the fat and liver for a long time. Intense stress activates epigenetic processes that I think are hard to reverse. Temporary excess of some nutrients can probably help to restore processes to normal, or to higher functional levels. Deprivation increases the ability to tolerate deprivation. The mind is always involved, with imagination being part of the body-forming processes, and it's important to keep the whole life development in mind.

[Exercise induced hypothyroidism: Is a person who doesn't eat PUFAs and runs long distance less likely, to become hypothyroid?] Yes, a person relatively free of PUFA will be likely to recover very quickly from prolonged stress.

Eyes

[Liquid used in eye-exam to dilate the pupils, is that best be avoided?] It’s usually a synthetic variant of atropine, and I don’t think there has been enough research to be sure, but the main thing to worry about would be the antiseptic-preservative with it.

[Contact lenses] I think they would become uncomfortable if they were damaging the tissues.

Fasting

After the liver's glycogen is depleted, fasting destroys the tissues, starting with the thymus, then the muscles and liver.

Fat Oxidation

[You said that fat oxidation is best left to the muscle at rest, since this is their preferred fuel. Wouldn't taking substances like niacinamide and aspirin interfere with the muscles' ability to oxidize fat? ] Aspirin increases oxygen consumption; although niacinamide can reduce excessive lipolysis, I don't know whether it would lower resting lipolysis.

Flowers of sulfur

Flowers of sulfur, USP (or precipitated sulfur powder) can be mixed with a little water and applied topically to eliminate yeast...since the yeast live in water, they can interact immediately with the sulfur when it's in water.

I used a pinch, less than a sixteenth of a teaspoonful, putting it on my tongue and washing it down, just 3 or 4 days in a row. But a daily raw carrot is usually as effective, and can be used continuously.

I think the first safer thing would be flowers of sulfur for about 3 days, then the herbs [wormwood, black walnut hull and cloves] if you don't see results with the sulfur.

Fluoride

It's good to avoid fluoridated water as far as possible. Certain forms of bromine, including bromate and polybrominated biphenyls, are definitely toxic, but simple bromide isn't very toxic; it took large amounts of Bromo-Seltzer used for a long time to produce harmful effects, hundreds of milligrams per day. Seawater contains bromide, so all seafood contains a lot; milk and meat naturally contain it, because soil generally contains a moderate amount. A few of the promoters of large iodine supplements--Abraham, Flechas, and Brownstein--are giving a wrong impression of bromine. (Reference)

[Fluriode in showers] I don't think it's a problem. The soaps and shampoos people use are worse problems. Just washing the skin with pure soap alters the skin's endocrine function for days. and doing it every day is an "endocrine disrupter," even if there are no toxic additives in the soap.

Food Additives

[Citric Acid] I'm looking for one without the citric acid. The benzoate isn't necessary with a lot of added sugar, but it's probably used everywhere.

[Hydroxypropyl Methylcellulose (Hypromellose)] I think it's good to avoid it when possible; there's an article by Gerhart Volkheimer, on persorption, that explains how particulate matter of all sorts can enter the blood stream from the intestine.

Forskolin

[for increase in cAMP levels and weight loss] I think coffee is much safer for similar purposes.

Fructose

I think that's one of its basic protective effects, and I think it increases it in the brain, too. [LIVER, MUSCLE, BRAIN GLYCOGEN]

Here's a currently often cited article which claimed to show that fructose causes 'insulin resistance' compared to a starch diet, but careful reading would show that it confirms the powerful protective effect of fructose (and sucrose), since if the greater weight gain of the starch eaters continued beyond the short 5 weeks of the experiment, after a year the starchy rats would have weighed twice as much as the lean sugar eaters. The fructose limits insulin secretion, but intensifies metabolism, burning calories faster. Several abstracts below touch on the subject. [PEAT'S NEWSLETTER 'SUGAR ISSUES' GOES OVER THIS IN DETAIL]

[FRUCTOSE MALABSORPTION] The fructose cult generalizes crazily from any apparent evidence they can find.

Fruit

Bananas and jack-fruit are strong allergens, possibly because of their cultivation methods. Mangos, apples, and pears are allergenic to some people. Poorly ripened fruits of all sorts should be avoided.

[Safe fruits] Corossol, lychee, longan, guava, papaya, pawpaw, sapota, guanabana. Some frozen and canned fruits are good; applesauce, corossol, guanabana, longans, and lychees for example. Forum Discussion

[Salicylic acid intolerance] The fruits you mention all seriously increase serotonin. A sore throat is a quick effect, but some people get migraines from them. The pectin in raw apples causes the intestine to release serotonin into the blood, so well cooked apples have much less effect. Fruits contain almost no salicylic acid. (Reference)

[I think you have stated that the best fruits, if properly grown, are oranges, watermelons, and grapes. Is guava close to them in quality?] Yes, they rank with oranges for their protective qualities.

Fruit Diet (vegan, veganism)

For best resistance to stress, more protein is desirable.

Fruit Juice

A few other juices [other than orange juice] are good, for example watermelon. Some fruits contain things that affect the hormones.

Usually they are o.k. [PASTEURIZED FRUIT JUICE]

[Concentrating juices to reduce fluid intake] Milk and fruit juice are osmotically balanced with minerals and sugar, so they don't cause imbalance of body fluids, the way drinking plain water can in a hypothyroid person. Many doctors have recommended drinking a certain amount of water every day, regardless of thirst, and that often causes problems in people with hormonal problems.

Apple juice

Apple juice can be very good, but much of it is made from spoiling apples, so there's a risk of fungal content. Forum Discussion

[How to know if it's free of fungal contaminant?] There are probably flavor indications, but I don’t know whether anyone has studied that.

[Is there any other problem with apple juice besides starch and pectin?] It looks like there isn't much fiber in store bought apple juice.

Orange Juice

Citric acid binds magnesium and calcium, and if the orange juice was sour (commercial juice usually has added citric acid) that might account for the blood pressure change [This source added].

If oranges aren't sweet, straining it won't prevent irritation.

Until 2006 I was using mostly frozen pulp-free concentrate, then they introduced the enzyme process (for disposing of waste fiber, making it stay suspended in the juice), affecting even the 'pulp-free' type. So now I use only sweet oranges that I squeeze myself. US people don't realize how ridiculously degraded their standard of living has become. Nutrition is political economical. The governments tell people to eat beans and bread for a reason. I use coca cola as a fill-in when I can't get oranges.

[Cooking orange juice to reduce fluid intake] Part of the value of sweet orange juice is its antiinflammatory, antioxidant, antiestrogenic effect, and cooking will change those effects to some extent. What would be the reason for reducing fluid intake?

[Do you think canned not from concentrate juice is ok or should it be avoided?] If it's in glass it might be o.k. Even the so-called pulp-free juices now might have been processed with enzymes to liquefy pulp.

[What about commercial pulp-free OJ in a plastic container like florida's natural brand?] If it separates into an orange-colored sediment and a nearly clear supernatant, it's probably natural, but even the so-called pulp-free juices now often contain the enzyme-solublized pulpy refuse.

Fungi

[On whether the amount of fungi related toxins (considered high in some studies on coconut oil) is of concern in coconut oil and coffee.] Since animal studies show good health effects of both of them, and bad effects of other foods such as peanuts, wheat, and corn, the contamination is probably low. Hexane extraction seems to eliminate it, and it apparently declines in stored oil with time.

Gastroesophageal Reflux

It's usually associated with disturbed muscle action of the whole stomach and intestine and gall bladder. High estrogen, serotonin, prostaglandins, low thyroid, inflammation, and bacterial overgrowth in the small intestine are often involved. Stimulating the intestine with a daily raw carrot often helps.

Gelatin

[GELATIN-RICH MEATS] Lamb shanks, pigs' feet, various joint bones, and boiled chicken, if the fat is skimmed off.

[FLUORIDE IN GELATIN] The only analysis of gelatin that I have seen showed very little fluoride. Since most of the fluoride in an animal is concentrated in the bones, and gelatin is made from skin, it probably doesn't contain much.

For most people it's o.k. to eat it undissolved, but it causes gas for some people. I usually cook the ox-tail with just enough water to cover it, for about four hours, until the meat comes off the bone easily. It makes a very concentrated gelatin solution.

I haven't had experience with Knox gelatin, I have mostly used either Great Lakes or Gelatin Innovations brands, which are economical by the pound. When I'm not sure of the origin of the pork, I heat the pork rinds in coconut oil and then drain the oil off, to reduce the PUFA.

Beef gelatin is available from Great Lakes; some people say they have trouble digesting the pork gelatin. Because the pork rinds contain a lot of fat, which in pork is highly unsaturated, I re-heat mine in coconut oil and then drain them well, to reduce the amount of polyunsaturated fat. Since the polyunsaturated fats interfere with energy production and promote inflammation, I think it's better to avoid them. (They interfere with thyroid and progesterone, and activate estrogen production.)

[How long to cook broths?] It's mostly for the attached cartilage, ligaments, and tendons, and most of the gelatin is released in 3 or 4 hours. Excess cooking oxidizes nutrients, especially if there's marrow in the bone.

[Safety of using chicken carcasses] In the US, chickens are fed arsenic to make them grow faster, and it concentrates in the bones; you should find out what the chicken feeding practice is in your area.

[Peat's gelatin sources] Mostly I get gelatin from things like ox-tail soup, but I use a little gelatin from Great Lakes Gelatin.

Genes

[on SNPs that have been linked to autism, chronic fatigue etc. (Yasko)] Yes, a few slow enzyme systems could make the system easier to disrupt.

[Can some people be genetically 'programmed' to have high stress hormones to compensate for hypothyroidism?] The population has a range of those effects, it just takes longer to change them when they are strongly imprinted.

Gluten

[Do you think everyone should avoid gluten?] Yes.

[Test for gluten sensitivity?] Endoscopy and biopsy can identify it, blood tests are often not reliable. Home made, slowly leavened bread contains much less gluten than the instantly leavened bread most bakeries sell.

Gout/High Uric Acid

Raw carrot or (boiled) bamboo shoots and aspirin, to lower endotoxin absorption.

Grains

Masa harina (best), white rice or oats, and brown rice. The phytic acid in the oats block absorption of much of the calcium; cooking the oats much longer than usual might improve its nutritional value.

[Sourdough bread] Naturally fermented sourdough is less harmful than standard or unleavened wheat products, but any starch tends to stimulate appetite by activating fat synthesis. The same number of calories in fruit would be less fattening, and would keep your blood sugar steadier, improve your sleep and mental energy.

[Millet Flour: goitrogen] It’s only a diet dominated by goitrogenic foods that’s a problem, small amounts don’t have noticeable effects.

[Can white bread cause intestinal irritation and endotoxins?] Yes, white bread is usually artificially leavened, and so contains unmodified starch and gluten.

[Follow up: okay to eat on occasion or is it likely to cause allergic reactions if gluten sensitive?] Yes, it's definitely a problem for people who are sensitive to gluten. Home-made bread, that's soaked for about 12 hours during leavening, is much safer than the typical commercial bread.

Hair

Thyroid makes the hair strong, a high metabolic rate can create a static field that helps it to stand up.

Fast, vigorous hair growth tends to make it straighter (a rounder shaft) [STRAIGHT HAIR FROM PROGESTERONE].

Yes, topical aspirin and caffeine stimulate hair growth.

[RESTORING HAIR COLOR] Do you know how your thyroid function is? Thyroid regulates copper assimilation, and also the hormones that regulate pigment. I found that applying a weak solution of copper just once would restore color immediately to eyebrows, or to about 10% of sideburn hairs, apparently because the very long-lived hairs have to be in the right phase of growth, and eyebrows, with a very short life, seem to stay receptive to the stimulation. But I also found that a slightly too strong solution could cause a mole to develop almost instantly, with an invasion of pigment cells. I think a safer alternative would be to supplement, either topically or orally, a little DHEA.

[HAIR LOSS FROM PREGNENOLONE AND ASPIRIN POSSIBLE?] No.

[Is TOPICAL ASPIRIN useful for healthier hair? Does it cause water retention?] It doesn’t cause water retention, and since prostaglandins are involved in atrophy of hair follicles, inhibiting prostaglandins locally could help.

[Topical thyroid (NDT) in a solution of DMSO and ethanol for male pattern baldness] Desiccated thyroid gland doesn’t contain any free hormone; the gland contains thyroglobulin, a protein, which when digested releases the hormones.

[Alopecia Areata] Hypothyroidism is often a factor, and I think the “autoimmune” process is promoted by endotoxin and nitric oxide from bacterial overgrowth in the small intestine; a pregnenolone supplement can improve response to thyroid supplements. Well cooked mushrooms and bamboo shoots have antiinflammatory, antiseptic effects that can reduce inflammation and might reduce the stress-induced fat deposition. If you don’t get regular sun exposure, vitamin D supplements might help.

[DANDRUFF] Vitamin A deficiency is a common cause of dandruff.

Hallucinations

There's a point at which thoughts flow freely and luminously, but meaningfully, that can happen when nutrients and hormones are optimal; coffee and vitamin B1 support that kind of function. Hallucination suggests that there is distortion in their meaning, probably when energy isn't being produced as fast as it's used.

Headaches and Migraines

[Migraines] Lots of sugar, without coffee, would be quicker for restoring blood sugar. At least a quart of milk shake or ice cream can provide the needed sugar in a form that can be assimilated quickly. 100 mg of progesterone in oil can usually stop it, by stopping the wastage of glucose.

[Headaches from supplements] Have you tried a large oral dose of progesterone? A very large amount of sugar will usually relieve a migraine; ice cream (about a quart) or milk shakes with some fat and protein make it easier to assimilate the sugar without stomach upset. Caffeine sometimes makes the aspirin and sugar more effective. Did any of the magnesium chloride get on your lips? In my own migraine experience, I found that a very small amount of either vitamin A or magnesium chloride could cause big headaches for two or three days. If I had put vitamin A anywhere on my face or arms, enough would touch my lips to cause the headache. It wasn't the vitamin A or magnesium itself that did it, but some very powerful allergen in the chemically manufactured products. It's possible that some such substance has entered the T3 during its manufacture, so using a different brand might avoid the effect. What brands of T3 and desiccated have you used? Is cyproheptadine available where you are? It's probably the safest of the antiserotonin drugs; here are some articles about it.

I think prolactin and TSH would be worth checking. I have had bad headaches when I used vitamin A orally, and even getting a little on my lips was enough to do it. It could be that the Nutrisorb-A was the cause, if you used it orally. I use it only on my legs and feet.

[Headaches and shakiness] An inefficient liver that, among other things, doesn't store enough glycogen to last the whole night, is a common cause of both headaches and shakiness. Lots of light exposure to the whole body helps to increase metabolic efficiency. Liver and oysters about once a week, while keeping stress low, have nutrients that help with liver efficiency. Cyproheptadine, a small amount at bedtime, reduces night stress, might help the headaches and shakiness.

Low blood sugar increases the absorption of toxin from the intestine as well as activating nerve reflexes and inflammation, so keeping the intestine active and clean with mild fiber, and blocking inflammation with aspirin and antihistamine, is usually helpful.

The herbs can irritate the intestine, and I know someone whose liver function was worse while she was taking milk thistle--it's good to be cautious with them.

Heart

[Atrial fibrillation] Vitamins D and K, and calcium are important for stabilizing the heart rhythm. Estrogen tends to cause chemical hyperventilation (loss of carbon dioxide), which increases blood viscosity and the tendency toward atrial fibrillation. Progesterone and those other steroids have opposite effects (progesterone is a natural aldosterone antagonist, too). Thyroid is essential for helping cells to retain magnesium. A quart or two of milk, and a glass or two of orange juice every day helps with the main stabilizing minerals, but it's good to have sea food once a week, especially shell fish, for the trace minerals.

Heavy Metals

Milk, orange juice, and coffee safely accelerate the removal of heavy metals from the tissues. Everyone's body accumulates PUFA's, which progressively interfere with metabolism and raise TSH. Iron, as well as other heavy metals (except for copper) tends to accumulate. Drinking coffee also helps to shift the hormone balance in the right direction.

Raising the body temperature and using chelators can mobilize things, but it can increase the damage they do on the way out. The liver doesn't store toxins for more than a few hours, and coffee enemas are intended to intensely stimulate the liver. Oral coffee lets the caffeine circulate slowly, keeping everything moderately active, and with orange juice, the mobilized metals are kept from injuring things until they are excreted.

[Question: Does the body quickly or gradually get rid of DMPS or DMSA chelating agents? I have many people who nearly died when they took DMPS or DMSA. But, I should think that the body would eventually detox it. What do you think?] The idea of using it to remove metals is that it leaves the body rapidly. The damage produced by moving the metals around could be fairly permanent, but the chelator leaves very quickly. Environmental pollutants, food fats, and cosmetics are the things people should worry about accumulating in their tissues.

Hemorrhagic Fevers

Ebola infection seems to involve a lack of interferon, and the amount of nitric oxide in the blood increases in proportion to the intensity of the symptoms. Reductive stress/inflammation that activates interleukin-1 and arachidonic acid metabolites can inhibit interferon, and at the same time increase the production of nitric oxide. Resistance would be improved by oxidative and antiinflammatory things.

HFCS

I prefer Mexican coke with real sugar (it tastes very different), but metabolically there isn't much difference.

Hiatal Hernia

[Symptoms include: chest pains, chest and throat tightness, shallow breathing, occasional palpitations, constant heartburn, bloating, asthma-like symptoms] Have you had blood tests for hormones? The whole complex of symptoms including hiatal hernia is usually caused by a general weakness of digestive and hormonal processes, and it’s especaily important to check thyroid function carefully, with a blood test and recording waking and midday temperature and pulse rate, and average caloric requirement.

