KyleKingsly
Member
- Joined
- Feb 15, 2018
- Messages
- 97
Background on what caused my issues:
I've developed some serious health issues from bad eating habits - first I started seriously undereating last summer unintentionally by skipping breakfast or just eating a small protein bar or something for breakfast, eating a small lunch, and then not getting enough carbs at dinner. I did not realize the cause of the problem until I had followed this pattern for a couple months and started getting hypoglycemia regularly, waking up hungry in the morning often, feeling hungry throughout the day consistently, and getting a bad cascade of stress hormones as a result which made everything worse.
Then over last year, I was drinking a meal replacement shake as my breakfast everyday for months despite the fact that it did not fill me up much at all and so probably was getting too many calories that way. I started slowly but surely gaining weight last Fall for the first time in my life and noticed that I was still feeling hungrier than normal (which probably was the beginning of me developing insulin + leptin resistance).
To make things far worse, I took phenibut and f-phenibut (they're GABA agonists somewhat similar to benzos but working on GABA B instead of A) for sleep and then tried to taper off them too quickly when I realized I had become dependent on them. That gave me anhedonia, much worsened serious chronic stress, inability to eat during the day which caused me to eat highly processed carb-rich meals without much protein or fat before bed so I could sleep, messed up sleep, intense anxiety, and a whole host of other issues. My weight gain definitely started to accelerate during this time. I managed to do a slower taper of phenibut after I realized but I was going too fast but that still was incredibly brutal for me, making it much harder to eat as my stress hormones were so high, giving me sleep issues, and anhedonia which persists somewhat to this day.
Start here if you don't have time to read the background:
After these mistakes, I've gained 50+ lbs, am definitely insulin and leptin resistant (including being right in the range of prediabetes with an A1C of 5.7%), and have intense hunger to match that. I also have an intense sensitivity to stress which I believe is caused somewhat by HPA dysfunction, opioid system dysfunction, and downregulated GABA receptors which make me sensitive to adrenaline and cortisol.
The main thing I'm looking for advice on are sleep, as I wake up after 6ish hours of sleep a couple days a week at least these days and sometimes for days in a row. I take a fresh skullcap tincture which works well in helping me get to sleep quickly but I still will wake up after 6 hours often feeling exhausted but hungry, shaky, and stressed. It feels like high cortisol to me, not necessarily adrenaline because it does not seem to resemble hypoglycemia so much as depleted glycogen stores and my body struggling to switch over to burning fat. It absolutely destroys my focus and zest for life when I don't get enough sleep, especially for multiple days in a row so I'd love some insight into what the problem could be and what I should do about it.
I think it's definitely partially related to my diet as well tho I'm not sure what I should be trying to improve. I'm doing high ish protein right now probably too much according to most of you but it is really hard to get enough carbs while I'm at home and my parents are trying to push low carb on me. I think I'm getting a moderate amount of carbs from 4 - 5 pieces of large fruit per day plus two bowls of rice and two servings of oatmeal, maybe I need to go higher. I'm kind of torn between that and fat.
I'd also love some advice on the best ways to improve my insulin and leptin sensitivity as it's very annoying to have to eat so much and I'm pretty sure I'm making both of those worse because it feels like I'm constantly overeating or coming close to overeating just to feel full and shut down the stress hormones. You have to understand that I feel incredibly awful if I don't eat that much, my stomach hurts and sometimes growls, my stress seems to go higher and higher, and I can't focus or do anything. It seems like I'm caught in a vicious cycle of worsening my issues but it also seems like if I don't satisfy the hunger things just get worse and worse, from my sleep to my life overall.
I'd really love any and all advice, any suggestions on supplements/drugs/hormones I should try would be greatly appreciated as lifestyle stuff doesn't seem to be cutting it for me rn. I just bought a red light/NIR bulb in hopes it would release adipocytes and help me lose weight but I'm not sure if it's helping or not so far. Sorry this is so long and thanks so much if you read it all! I just am at a complete loss for what to do, been reading a ton on here but there's so much conflicting info...
