Shrimp's Peat Log- Thyroid, Anxiety And Acne Issues, Oh My!

Swandattur

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Re: Shrimp's Peat log- thyroid, anxiety and acne issues, oh

That's interesting. Makes it all the more worthwhile to steer clear of the PUFAS.
 
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Shrimp

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Re: Shrimp's Peat log- thyroid, anxiety and acne issues, oh

mandance said:
I think all anxiety stems from a lack of control and a fear of death. Oddly, control doesnt exist in life, in any way shape or form. Anyways, just a thought as I also suffer from anxiety and depression. Sounds like you are doing well with the physical side of health...how are you spiritually and mentally? I would tend to think that maybe you need to focus more on those things and less on diet perhaps....I know that a lack of inner peace can create the anxiety. Do you meditate, go to counseling, pray, have any sort of religious or spiritual practice? If not, you might want to look into adding that to your arsenal. I have recently began to focus more so on those things and less on diet...but im also off anti depressants now and going through withdrawel hell so its pretty much forcing me to do all those things in order to keep my sanity. Anyhow, keep it up...sounds like you are on the path.
I'm actually not doing well physically, with intense fatigue, digestive problems, feeling short of breath constantly, etc. I'd say that most of my anxiety stems from the way I feel (ill and not in control of my body, thus unable to do things I need to do), and exacerbates the symptoms, as well. The symptoms aren't caused solely by anxiety because I am diagnosed hypo. I know a lot of it is a sort of PTSD reaction to when I ended up hyper in the hospital a year ago; I was the sickest I'd ever been for several days, and fear ending up like that again whenever I feel vaguely like I did then. I do think you're right about needing to focus on the spiritual/mental side of things, but they can only do so much when the body is ailing. Good luck with coming off the meds; my doc wanted me on them but after hearing stories about people coming off of them I decided against it. Hope things get easier for you soon.

j. said:
I think the mind can't do anything in some situations when the body and the cells go out of control. Ray Peat said PUFAs amplify the stress reactions, saturated fats make it end, so I think the type of fat we have stored is a major factor in anxiety.
In my case, at least the mind can help some. By telling myself that it is just a stress reaction and that it will pass, the more intense stress feelings dull some and do often pass. It can also work the opposite way where if I dwell on the feelings and worry about what's causing them, I can work myself into a panic quite effectively. So I might get the stress response from something like low blood sugar, or lack or sleep, or from hormonal fluctuations due to my cycle, but my mind can definitely help or harm my body's resilience to these situations. I did have a Paleo stint for a few years where I ate a lot of salmon, fatty chicken and nuts, but I'm very thin and don't know if I stored much PUFA at all.

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I have taken Progest-E from days 14-28 of my cycle for a few months now, about 30mg/day. I usually stop on day 28, but the few times I haven't, I still get my period. I also still have very obvious PMS symptoms (mostly emotional). Perhaps I'm not using enough.
 
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Shrimp

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Re: Shrimp's Peat log- thyroid, anxiety and acne issues, oh

Picked up some B6 per Peat's suggestion to deal with prolactin; gonna start with 25mg, maybe less. Also want to try taking aspirin, but am on period now and not sure how it'd affect that.

Currently eating:

Bfast: OJ with salt and niacinamide powder, approx 1oz cheese or 4 slices bacon (occasionally)

Snack: Greek yogurt and honey, or sugared milk

Lunch: Steak with sugared milk, gelatin with salt

Snack: carrot salad

Snack: cheese + oj or canned papaya

Dinner: Potatoes with sugared milk, maybe more steak too, gelatin with salt

Supps are NDT 60mg, ~500mg niacinamide, topical mag oil, Nutrisorb A 7500 IU, ~30mg Progest-E.

I feel like I need the meat to feel full. Also, I'm usually hungry but feel like I can't get enough food in me because my digestion is weak. I know something is off diet or medication-wise because I feel like crap but I'm not sure what it is. :/ Didn't really notice any benefit to avoiding starch for ~1.5 weeks, so I stopped. Guess I need to keep tweaking things.
 

Jenn

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Re: Shrimp's Peat log- thyroid, anxiety and acne issues, oh

Aspirin won't affect this month's period. Aspirin will reduce build up future periods. Aspirin is anti estrogen. Excess estrogen cause excess build up in the uterus, which causes heavy sloughing during menstruation.

