Milk's log

[milk]

So let's do one of these. I have a lot of issues to address and I'm too sloppy to do it all on my own. I'll try to be brief.

I'm a 5,8'', 80 kg, 30 years old Brazilian male.

I'll try to get some bloodwork done and post it here.

Issues:

- high blood pressure
- receding hairline
- need to lose weight
- dizziness / slight disjointedness when walking
- OCD/anxiety/scrupulosity/intrusive thoughts/self-harm/guilt/shame

Daily diet (I salt the milk and fruit):

- two quarts milk
- two glasses OJ
- some watermelon
- some guavas
- a lot of coffee (too much, probably)
- some source of protein like eggs, chicken liver, a steak
- 50g gelatin sometimes

Supps:

- taurine (around 5g daily)
- magnesium chloride (around 4g daily)
- coconut oil (many tablespoons in coffee a day... is this wrong?)
- valerian
- vitamin D

My blood pressure was scarily high some months ago. As in around 17/10. Now, after cutting out the alcohol, cutting down on red meat, being more strict about PUFAs, taking the supplements above and measuring my blood pressure throughout the day, it seems to oscillate between 13/8 and 15/9. Sometimes it stills goes higher than that, I have the occasional scary spike.

Since I began supplementing taurine three weeks ago, I observed the following changes:

- blood pressure in right arm is the same as in left, was higher before (I gather it's related to taurine's heart benefits)
- hair has almost completely stopped shedding (before that I had only had this effect with Cynoplus)
- I've been feeling a dizziness, a disjointedness when I walk, for years. It makes me stiffen my shoulders a little when I walk. It seems that the taurine exacerbates this, maybe because it relaxes me?

This dizziness began in 2007. When I took venlafaxine (SSRI) for a while in 2008-2010 it mostly stopped. When I took Cynoplus last year it benefitted my stride too, like it straightened my spine or something. When I began peating three years ago my stride was fine on good days as well. Anyway, maybe I should try pregnenolone, since SSRI's are said to upregulate it? As in maybe it's the pregnenolone boost from the SSRI that gave me that physical boost? (Sorry if I'm getting this wrong.)

I need to tackle a lot of things. The most urgent is the blood pressure, though. I definitely feel better following the protocol outlined above and my blood pressure readings are better than a few months ago, so I think I'm doing something right. The usual blood pressure medications are bad. I tried some of them. Losartan seems to make me retain weight, amlodipine gives men gynecomastia and indeed I feel something in my "breasts" when I take it, chlorthalidone (McDougall's reccomentadtion) is a diuretic and makes me crave bread, benicar gave me horrible sexual side effects.

Haidut says in another thread he solved his high blood pressure for good with 15g taurine a day for a month. Maybe I should try that?

I didn't get into the OCD stuff. I've had a lot of OCD/anxiety/etc. for most of my life. It's certainly affecting my health. I tell myself I should take a "Be The Cell" (as Kasra said in Peatarian) approach to life. A non-neurotic, chill, receptive, self-nurturing, self-loving approach. Which is something I'm afraid I don't do.

I'll just leave this post here, maybe add things later. Sorry if it's boring, I just need some feedback. Thanks in advance.

 

[tara]

Hi Milk,
Can't tell how much fruit, and therefore sugar, you are eating, but I wonder if you are eating more protein than sugar, and maybe not enough sugar to support lots of coffee?

Have you tried reducing coffee (gradually - cutting it all of suddenly could give you some unpleasant side effects). Coffee works well for many people, but not for everyone, and it's important to have enough fuel available on board to support the stimulation, so it doesn't just raise stress hormones. Same with taurine, IIRC.

 

[milk]

Thanks Tara. I tried using Cronometer once, it's great, but I haven't sticked to it. I've been putting a lot of honey in the coffee and otherwise eating a good deal, so I'm probably getting enough calories.

I tried stopping coffee about one week ago. I felt calmer, then got a headache and a feeling like I was getting the flu. Mind you, I never get headaches and very seldom get the flu. Must be the protective elements in coffee? Peat does drink 50 cups a day, I think.

My blood pressure seems to go up when I leave the house. Seems like I developed some slight agoraphobia. I have a feeling it's because of the weed I smoked in the beginning of the year. It seems to have "opened up" my mind in a way. Like my mind has become more vulnerable. There's an old thread on this forum where many different users, all former pot smokers, complain about lingering ill effects from all the weed smoking.

I tried tianeptine for the first time today. I bought it as Stablon, 30 12,5mg pills, took two so far. Definitely improves my mood. I felt myself walking more confidently and at ease. As for blood pressure, I got a 117/78 reading about two hours ago, maybe it's the tianeptine? Which would be another plus.

Blood pressure is still bad though. It was 16/10 at the doctor's office yesterday. He told me not to worry, said it was probably white coat syndrome. He's a good guy, I told him about Ray Peat and he was sympathetic. He even got me a prescription for Stablon.

In short, my blood pressure seems ok when I eat a good peat diet and take taurine, magnesium chloride and valerian and don't leave the house. It's been veering between 15/9 and almost 12/8 these last days. But after I hit the street it can go up to 16/10, which is worrisome.

I don't want to give in and take regular BP medications, they all sort of suck from I can gather and from my experience taking them. I think I'll try vitamin K2 next, which Peat recommends for blood pressure. But yeah, if everything fails I'll just get on losartan and be done with it.

 

[milk]

Blood pressure all over the place today. 12/8, 16/10, you name it. I'm scared. :)

I don't want to take losartan because I think it makes me fat (many other people who took it have this complaint). I'm looking chubby as hell. It sucks.

Right now it's about 135/85. I'm going for a walk, need to buy some t-shirts, hope I come back in one piece. :)

 

[milk]

[e: I posted this in another thread but it didn't belong there. I'm just dumping information on this log, maybe someone can figure out what's going on with me. Thanks for your patience.]

I stayed at my parents for a few months because of my high blood pressure. Last week I spent some days soaking in the morning sun in their back yard, and helping out with cleaning the yard in the afternoon (we had to take down a couple large trees).

And it seemed that when I spent the day in the yard, taking in the sunlight and doing some physical labor, my blood pressure would rarely go above 135/85, and sometimes would be lower than that. But if after that I sat even for only an hour in front of a laptop, browsing the internet or using some software, it would rise to 14/9 or 15/9. I tested it several times.

I improvised a "standing desk" with a cardboard box and tried to work standing up, and it did seem to not make my BP rise as much. But just using the laptop seems to make it rise.

I mean really, I hate the internet, I even had it removed from my apartment once, felt like the 90's again, the air between the walls felt more real, I began missing social interaction because there were no forums to lurk, I was reading more books. I ended up getting internet again because I need it for work, but I've spent so much time of my life clicking around on the internet and not only is it a waste of time, it seems to have wrecked my health.

 

[milk]

I just came back from the supermarket. Standing in line makes my blood pressure rise. I can feel it rise. I told the lady in front of me to call an ambulance if anything happened. She let me skip ahead of her. I came home with the groceries and my blood pressure was almost 16/10. And I had taken a 25 mg losartan some hours prior.

I'm screwed. :)

I'll take blood exams next week and see if I can arrange other exams too. There's something seriously wrong with my health.