It is most likely to develop as a result of reduced thyroid hormone and increased stress hormones (especially cortisol, in relation to testosterone and DHEA), weakening connective tissues. Some foods that cause intestinal irritation can make it worse; a simplified diet makes it possible to identify any specific foods that make the problem worse. Keeping a record of temperature and pulse rate can help to recognize any hormonal problems.

Hibiscus

[Are orange blossom, rose water, saffron and hibiscus tea safe/beneficial?] I think they are safe; I have enjoyed all of them at different times. Hibiscus tea is recognized as a treatment for high blood pressure, and saffron has been used successfully for treating many problems. (Reference)

High Metabolism

[on high metabolic rate - very high temps and pulse - which is a result of low thyroid] About your high metabolic rate and high temperature: In my teens and twenties, I needed about 8000 calories per day when I was physically active, about 4000 to 5000 when I was sedentary, but after I took thyroid, I needed only about half as many calories. Thyroid is the basic regulator of blood glucose, and it causes it to be fully oxidized for energy, so that it produces ATP efficiently, on relatively few calories. If blood glucose falls, because it's being used very quickly, the body responds with stress hormones, including glucagon, adrenalin, and cortisol. They cause fat and protein to be burned for energy, while in hypothyroidism, glucose can still be used inefficiently for glycolysis, producing lactic acid, displacing bicarbonate and carbon dioxide. This causes mineral imbalances, with effects including cramps and nerve-muscle tension, which produce heat and waste energy. When you first start taking thyroid again, your tissues will need some extra magnesium, during the time when the dose is increasing, and when the mineral balance is restored your temperature and metabolic rate might decrease a little. Orange juice, milk, and coffee are good for the main minerals, while salting your food to taste.

Supplementing thyroid can sometimes reduce the rate of metabolism, by allowing cells to retain enough magnesium, which stabilizes ATP.

[WHITE SUGAR BAD IDEA WHEN METABOLISM IS HIGH?] But sometimes it can lower the stress hormones, so it requires experimenting

I think the mineral and vitamin requirements do increase with calorie requirement.

[Is there ever a time that one would WANT TO DECREASE THE METABOLIC RATE?] When marooned without food, waiting for rescue.

Hormone Creams

[Propylene glycol, cetearyl alcohol and plain alcohol in hormone creams] Plain alcohol is best, but in a cream the others are o.k.

Hypertension

[overweight] Have you had a blood test for TSH and vitamin D? High TSH is often the main factor in high blood pressure, so it should be low. A deficiency of calcium or vitamin D can increase parathyroid hormone, increasing serum calcium and blood pressure. Drinking two quarts of low fat milk per day will help to lose weight and lower blood pressure. (Reference)

Hyperthyroidism

I have known people with extremely high metabolic rates who benefited temporarily from magnesium, but when magnesium was combined with a thyroid supplement, returned stably to a normal (lower) metabolic rate.

Hypothyroidism

[Why do people have such different problems due to hypothyroidism?] I think early life imprinting and habitual diet can cause such very different reactions to a thyroid deficiency.

Ice cream (recipe)

I blend an egg (warmed to 40 degrees C) with a cup of sugar (also warmed) and a cup of coconut oil until it's smoothly emulsified, and maybe half a cup of powdered milk for extra texture, then add milk to fill the blender (total volume a little over a liter), with strong coffee or orange juice for flavor, or other fruit or vanilla, etc. The high oil content, and powdered milk, make it freeze without crystallizing, so the ice cream machine isn't necessary.

Inclined bed therapy?

It seems biologically reasonable. I think migraines involve excess cholinergic activity, related to the “learned helplessnes” physiology, and that slight tilt would tend to keep the balance of the autonomic nervous system from shifting too far in that “demobilized” direction.

Inflammation

[Isn't inflammation some kind of homeostatic defensive reaction ? What would be the meaning of trying to inhibit this process?] Before birth, injuries heal without inflammation and don't leave a scar. Two important causes for that difference are the high concentration of CO2, which limits lactic acid production, and the absence of the n-3 and n-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids. In adulthood, the tissues become progressively more loaded with fats of that type, leading to greater production of inflammatory agents such as prostaglandins, and an increasing tendency to produce lactic acid rather than carbon dioxide. Chronic systemic inflammation is the central factor in the various degenerative diseases.

Inhibition

Inhibition occurs when the proteins are in a relatively acidic (electron-withdrawn, electronegative) state, because of the conditioning factors, including high ATP, CO2, and ketone and quinone groups associated with them, and the relative exclusion of disordering groups and ions, such as hydroxyls, phosphate, and sodium. http://www.lsbu.ac.uk/water/

Intestine/Allergy

[Intestinal permeability] [Do you think the daily raw carrot is among the most effective things?] And thyroid and good complete nutrition.

[Intestinal bacteria] A daily raw carrot (shredded, with olive oil and vinegar, for example) can gradually change the ecology. Sometimes very small amounts of an antibiotic can do it.

Aspirin has a mild germicidal effect. Sometimes 30 to 50 milligrams of tetracycline or penicillin can help. Flowers of sulfur, a pinch a day for a few days will often establish a new flora.

Even traces of allergens in foods or supplements can do that [CONGESTION/STUFFED UP NOSE], and depending on the intestinal transit time, a single dose of an allergen can keep producing congestion for days.

It usually takes several days for the digestive system to adjust, with changes in the intestinal rhythm for example, and during that time things like headache and tooth sensitivity can increase. Increased calcium and fiber (raw carrots or boiled bamboo shoots, for example) can help.

Like the dark circles, a chronically plugged nostril is suggestive of an allergy, and it usually varies according to the intensity of the intestinal irritation of undigested food. Keeping notes on what you eat, you might notice increased stuffiness during the night after particular foods were eaten, though with some foods the congestion can take a couple of days to develop. Prolonged endurance exercise will usually slow the pulse because of adaptive inhibition of the thyroid. I have seen some people with the dark circles, fatigue, and other symptoms that stopped as soon as they stopped their daily running.

For people with really sensitive intestines or bad bacteria, starch should be zero.

Starches, preservatives, and antioxidants are likely to irritate,stearic acid isn't likely to be a problem.

It takes a few days for the intestine to change its rhythm of peristalsis, and a couple of weeks for the enzymes to adjust to a change of foods. A daily raw carrot helps it to adjust.

Until a few years ago, I would drink a couple of quarts of orange juice from pulp-free frozen concentrate every day, then I started noticing those allergy symptoms, and investigated their production processes. They had recently introduced an enzyme technology to make pulp more water soluble. For years, it had been used to dispose of massive amounts of otherwise waste pulp by putting it into the 'creamy' or 'home style' pulpy juices, but then suddenly the relatively clear so-called pulp-free juice began leaving a residue on glasses, and resisting passage through filter paper, besides causing allergy symptoms. For several decades I have watched as traditionally safe foods have been altered, and have found that many people have developed allergic problems when their favorite foods were changed by new technologies. Since intestinal bacteria affect the allergenicity of foods that are poorly digested, changing the flora can often relieve the symptoms. Raw carrot contains some antibiotics that can be helpful; oil and vinegar can increase the germicidal effects. It's important to use oil and vinegar that aren't allergenic themselves. Hypothyroidism increases the susceptibility to many foods.

Since the fiber [CARROT] will delay digestion and reduce absorption of other foods, I think it's best to eat it between meals, usually in the afternoon.

Yes, the plain carrot is good. For people who want more antimicrobial effect, the saturated fats and vinegar are helpful.

The fructose content of pears is probably helpful, but you should watch for what effect it might be having on your intestine, from the pectin. Pectin tends to increase serotonin by irritating the intestine. Allergies can increase your blood glucose, so you should watch for effects, usually the next day, sometimes extending for two or three days, from foods that are commonly allergenic, such as tomato sauce and spaghetti; unrefined coconut oil is a possible allergen, too. Do you use any aspirin?

Checking your temperature when you wake up, then about an hour after breakfast, can give you an idea of your thyroid status, it should get up to about 98.5 by mid-morning. With restful sleep, the waking temperature is somewhat low; poor sleep, with high stress hormones, can cause the waking temperature to be high.

The intestine is a potential source of reabsorbed estrogen, and a daily raw carrot (grated or shredded, with a little olive oil, vinegar, salt) helps to lower excess estrogen (and endotoxin produced by bacteria). While lowering estrogen, it is likely to lower cortisol and increase progesterone.

Have you experimented with milk from different sources? Sometimes the goats or cows eat allergenic things, or have bacteria that disturb the intestine. Have you tried boiled or ultrapasteurized milk? Is the cheese the original Parmigiano Reggiano? If you can list all the foods that you have had in the last day or two, I might see some things that are affecting your hormones. Anything that irritates your intestine or increases bacterial activity in the small intestine can increase the absorption of bacterial endotoxin, and that lowers testosterone and thyroid hormone, and increases cortisol. Reducing endotoxin might be all it takes to correct the hormones. Have you had blood tests for thyroid or other hormones?

Sometimes goats find allergenic weeds when they graze, so trying different kinds of milk, or commercial ultrapasteurized milk could help.

I think calcium glucarate can be protective in some circumstances, but manufactured organic compounds (glucaric acid) often contain allergenic impurities. I practically stopped eating all cruciferous vegetables, largely because of that sort of compound---Indoles as a class are very risky. Thyroid and sugars, and saturated fats such as coconut oil, usually help to increase testosterone.

Local bacteria are usually involved in the white tongue, but typically the problem is mainly in the intestine. I have experimented with the old-fashioned 'intestinal disinfectant' camphoric acid (it used to be a common pharmaceutical, 80 to 100 years ago), and when I would swallow about 100 to 200 mg of it in the evening, I would wake up with a perfectly clean tongue, not a bit of the white. Bamboo shoots, raw carrot, and flowers of sulfur are other antiseptics that can reduce the white tongue.

Buckwheat is considered to be inflammatory. Potatoes are allergenic for quite a few people; honey (depending on the plants the bees used) and mangoes are other things to consider [as allergens].

< See also #Fiber. >

Iodine

Lugol's solution is sometimes helpful for an inflammation, but it's risky when there might be a thyroid problem.

Short term use of iodide is safe at a few milligrams per day, but chronic intake of even one mg. per day increases the risk of thyroiditis.

Iron

I assume that conventional medicine has misunderstood its role, I'm not sure that I can think of anything that conventional medicine doesn't misunderstand. Hypothyroidism increases inflammation and decreases kidney function; even protective antioxidants can become problems in themselves under some circumstances. Ferritin binds iron, and while it's bound it is less likely to produce random free radical damage. If there is inflammation in the liver or bone marrow, the inflammation can cause iron to be released, and ferritin apparently acts as a buffer, absorbing the released iron.

[IRON RICH FOODS WITH ORANGE JUICE, COFFEE & MILK] Although orange juice would tend to increase iron absorption, that combination hasn't been studied. It isn't an issue for most people, only someone with an iron overload issue. The copper in oysters is protective against iron excess.

[Proline/Gelatin and iron absorption] The tradition of adding either milk or lemon to tea has been known to protect against the tannins, by reducing reactivity in the case of lemon, or by combination in the cup with the milk protein (as defense against the carcinogenic tannins).

[All the studies i have seen claims that Heme iron absorption is not changed by other factors like tea and coffee. Do you know of any study that shows coffee inhibiting heme iron absorption? I found this study showing beef liver has 13 percent heme iron and beef meat has 64 % heme iron. If this is true then muscle meat is more harmful than liver in terms of iron absorption . http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19475341] I think that's true, that coffee affects mainly non-heme iron absorption. The heme has toxic effects, forming carbon monoxide, apart from the iron. As I understand it, the amount of non-heme iron that's absorbed increases with the extent of its reduction, with ferrous iron being absorbed much more than the ferric form. The presence of reductants in the food will increase absorption. (Reference)

[Iron supplementation] As long as your hemoglobin is o.k., I wouldn't use an iron supplement, because so many things can influence the amount of iron in the blood, even when there's enough in the liver and marrow. Have you been getting enough copper and other trace minerals in your diet? Including shellfish (oysters have a lot of iron as well as other trace minerals) and liver in your diet would be the safe way to increase your iron and hemoglobin. Did you have your hormones measured? High cortisol can reduce the amount of iron in the blood while increasing it in the liver.

[Mechanism of iron's inhibitory effect] Too much iron, especially in the reduced form, activates a variety of harmful stress reactions.

< See also #Bloodtests. >

Itching

[Severe skin itching and other issues (See post.) Starting with the nosebleeds, thyroid has probably been the basic problem, so checking your temperature and resting pulse rate (at least twice a day, at waking, and about an hour after breakfast) would be a place to start. Having someone check your Achilles tendon reflex relaxation rate is helpful; the relaxation should be instantaneous, so that your foot falls floppily. A daily carrot might take care of the itch, if not, 10% sulfur soap, or dusting with flowers of sulfur, USP, should do it. Milk with sugar or honey (about an ounce in a glass) at bedtime would help to get to sleep, and reduce the night stress. Blood sugar falls at night, too low if your thyroid is deficient, and is compensated by the stress hormones. Your lowest temperature should be at night, but the stress hormones can cause your waking temperature to be higher than the midday temperature. Pulse rate should follow the same pattern, rising with breakfast, and staying above 80/minute during the day. Aspirin can help with increasing your metabolic rate. Mary Shomon's thyroid website and http://www.tpauk.com have good information about thyroid. I use Cynoplus and Cynomel from http://www.mymexicandrugstore.org, which are generally more economical and more consistent than some of the glandular products.

[Nose itching from mushrooms] I haven’t noticed anything like that with the mushrooms, but peristalsis of the intestine can often trigger very localized sensations in the face or head.

Kefir, Kefiran

The neutral lactate salt is at least as toxic as the acid form, but each culture varies a little in the amount of acid formed. The enzyme that thickens the milk sometimes works with very little acid formed. How sour the kefir is suggests how much lactic acid is in it. There are types of yogurt that have much of the acidic whey drained out, that aren't a problem. A spoonful or two of acidic yogurt isn't harmful, but a cupful of the acidic type can be enough to deplete the liver's energy stores, because lactic acid is converted to glucose in the liver, requiring energy. The 'strained' type that isn't acidic is similar to cottage cheese and is safe.

[Is lactic acid a long-term concern with kefiran?] Even dead lactobacilli have an antiinflammatory effect in the intestine, so it’s probably something in their cell wall coat, and kefiran might have a physical effect of that sort.

Ketones & Ketogenic Diets

Ketones are very protective as a fuel, but the problem is that they are produced as a result of metabolic stress. If the liver is extremely good, it can store enough glycogen for a day, but chronic, frequent, stress usually damages the liver's ability to store glycogen.

Kidney

When there's existing kidney disease, supplementing thyroid and progesterone speeds recovery.

Urea is safe, but progesterone, pregnenolone, and thyroid are often curative for chronic kidney disease. Has his vitamin D been checked? When it’s low, parathyroid hormone rises, and it’s one of the "uremic toxins."

Kidney and Gallblader Stones

[Nanobacteria and mycoplasma: what do you think of these as causes of disease such as stones?] I think there is a cultishness to blaming everything on them, when no other cause is evident.

Knees

I've seen several grossly malfunctioning knees recover immediately (in from 1 to 12 hours) just with topical progesterone, but the first thing should be to make sure her calcium to phosphorus ratio is good, by having two quarts of low fat milk per day, or the equivalent in low fat cheese, with no grains, legumes, nuts, or muscle meats, and with some well cooked greens regularly. Vitamin K is important for calcium metabolism, too.

Leptin

I doubt that there is any biological significance in the idea of leptin resistance. Leptin promotes inflammation and cancer, so it might be good to be resistant to it, but I think the concept is mainly an outgrowth of the pharmaceutical industry's promotion of leptin as a cure for obesity.

Lidocaine

Years ago I swallowed a sip of 2% lidocaine gel, and within a few minutes felt something changing in my intestine, and from then on, without any more lidocaine, some of my bowel symptoms were gone. [Epigenetic?] I think that must be it, for the improvement to be so stable. (Reference)

Forum Discussion

Light

Incandescent bulbs have a continuous spectrum, luminous gases have intermittently distributed wavelengths. Orange and red are the metabolically most important wavelengths. I don't think the far infrared does anything special, besides heat. Ordinary incandescent bulbs have a slightly orange color compared to sunlight, and the bulbs I have mentioned are just slightly warmer in color, with very little blue, and more red. Ordinary incandescent bulbs are good, if there are enough of them, directed toward your skin.

It does suppress melatonin. I think the problem with light research is that many of them weren't using similar levels of light energy at the different wavelengths. I have tried sleeping with red light, and I didn't like it; but it can be equally effective, for maintaining blood sugar or reducing inflammation, if it shines only on the feet or legs. I think the u.v. lamps are good for use in the winter.

During the night all of the hormones of stress and inflammation rise, and the ice cream decreases them enough for you to stay asleep, but they still rise. Having more very bright light (several hundred watts of incandescent bulbs) in the hours from sundown until bedtime will lower them a little more. Since T3 is used up very quickly, allowing the proinflammatory TSH to rise during the night, it would help if you used Cynoplus at bedtime, instead of Cynomel. If you were taking 10 mcg of cynomel, then a third of a tablet of cynoplus would provide that, as well as the T4 that holds the TSH down longer. Having an egg every day, and liver once a week, will help to balance the effects of the thyroid hormone, which increases your need for vitamins, especially vitamin A.

I use them (incandescent light bulbs) for keeping my area warm, instead of centrally heating the house. My view of the energy saving light bulbs is that putting a cork in the plug saves more energy (and doesn't contain mercury).

Having a larger proportion of your fat near bedtime often helps to get through the night without inflammation.

It varies with the season, but 8 to 8 1/2 hours is usually best.

