Misdiagnosed Hypothyroidism (low T3 Syndrome) My Findings

[Philomath]

Cm00,
being from England, you may appreciate being referred to as Sherlock Holmes. You've taken the health clues presented and extrapolated a course of action that has been very successful! Great job!
Apparently, the doctors in the UK are frighteningly similar to the MD's here.

As an aside, I remember hearing one of the Herb Dr's (Peat interview) mention that more kids in the UK are getting Rickets again. The lack of sunlight being blamed of course. However, after reading about Dr. Seneff's work, I decided to research a bit about rickets and its adult version, osteomalacia:
Wikipedia-
There are two main causes of osteomalacia: (1) insufficient calcium absorption from the intestine because of lack of dietary calcium or a deficiency of, or resistance to, the action of vitamin D; and (2) phosphate deficiency caused by increased renal losses.
Symptoms include weak bones, bone pain, muscle weakness, hypocalcemia and more.
Pathologic fractures due to weight bearing may develop. Most of the time, the only alleged symptom is chronic fatigue, while bone aches are not spontaneous but only revealed by pressure or shocks.

Also, here is a good site regarding IR light benefits: http://heelspurs.com/led.html

Best of British to you!

 

[Such_Saturation]

They call it infrared because its scope is heating things with infrared. The kind of bulb it uses has a spectrum which gets more and more intense when you go down in frequency, so it will be stronger in the infrared but there isn't a cutoff in the visible or anything. It's just less intense. I keep thirty centimeters away for a few minutes or one meter away for longer, covering my eyes. I have read that after a few Watts per inch I think was, it starts to be detrimental. It's hard to come up with a power and a distance that are optimal without feeling it yourself.

 

[Cm00]

Had a thyroid blood test again a few days ago, just got the result - it's as bad as it has ever been, TSH 10.

This gives further weight to my theory that sunlight makes me better, as I have not had any sun for the past 3 weeks. The inflammation on my lips is back, and I feel worse. I knew this test result would be much worse than usual before they even took the blood.

As to why a lack of sunlight effects me so strongly, I believe inflammation is the problem, I believe that for some reason I am suffering from chronic inflammation that only goes away with adeuqate sunlight, after all, sunlight is a potent anti-inflammatory.

I have an idea about why I might have inflammation and I quite strongly believe this could be the answer. I think that because I work long hours on computers, somehow it is having this inflammatory effect on me. I don't know why exactly this might be. Studies have shown computer use causes stress, for a number of reasons, such as sitting for a long time, eyestrain, and possibly also the unnatural light that is emitted may be another factor. Most of these are known proven facts, not theories.

The other thing it could be is EMF radiation because I am around electronic devices (computers) heavily for most of my hours of the day, from morning to night (10-14 hours a day). If you google this "emf effect on thyroid" There are many sites that claim EMF's effect the thyroid. What really caught my attention is the top search result, which is a pubmed study that found EMF's caused an alteration in the levels of TSH, T3 and T4 levels in human test subjects. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3243874/ - good read on EMFs.

The study concluded that:

As far as the study is concerned, this is the first human study to assess the associations between mobile phone use and alterations in the levels of TSH and thyroid hormones. Based on the findings, a higher than normal TSH level, low mean T4 and normal T3 concentrations in mobile users were observed. It seems that minor degrees of thyroid dysfunction with a compensatory rise in TSH may occur following excessive use of mobile phones. It may be concluded that possible deleterious effects of mobile microwaves on hypothalamic-pituitary-thyroid axis affects the levels of these hormones.

This gives much weight to my theory that excessive computer use is the main problem. Exactly how much this is to do with computer use and how much is to do with lack of sunlight I don't know. I just know what made me very healthy that one summer, and a few other occasions. Although that summer I was still working with computers, it was for FAR less hours than I presently do, and I had significantly greater levels of sunlight exposure because I sunbathed often.