I've developed some serious health issues from bad eating habits - first I started seriously undereating last summer unintentionally by skipping breakfast or just eating a small protein bar or something for breakfast, eating a small lunch, and then not getting enough carbs at dinner. I did not realize the cause of the problem until I had followed this pattern for a couple months and started getting hypoglycemia regularly, waking up hungry in the morning often, feeling hungry throughout the day consistently, and getting a bad cascade of stress hormones as a result which made everything worse.
Then over last year, I was drinking a meal replacement shake as my breakfast everyday for months despite the fact that it did not fill me up much at all and so probably was getting too many calories that way. I started slowly but surely gaining weight last Fall for the first time in my life and noticed that I was still feeling hungrier than normal (which probably was the beginning of me developing insulin + leptin resistance).
To make things far worse, I took phenibut and f-phenibut (they're GABA agonists somewhat similar to benzos but working on GABA B instead of A) for sleep and then tried to taper off them too quickly when I realized I had become dependent on them. That gave me anhedonia, much worsened serious chronic stress, inability to eat during the day which caused me to eat highly processed carb-rich meals without much protein or fat before bed so I could sleep, messed up sleep, intense anxiety, and a whole host of other issues. My weight gain definitely started to accelerate during this time. I managed to do a slower taper of phenibut after I realized but I was going too fast but that still was incredibly brutal for me, making it much harder to eat as my stress hormones were so high, giving me sleep issues, and anhedonia which persists somewhat to this day.
Start here if you don't have time to read the background:
After these mistakes, I've gained 50+ lbs, am definitely insulin and leptin resistant (including being right in the range of prediabetes with an A1C of 5.7%), and have intense hunger to match that. I also have an intense sensitivity to stress which I believe is caused somewhat by HPA dysfunction, opioid system dysfunction, and downregulated GABA receptors which make me sensitive to adrenaline and cortisol.
The main thing I'm looking for advice on are sleep, as I wake up after 6ish hours of sleep a couple days a week at least these days and sometimes for days in a row. I take a fresh skullcap tincture which works well in helping me get to sleep quickly but I still will wake up after 6 hours often feeling exhausted but hungry, shaky, and stressed. It feels like high cortisol to me, not necessarily adrenaline because it does not seem to resemble hypoglycemia so much as depleted glycogen stores and my body struggling to switch over to burning fat. It absolutely destroys my focus and zest for life when I don't get enough sleep, especially for multiple days in a row so I'd love some insight into what the problem could be and what I should do about it.
I think it's definitely partially related to my diet as well tho I'm not sure what I should be trying to improve. I'm doing high ish protein right now probably too much according to most of you but it is really hard to get enough carbs while I'm at home and my parents are trying to push low carb on me. I think I'm getting a moderate amount of carbs from 4 - 5 pieces of large fruit per day plus two bowls of rice and two servings of oatmeal, maybe I need to go higher. I'm kind of torn between that and fat.
I'd also love some advice on the best ways to improve my insulin and leptin sensitivity as it's very annoying to have to eat so much and I'm pretty sure I'm making both of those worse because it feels like I'm constantly overeating or coming close to overeating just to feel full and shut down the stress hormones. You have to understand that I feel incredibly awful if I don't eat that much, my stomach hurts and sometimes growls, my stress seems to go higher and higher, and I can't focus or do anything. It seems like I'm caught in a vicious cycle of worsening my issues but it also seems like if I don't satisfy the hunger things just get worse and worse, from my sleep to my life overall.
I'd really love any and all advice, any suggestions on supplements/drugs/hormones I should try would be greatly appreciated as lifestyle stuff doesn't seem to be cutting it for me rn. I just bought a red light/NIR bulb in hopes it would release adipocytes and help me lose weight but I'm not sure if it's helping or not so far. Sorry this is so long and thanks so much if you read it all! I just am at a complete loss for what to do, been reading a ton on here but there's so much conflicting info...