Brighter light in the early evening [reducing night-time stress]

Blood sugar falls during the night, causing inflammatory mediators and adrenalin, etc., to increase. Sleeping with a wool cap and stockings can help. Having plenty of sugar just before bedtime, or if you wake during the night, will usually alleviate the night-stress problems.

[Does red light repair damage done just by U.V. light, or maybe also by X-rays?] By any irradiation, but it's most effective within the first hour. The harm from the radiation can be interrupted most effectively right away, before the changes have been amplified and integrated with the system. Forum Discussion

[Blue light reducing oral cancer growth] Plain incandescent bulbs have enough of the red spectrum to work. Blue light is slightly toxic, so like ultraviolet is can slow cell division, but its toxicity also causes inflammation. Red light reduces inflammation, but it tends to increase proliferation.

[Proximity of light] If it's comfortable it isn't harmful, but it's easy to get burned when they are so close. Your body temperature is likely to rise, otherwise I don't know of any problem from prolonged light (but even incandescent light does have some slightly harmful blue light, so you should watch your own reactions to it).

[Does it matter where the bright light shines on your body to receive beneficial effects?] Bare skin is best; for effects on the nervous system, shining on head, face, neck and back is good.

[Does infrared light and red/orange light also increase the need for vitamin A?] Not as far as I know.

[LCD screens] People react differently to different screens. Keeping the room bright, and the screen not too bright, can reduce the eye strain. This person has very detailed information about them: http://www.conradbiologic.com/articles/SubliminalFlickerI.html

[As I add more and more incandescent lights to see how I feel, is there an approximate number of watts which is prudent to not go over?] The heat is the limiting factor, not the light.

Liver (diseased)

Eliminating all PUFA would be the most important thing, and having lots of orange juice, other sugars including honey, and milk and gelatin. Cytomel, aspirin, acetazolamide, and progesterone all protect the liver and help to slow cancer growth. Some people use extremely large amounts of aspirin, which require supplements of vitamin K, to prevent bleeding. Fibrous foods such as bamboo shoots and laxatives such as cascara help to reduce the absorption of bowel toxins that promote cancer and burden the liver.

[Could taking aspirin and cyproheptadine sometimes worsen liver problems?] The excipients often used with them are probably as likely to affect the liver as the chemicals themselves.

Long-term Benefits

Minimizing intestinal inflammation/endotoxin/excess iron, methionine, tryptophan consumption.

LSD

The small doses, like coffee, help to optimize normal processes. Giant doses of either will deplete energy stores. Sugar, salt, milk, gelatin, juice, etc., help to restore the reserves.

[follow-up: Is this effect on electronic resonance just related to its anti serotonin effects or is it somthing more? Would cyproheptadine or lisuride have this effect?] Things that protect against “reductive stress” (an excess of metabolic electrons) protect the sensitivities of cells that make coherent integrated function possible. Szent-Gyorgyi talked about an intracellular integration made possible by maintaining a partially oxidized state of proteins, and I’m thinking about intercellular communication of this electronic state. Stress shifts metabolism away from this condition. Once the state exists, it tends to be stable by itself, without drugs, in the absence of stress.

If I were in a place where it's not illegal, I think I would want to occasionally use 10 mcg quantities. I think it's one of the things that can help to maintain the proper electronic resonance of the organism. (Have you heard any of Luca Turin's talks on resonance?)

I'm not familiar with it, but I assume it would be a serotonin antagonist [LSA].

[long-term effects] It acts as a learning ce, and can affect your general attitudes; if the amount is excessive, causing depletion of brain glycogen, I think it can lead to prolonged defensive attitudes, probably with a rebound of serotonin.

[mechanism of LSD] Things that protect against “reductive stress” (an excess of metabolic electrons) protect the sensitivities of cells that make coherent integrated function possible. Szent-Gyorgyi talked about an intracellular integration made possible by maintaining a partially oxidized state of proteins, and I’m thinking about intercellular communication of this electronic state. Stress shifts metabolism away from this condition. Once the state exists, it tends to be stable by itself, without drugs, in the absence of stress.

Lungs

[pneumonia returns periodically] The liver, intestine, and lungs interact very closely, and supporting the liver with nourishment and adequate thyroid, while avoiding irritating foods such as salads, beans, and allergens, will usually prevent recurring respiratory problems.

Lunulas

I always had them before I took thyroid, have never had one since then. I don't know what they mean.

Lysine

[supplementation] If its use relieves symptoms, it should be safe, but I think there’s always some risk with manufactured amino acids. Taking it with a meal would reduce risk of inflammation.

Magnesium

Getting enough sodium in the diet helps to retain magnesium, but both of them are lost easily when thyroid function is low; when the thyroid status is good, the requirement for magnesium is easily met by ordinary foods. The things I most often recommend for magnesium are the water from boiling greens such as beet, chard, turnip and kale, and coffee. Magnesium carbonate is a very good supplement, except that it can cause intestinal irritation. People tell me that they don't have bowel irritation from magnesium glycinate. Either Mg chloride or Mg sulfate with baking soda can be absorbed through the skin.

Both carbonate and glycine are beneficial in themselves, but each of the compounds has its own impurities. Supplements of citrate have other effects on metabolism, that could be harmful.

I haven't tried magnesium salicylate, but most magnesium compounds have been seriously irritating to my intestine; I have mixed baking soda with salicylic acid, and it seems similar to aspirin. If the magnesium doesn't cause irritation, it would be a good form of salicylate. Magnesium salicylate is popular for arthritis, and it releases salicylic acid in the intestine and blood.

Cooked green leaves, or the water they were boiled in, is a very good source of magnesium, with other minerals in safe ratio. Coffee is another good magnesium source.Over 72 trace minerals from the Great Salt Lake, with 99% of the salt removed, would be dirty salt, without the salt.

All of the magnesium supplements that I have tried caused allergy symptoms and bowel inflammation, but some people don't have a problem with magnesium carbonate or magnesium glycinate. I think it's best to use the foods with high magnesium content, and to start the thyroid slowly, allowing the tissues time to absorb magnesium; the other minerals, Ca, Na, and K, have antistress effects that spare magnesium.

[Magnesium oxide] I don't recommend the oxide, because it's very poorly absorbed, but the carbonate is well absorbed. I don't recommend chemical supplements of magnesium, though, because they all contain some manufacturing impurities that can cause bowel inflammation, such as hemorrhoids. Well cooked greens are very good sources, coffee and chocolate are, too.

[Magnesium malate] I haven’t seen it sold for a long time, but I think it’s o.k.; it’s good to watch for allergy reactions such as a headache.

[RDA for magnesium, 420 mg for an adult] With the average diet, that amount is enough. Good thyroid function, and plenty of calcium, potassium, and sodium can decrease the amount of magnesium needed.

Manganese

[Oranges and milk listed as having low manganese. Is this true?] Yes, but occasional eggs, liver, oysters, etc., provide enough.

Mastitis

[rapid onset of mastitis in a middle-aged, non-lactating woman with a history of prolactinoma, substances used for relief were aspirin, bromocriptine and topical lidocaine gel.] Aspirin, lidocaine, and bromocriptine are all likely to help, but low thyroid is usually behind an excess of prolactin; in middle age, estrogen tends to rise as progesterone falls. A good T3 supplement is usually the quickest way to correct breast inflammation and pain. Have you checked your temperature and pulse rate? A sluggish intestine interferes with the excretion of estrogen, so raw carrots or a laxative can often, in just a day or two, increase the ratio of progesterone to estrogen. Extra salt in your food, and a little vitamin B6 could help to lower the prolactin. Low thyroid increases water retention but causes sodium loss, and that combination increases swelling and inflammation; the diuretic effect of tea or coffee might help with the swelling.

MDMA

In pure form and moderate dose (e.g., 1 to 1.5 mg per kg body weight), I think it’s likely to be helpful for changing the pattern of chronic stress/learned helplessness, and maybe the chronic degenerative diseases produced by inescapable stress. The production of nitric oxide is likely to be a problem with large doses or chronic use. (Reference)

Meat and Organ Meat

Meat

Meat contains too much phosphate, which destabilizes everything, and energy depletion has similar effects.

In the US, there is a widespread meat cult, that insists meat should be stored for two weeks before it's sold; it's convenient for the corporations that want everything to have an indefinitely long shelf-life, but it's bad for the public health. 150 years ago, when refrigeration was rare, the 'high' flavor of meat was considered to be good, and people who were used to eating the half rotten stuff shaped the meat culture, and people looked for a 'scientific' rationale for keeping meat in storage until it lost its fresh taste. The rationale is that it becomes tender, as the enzymes cause the meat to digest itself. That process starts after the glucose and glycogen in the muscle have been depleted, and the collagen and other proteins begin to be degraded. Besides losing the amino acid balance of fresh meat, the products include the cancer-promoting polyamines. Liver contains far more of the self-digesting enzymes than muscles do, and its glycogen is depleted in just a few hours. This is why liver in the US tastes so terrible. Since liver and eggs contain many of the same essential nutrients in high concentration, and eggs don't digest themselves, that's why I eat a few eggs in the US, despite their known high content of PUFA. When I can avoid the PUFA, I do; and in Mexico, liver and other meats aren't stored, except maybe in the supermarkets that serve foreigners.

[Bacon] The nitrate isn't likely to be a problem if you eat it with orange juice. I fry the bacon to remove some of the fat, and then refry it in coconut oil, to remove most of the PUFA.

[Cooked meats] But the juices from inside quick cooked meat inactivate those toxins; the inside should be pink. Milk, cheese, and eggs are better proteins, anyway, because of the better calcium/phosphate ratio.

Liver

Yes, two to four times a month.

I cook it quickly in butter.

No, it's just bad tasting dry meat [LIVER POWDER].

[Alternative to liver] A combination of eggs and oysters would cover the main nutrients, but not as well.

Yes, beef liver has so much of the oily vitamins that it just takes an occasional meal to meet those requirements generously. The charts have stopped giving its vitamin E content, and rarely mention vitamin K, but it's very good for those. Charts still don't reflect the intracellular (lipid soluble dehydro-) form of vitamin C, but liver is a good source of that too.

I made extracts myself, and there was a lot of it, but I didn't measure it exactly, just a few milligrams per kilo.

[Liver/oysters once a week versus every day - is it just convenience?] Convenience, because of the time preparing things.

[Do you think Argentina Liver Powder is okay for supplementing Vit B6?] Probably, but the dehydration probably damages it nutritionally.

[Vitamin E content of liver is low in USDA data] Overcooking destroys many nutrients. The vitamin E content is much lower in grain-fed beef than in grass-fed.

[How much is safe?] I think six ounces a week is enough, and safe. Drinking coffee with it reduces iron absorption.

Other Organ Meat

Brains do contain beneficial steroids, but the other fats aren't necessarily good, so I don't recommend them especially as an isolated food.

[Do you have any misgivings about eating beef kidney once a week?] Yes, I never smelled one that I wanted to eat.

Memory

[PHYSIOLOGY] I've been gradually clarifying my ideas about memory, and currently I'm putting more emphasis on the role of electrons in maintaining biological coherence, including the construction of a variably coherent model of the world, as we develop in it. I see it as being a very large generalization-like construction with spatial quality, with memories being constructed as needed for whatever situation we find ourselves in, somewhat like deductions from our present state. Helmut Schwartz showed that electrons (in a beam) have "memory," picking up a modulation and expressing it after a delay. I think that very flexible ability of electrons to be "modulated" is a central part of the memory process.

Ménière's disease

Hypothyroidism leads to increased estrogen and nitric oxide, and a decreased serum osmolarity (increased dilution of body fluids) and hyponatremia. Salt, magnesium, calcium, aspirin, antihistamine, progesterone, tetracycline (or minocycline, doxycycline) and thyroid can correct the fluid imbalance. (Reference)

Menses

[Cramps] Have you seen effects on your temperature and pulse rate from the Cynomel? The need for T3 increases premenstrually, and is probably greater with diabetes.

[Contraceptive pill for heavy periods] Hypothyroidism is the basic cause of heavy menstruation. Things strong enough to kill an embryo can't be harmless to a person.

[Irregular cycle - When to take progesterone?] If you know the date of the last menstruation, you could go by the calendar, so 6 or 10 or 14 days later might coincide with the ovulation cycle; if you have a sensation of ovulation, that would be a signal to start it, or if you see a sudden rise in morning temperature that could indicate ovulation. But if there's no cycle you can detect, just starting the progesterone could renew the rhythm.

[Premenstrual Syndrome] Premenstrual stress suggests that the thyroid function is low, at least during that time. Do you eat liver and shell fish occasionally? The trace nutrients in those sometimes make a difference.

Methylfolate and methyl B12

[bad reaction] I think it's risky to supplement methyl donors in substantial quantity, such as choline, betaine, methionine, and S-adenosylmethionine.

The amount of methyl in that form of B12 is so tiny that I think it's more likely an allergic reaction; folic acid is allergenic too, and the slightly different manufacturing processes could account for different reactions to different products.

Milk

I think it's a matter of watching for any effects associated with a particular product; if nothing is obvious, the fresher milk is preferable.

RAW OR PASTEURIZED MILK] The difference isn't enough to worry about.

[HOMOGENIZED MILK]It's o.k.

[ESTROGEN IN MILK] High estrogen, relative to progesterone, interferes with lactation, and the enzymes that convert estradiol to the less active estrone and estriol are increased by progesterone. The amount of estradiol in milk is usually much less than one microgram per liter, and it's concentrated in the cream, so low-fat milk has very little estrogen. The cow's diet is probably a more important factor in the estrogen content of milk than pregnancy. The information in that abstract isn't enough to tell whether the study was done properly.

[PROBLEMS WITH MILK] I know people who tolerate only the ultrapasteurized milk. What about cheeses?

Yes, I think bowel irritation is behind milk sensitivity.

I have been interested in the subject of "milk intolerance" for a long time, and have wondered why doctors in the US and England give it so much attention, while the people who drink the most milk, in the Samburu and Masai cultures, and the cultures of northern India, don't seem to have the problem. I doubt that this is a matter of genetic differences; for example this person: "I was recently diagnosed with lactose intolerance and so i had to eliminated milk and milk products from my diet. I live in the USA. However, on a recent trip to India, I had milk and all possible milk products there and it did not affect me at all! Has anyone else experienced this? Or does anyone have a possible explanation?" https://web.archive.org/web/20040712223502/http://p080.ezboard.com/flima16189frm15.showMessage?topicID=34.topic When a woman or a cow eats an allergen, such as peanuts or soybeans, the allergens appear in the milk. Weeds in the pasture are another potential source of tainted milk. In Africa and India, milk production per cow is much lower than in the US, because they seldom give them anything but grass, or in India, hay, probably some fruit. Although insecticides such as lindane are no longer used in US dairies, most of the milk in commerce has synthetic vitamins (dissolved in corn oil) emulsified into the product, which could account for many of the bad reactions.

Goat milk contains more copper than cow milk, and copper is important for energy metabolism and blood formation.

[Powdered milk] It's not as good as fresh milk, or cheese, but when they aren't available, 100 grams (or more) would be a good addition to the diet, because of the high ratio of calcium to phosphate, as well as other nutrients.

Reduced milk is o.k. if the heat wasn't very high.

[Lactase milk, brand contains less than 1% of Lactase enzyme] I think the lactase milk is safe.

Milk of Magnesia

[Recommendations for taking milk of magnesia?] No, just watch out for any signs of sensitivity to it. Have you seen my article on cascara? Cascara, energy, cancer and fda laxative abuse?

Milk of magnesia is very safe, but cascara has many protective biological effects.

Mind & Tissue

While I was (...) a psychology major, I did some surveys (1957) relating to creativity and types of thought and dreaming, following up some ideas I found in Brewster Ghiselin's book The Creative Process. I felt that the current US view of the brain as a computing device with nerves serving as wires and switches was completely inappropriate, even for understanding things such as the perception of odors and musical pitch, and around that time a practical study of creativity was published, in a book called Synectics, and I saw that Pavlov's colleague P.K. Anokhin had been developing a much better understanding of brain function. The fact that sensations and perception of space in dreams can be so convincing led me to feel that biological/metabolic processes in the brain reproduce in fairly direct or literal ways things in the external world, i.e., that our experience of internal colors and smells and sounds are probably a sort of electrochemical resonance within nerves---with a nerve and its surroundings, spatial parts of the brain, taking on energetic states with the frequencies that are closely analogous to the frequencies produced by the external objects, colors, chemical odors, sound vibrations, as well as other kinds of patterned relationships. If "photons" or electromagnetic interactions within the organism are the substance of consciousness, then the electronic properties of nutrients, hormones, and drugs are important, rather than their geometric form, as interpreted by the "lock-and-key" "receptor and ligand" doctrine. I think the active chemical in St. John's wort is hypericin, an anthroquine (very similar to emodin, in cascara, and to vitamin K and tetracycline), which is a large system of conjugated electrons, that interacts powerfully with our cellular regulatory systems. (...) I suspect that growing up with creativity involves opportunities that cause the brain to develop various sensitivities and resonances, and that the brain functioning in these ways calls up the energetic and hormonal resources that it needs, and ideally that includes an array of chemicals that enrich and intensify consciousness, allowing very complex internal experiences to be generated.

At any moment, one's position in the world is part of one's image of the world, and body awareness is part of our consciousness of our position. Being is the basic thing, and there is really no understanding separate from that, although there are symbolic patterns that can be manipulated as if they were separate from the substance, but that's just a matter of habitual attention. The "faint glass" people are identifying with the constructed story about life, rather than seeing it as an aspect of a single substance-awareness. Toes (and internal organs) are part of everything we do, making up part of the substance and meaning of things, except when indoctrination directs attention away from them.