The following information was of some use in figuring things out. I know that my levels of computer use have remained the same for the past several months. I know that 12 weeks ago my thyroid test result gave a TSH of 8 (much worse than usual) and prior to this test I wasn't getting much sunlight. I know that for the next 6 weeks I made an effort to make the most of the sun for an hour or so a few times a week and luckily the sun came out enough so I was able to do it. With this on my next blood test my TSH came down to 5 (big improvement and good result for me). Since then, we've had constant bad weather and I didn't much sun (none atall for past 3 weeks) and as a result, my blood test just came back with a TSH of 10 (very bad result).

Interestingly, I have learned to predict the result of my thyroid blood tests quite accurately. Firstly I know how I feel, if I feel good or bad. Secondly, the major give away is the red inflammation I get on the skin in the corner of my lips, this only appears when my blood test result is back, and also only ever happens when I haven't had sunlight for a while, or have been heavily using computers.

I know that my 19 year old nephew, who uses computers at least as heavily as me, and gets equally as little or even less sunlight, has been diagnosed with the exact same illness, hypothyroidism, with virtually identical set of blood test results.

For comparison, my nephews result is:

TSH 10
Free T4 14.8

My result is

TSH 10
Free T4 15.9

Test ranges:
TSH 0.5 - 4.5
Free T4 11 - 24

I figure that I'm onto a major health issue here that may effect anyone in the same way given the same set of circumstances, that heavy computer use, combined with a lack of sunlight, is causing ill health and making blood tests appear that the person has hypothyroidism. Why this happens I don't know for sure, but I strongly it's from inflammation, possibly due to any of the reasons I listed above that heavy computer use could cause this.

I am going to see my doctor on Monday, I know they can test for inflammation by testing for inflammatory markers, I plan to ask to have those tests done.

 

[Cm00]

Found this interesting study that supports my case that a lack of sunlight is a major factor into this and explains why this might be:

Vitamin D3 may be beneficial to individuals with electrosensitivity. Dominique Belpomme's team observed more than 450 patients on electromagnetic field intolerance from 2008 to 2011 and found Vitamin D deficient in 70% of the group. Vitamin D may be neuroprotective, helpful to maintain serum calcium levels, and may be beneficial for those with Multiple Sclerosis. Dr. Russell Blaylock explains that vitamin D can cool down overactive immune reactions that may be involved in multiple sclerosis.

Many individuals found to be more sensative to EMF's were lacking in vitamin D, which suggests they are not spending much time in the sun, else they wouldn't be lacking in it. Sun exposure helps to undo the damage done by EMF's, and this explains why sunlight helps me such a great deal, and why I become unhealthy so quickly in the absense of sunlight, more so than most people. (because I am exposured to a great deal more EMF's than most people).

 

[Such_Saturation]

Is it an office or more like a server room? You can try a calcium blocker or antihistamine (for example cyproheptadine).

 

[Cm00]

It's a small bedroom with 5 high end PC's, all quite close together. I am sat 2 foot from the closest one, and up to 5 or 6 feet from the furthest one.

These past few days I've tried to get away from them as much as possible and already I am noticing an improvement in the inflammation on my lip - they are definitely somehow causing an inflammatory response, just being near them. I don't know if it's EMF's, or just stress some other way related to working on computers.

 

[Such_Saturation]

I saw a video where someone waved some kind of EMF detector in front of the CPU and the "field" protruded many inches from the computer box, but I guess the power supplies and mains would be the greatest offenders.

 

[Cm00]

I've figured out something quite interesting. I said my libido and sexual feeling was greatly diminished, and yet recently, after I started using a sunbed, it returned with a vengeance, sex felt great. I've recently stopped using the sunbed after learning that the one I use is almost 100% UVA. This means it produces insignificant amounts of the vitamin D and sulfate producing UVB rays.

However, if that is the case, why did it have such a strong effect on my libido? It completely solved the issue, at least until I stopped using it 2 weeks ago, sexual feeling is already decreasing. (libido?)