Going to sleep and the few minutes after waking up are good times to see how things are working. Stresses and obligations shape the digestive and metabolic processes, and the rhythms of the intestine add to the shape of the day's thoughts. There are usually about 16 small cycles during a day, and watching for them can make things more spontaneous.

Besides articles in psychology and medical journals, the ultradian cycles have been described from a variety of perspectives. R.O Becker discussed weak natural electromagnetic rhythms, Frank Brown did many experiments showing the effects of surrounding fields on biorhythms, Solco Tromp's publications on biometeorology and Michel Gauquelin's statistical studies showed other effects. There have been quite a few Hindu publications on body cycles. When I taught school and had to get up at the same time every day, I developed a strong metabolic rhythm that made me go to sleep immediately at 10:30, and if I had to stay awake, I had a sudden loss of energy exactly at 10:30. A daytime nap that's timed according to the small cycles can be very effective. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10783477 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10564105 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10235198 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8252751 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nasal_cycle

[Question on how to access/reassess emotions independent of language] There are some ways of directing the attention that I have found to be useful. Thinking about the sensing surface as distinct from the thing sensed is a way to start to get away from language’s control of consciousness. After-images of bright objects are a convenient place to start. Coffee and vitamin B1 are helpful while doing the practices. With eyes closed, watch for spontaneous visual events after the after-image has faded. Putting attention on the solar plexus region while thinking about people you know, noticing the abdominal sensations related to different people, is another kind of sensory exercise.

[follow-up: Sensing surface as distinct from thing sensed?] Just for an example, if you touch a marble with the tips of crossed fingers, the first reaction is that there are two marbles, because of the normal projection of awareness of objects in the world. When you look at an empty sky, you can usually notice different kinds of “objects” or textures, that aren’t the sky (some people insist that those are something in the sky; others that they are nothing but debris in the eye); when you direct your attention to the sensory surface, rather than to the object, you can notice that the process of noticing affects what you notice. Attention to this process makes it possible to feel the process of thought interacting with sensations. Inattention to those processes leaves a person trapped in the system of verbal concepts and rules.

[follow-up: What does “projection of awareness of objects in the world” mean?] Every tissue contains nerves, and for some of these, the proprioceptive nerves, their object is what we feel as our body. Other nerves sense things that we understand as objects in some sense—sound is felt to come from somewhere in the space around us, smells usually the same, and tastes represent the objects that we are eating. But in each case, it’s possible to experience our sensing without imagining objects as the cause of the sensation. The value of that is that it gives you an absolute, uninterpreted, experience, which makes it possible to put the verbal life history that we normally inhabit, into a new context. In the case of seeing with your eyes closed (with light on the closed eyelids, the situation is similar to looking at an empty sky), a finely granular texture is the retina itself, and/or the optic nerve. A textureless, dreamlike substance of space filling images, a relatively free activity of the visual cortex and more complex brain systems, will gradually be noticed, when there’s the right combination of nervous arousal and relaxation. The behavior of after-images will change according to the state of the whole organism, for example the length of time that it stays positive, and the length of time that a following negative image lasts. It’s the same with after-images of motion; their differences between people are very interesting.

[Consciousness, electric universe] With an orientation of radical empiricism and process philosophy, I have some sympathy for Einstein’s project and his reluctance to accept quantum theory. I think the quantum theory was created by philosophically inadequate people.

Conventional views of electrons were built on just a few kinds of experiment, and I think new approaches to understanding matter will be found. While I think consciousness is electronic, I don’t think it’s appropriate to think of it as being just inside cells (much less simply a matter of synaptic interactions). Electricity’s space-filling property is relevant. The process (or background, that we call body or self) that gives continuity and meaning to our perceptions and actions is something that’s always happening, and people usually turn their attention away from it when they aren’t in some practical or objective activity. The organism has many potential intentions, and if we let our attention respond, they can appear as hypnagogic images or dreams. Ordinary metabolism, and its variations, are always producing these parallel spaces, and their quality varies under the influence of various metabolites and “dopants.” I think the electric universe is analogous to the electric organism. Forum Discussion

Molasses

[Blackstrap molasses?] Although it's extremely rich in minerals, I think the intense heat used for concentrating it degrades the sugar into things that are likely to be allergens.

Moles

I’ve always been very cautious about moles, since I think they have the potential to degenerate into metastatic cancer. Around 1978, I had been watching one on my belly, that had enlarged from an original nearly flat soft light brown mole, to a large, irregular, leathery black thing. A couple of doctors had urged me to have it removed. I happened to be experimenting with steroids, including DHEA, at the time. One night as I went to bed, I saw what looked like a maraschino cherry on my belly, with a black crumb on its top; the black thing brushed off, leaving a spot of blood on the red dome, and I realized that it was my mole. Over the next 3 days the red sphere gradually deflated, and what remained was the soft, flat light brown original mole. Every few years I have had suddenly emerging moles, of various sizes and colors. Each time I would apply some progesterone or DHEA dissolved in vitamin E to the surrounding skin. If I applied it to just one side, there would be an emigration of cells on the other side, like a moving shadow of the mole, and the mole would lose volume and become lighter in color. When I had been in Florida and stopped using thyroid because of the heat and humidity, a 2 centimeter diameter mole (jumbo black olive-like) grew in front of my ear during 2 or 3 weeks. A soon as I returned to Oregon I started using thyroid, and the mole immediately began shrinking and fading. About two weeks later, the pale remnant on a dry stalk fell off, without leaving a scar. Since then I have generally recommended just becoming slightly hyperthyroid, if a person is generally in good health with enough cholesterol for conversion to the hormones), and other people have had similar experiences with very quickly shrinking moles.

Forum Discussion

Muscle Work

[Why are migratory birds able to do such long distance flights?] Studies in insect flight muscle found that ATP is synthesized when the muscle is (passively) stretched; i suppose it happens in birds too. Studies of nerves show that after heat is emitted during activity, heat is absorbed during recovery, i.e. The nerve slightly refrigerates its surroundings. The absorption of heat (besides preventing over-heating) as ATP is resynthesized would make the usual Expectations about chemical energy and work less applicable.

Multiple Sclerosis

[Why does the Swank diet work so well for MS sufferers? ] I think the cod liver oil and low iron (red meat) intake were helpful.

[Treatments for multiple sclerosis, combined with paranoia in menopause] For multiple sclerosis, thyroid and progesterone are the most helpful things. Sometimes a very low thyroid function is compensated by extreme nerve excitation, leading to mania or paranoia. Their body temperature might be extremely low, or sometimes the 24 hour cycle is reversed; if the temperature decreases in the morning, that suggests that the stress hormones were very high during the night. [Also read, "From a woman who had ..." this post.]

Naloxone & Naltrexone

Bihari thinks naltrexone works by increasing endorphins, I think excess endorphins are often the problem, and the antagonist can sometimes be helpful. The endorphins differ in their effects on the two sides of the body, so when I knew two women (within the same year) who had been having mysterious one-sided symptoms for a few months before discovering that they had ovarian cancer (on the same side), I thought that the endorphins were probably involved, maybe to suppress pain on that side. Naloxone and naltrexone have some effects that aren't directly related to the endorphins, on estrogen and histamine.

I have seen good results from using naloxone for 3 or 4 days; naltrexone has similar effects. Doses of one milligram or less can sometimes be effective. I don’t consider pramipexole to be safe. Ginkgo is fairly safe.

[LDN treatment] I think it's safe to take 5 or 10 mg of naltrexone daily for a few days, but I don't think it should be used continuously; I have known people who had good results, repeating the short courses two or three times in a year.

Estrogen can cause ovarian cysts to develop, and can contribute to the development of skin tags and moles. Its effects on the urethra might help with incontinence, but it can cause problems with the bladder muscle, and cystitis.

Niacin(amide)

[Can Niacinamide be taken alone, or must it be combined with other B vitamins?] It can be used alone.

Nigella Sativa (Black Cumin Seed)

The quinones in the oil are very interesting, but I haven’t had any experience with them. They could have great biological value, but other things in the seeds might be allergenic.

Oregano Oil

It's one of the safest spices (low allergenicity, not mutagenic or carcinogenic), so if it isn't combined with harmful excipients it seems worth trying.

Palm Oil

[potatoes fried in palm oil] If it’s unrefined, with a pink color, I would be concerned about the oxidation products of the carotene. [PUFA a concern?] I prefer hydrogenated coconut oil because of the PUFA.

Panic Attacks

[Are panic attacks mainly a manifestation of hormonal imbalance, excessive stress hormones?] Yes, usually with hyperventilation caused by high estrogen and serotonin, low vitamin B6. (Reference)

Parathyroid Hormone (PTH)

High parathyroid hormone will increase calcium and lower phosphate. I regularly use at least two quarts of milk per day, in the past I have averaged a gallon a day, high calcium intake helps to compensate for low vitamin D, but both vitamin D and calcium in the diet tend to lower parathyroid hormone, and the serum calcium level. Quite a few people are now recommending from 2000 to 6000 i.u. of vitamin D3 daily during the winter.

If your vitamin D was very low for a long time, I think your parathyroid glands probably enlarged, and might take some time to normalize under the influence of a generous amount of vitamin D and calcium.

PCOS

PCOS can be produced in animals by removing the thyroid gland. The inability of ovaries to make progesterone without thyroid causes the adrenals to be overstimulated, and they are the source of increased DHEA and other androgens and estrogen.

Pentoxifyllin

I think pentoxifyllin can be very useful, it’s more fat soluble than caffeine.

Persorption

Particles absorbed from the intestine can pass from the blood into the lymph, cerebral spinal fluid, and urine. Having fat and fiber in the food reduces persorption.

Pets

[giving aspirin (10 mg/day) to cat for motility problems] That seems like a safe dose. I think some of the studies confuse the effects of the stress of intravenous treatment with the effects of aspirin. (Reference)

Phosphoric Acid

[Coke] The coca leaf and cola seed extracts are valuable antiinflammatories. The amount of phosphate is very small compared to the amount in meat, fish, beans, nuts, and grains.

Piracetam

I have heard that the quality of the product from different countries varies; I think they have preferred the one made in Belgium. It's possible that it could help with adaptation to a thyroid supplement, but it's important to use enough thyroid hormone to keep TSH low. Keeping the cholesterol in the range of 160 to 220 helps with stress, too.

Poltics, History

[Polititcal power and deception] I think understanding political history is essential for understanding culture and science, because the manipulations and deceptions of power are aimed toward total control. I’ve been aware of U.S. fascism for most of my life, having read Smedley Butler’s account of the 1934 coup attempt against FDR, involving DuPont and J.P. Morgan officials and Henry Luce’s publications. Their plan was to say that they were taking over because of the president’s poor health. Because Butler went to congress to reveal the plot, it was delayed for 11 years. The Dulles brothers managed the US government from 1945 to 1963, and Gladio guided Europe. In 1965 at Blake College, we had a course on the role of the Masons in the politics of Latin America, taught by Iso Brante, who had done considerable research on the subject. At that time, the Sinarquistas were still very active in Mexico. For a long time I have thought of Russia and the west side of Latin America as the places where civilization would have its best chance to escape.

Forum Discussion

Plastic

[Plastic containers] It depends on the type of plastic; if it's in a big plastic bucket, the plastic isn't as bad as in a 400 mililiter bottle, if it contains harmful chemicals.

Pregnancy

[NAUSEA] Salt is often the most important thing for pregnancy nausea. Two quarts of milk daily, cheese, eggs, and orange juice, but with anything salty, even sips of salty water first thing in the morning, should stop it. Low thyroid function, with a low ratio of progesterone to estrogen, causes the kidneys to be unable to retain salt efficiently.

[HYPOTHYRODISM DURING PREGNANCY, EFFECT ON OFFSPRING, TREATMENT IN THE 50s] I think a background of hypothyroidism, even when it's compensated by high production of the stress hormones so that the classical symptoms aren't present, is a major factor in reproductive problems, and in increasing susceptibility to injury by toxins, including DES and anesthetics. Progesterone production depends on good thyroid function, and as it declines cortisol and other stress hormones increase.

A few doctors at that time [1956] used real progesterone supplements during pregnancy, but generally they were much more likely to use a synthetic progestin, or DES or estrogen.

The prenatal environment can imprint a pattern of hormone balance, especially hypothyroidism, that tends to persist until new patterns can be formed, and that usually requires prolonged supplementation and a very good diet. With a good balance of nutrients and thyroid function, the protective progesterone, pregnenolone and DHEA are produced sufficiently to reduce the burden on the adrenal glands.

Gallbladder problems are extremely common in hypothyroidism [family history], and the compensating stress hormones produce problems with blood sugar regulation.

[C-SECTION] C-sections, anesthesia, DES, and mechanical attitudes toward pregnancy and nutrition all have their place in the authoritarian medical culture, part of a generally stressful culture. That culture is coherent and self-validating, and escape from it has to be equally systematic to be able to persist.

[ASPIRIN] Aspirin has a good record of safety in pregnancy, paracetamol doesn’t. It became the most commonly used analgesic, displacing aspirin, because of advertising, not science.

Aspirin has been studied mainly in women with a tendency to miscarry or to develop preeclampsia, and it improved the health of their babies, but I don’t know of any good animal studies that would involve a realistic intermittent use of larger doses. (Reference)

[Should any of these be avoided during pregnancy: Cynoplus, pregnenolone, vitamin K, topical vitamin D and A, niacinamide, vitamin B1 and B5, Progest E, coffee with milk and sugar?] No.

Pregnenolone

[Does pregnenolone have to be micronized for it to dissolve in vitamin e?] It doesn't dissolve very well either way, it just takes some stirring and a little warmth. Vitamin E breaks down quickly when it's hot, so stirring at room temperature is best; not much dissolves. It's much more economical to use it orally, as powder.

Ordinarily, you can make enough from converting sugar to cholesterol, with thyroid and vitamin A converting cholesterol to the other hormones. But when you have been poisoned with not enough of the needed foods, or too much of the unsaturated oils, heavy metals, causing free radical reactions and so on, then it helps to use all of the supports possible, thyroid supplements, pregnenolone supplements, possibly dhea and progesterone, saturated fats, sugar, everything that works in the same direction.

Pregnenolone is a lipid, only pharmaceutical salesmen talk about the need for a lipid matrix. Most people don't have allergic reactions to the rice and magnesium stearate.

[Can women take pregnenolone oil just like Progest-E and get the same benefits in regards to PMS, cramps etc?] Pregnenolone doesn't have the direct hormonal effects, but it's the precursor, and by stopping exaggerated stress reactions it is likely to help.

[BAD RESPONSE TO PREG] I think that would be from impurities in the pregnenolone. In animal studies, a dose equivalent to about a pound in a person, caused no change, unless the animal was stressed, and in that case it stopped the stress.

[PREGNENOLONE 'STEAL' THEORY] Regarding the pregnenolone steal theory, It would be interesting to know who started that, it's a mechanical way of thinking about physiology that ignores the things that really matter. Thyroid hormone, vitamin A, and cholesterol support the formation of pregnenolone, and the well nourished body is able to make large adjustments in these, to minimize the need for cortisol. In health, enough pregnenolone and progesterone are produced to inhibit the stress systems, for example by inhibiting the release of ACTH. When something prevents the formation of pregnenolone and progesterone, rising ACTH will increase its production as conditions permit, but if something, such as thyroid hormone, is lacking, the ACTH will increase cortisol, often with DHEA and the androgens increasing too, if resources permit; sometimes the stressed system is able to sustain only cortisol and aldosterone production, and that leads to degenerative problems.

Someone recently tested pregnenolone for Beyond a Century, and said it looks pure. Sometimes at first a few hundred milligrams are needed to lower cortisol.

When using pregnenolone, men and women alike report feeling a profound mood of resilience and an increased ability to confront challenges successfully.

Excipients or impurities in capsules can cause symptoms, by irritating the intestine. In animal studies (and in myself), extremely large doses didn't have any more effects than minimal doses. It's possible to eliminate some of the impurities by mixing it with warm vitamin E, and after stirring it, allowing it to settle, and using only what dissolved in the vitamin E.

[Then I asked if there's no way it can convert to excess estrogen or some other stress related hormone, under certain circumstances, like not getting enough protein or sugar, or some other nutrient, or adequate light. Also asked if someone is running on stress hormones from low thyroid and pregnenolone lowers those hormones, would it make things worse by lowering the metabolism even further.] I haven't heard of a situation like that; I'll see if I can find any information relating to that possibility.

[Pregenenolone side effects: sadness, irritability, major hair loss, insomnia, weight gain] Excipients or impurities in capsules can cause symptoms, by irritating the intestine. In animal studies (and in myself), extremely large doses didn't have any more effects than minimal doses. It's possible to eliminate some of the impurities by mixing it with warm vitamin E, and after stirring it, allowing it to settle, and using only what dissolved in the vitamin E.

[Anti-androgen in higher doses? See post.] When I was buying pregnenolone from the Syntex factory in Mexico, 1984-5, to test its safety I ate a kilogram of it during a year, 3000 to 4000 milligrams per day. I didn’t detect any side effects at all, except that my skin, that had been sagging over my eyes and on my neck, firmed up. I know a man in his sixties who is taking a teaspoonful every day, without any bad effects.

[Is there anything different about taking pregnenolone for someone with a personality disorder, such as psychopathy or borderline personality disorder?] No.

Progesterone

[Progesterone and Thyroid] Sometimes progesterone can cause an underactive enlarged thyroid gland to begin secreting, temporarily producing mild hypothyroidism while the gland returns to a normal size. Supplemental progesterone can reduce excessive cortisol production.

Since progesterone helps the thyroid to secrete, and helps the liver to regulate glucose and convert T4 to T3, women who are low in progesterone usually have hypothyroid symptoms (because of insufficient T3), including high cortisol, which promotes the synthesis of estrogen (in several ways, but never from progesterone). Cortisol is made from progesterone, but increasing the supply of progesterone reliably lowers cortisol synthesis, acting on the brain, pituitary, and adrenal glands. Progesterone, by many mechanisms, including its antagonism to cortisol, lowers the amount of estrogen in cells (causing the estrogen-binding proteins to be degraded, inhibiting the enzymes that release estrogen from the sulfates and glucuronides, and activating the enzymes that detoxify estrogen). So I think the symptoms of increased estrogen and cortisol are the result of either extraneous ingredients in the creams, or from using it at the wrong time, for example, too early, triggering premature ovulation. Supplementing a small amount of T3, Cytomel or Cynomel, usually stops symptoms such as breast pain, irritability, and restless energy, in less than an hour.

I think continuing the progesterone would help to normalize thyroid responses. If you adjust the thyroid dose every two weeks according to how you feel, and according to your temperatures and pulse rate, there should be a point where your cycle is right, without needing progesterone. During the winter the need for thyroid is higher, because of the short days, so it's important to watch for decreasing need when the days are longer in the spring.

[Starting Dose] It's usual to start with just a couple of drops of progesterone; depending on your symptoms, that amount could be repeated, as needed. Thyroid tends to lower cholesterol, converting some of it to progesterone. Both cholesterol and progesterone are involved in the response to thyroid.

[Rubbing on gums or swallowing?] Some will enter your blood stream very quickly from the mouth membranes, but taking it with food the effect will be more gradual and prolonged.

[Surgical Menopause] I think it's most effective when you take it cyclically; imitating the menstrual cycle, with two week on and two off, would be good, unless you are using it to control some symptom.

[Could progesterone turn into estrogen?] Progesterone won't turn into estrogen, but along with thyroid and aspirin it will tend to reduce the amount of estrogen in the body. If you have symptoms, you could adjust the dose according to the effect; I have seen some people start recovering immediately with just 10 mg of progesterone, but it depends on the balance of other hormones.

< See also #Menses. >

Prolactin

What would your doctors think about letting you try an antiserotonin drug, like lisuride or ondansetron or bromocriptine, now that your prolactin was measured so high? I think the prolactin should be around 9 to 12.

High prolactin

Either vitex or bromocriptine would probably stop it, but I think it's probably caused by mild hypothyroidism, and that the best way to handle it would be with a thyroid supplement, and that would probably help your libido too.

Prolactin and TSH tend to increase together, so when you didn't need the prolactin to be high, the TSH--which might have been keeping your thyroid active despite high estrogen--could have decreased, letting the gland be suppressed by estrogen (and maybe PUFA, from the nuts and any non-ruminant meats). Optimally, the TSH should be very low, but the thyroid gland should keep functioning without needing much stimulation.

Salt and thyroid usually lower it, but you might want to try a little vitamin B6; even a small amount, about 10 mg per day, can lower prolactin.

Prostate

Correcting hypothyroidism will usually reduce prostate problems, and often pregnenolone helps with that as well as with increasing testosterone. Checking temperature and pulse rate at waking and in the middle of the day, and checking the Achilles tendon reflex relaxation rate, can help to judge the hormonal situation. Having a carrot salad every day (shredded carrot, with a little olive oil, vinegar, and salt) can help to lower the stress hormones that are usually associated with prostate inflammation.

Protein

For intense exercise, it's about a gram per pound of body weight.

I've always been very sedentary, but I have usually had close to 150 grams daily. The traditional meat eaters didn't waste anything,ate all the skin, ears, tails, snouts, feet,tendons, lungs, intestines, marrow, blood,brains, gonads and other glands, picked the ligaments off the bones, so they had a much better balance of amino acids. (Small town restaurants in Mexico, China, etc., still serve those.) Muscle meats are essentially a refined food.

That's more than enough, and with low thyroid function the excess of tryptophan, methionine, and cystein can lower your thyroid even more. Until your metabolic rate is higher, 80 to 100 grams would be better. Replacing it with sugar, or very well cooked starch, would support thyroid function.

It's better to take your protein during the day, sugar and fat in the evening. The powdered protein lacks most of the nutrients, so you probably need some fruit, eggs, and liver, for the other nutrients, including potassium and magnesium.

Food proteins stimulate insulin secretion, and to prevent hypoglycemia cortisol is increased. The food proteins (along with tissue proteins) can be used for energy under the influence of cortisol. Meats, other than beef, lamb, venison, and bison, usually contain enough polyunsaturated fat to affect estrogen, testosterone, and energy production. Stress, or increased cortisol, increases the circulating cysteine and tryptophan from muscle (meats), and these together with cortisol tend to increase aromatase. The high ratio of phosphate to calcium in meat activates a variety of stress processes; a high intake of calcium supports energy metabolism. Sugars tend to lower circulating free fatty acids, amino acids, and cortisol, while activating the thyroid hormone.

I think it just takes a few hours, or a day, to normalize the tryptophan. Vitamin B6 helps to guide the metabolism of tryptophan away from excessive serotonin.

[Does a protein deficiency lower liver detoxification due to increased muscle breakdown which inhibits thyroid via amino acids which lowers metabolic efficiency of liver?] Yes, I think that's at least part of how it works.

[Why do you recommend to have carbohydrates with a protein meal?] It mitigates the damage produced by the stress response to hypoglycemia.

Protein Powders

[Whey?] Powdered foods that contain tryptophan are extremely susceptible to harmful oxidation, and the best things are removed, for example calcium, lactose, and casein, with its anti-stress properties.

PUFA

The main way they [PUFA] are detoxified is by attaching glucuronic acid, making them water soluble, so they leave in the urine. Keeping the free fatty acids low in relation to albumin, they will largely be carried bound to the albumin to the liver.

They [polyunsaturated fats] are more water soluble, so are easier to release [from adipose tissue]. The fat cells themselves preferentially oxidize saturated fatty acids, so the stores tend to become more unsaturated with age.

Pulse

I think 85/minute resting is a good average. For the last 35 years I have tried to keep it averaging a little over 90. When people are using thyroid to recover from tumors or cataracts or other chronic problem, they sometimes hold their resting pulse rate at 100 or more for a few months, without any harmful effects. Sometimes I think you'll be able to figure it out by yourself.

[Pulse rate driven by adrenaline?] If it's from your basic metabolism, it will stay close to that all day while sitting.

Pyruvate

In mitochondria and mortality you mention pyruvate having similar effects of lactate. Isn't pyruvate necessary for oxidative metabolism? Is pyruvate only bad when mitochrondia can't fully metabolize it?] Yes.

Radiation

Not likely. The biological effects of radiation decrease as altitude increase. LET and mesons explain the relationship [AIRPLANES & RADIATION].

[SHIELDING THE HOUSE] The radiation from telephones and such can be blocked by wire mesh, that’s well grounded. Some people use screen to cover the walls and ceiling of their bedroom, grounding it by attaching it to the plumbing, or to the electrical ground wire. A metal roof that has a wire or metal drain-pipe connecting it to the ground reduces the radiation from radio and television. Much of the natural earth e.m. resonance will be excluded.

[You mentioned that "A millionth of a gray is known to produce BYSTANDE EFFECTS." Do you have any studies suggesting this?] I don’t remember the context, but it probably referred to in vitro experiments, in which alpha particles produce very large bystander effects with very little energy. A slight disturbance of cell water activates nitric oxide synthesis, and that interacts both directly and indirectly with many things, including reduced energy production and destabilization of DNA. Martin Pall and others have shown that millimeter waves, too, can interact with cell water and increase nitric oxide, suggesting that some of their effects will be the same as those of ionizing radiation. An article by Betskii and Lebedeva says millimeter waves are being used therapeutically in Russia, so the harmful effects that Pall and others describe apparently aren’t immediately apparent. (Reference)

Randle Cycle

[Coconut oil protected animals from poison-induced diabetes, yet Randle described the inhibition of glucose oxidation by free fatty acids. I'm trying to reconcile the above two facts; is coconut oil exempt from becoming free fatty acids and competing with glucose in the randle cycle?] Relative to PUFA, yes. When the body contains a lot of PUFA, eating coconut oil increases oxidative metabolism, partly because of the shorter fatty acids that are more quickly oxidized, like sugar, and partly because of the antimetabolic effects of the PUFA that they displace. More recently, several investigators have found that a “deficiency of essential fatty acids” is highly protective against diabetes.

Receptors

[Alternative to 'receptors'] There are proteins that bind chemicals while those chemicals are producing effects on cells, but the schemes that use them to explain cell physiology are very ideological, usually arbitrarily excluding many alternative explanations. In some cases, they are fraudulent, in others, just stupid, but usually important for the drug industry. I think it's valuable to investigate the development of the estrogen receptor idea by Elwood Jensen.

RedBull

No, I haven't tried it.

[Is glucuronolactone safe?] I think it is, if it's from a reliable source.

Red Light

[Does red light repair damage done by UV light, or maybe also by X-rays?] By any irradiation, but it's most effective within the first hour.

Reincarnation

[Any thoughts on Ian Stevenson's work? Specifically in relation to reincarnation?] I don’t know much about his work, but about 60 years ago I read about people who had detailed knowledge of preceding lives. Since I am always starting from the radical empirical awareness of complexity constantly changing in meaningful ways, I am also always considering ways to understand the meanings of the regularities. I think a quality of coherence in things, covering situations that used to be explained by a luminiferous ether, can be thought of as a “formative ether,” with resonant processes that span spaces and times. We can resonate in the same time with organisms in different places, affecting our complex developmental processes. Substances are always participating in particular situations or fields, and are never merely random. The “orthogenetic” theory of evolution described a developmental inertia, in which the existence of a structure leads to more of the same structure. A structure in one organism affects its interactions, so that a functional (or eco-) system tends to develop its own inertia. Within a certain society, these functional systems could span generations, eliciting “phenocopies” transgenerationally. Lancelot Whyte’s “formative principle” and Rupert Sheldrake’s “formative causation” just need a more concrete physical substrate, that I think exists in fragments, from Leibniz to Bose to Polanyi, to Horace Dudley and J.L. Anderson, etc. The idea of resonance needs a better understanding of substance as/incorporating its fields—and nothing has private independent fields.

J.L. Anderson, "Non-Poisson Distributions Observed During Counting of Certain Carbon-14 Labeled (Sub) Monolayers," Journal of Physical Chemistry, Vol. 76, No. 4 (1972). (Nuclear decay isn’t random and depends on its environment)

Dayton Miller's Ether-Drift Experiments

Resonance

He talks about the need for resonant electronic interaction in drug actions and smell; similar arguments have been made for vision, hearing, and other senses. In his model of the 'receptor' that responds to a drug he didn't talk about the things surrounding the receptor, which transmit the effect into the cell; the standard idea is that 'molecular cascades' of interaction diffuse the signal through the cytoplasm, but an alternative view is that the microtrabecular system is a communication system. It would be within this molecular network that the electronic resonance coherently transmits the excitations that make up consciousness. Resonant theories of sense and awareness go back at least 70 years. In the 1960s to 1980s, when all the textbooks described the cytoplasm as a liquid in which reactions were governed by free diffusion, with Michaelis-Menten kinetics, Sidney Bernard showed, stoichiometrically, that there is no free diffusion involved in the reactions of glycolysis, and glycolysis was the very basis for the belief that biochemistry could be studied in test-tubes, in watery solution. This requires a different view of cell organization. The living cell can be seen as an excitable medium, supporting oscillating reactions, with an inherent directionality. A.G.Gurwich, P.K. Anokhin, A. Szent-Gyorgyi, Mae-Wan Ho, and many others have contributed to developing this view [LUCA TURINS' TED TALK ON RESONANCE]

Rifaximin

Rifaximin is probably safe for short term use. (Reference)

Salt

A friend had the celtic salt analyzed, and found it was high in toxic heavy metals. The pure white common salt is best.

That standard isn't very strict, but the salt is probably safe, if it's white. I usually use either La Baleine or Morton's canning and pickling salt.

Some sea salt is refined, by sequential evaporation, until it's very pure; either kind of pure white salt without additives is good.

[PARACHUTING SALT?] The salt might be causing problems used that way.

[ALTERNATIVE SODIUM SOURCE] Baking soda in water is helpful for some people.

[UPPER LIMIT] Too much salt can injure the stomach. Appetite is usually a good guide to the amount needed.

Satiety

[not satisfied with orange juice and milk] Coconut oil (I prefer hydrogenated) helps satiety, while tending to increase the metabolic rate. Cheese can be especially satisfying, partly because of the flavor. Sometimes trace nutrient deficiencies lead to over-eating; liver, oysters, and cooked mushrooms can satisfy appetite without high calories. Sometimes hypothyroidism, a tendency to hypoglycemia, is responsible for weight gain.

Seafood

[What is the best/safest way to cook seafood? I would assume boiling, steaming or frying in coconut oil.] Those, or butter.

[Is the quality of seafood, or other foods, a concern after the Fukushima nuclear disaster, for someone living in the West Coast? Could it have become irradiated and pose dangers to health?] Yes, sea food from the northern Pacific should be tested periodically, but the US government has stopped the radiation testing that had previously been done, which I think means that the radiation is exceeding their previous safety limits.

Serotonin

[SSRIs causing gut problems] The gut makes 95% of serotonin, which is the main promoter of stress hormones, inflammation, pain, and anxiety.

Serum serotonin fluctuates according to intestinal irritation, but for the average to change very much it's necessary for the liver and brain to adapt, and that usually takes a few months. Since the lungs are the main site of serotonin metabolism, an air ionizer near your bed can help.

B6 helps for turning tryptophan into niacin rather than serotonin.

Yes, it allows a positive kind of mental energy, since high serotonin causes conservative, defensive authoritarian avoidance [Lower serotonin leading to holism].

Effective mental effort is easier to make when serotonin isn't excessive; attitude and chemistry interact, both directions.

Some people who haven't had ideal results from bromocriptine have had better results from tianeptine, and/or lisuride, and/or cyproheptadine [anti-serotonin drugs].

Cyproheptadine might be helpful for reducing sensitivity to intestinal irritants.

[Can anti-serotonin drugs permanently fix a problem, even if taken only for a short while?] Yes, but it's important to keep adjusting thyroid and progesterone according to temperature, pulse, etc.

Thyroid is the best thing for controlling serotonin's effects. The drugs that act on "receptors" act simultaneously on many things; one effect of some of them is a selective "agonist" effect on the "receptor" which is involved in negative feedback, turning off the cells that produce serotonin. Wikipedia is a function of consensus; according to them, serotonin is a happy hormone, and there are no conspiracies of government officials and bankers.

[High serotonin] It's important to know how it was measured, and what your platelet count was. Is your intestine inflamed? Since serotonin affects bone metabolism, have your serum calcium, phosphate, parathyroid hormone, vitamin D3, prolactin, and cortisol been measured?

I don't think doctors know what to do for regulating serotonin. Vitamin B6 helps to direct tryptophan toward niacinamide, away from serotonin. Gelatin contains no tryptophan, so things like consomme can be helpful. Raw carrots, because of their antiseptic effect, help to lower irritation and bloating. Antibiotics can be helpful, when the small intestine is overgrown with bacteria. Thyroid supplementation will lower cholesterol. Some people get very sleepy with just two milligrams of Periactin, so I think it's good to start with one mg. the first night. Two milligrams can make a big difference, and when symptoms stop the effects can last for days without using it.

< See also #Anti-Serotonin Drugs. >

Sex and Masturbation

High estrogen does sometimes cause insatiable sexual interest, partly because it increases adrenal androgens, and partly by inhibiting satisfying orgasms. Too much progesterone can suppress or neutralize the androgens. Thyroid is the best way to regulate the system, keeping libido up, making orgasms satisfying.

[Does masturbation or sex have positive or negative effects on the hormones or stress?] Generally positive, but intense arousal can have unwanted consequences, such as herpes virus outbreaks.

[Masturbation: effect on prolactin] I don't think masturbation affects the hormones more than regular sex does. Forum Discussion

Silicon

[value for connective tissue health] I don’t think silicon is safe, or has value as a nutrient. I recommend many foods containing considerable amounts of silicon, such as meats, liver, shell fish, bamboo shoots, and mushrooms, but there are many products on the market that contain silicon in forms that can be harmful.

Skin

[Povidone iodine for recurring skin infection? High blood pressure] It isn’t good to repeatedly cover a very large skin area with iodine, but it’s safe to use on small areas. 10% sulfur soap is another safe disinfectant that works on various types of infection. There are some nutritional deficiencies that can cause recurring infections. Vitamin D deficiencies are very common, and predispose to all sorts of immunity problems. Hypothyroidism and vitamin A deficiencies sometimes lead to prolonged infections, and increased TSH is very closely involved with high blood pressure.

[Skin problems worse on a diet for increasing metabolism] Vitamins and trace minerals have to increase proportionally as the metabolic rate increases.

Sleep

[SLEEP APNEA] Several things have been very effective, for example the drug Diamox, acetazolamide, stimulates respiration by changing CO2 and pH; caffeine, thyroid, and progesterone are the more natural things that stimulate respiration. Thyroid is the main regulatory and adaptive substance for respiration. I think it's common to call the apnea "obstructive" when someone is fat, but it's probably essentially the same condition, filtered through the mechanical medical mind.

[ASPIRIN] It can help with sleep, but you should try it first in the afternoon, because sometimes its first effect can stimulate your metabolism and delay sleep. If you use it regularly, you should have some vitamin K (for example liver once a week).