Here's the interesting part. A scientist and his team in an English university found that UV exposure makes your skin produce huge amounts of nitric oxide, even more than is normally transported in your blood. The study found that this had a large benefit on lowering blood pressure and reducing risk of stroke and heart disease. This is because nitric oxide widens blood vessels, and is also known to play a strong role in libido. It also happens to be the key ingredient of Viagra.

As it turns out, it is UVA rays that enable the skin to produce nitric oxide, an entirely seperate benefit from the vitamin D and sulfate benefit of UVB rays. This explains perfectly why my sexual function became strong after I started using the sunbed, because even though the sunbed has very poor levels of UVB and has little to no benefit on vitamin D and sulfate as a result, it is a good source of UVA. UVA > Nitric oxide production in skin > libido (plus many other benefits).

 

[Such_Saturation]

It is the dopamine. You need the rays to stimulate your retina and lower prolactin, which lowers the libido.

 

[Cm00]

Just an update. I have finished testing everything and am satisfied with my conclusion, I solved two of the three problems that have been bothering me for years.

The red inflammation on my lip was due to lack of sun exposure, most likely UV but i can't be sure it wasn't something else the sun was doing. It's not daylight because I experimented being outside on cloudy days and there was no benefit. I am getting sun exposure when possible and when not possible I am using my sunbed as an alternative. The red inflammation has been gone for 6 weeks now, with no signs of returning.

I also returned to the gym after not going for most of the winter, because I kept getting sick. Even though it was still winter, I found I no longer get sick from hard exercise. I can go at it hard and do a full body workout at high intensity and I don't feel sick at all. I believe this is also because of sun exposure, exactly why I don't know.

As to why these two things were a problem for me, firstly, I believe it's a combination of spending too much time around computers, which is having a negative effect on my health; secondly, not getting enough sunlight. I think even without the computers being a factor this would still happen without adequate sun exposure, but to a lesser degree.

The only thing I changed to fix both problems was to spend more time in sunlight, via actual sunlight when possible, or a sunbed. That's all it took.

The last problem I am still trying to fix is my decreased sex drive. It has improved a bit, and several weeks ago it improved significantly only to get worse again. I believe it's because of intermittent fasting, which I slipped back into doing again without intending to. It could also be because of not enough saturated fat in the diet, so I have increased my saturated fat intake also by having organic virgin coconut oil (30-40g a day). I currently don't feel hunger (thanks to too much fasting). I know that the hunger hormone Ghrelin has been shown in a recent study to be directly linked to sexual desire. http://www.gu.se/english/about_the_univ ... cid1260534 - Ghrelin levels raise to make you feel hungry, and in mice it has been found to also increase sex drive when raised and decrease sex drive when it is low. This explains why I don't feel hungry, or horny. When I used to eat 6 meals a day I would get hungry often, but when you are doing intermittent fasting, your body eventually adapts and you stop feeling the hunger signal. Which I now know means Ghrelin levels are staying low.

Since my sex drive is low and i also never feel hungry, it's safe to assume all the fasting has caused my Ghrelin levels to become constantly low. I have found countless others who complaint of diminished or lost libido when intermittent fasting. So overall I am certain that fasting has to be the reason for my decreased libido, that, or not enough fats. As well as having coconut oil daily, i'm also switching back to 5-6 small meals spread throughout the day, this is exactly how I ate when I became super sexual and healthy that summer of 2013. I am sure this will work but will report back within a month or two when I have the answer.

 

[thebigpeatowski]

Since my sex drive is low and i also never feel hungry, it's safe to assume all the fasting has caused my Ghrelin levels to become constantly low. I have found countless others who complaint of diminished or lost libido when intermittent fasting. So overall I am certain that fasting has to be the reason for my decreased libido, that, or not enough fats. As well as having coconut oil daily, i'm also switching back to 5-6 small meals spread throughout the day, this is exactly how I ate when I became super sexual and healthy that summer of 2013. I am sure this will work but will report back within a month or two when I have the answer.

Update???

 

[churchmouth]

Update?