[Sleeping 10+ hours] If you wake up feeling refreshed, I think it's very good to now and then get some extra sleep. Under-sleeping increases nitric oxide, and catch-up sleep lowers it. Niacinamide, coffee, and aspirin are things that lower NO. (Reference)

Smoking/Nicotine

[Snus] In old people, a little nicotine can have a balancing effect, improving alertness, and probably protecting nerves, for example in the negative association with Parkinson's disease. But in younger people, its vasoconstrictive effect tends to promote the development of wrinkles in the skin, and I think it's likely to contribute to periodontal disease.

[Niacinamide for quitting smoking] After middle age, nicotine isn't likely to become addictive, and in small amounts it has nerve protective effects. Some of those effects probably overlap with the nerve protective effects of niacinamide. I haven't experimented with nicotine or tobacco, but I think transdermal application is preferable to smoking; carbon monoxide and other serious toxins are produced by burning the tobacco.

Sodium

[Sodium or the chloride part of salt causes gut irritation. Do you recommend any other safe source of sodium?] Baking soda in water is helpful for some people.

Sorbitol

A little is o.k.

Sourdough bread

Naturally fermented sourdough is less harmful than standard or unleavened wheat products, but any starch tends to stimulate appetite by activating fat synthesis. The same number of calories in fruit would be less fattening, and would keep your blood sugar steadier, improve your sleep and mental energy.

Starch

[Potatoes] When a person has limited money for food, potatoes are a better staple than beans or oats. Starches associated with saponins, alkaloids, and other potentially pro-inflammatory things make them a less than ideal food, if you have digestion-related health problems, and if you can afford to choose. New potatoes are tastier, less starchy, and probably less likely to cause digestive irritation.

[How much starch is ok?] When starch is well cooked, and eaten with some fat and the essential nutrients, it's safe, except that it's more likely than sugar to produce fat, and isn't as effective for mineral balance.

[How much cooked starchy food is safe in the diet?] There isn't enough information to judge, but a fair part of the carbohydrate should be in the form of sucrose, fructose, and/or lactose. If it's well cooked, and eaten with butter, it's probably safe for many people.

[Limiting endotoxins] Keeping a fairly quick transit time usually goes with an abundance of digestive secretions, keeping the small intestine free of bacteria. Fiber, good thyroid function, and antiseptic foods such as cooked mushrooms, bamboo shoots, and raw carrots help. Forum Discussion

[Is tapioca starch used as thickening ingredient something that can cause endotoxin?] Yes, any starch can; long cooking, and butter or cream, can reduce that effect.

[Mercola on starch and and acrylamide - http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/07/17/acrylamide.aspx] PUFA (omega-3 and -6 oils, also called polyunsaturated fatty acids) break down into several toxic things, including acrolein, which oxidizes to form acrylate, and both of them react with ammonia or amines to form acrylamide. I haven't read the article, but it does seem odd that they would think the starch was the source of the acrylamide.

Stevia

Stevia extract is probably safe. The plant is often highly contaminated with arsenic.

Stroke

Constipation might have been responsible for the stroke. Progesterone is already being used medically, 'experimentally,' for brain protection and repair, pregnenolone has some of the similar effects, probably not as powerfully, but it's safe in any quantity. Carbon dioxide increase can often restore circulaton to areas that have a vascular spasm; a little baking soda in water sometimes helps that. Sugar sometimes helps with constipation. They should be doing something for the constipation; inflammation is often involved, and aspirin and cascara (emodin) are helpful if the main blockage can be overcome with enemas. Inflamed tissues are hyperosmotic, so enemas with the standard 0.9% saline cause tissue swelling; double or triple osmolar saline is usually helpful.

[STROKE BRAIN RECOVERY] Both progesterone and pregnenolone are o.k. at the same time. They protect the brain. Vitamin K (1 or 2) is probably better to use before aspirin, since it helps to prevent both more clotting and also bleeding. A day after the vitamin K the aspirin would be safer, and it helps to protect brain cells. Niacinamide, vitamin B1 and biotin are other brain protective things, even is small amounts. Hospitals often treat strokes with too much oxygen, to reduce brain pressure, but that reduces circulation to the brain; 5% carbon dioxide with oxygen helps to reduce brain swelling while maintaining circulation.

Strontium

[EGGSHELL HIGH IN STRONTIUM] The normal kind of strontium seems to be harmless, it was the radioactive kind from nuclear bombs and industry that was used as an indicator of fallout contamination, and was highly associated with leukemia. Around 1960 there were warnings about the danger of milk contamination, but vegetables were the greatest source of it.

Study

[Good biology books] Harold Hillman's books are good for surveying the nonfactual aspects of 'biology.' Sometimes I put 'membranes' in quotation marks to indicate that people mean very different things by the word. (For example, the centrifugation 'pellet' is often meant when they say 'membranes'.) F.S. Sjostrand and other electron microscopists working in the 1950s to 1970s are worth looking at. The irrelevancy of the 'membrane' is explained in Gilbert Ling's work.

I don't know of any single book that assembles the important things, it's probably still necessary to read the original work and some of the things in each field that have built on those. G. N. Lewis, Peter A. Stewart (the "acid base tutorial" on the internet summarizes his approach), Bungenberg de Jong (coacervates), Sidney Fox, Walter Drost-Hansen, A.S. Troshin, Gerald Pollack, Szent-Gyorgyi, Carlos Sonnenschein, James A. Shapiro are people who have tried to avoid the mainstream mistakes, and have suggested new possibilities by the facts they chose to study.

Stutter

[occasional stutter or mixing up the starts of words, coffee helps] I think it probably has to do with the temperature of the brain, and the associated motor systems, when the intention runs into reflexes that are operating at a slower speed.

Spices

[Concerns regarding the regular use of umami boosting ingredients such as soya sauce and fish sauce?] No. [Soy sauce] It’s safe in moderate amounts. Forum Discussion

Sugar

[SUGAR HIGH] If the rest of your diet is good, the energy bursts from sugar should level off, and become a steady increased metabolic rate.

[Anti-sugar cult] There is a great anti-sugar cult, with even moralistic overtones,equating sugar craving with morphine addiction. Sugar craving is usually caused by the need for sugar, generally caused by hypothyroidism.When yeasts have enough sugar, they just happily make ethanol, but when they don't have sugar, they can sink filaments into the intestine wall seeking it, and, if the person is very weak, they can even invade the bloodstream and other organs. Milk, cheese, and fruits provide a very good balance of nutrients. Fruits provide a significant amount of protein. Plain sugar is o.k. when the other nutrients are adequate. Roots, shoots, and tubers are, next to the fruits, a good carbohydrate source; potatoes are a source of good protein. Meat as the main protein can provide too much phosphorus in relation to calcium.

I checked a few of the references that were on the charts in his video, and didn't find any facts that would necessarily support what he was saying. Many people are publishing similar extreme interpretations. His ideas about alcohol, appetite, addiction, insulin, and leptin are stereotyped medical cliches, that aren't supported clearly by good evidence [SUGAR THE BITTER TRUTH - LUSTIG].

I think a total for sugar up to ten ounces can be o.k., depending on your metabolic rate and needs. Budd and Piorry used up to 12 ounces per day therapeutically.

A daily diet that includes two quarts of milk and a quart of orange juice provides enough fructose and other sugars for general resistance to stress, but larger amounts of fruit juice, honey, or other sugars can protect against increased stress, and can reverse some of the established degenerative conditions. Refined granulated sugar is extremely pure, but it lacks all of the essential nutrients, so it should be considered as a temporary therapeutic material, or as an occasional substitute when good fruit isn't available, or when available honey is allergenic.

If your other foods are rich in vitamins and minerals it's safe.

To prevent stress, or to replenish glycogen stores after stress, your appetite for it is likely to be a good guide.

[HONEY] I haven't had any experience with manuka. Some honey can be allergenic, so it's good to look for a mild one; white sugar is probably similar, with less allergy risk.

[BROWN SUGAR] No, although there are some nutrient minerals in it, the impurities can be slightly toxic and allergenic .

[COCONUT SUGAR] If it's browned from heating, it's more likely to be allergenic, and even without too much heat, some people are likely to be allergic to it. But if it doesn't cause any reactions, then it's very good, with some nutritional value. Honey is in some ways better than white sugar, but depending on the plants it's derived from, it can be allergenic. White sugar has the advantage of being very clean. Fruits have many valuable nutrients, so are the best way to get sugars, when good ones are available.

[BLEACHING] The bleaching is essentially washing, washing the molasses residue away from brown sugar, and I think charcoal is used to absorb the last traces of impurities. The products vary in the thoroughness of the washing, some have a faint yellow color and weak molasses taste; the whitest is least likely to be allergenic.

Sun

[ZINC OXIDE LEAST HARMFUL SUNSCREEN] Yes.

[Considering that aspirin works in some ways like niacinamide, would niacinamide help prevent sunburn?] I haven't tried niacinamide for sun protection; the fact that it can lighten skin pigment might mean that it's blocking some free radical processes.

[Sun damaged skin] Topical vitamin A with vitamin E would be protective. Progesterone and caffeine are other powerfully protective things. Both caffeine and progesterone are protective topically as well as orally.

It's [ASPIRIN] protective against sun aging, like vitamin E. I think the most helpful thing for wrinkles is pregnenolone (internally), since it increases the tone of connective tissues, causing the fascia and similar tissues to contract, if they have been sagging from a metabolic energy problem (caused by accumulated PUFA).

Supplements

Because of contaminants in supplements I seldom recommend the oral use of any of them, except aspirin, which can be dissolved in warm water to remove most of the additives. In the winter I use vitamin D, but only on my skin in an oil. Using a thyroid supplement temporarily might help to lower your estrogen.

Some of the B vitamins, especially B2, can be very allergenic. B6 doesn't affect the others very much; 10 mg per day is a big dose.

Its effects are usually visible immediately, or within a few days, if it's going to be helpful. It's best in general to get the B vitamins from regular foods, occasionally with liver, because supplements usually contain contaminants that can cause allergic reactions when they are used for a long time. Other B vitamins that are usually safe for occasional use are B1, niacinamide, and pantothenic acid.

If you are getting enough of the major nutrients, including protein, calcium, and sugar, it's possible that you have a specific stress-related deficiency, for example of B6, niacinamide, or selenium. 10 mg of B6 can sometimes make a quick difference in prostate and libido, 100 mg of niacinamide can reduce some stress symptoms. Applying caffeine solution to the scalp locally helps to promote hair growth. Water and a little alcohol are convenient for applying it. [LOW LIBIDO, HAIR LOSS FOR A YOUNG MALE]

Because of individual sensitivities, each one should be tested carefully. Allergic reactions sometimes show up within a few minutes of contacting your mouth, other times it takes a couple of days to see a bad reaction. The worst one is B2, folic acid is next for allergies. B1, pantothenic acid, niacinamide and B6 are pretty safe.

[PUFAs IN VITAMIN SUPPLEMENTS] As long as you use the vitamin topically it would not do any harm but be careful to not expose your skin to direct sunlight.

Most supplements contain enough impurities to eventually cause problems. Thyroid and aspirin are among the safest, and the most likely to be valuable indefinitely. It depends on where you live, but vitamin D3, vitamin K, and selenium deficiencies are extremely widespread.

Tartar

[How to reduce this and any damage from coffee with sugar and fruit] Rinsing the mouth right after eating.

Tea

The addition of lemon or milk to tea reduces the reactivity of the tannins. In recent years, the tea industry has very commonly been adulterating the product. Pu erh is one that still seems to be o.k.

Teenagers & Puberty

Around puberty the changing hormones, especially momentarily high estrogen in boys, can cause some obsessive episodes, and I suppose stress could be involved with early high testosterone production. A few small supplementations with thyroid or pregnenolone might reduce the stress and extend his growing years, but he could judge by whether it made him feel better. Lots of milk and fruit are appropriate in the teens, with eggs, seafoods, and meats according to appetite.

[Cynoplus & Retin-A/Retinoids for Teenager] An eighth or tenth of a cynoplus tablet is a good amount for a trial, it's a little less than the body would normally produce in an hour, so it's enough to detect as a change of state, slight change of heart rate, warming of hands, for example. Vitamin A is such a basic metabolic factor, in the brain and endocrine glands, liver and kidneys, etc., I think it's dangerous to experiment with drugs that interfere with it. (Reference)

Teeth and Gums

[Bleeding gums] It's usually a sign of stress, often from over-growth of bacteria in the upper intestine. A daily raw carrot, shredded with a little vinegar and olive oil, can suppress bacteria.

[Receding gums and sensitive teeth] Melting a little coconut oil in the mouth frequently during the day can be effective, because it's antiseptic (and swallowing some at intervals during the day contributes to disinfecting the intestine). Vitamins D and K help some people. The problem usually involves endotoxin absorption, so small daily amounts of minocycline help some people. Putting bamboo shoots through a shredding food processor, so they don't take much chewing, might help to reduce endotoxin. Checking the thyroid is important.

[Dental health] Stress weakens teeth from the inside, drawing mineral from the dentine; the dentine is the part that can regenerate, not the enamel. Thyroid function is the most important thing for limiting stress.

Stress typically causes calcium to be removed from the small channels in the dentine, and it tends to be unequal, resulting in spots of discoloration in some teeth, that can develop into cavities. Thyroid is the most important antistress hormone as well as influencing the saliva and immunity.

Intestinal inflammation is often behind recurrent tooth infections, and a daily raw carrot can make a big difference (along with avoiding legumes, undercooked starches and raw or undercooked vegetables).

I use baking soda, and I rinse my mouth after having sugar, orange juice, etc. The quality of the saliva, regulated mainly by the thyroid hormone, is the main factor in dental health. My newsletter on osteoporosis mentioned some of the studies on thyroid, estrogen, and tooth decay.

[Tongue, teeth, gum problems] There are some strong nervous and circulatory interactions between the intestine and the mouth, affecting surfaces and periodontal health, tooth sensitivity, etc. I knew a dentist who stopped doing periodontal surgery when he found that his patients were more easily cured with a laxative. Camphoric acid has been used as an intestinal disinfectant to remedy problems such as coated or sore tongue or bad breath. The tetracyclines have similar effects. Vitamins D and K are important.

[Question about regenerating teeth with light] Light can apparently activate part of the process; combining it with pressure and electrical and hormonal stimulation might increase the efficiency of regenerating dentine. [using a laser?] Just bright red light should do it.

[Effective stimulation?] Chewing is the best stimulation.

[Gingivitis] Besides keeping phosphates low, getting a lot of vitamin K, and maybe rubbing some onto the gums, might help; it's antiinflammatory. Some people have reverse gingivitis by "rinsing" with coconut oil twice a day, swishing it around for a couple of minutes.

[Removing wisdom tooth] If it's decayed or inflamed, removing a wisdom tooth might be protective.

[Carrageenan in toothpaste] No, it isn't likely to be a problem unless you are very sensitive to it.

[Root canals] There's normally no need to replace root canals, and x-rays aren't necessary even when having a root canal done if the dentist is very competent. The Japanese are probably more aware than Americans of the damage done by diagnositic x-rays. Systemic toxic effects have been demonstrated from a single set of dental x-rays (Reference)

[Mercury leaching from root canals continuously and replacing it with a metal / mercury-free alternative?] It depends on what the filling material was (my dentist used calcium oxide), but the amount absorbed from amalgam fillings and food is probably much more significant."

[What is the best course of action for a decayed tooth?] I think any obvious cavity should be cleaned out and filled. Extractions are usually done for economic reasons, when a good repair would require a lot of work. When a biting surface isn’t involved, a zinc oxide eugenol filling (temporary) is often good for a few years. I think composite fillings are better than amalgam, and the Sorel cements (oxy chloride) are ideal filling materials, though they aren’t popular with dentists.

[Drilling and filling cavities and root canals] I think filling a cavity soon is best, and with care the pulp can often be preserved, but a root filling is better than extraction; the material used for a root filling doesn't matter much, if calcium oxide is used at the end. Calcium oxide would be best for the whole thing, but the x-ray mania has discouraged that use.

[Milk teeth] I don’t think anesthesia should be combined with cyproheptadine, but I think dentists are too aggressive in treating deciduous teeth; the important thing is to improve her digestion and hormones as her permanent teeth are developing. The so-called temporary fillings, made of zinc oxide and eugenol, are very easy to put in, and are antiseptic and mildly anesthetic topically. (I had them in wisdom teeth, and they lasted for years.) X-rays, anesthesia, and drilling into invisible cavities have their place in especially problematic adult teeth, but seem inappropriate for teeth that will soon be gone.

[Dental x-rays] Fun quotes

Testosterone

[TESTOSTERONE SUPPLEMENTATION] Yes, pure testosterone on the skin is safe if the diet and thyroid function are good, but it's better to try supplements of pregnenolone first, and then DHEA, to normalize the testosterone production.

[LOW TESTOSTERONE: Would the addition of topical testosterone supplement work in the same direction as the diet and thyroid supplement?] Yes, I think a small supplement of testosterone will work in the same direction.

[shrunken testes from use of high doses exogenous testosterone/DHT] Testosterone and DHT aren’t toxic, so the testes probably haven’t been damaged, and would resume functioning with good nutritional support. 100 mg of pregnenolone and 5 mg of DHEA would probably help their recovery, but I think it would be good to have your LH and estrogen checked. If the LH is very high, using a little DHT for a while might be protective until it’s more normal. Coffee, aspirin, vitamin D, milk and cheese would also protect against high LH.

[TESTOSTERONE INJECTION] I think an oil or cream with real testosterone (and DHEA) is much better than the injections, which are usually an ester of testosterone in a toxic solvent.

Thyroid Hormones

General Questions

[IDEAL SERUM RATIO OF TOTAL T4 AND T3] The serum T3/T4 ratio decreases with age and sickness. I think dose of a supplement should be based entirely on the signs of metabolic response.

[Ratio of T4 to T3, which is sometimes suggested to be wrong in NDT] Pigs' and cows' thyroids are very similar to people's, with a ratio usually between 3:1 and 4:1. The blood serum of hypothyroid people can have a ratio of 50:1 or 100:1, when the liver is failing to convert thyroxin. Maybe the authors of the book are physicians, educated by pharmaceutical advertisements.

[Lack of hormones like calcitonin, T2 etc. in synthetic T4/T3 combo a problem?] The old Armour thyroid, made from beef and pork glands before 1990, did contain other components that were probably valuable, but when T3 is absorbed by mitochondria it's immediately changed into T2, so the synthetic T3's effects can't be distinguished from those of a mixture of T3 and T2. The company that now makes Armour thyroid started removing the calcitonin in the 1990s, to sell as a separate product.

[IMPROVING T4->T3 CONVERSION] If you were deficient in selenium, the correcting effect would be quick, but if there was a problem with intestinal flora, that would have to be taken care of before conversion was good. Other nutritional deficiencies could be involved. Daily raw carrot, weekly seafood and liver, enough sunlight and vitamin D, a good ratio of calcium to phosphate, are often helpful.

Calcium (two liters of milk), vitamin D and plenty of orange juice sometimes help to regulate things by balancing the minerals. A daily carrot salad should keep the small intestine fairly sterile.

[Reverse T3] Yes, it's probably induced by stress, with cortisol inducing the type of deiodinase that makes the inactive rT3. A low sugar diet can cause chronically high cortisol. If you are eating enough fruit and protein, I think the T3 of natural thyroid will help to correct the stress/inflammatory metabolism that is connected with the reverse T3.

There isn't any natural T3 product, in the sense of biologically created, but the activity of T3 is so great that the effective dose, of a few micrograms, couldn't introduce a significant amount of industrial junk; the excipients are the main concern, and whether the people making the tablets understand what they are doing. Cytomel and Cynomel, so far, have been very well made, and there isn't any other T3 product that I trust.

[THINGS INHIBITING T3 FROM ENTERING CELLS] It isn't a matter of T3 entering cells, it's assuring that it is either made by conversion from the T4, or taken as a supplement.

[Question about T2 mentioning 150mcg-capsules] Mitochondria have the enzyme for converting T3 to T2. The potency seems crazy, the body needs only about 4 mcg per hour.

[Less neuropathy and body pains when alternating Armour and Synthroid, low cholesterol] T4 suppresses the pro-inflammatory TSH, without activating the metabolism, so probably spares the cholesterol and other antiinflammatory things. Does she eat enough sugar? Starches and irritating, bacteria-supporting foods increase inflammation and probably interfere with cholesterol synthesis. Custards, sweet fruits, and Haagen Dazs ice cream are safe ways to increase cholesterol.

Starting Thyroid Supplementation

Sometimes it takes many months to get the metabolic rate stable at a higher level, and it's often necessary to use a thyroid supplement.

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.

With your TSH so high, you should probably add a thyroid supplement, until you get it down to about 1.0, or less. (The normal range, according to the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists, is from 0.3 to 3.0.)

A starting dose of about 1 mcg can produce a noticeable effect, and can be repeated at intervals according to the effect. 5 mcg with a meal is another way to start it. Thyroid tends to lower cholesterol by converting it into pregnenolone and other steroids, and yours is high enough to easily improve your steroid hormone balance.

Cynoplus (www.farmaciadelnino.com has a good price) is cheaper than Armour, and an eighth to a fourth of a tablet would be a reasonable amount to start with; thyroxine's half-life in the body is two weeks, so the effect is cumulative, and if you get the desired effects in less than two weeks the dose should probably be reduced.

At the beginning, once a day, but if your temperature and pulse and symptoms aren't just right after two weeks you could add another dose at a different time of day. Change of seasons affects the amount of thyroid you need, sometimes it isn't needed after using it for a while, but it's always good to watch for signs of change.

Thyroid Supplementation Doesn't Help / Causes Issues

T3, by lowering stress, sometimes reveals a low basal metabolic rate, that was hidden by high stress hormones. The body produces about 4 mcg of T3 per hour, so taking more than that can interfere with regulatory processes. It's helpful to use the resting pulse rate, and the 24 hour temperature curve, along with other signs, such as mood, appearance of veins on the hands, etc. The peak temperature should be in the afternoon.

The temperature rise during the day is the most important thing, since nocturnal stress hormones can give a misleading impression in the morning. Resting pulse rate is another good indicator. Milk and cheese are the best calcium sources.

If you are eating enough protein, about 100 grams, and salt and thyroid, then I would consider the steroids--something might be interfering with your production of pregnenolone and DHEA. Things that could do that would be very low cholesterol, or a deficiency of vitamin A (retinol), or possibly other deficiencies.

If your cholesterol is above 200, and the thyroid supplements didn't warm you up, it's possible that something is interfering with your steroid synthesis, which might be a deficiency of something like vitamin A, or interference from something like iron or carotene. Have you tried a supplement of pregnenolone or DHEA? Were any other hormones, such as prolactin, measured? If you are taking the aspirin regularly, you should make sure to get vitamin K, from kale, liver, or a supplement. Anemia, like cold feet, is a common sign of low thyroid function.

I occasionally see that happen [T3 WILL CAUSE LOW TEMP/PULSE]; sometimes people have had their pulse rate decrease 40 or 50 beats per minute. The temperature of your fingers, toes, and nose helps to interpret the balance between stress and thyroid; your fingers should be less cold as your metabolic rate comes up. In extreme hypothyroidism, the hands and feet can be very cold while the oral temperature looks o.k.; then as the metabolic rate increases, the difference between fingers and mouth decreases.

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.

[BRAIN FOG] The body makes up to about 4 mcg of T3 in an hour, so each dose should be small, with food to delay absorption. Are you having orange juice and milk in your diet? Sometimes a B vitamin deficiency, especially B1, can cause the fog. A supplement of 10 mg. is often enough to improve focus and prevent fatigue.

When you take T3 without food, it enters the blood stream very suddenly, and the liver is likely to detect an excessive amount, causing it to produce enzymes to eliminate it. The result can be a decrease in T3 for the rest of the day, especially at night if you took it in the morning. Have you tried rebreathing into a paper bag, to see if the increased CO2 affects the fog?

[HIGH HEART RATE AFTER T3] I think regular use of the pregnenolone might help. Are you getting enough milk, and salting your food to taste? Do you have some sea food regularly? (For trace minerals.) Have you tried taking the small amounts of T3 at different intervals, sooner until the symptoms are gone, then longer intervals until they return? TSH is likely to be high early in the morning, and as it subsides during the day the amount of T3 needed might decrease.

[HIGH STRESS HORMONES ON THYROID INCREASES SENSITIVITY TO THEM?] Not necessarily, but it's something to watch for. The daily temperature cycle is helpful, if stress is low, there will be a strong cycle, lowest at night, early morning.

[THYROID NOT ENOUGH TO LOWER STRESS HORMONES] Yes, the diet is an essential part of normalizing them. The climate is important, too.

[TEMPERATURE CYCLE - DIFFERENCE BETWEEN LOWEST AND HIGHEST TEMPERATURE] It depends on when you wake up, but anything from 0.6 to 1 degree Fahrenheit can be normal.

[HYPOTHYROID SYMPTOMS RETURN DESPITE SAME DOSAGE] During the first week or two of supplementing thyroid, there is usually an intensification of the effect of adrenaline. It’s necessary to watch a variety of signs, especially the temperature of hands and feet and the amount of water evaporated, to judge the actual effect of thyroid. The effect of thyroid after the level of adrenaline has normalized is to increase the depth of relaxation.

[THYROID ACTING LIKE CAFFEINE] Not like caffeine, but if too much is taken suddenly, a person who has been deficient in thyroid is likely to experience an excess of adrenaline. Since the body normally produces about 4 mcg of T3 in an hour, taking 10 or 20 mcg at once is unphysiological.

Long Term Effects

[HOW TO STOP THYROID] If a person's thyroid gland has been inhibited by very high doses of a supplement, it takes only 2 or 3 days for the gland to resume full activity, and because it takes time for the hormone to be excreted, suddenly stopping a supplement shouldn't be noticeable, when the gland isn't being inhibited or malfunctioning.

Experimenters using isotopes gave large doses of thyroid until the subjects' glands were completely shut off, and when they stopped giving the doses, everyone's gland returned to normal activity in just 2 or 3 days. The gland is extremely quick to adjust its activity, both up and down, except when it's inhibited by stress, or PUFA, or estrogen, etc. [TAKING THYROID WILL HAVE LONG-TERM EFFECTS]

Brands/Dosage

The working thyroid gland produces about the equivalent of 4 grains of desiccated thyroid per day, and that is about 70% thyroxine, T4, which allows the liver to make as much of the active T3 hormone as needed (if it is well nourished, and not blocked by PUFA or estrogen or other inhibitor). So taking that amount makes up for what your gland would be producing; by suppressing TSH, which stimulates the growth and activity of the thyroid, it also protects against the recurrence of cancer if it wasn't all removed (some types of cancer were treated just by supplementing thyroid, without surgery). Since the desiccated thyroid is made available by being digested, it's best to divide the day's dose, with some at each meal and at bedtime, so that the amount of active hormone entering the blood isn't too high at any time.

It's important to remember that it's cumulative, and the effect of any daily dose increases with time, and is affected by many things, so it's important to keep a chart [of temperature and pulse], watching for changes during a period of about two weeks.

An eighth of a tablet of either [Cynoplus/Cynomel] is a good starting dose. The difference is that T3 has a short half-life, and so can be repeated more often, while watching the pulse rate, so it's possible to get a quicker response.

Sensitivities and requirements vary widely. I've known people who temporarily needed 500 mg of Armour even in the summer, but usually the summer requirement is a fourth of the winter requirement. For some people, 15 mg of Armour was enough, and for some 1 mcg of Cytomel was an effective dose.

[Type 1 diabetic] The cynoplus tablets can be divided into pieces so that each dose of T3 is similar to the amount you were taking in cytomel. In diabetes, when cells aren't getting enough glucose, T4 can't be converted to the active T3, and so it can build up in the body to levels that interfere with metabolism, but the advantage of a combination is that T4 inhibits TSH, and TSH is responsible for many of the symptoms.

[WINTER RECOVERY] The end of winter is the worst time, because of the cumulative stress injury. Small amounts of T3, just 2 to 4 mcg at a time, along with good nutrition, including plenty of calcium (e.g., two quarts of milk), helps to recover from winter.

T3 has a short half-life in the body, and by adding small amounts of it you could feel quickly whether it was having the right effects. I don't know how reliable the Erfa is in composition. Mood is a good indicator, and the temperature of the toes and fingers usually changes quickly with thyroid changes.

The liver has to convert T4 to T3 for it to be effective. It needs glucose and selenium to make the conversion. Adequate protein, at least 80 grams per day, is necessary. Sea food, once a week will provide selenium, two quarts of milk and a quart of orange juice would provide many of the other essential nutrients. Taking T4 at bedtime sometimes is helpful. Most people feel best on a ratio of T4:T3 of 4:1 or less. Checking the relaxation rate of the Achilles reflex is a quick way to check the effect of the thyroid on your nerves and muscles; the relaxation should be instantaneous, loose and floppy.

Are there any combination products, such as Thyrolar or Cynoplus, that you can get in Spain? It's good to start with a small amount, such as 5 mcg of T3 twice a day, while watching for changes in your pulse rate, temperature, and ability to sleep. Half a grain of Armour, or about 30 mcg of T4 and 7.5 mcg of T3, is traditionally a common starting dose; it should be taken with a meal, so that it absorbs slowly. Taking a very small amount at bedtime usually helps with insomnia.

Try a sixth of a 25 mcg cynomel tablet at first, and watch for the effects in the first two hours. According to what you notice, you could continue that once a day, or twice a day, for about 10 days, then you could try some with each meal, for another week. #2 and #3: when you find out how the T3 affects you, you could change to the combination (Armour or Thyrolar or Cynoplus); the amounts I mentioned would be similar to 12 mcg of T3 per day.

It depends on what you notice from taking a small amount with meals. If it makes you feel pleasant, calm, confident, then trying it at bedtime would be right.

25 mcg of T3 has approximately the activity of a grain (65 mg) of thyroid gland; is ERFA the only one available? A synthetic thyroxine could be combined with the Cynomel. Since the European products aren't necessarily the same as those made elsewhere, and a person's requirements are variable, it's essential to start with small amounts, watching for the effects, including pulse rate and temperature. 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.

As long as it's divided so that you don't get a big dose of T3 all at once it should be o.k. to take a total of 25 mcg T3 and 100 of T4.That would be similar to the traditional 2 grain dose of Armour thyroid. A healthy person should produce the equivalent of about four grains per day, so with 2 grains of supplement, or the equivalent, there isn't a risk of over-dosing.

I use Cynomel and Cynoplus mostly, but they come in only one size, so I cut the tablets into about ten parts.

Twice a day should be o.k., [CYTOMEL] but every day you should make a note of your pulse rate and temperature, and in a week or ten days you should be able to see a progression.

It [CYTOMEL] improves the retention of magnesium, and cellular relaxation, and some people want to have a nap in the afternoon when their thyroid is good.

If you use some T3 (such as Cytomel or Cynomel) it's important to keep each dose small, while watching for changes in your pulse and temperature. Usually 4 or 5 mcg at a time is o.k. (the body makes about 4 mcg per hour). I don't think there's likely to be any problem using desiccated thyroid if the product is good, but because of changing manufacturing methods, that's largely a matter of trial and error. Low ferritin is often a result of hypothyroidism. The need for thyroid increases greatly during the winter in high latitudes, for example when I needed half a grain in the summer, I had to increase it to two grains during the winter. When cholesterol is high, that can make it easier to adapt to a thyroid supplement, since the thyroid will stimulate the conversion of cholesterol into progesterone and the adrenal hormones.

I have heard from a few people using it, one thinks it doesn't work , but I haven't heard enough details to form an opinion yet. [THIROYD by Greater Pharma]

I use Cynoplus (contains T4 and T3) and Cynomel (T3 only) that I usually get from www.mymexicandrugstore.mx. There is only one size tablet, and a fourth of a tablet is a typical starting dose.

Several of the commercially available products aren't well formulated, some are completely inactive. Cytomel's formulation has changed recently, so I'm not sure of its present potency. In areas with fluoridated water, taking a tablet with water can inactivate it. With good Cytomel, once a person has taken a very big dose, the liver produces enzymes to inactivate it quickly, so after 12 hours the blood level will become too low, and another big dose will be needed. Stress hormones are responsible for raising reverse T3, and just supplementing T3 is seldom enough to normalize the stress hormones, so continued use of large doses can maintain improved functioning, but at the risk of developing problems from the continued excess of those hormones.

I think Triyotex is T3, 75 mcg, which would be three times as much as Cynomel, but I haven’t tried it, and don’t know how effective it is. Usually, a 5 mcg dose of T3 with each meal is effective. Anti-aging Systems in England has a large variety of thyroid products.

[T3 for someone who's been chronically running on adrenaline?] When T3 is used in small doses, such as 3 or 4 mcg at a time, it can be very effective for lowering adrenalin by letting glucose be more fully oxidized. It’s helpful to keep a chart of your waking and midday temperature and pulse rate to watch the cumulative effects of the T3, so you can adjust the dose. A dose at bedtime typically makes it possible to go to sleep quickly; it should be supported by things like orange juice, cheese, and milk. A natural desiccated thyroid product, in the long run, is a convenient way to keep your metabolic rate where it should be. Cytomel is the only T3 product that I’m confident of, at present.

[Giving 3mcg Cynomel/hour to 84-year-old grandmother with dementia] If someone is in a precarious condition, even smaller amounts at a time might be better. For example, a man in the hospital right after a heart attack started taking one mcg per hour; the doctors had said that at the rate his enzymes were rising they would be expected to keep rising for another day, but they started decreasing exactly when he started the small doses, and they had decreased the next day when he left the hospital, without symptoms. T3, sugar, and aspirin are the most heart-protective things.

[NDT RECOMMENDATIONS] I haven't seen anything that compares well with the original Armour.

Armour thyroid, USP, was the standard thyroid used widely for about 80 years. Since ownership of the product name was bought by Revlon and then a series of other companies, I'm not sure anything of the simple original formula remains; maybe magnesium stearate, I haven't looked lately.

A few years ago I had some communication from a pharmacist at Forest Pharmaceutical, and he said that over ten years ago they began having thyrocalcitonin extracted from the pig thyroid powder to sell separately as a new drug. I think that left stearic acid as the only ingredient the current product might have in common with traditional Armour thyroid, USP. I don't use any product containing fumed or colloidal silica, or titanium, or various novel polymers, or coloring agents

[TOPICAL T3] Using it topically doesn't do anything for systemic metabolism, just the skin, at least at the concentrations I'm familiar with.

[Liquid T3, concerns?] Trace impurities can inactivate it, but some liquid forms have worked.

[200 mcg T4 pill] During the first week, every day would be o.k., then I think once or twice a week is enough.

Cancer

[On studies like this, suggesting that thyroid supplementation could increase cancer risk] Two background facts are needed to interpret the JAMA article. The first is that hypothyroidism is a major cause of breast cancer, because of the chronic excess of estrogen and deficiency of progesterone. The second is that US doctors don't correct hypothyroidism, because they don't prescribe the active hormone T3, only the precursor T4, which fails to be converted because hypothyroid women's livers aren't efficient. T3 is needed for the storage of glycogen and the efficient use of glucose, and glucose is needed to form T3. Therefore, women in the US who "are treated for hypothyroidism" are still hypothyroid, and hypothyroid women are much more likely to get cancer.

Thyroid Storm

My impression is that some of the articles describing thyroid storm were written by hysterical people who didn’t understand thyroid metabolism. After I had been exposed to a pesticide, I experienced a few weeks of hyperthyroidism, probably a normalizing process after the antithyroid toxin was gone. Besides washing my hair two or three times a day and eating a lot, I didn’t do anything. A few people I’ve known wanted to stop the symptoms without a drug; some of them drank a glass or two of cabbage juice for a couple of days, others ate liver once or twice a day.

Tinnitus

[Loratidine or pseydoephedrine for tinnitus?] Too much pseudoephedrine increases stress hormones, loratadine isn't good for the liver, and anything that irritates the intestine can cause tinnitus by increasing endotoxin absorption.

[Tinnitus and hand shakes a bit] Endotoxin can produce those effects. Keeping the digestive system free of inflammation often helps, and a daily raw carrot is sometimes enough, sometimes a supplement of thyroid or progesterone helps. The endogenous opioids can have one-sided effects, and they are increased by endotoxin. Having well cooked mushrooms every day, and avoiding green salads, unsaturated fats, grains and beans are other helpful things. A supplement of niacinamide and other B vitamins sometimes helps. (Reference)

TMJD / Jaw Cartilage

Have you watched your temperature and pulse rate with various foods? The high magnesium content of coffee, combined with milk and fruit, can help a little with hypothyroidism, but you might need a supplement, to normalize the jaw cartilage.

Urinary Tract Infections (UTIs)

Slight hypothyroidism is a very common cause of chronic urinary infections. Both thyroid hormone and progesterone increase the (IgA) antibody production on membranes, improving resistance to infection, and they reduce the resistance to histamine, which tends to increase in the bladder under an excess of estrogen. Checking temperature and pulse rate in the morning and middle of the day is helpful as a first way to check for possible hypothyroidism.

Vegetables

[GREEN JUICES] The minerals and vitamin K are definitely valuable, but the high content of PUFA and tannins is a problem. Boiling the leaves and discarding all but the water can produce a good magnesium supplement.

[I supplement 5g of vit K2 mk-4 once a week, do you think green veggies are even necessary?] If you have other sources of magnesium, the green vegetables aren't needed.

Virilization

Low thyroid and high estrogen, resulting from various things such as high PUFA, low nutrient diet, interfere with progesterone synthesis, and the adrenals compensate, producing androgens instead. Pregnenolone helps to lower adrenal androgens, progesterone can be used topically on some hairy areas.

Viruses

I think the best approach to understanding viruses is to investigate recent research on microvesicles, “retrotransposons,” and incorporation of foreign (food) DNA into our cells, and to look at Bonghan Kim’s ideas. C.C. Lindegren’s book, Cold War in Biology, discusses some of the older ideas about horizontal transmission of DNA between very different types of organism. Bacteria can “engineer” their own genes (James A. Shapiro), and useful packets of new genetic material can be shared by unrelated types of bacteria. She’s right about viruses being produced as a result of stresses, including toxic chemicals. Forum Discussion

Vitamin A

[Soybean oil in supplements] The small amount of oil in a capsule doesn't matter much. Any capsule should have the highest potency in the smallest size, to minimize the junk.

Yes, it's definitely hard to get them coordinated when there's an imbalance in one direction or the other. For several years, when I had an extremely high metabolic rate, I needed 100,000 units per day during sunny weather to prevent acne and ingrown whiskers, but when I moved to a cloudy climate, suddenly that much was too much, and suppressed my thyroid. The average person is likely to be hypothyroid, and to need only 5,000 units per day. Avoiding large amounts of carotene, and getting plenty of vitamin B12 to be able to convert any carotene that's in your food, helps to use vitamin A efficiently.

Yes, vitamin A and estrogen are antagonistic, and while estrogen promotes keratinization (shedding of skin cells), vitamin A opposes it. Since vitamin A is highly unsaturated, in excess it suppresses the thyroid, so it has to be balanced with the thyroid; the combination is effective for increasing progesterone and decreasing estrogen, slowing the turnover of skin cells, and making the skin cells function longer before flaking off. Plugged pores, combined with a local shift toward synthesizing inflammatory substances, foster bacterial infection. Bright light stimulates the production of steroids, and consumes vitamin A very quickly, but when the balance is right, the acne clears up in just a day or two. Cream, butter, eggs, and liver are good sources of vitamin A. When people supplement thyroid and eat liver once or twice a week, their acne and dandruff (and many other problems) usually clear up very quickly. It was acne and dandruff that led me into studying the steroids and thyroid, and in the process I found that they were related to constipation and food sensitivity.

I found that I had an extremely high vitamin A requirement, increased by stress or bright light, and that it related to thyroid function. Usually, thyroid and vitamin A are the supplements that stop acne.

I avoid carotene, because it blocks thyroid and steroid production, and very large, excessive, amounts of vitamin A, retinol, can do the same. I use halibut liver oil-derived vitamin A, or retinyl palmitate.

A solution of aspirin in water on the skin helps with the inflammation, and is mildly germicidal.

Estrogen causes the oil glands to atrophy, so the skin doesn't support bacterial growth so well. Topical sulfur's germicidal effect can help, and topical aspirin and caffeine are antiseptic as well as antiinflammatory. One function of vitamin A is to increase progesterone in the skin, and it has to be in balance with thyroid to do that. Another function is to differentiate the skin cells, reducing keratin plugging of the glands.

For several years, I had a similar need to take 100,000 i.u. daily to prevent acne and ingrown whiskers, so I read a lot about its effects. The toxic effects of extremely big doses, such as 500,000 to a million i.u., seem to be from either oxidative processes (rancidity) that are prevented by adequate vitamin E, or by antithyroid effects. I found that when my need for vitamin A began to decrease I tended to accumulate carotene in my calluses; that happens when the thyroid function is lower, reducing the need for vitamin A. Since you are eating foods with carotene, the calluses on your palms or soles should serve as an indicator of when your tissues are saturated with vitamin A. About 100 i.u. of vitamin E would help to keep the vitamin A from being wasted by oxidation, and possibly could reduce your requirement for it.

[Are vitamin A supplements inherently allergenic or are they allergenic just because of modern production processes?] It's something in the manufactured product that's not in the natural.

[Do you know of a good product by the way] I use Nutrisorb-A on my skin.

[On this study] I think it would have been possible for any one of those six co-authors to write an equally worthless paper. The amount of "water-miscible, emulsified, and solid preparations" would have been about 40,000 i.u. per day for an average sized person, but there was no clear definition of what they mean by chronic hypervitaminosis A.

[Eye trouble and very dry skin] Vitamin A oxidizes easily and an excess can create symptoms of a deficiency, so vitamin E is the most important thing for correcting it; excess vitamin A, like PUFA, interferes with thyroid hormone transport, so it’s important to balance the two.

Vitamin C

The trace impurities in synthetic ascorbic acid can increase free radical production, and quite a few people have allergic reactions to it. The situation isn't as clear with citric acid, but I think manufacturing impurities could account for some of the effects I see. For many years, I have been seeing more symptoms relieved by stopping all the chemical supplements, than by using them.

Vitamin D

I use Carlson's, and I think most of the informed people are recommending about 2,000 units per day. John Cannell's site, 'the vitamin D council,' has a newsletter, and is a good way to keep up with the vitamin D research.

I think getting enough vitamin D increases the ability to tan.

During the winter for a couple of months 10,000 units of D should be safe, but it's better to increase calcium and vitamin K, keeping the vitamin D a little lower unless you have the blood level checked occasionally.

Usually 2000 i.u. during the winter will make up for no sunlight. Some people need 5000 iu according to their blood tests, to keep it in the middle of the range.

[Blood test] I think 50 ng/ml is a good goal. The point at which it lowers parathyroid hormone would be the right amount.

[Causes of low vitamin D] I’ve seen some quick improvements from serious symptoms with a supplement of it. I think low thyroid could increase the need for it. It takes lots of summer sun direct exposure of a lot of skin to make enough vitamin D.

[D3 supplement lowered length of hospital stay and mortality for intensive care patients.] (Reference)

Vitamin E

My thesis adviser, Arnold Soderwall, did some studies showing that vitamin E extended fertility considerably. I found some of his old Sigma (chemical company) vitamin E still in the freezer, and I was working on the idea that oxidative catalysts in the liver were directly related to estrogen's effects. I would extract lipids from the liver, and use paper chromatography to separate them, and for reference points I used the vitamin E and different quinones (coenzyme Q10, Q6, and benzoquinone). I happened to mix the vitamin E with one of the quinones, and noticed that it turned almost black; all of the quinones had the same effect. Putting the mixture on the paper, the moving solvent separated the original components. Delocalized electrons absorb low energy light, causing a dark color (as in black semiconductors), and Szent-Gyorgyi had expressed wonder about what could cause the dark color of the healthy liver, a color that can't be extracted as a pigment. This experiment convinced me that vitamin E could be one of the participants in delocalizing electrons for activating proteins in the way S-G suggested. However, the technology for manufacturing vitamin E has changed greatly over the years, and I have never found anything sold as vitamin E that produces the same dark colors as that old stuff from the freezer. I don't know whether the powerfully therapeutic (anti-estrogenic, clot-clearing, anti-inflammatory, quinone-reactive) old vitamin E contained 'impurities' that were effective, or whether it's that the newer materials contain impurities that reduce their effects.

It was labeled d-alphatocopherol, but it was semi-solid, like crystallized honey.

Pure vitamin E doesn't have any toxic effects, except when it's enough to irritate the intestine, probably because of viscosity.

[Do you take vitamin E?] No, I stopped taking it, partly because of the new manufacturing methods, that were associated for several years with adding soy oil to the product.

[Do you have a preference between with high alpha or high gamma mixed tocopherols?] In similar milligram amounts, I would prefer gamma.

I think mixed tocopherols are better than just d-alpha, but with d-alpha it's good to choose one that has a high potency per volume. I have noticed that one of Unique's products seems to be mostly other oil. I think polycosanols account for some of the viscosity, so I prefer the thick ones.

If the potency of a vitamin E product is around 1000 i.u. per milliliter, the amount of soy oil isn't a concern, but if it's only about 100 i.u./ml, then there's enough oil to matter.

The lighter consistency is because less soy oil is removed from some cheaper products. They don't have to add oil, they just leave more of it in the product. But non-GMO soy is mostly produced using other herbicides and pesticides, and each pesticide has different affinities for oil or water, so oil soluble pesticides would be the main concern, and those are generally much more volatile than vitamin E, and so if they were present in the crude oil, they would end up mostly in the refined oil, rather than in the vitamin E. The thickest, darkest, vitamin E is likely to be the cleanest.

[Should one avoid taking vitamin E with a food that naturally contains iron (eg., eggs, chocolate, liver)?] Iron in those foods won't interfere.

It can still be very protective against lipid peroxidation and inflammation, but the products have been changing frequently in the last 15 years, so I think it’s good to be cautious and use minimal doses. The vitamin E from Sigma in the 1960s and early ‘70s behaved completely differently in relation to coenzyme Q10 and other quinones, than the more recent products.

Vitamin K

K1 is probably a little less active than K2.

[MK-4 vs. MK-7] Taking the vitamin with a meal, it will absorb slowly and steadily, and I don't think will make much difference.

[±25g of spinach and 5-10g of beef liver enough to counteract blood thinning effects of aspirin] I think that amount of liver and spinach is likely to be enough.

[Baby Aspirin] Vitamin K is good for protecting muscles and bones, so 500 micrograms to one milligram is good anyway, and it would be protective against even more aspirin.

Vitiligo

I used a dilute copper solution to restore pigment to my eyebrows and whiskers, but when the solution was too concentrated it produced, within a few hours, a raised pigmented area, so I stopped using it topically. Vitamin D and progesterone favor the survival of pigment cells. I think a topical solution of aspirin and caffeine might be helpful, and is safe.

Water Retention

[increased water retention after use of T3, high dose caffeine or similar] Have you checked your weight before and after those events, and noticed the quanties of urine afterward? It could be that the changes are produced by shifts in circulation and muscle tone. Too much caffeine can cause a surge of adrenaline, which can cause shifts of fluids and tone.

Weight Gain

[Not being able to gain weight] I had similar symptoms, I often ate several thousand calories per day without getting fat, and small noises would shock me awake. Taking thyroid reduced my caloric requirement, and immediately allowed me to sleep deeply. Deficiencies of magnesium, vitamin A, and selenium probably contribute to that metabolic pattern.

[Unintended weight gain and feeling swollen] That sounds like standard hypothyroid symptoms, the body simply adjusts to holding more water, while losing sodium quickly. An increased intake of calcium is the single most important nutritional thing for losing weight. Low fat milk and cheese should be the main foods; a carrot salad helps to reduce stress hormones. Temperature and heart rate are useful indicators for judging the amount of a thyroid supplement to use.

Weight Loss

My recommendation is to eat to increase the metabolic rate (usually temperature and heart rate), rather than any particular foods. Usually the increased metabolic rate, with adequate protein, causes some muscle increase, and when that happens the basic calorie requirement will increase. The increase of muscle mass should continue for several weeks, and during that time the weight might increase a little, but usually the loss of water and fat will compensate for the greater muscle mass. I have heard from several people that they think I recommend drinking whole milk, which I don't, because the amount of fat in whole milk is very likely to be fattening when a person is using it to get the needed protein and calcium. When a person wants to lose excess fat, limiting the diet to low fat milk, eggs, orange juice, and a daily carrot or two, will provide the essential nutrients without excess calories.

Per calorie, sugar is less fattening than starch, partly because it stimulates less insulin, and, when it's used with a good diet, because it increases the activity of thyroid hormone. There are several convenient indicators of the metabolic rate--the daily temperature cycle and pulse rate (the temperature should rise after breakfast), the amount of water lost by evaporation, and the speed of relaxation of muscles (Achilles reflex relaxation).

When the polyunsaturated fats in the diet are reduced, the amount of them stored in the tissues decreases for about four years, making it progressively easier to keep the metabolic rate up, and stress hormones down.

The ratio of calcium to phosphate is very important; that's why milk and cheese are so valuable for weight loss, or for preventing weight gain. For people who aren't very active, low fat milk and cheese are better, because the extra fat calories aren't needed.

There are different kinds of weight gain. When a person's metabolic rate increases, and stress hormones decrease, for example when adding two quarts of milk to the daily diet, their muscle mass is likely to increase, even while their fat is decreasing. Since muscle burns fat faster than fat does, caloric requirements will gradually increase.

People on a standard diet will typically burn 200 or 300 more calories per day when that amount of sugar is added to their diet; but if extra fat is added, too, some of the extra calories are likely to be deposited as fat. It's important to watch the signs of changing heat production as the diet changes.

Yes, I know people who have lost weight just by eating a raw carrot every day, reducing endotoxin stress. The liver treats PUFA as it treats toxins, but when their concentration is too high, they poison the detoxifying system. Oleic acid, which we can make ourselves from carbohydrates, greatly activates the detox enzyme system.

Yes, that's why a resistant (antiseptic) fiber such as bamboo shoots or raw carrot helps with weight loss, it reduces endotoxin and the stress hormones, and lets the liver metabolize more effectively.

It's the stored PUFA, released by stress or hunger, that slow metabolism. Niacinamide helps to lower free fatty acids, and good nutrition will allow the liver to slowly detoxify the PUFA, if it isn't being flooded with large amounts of them. A small amount of coconut oil with each meal will increase the ability to oxidize fat, by momentarily stopping the antithyroid effect of the PUFA. Aspirin is another thing that reduces the stress-related increase of free fatty acids, stimulating metabolism. Taking a thyroid supplement is reasonable until the ratio of saturated fats to PUFA is about 2 to 1.

Yes, it's best to lose it slowly. When I tried adding about a tablespoon of coconut oil once a day I lost about two pounds a week, for several weeks, without eating less.

Some muscle-building resistance exercise might help to increase the anabolic ratio, reducing the belly fat.

Yes, most of the research shows that it increases the metabolic rate, tending to prevent obesity.

Weight Set Point

I think habituation to a certain environment and way of living is another way of saying it.

Wounds

[TOPICAL PREGNENOLONE IN VITAMIN E COMPARED TO PROGEST-E FOR WOUND HEALING] Yes, probably better for most things.

Topical baking soda, honey, and granulated sugar can be helpful for wounds.

[What is the mechanism behind the effect of silicone-sheets for reducing hypertrophic scars?] I had a good experience with reducing a scar by coating it with viscous vitamin E. I think trapping CO2 is probably the main effect of the silicone.

Forum Discussion

Yeast (candida)

Yes, yeast loves PUFA, and becomes invasive when deprived of sugar. The mania has been circulating for almost 40 years. I wrote about it in the early '80s.

Poor digestion does affect the membranes of the mouth, but a fungal infection of the mouth usually happens when the immune system is weak, from hormonal imbalance or poor nutrition, for example, or when there isn't enough saliva, or when the membranes are affected by a specific vitamin deficiency, such as vitamin A. Yeasts are attracted to estrogen and glucose, and when the thyroid hormone is deficient the antibodies that normally protect membranes tend to be deficient. It's important to know for sure exactly what the problem is, since leukoplakia is sometimes mistaken for thrush. A rinse with a little powdered sulfur usually eliminates yeast, vitamin A, along with other adequate nutrition, can often correct leukoplakia.

Yoghurt

In quantities of an ounce or so, for flavoring, it's o.k., but the lactic acid content isn't good if you are using yogurt as a major source of your protein and calcium. It triggers the inflammatory reactions, leading to fibrosis eventually, and the immediate effect is to draw down the liver's glycogen stores for energy to convert it into glucose.

Zinc

Taking zinc orally, 5 or 10 mg, can replenish the body's stores in a few days, but the supplement can oxidize other nutrients in the stomach or intestine, so it isn't good to use it for a long time.