It took me years to be able to truly break down beef well enough to get energy from it.
 

charlie

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Re: Shrimp's Peat log- thyroid, anxiety and acne issues, oh

Shrimp said:
Picked up some B6 per Peat's suggestion to deal with prolactin; gonna start with 25mg, maybe less. Also want to try taking aspirin, but am on period now and not sure how it'd affect that.

Did Peat say to start with 25mg? From personal experience that's a lot! I cannot take more then a couple milligrams or else my dreams become too real, too vivid, and too much!!

If I were to start up aspirin again it would be slow and low, no rush. Making sure to dissolve it and try to limit the starch intake of it by letting it settle on the bottom and then carefully drinking the liquid.
 
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Shrimp

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Re: Shrimp's Peat log- thyroid, anxiety and acne issues, oh

@ Jenn: Good to know! I'm going to try taking a small amount of it (1/2 of a 325mg pill) daily with some Vitamin K and see how it goes. I don't seem to have trouble digesting beef; in fact I feel kind of off if I don't eat it for a while. I've thought about trying a Betaine HCl supplement to see if it makes a difference.

@Charlie: Peat just told me to take a "small amount," and the smallest pills I could find were for 50mg, so I just figured I'd half them. I've been breaking small pieces off the tablets instead; probably a good idea to start small like you've suggested. :D

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Saw doc again today. Had lots of bloodwork drawn day 25 of my cycle (luteal phase?):

Cortisol: 36.7 (4.6-22.7) HIGH (not fasting though and not taken in the morning)
DHEA: 288 (35-430)
Estradiol: 105.8 (19.5-144.2)
FSH: 2.3 (1.5-9.1)
IGF-1: 261 (63-373)
Pregnenolone: 106 (7-188)
Progesterone: 5.84 (3.34-25.56) (Doc said this is still too LOW)
Prolactin: 92.6 (2.8-29.2) HIGH, even higher than last time :/
Free T3: 2.62 (2.30-4.20) I don't think this is high enough...
Reverse T3: 17 (8-25)
Free T4: 0.99 (0.71-1.42)
TSH: 0.64
Testosterone: 20 (14-76)
Free Testosterone: 1.45 (0.29=3.18)
ACTH: 72 (6-50) HIGH Says range only valid for labs drawn 7AM-10AM, mine were at 11:45 so probably doesnt mean anything.
 
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Shrimp

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Re: Shrimp's Peat log- thyroid, anxiety and acne issues, oh

Went to the Asian grocery store to try to get some more exotic fruits. Got some lychees, canned rambutan, oysters ($3.99/pound!), and this awesome espresso candy that I think has decent ingredients: http://www.amazon.com/Balis-Best-Espres ... B000GAQE4A (Glucose, Cane Sugar, Glycerine, Coconut Oil, Coffee Extract, Milk Powder, Natural Coffee Flavor, Salt, Caramel). Unfortunately most of the lychees are green; I didn't realize they don't ripen when off of the tree. :roll:

Doctor wants to redraw ACTH, Prolactin and Cortisol fasting at 9am. Don't know how/when I'm going to get this done, as I tend to get woozy and anxious from draws even when I'm not fasting. I'll figure something out.

Might try experimenting with lights next. Bright light seems to bother me and somehow flare my anxiety, though.
 
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Shrimp

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Re: Shrimp's Peat log- thyroid, anxiety and acne issues, oh

Swandattur said:
Any bright light or non incandescent?
Seems to be most bright light; sunlight, lights in stores etc. It makes my vision a bit strained/spotty and that flares the anxiety. I haven't tested incandescent lights yet so I'm not sure. I'd guess it's something to do with stress hormones.
 

Swandattur

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Re: Shrimp's Peat log- thyroid, anxiety and acne issues, oh

Someone mentioned the fact that sunlight would have blue spectrum light which isn't so good for you.
 
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Re: Shrimp's Peat log- thyroid, anxiety and acne issues, oh

Swandattur said:
Someone mentioned the fact that sunlight would have blue spectrum light which isn't so good for you.

But it has red light also to mitigate the effects of blue light. The fluorescent bulbs have the blue without the red.
 

Swandattur

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Re: Shrimp's Peat log- thyroid, anxiety and acne issues, oh

Oh, okay. There was a confusing discussion over at Ray Peat QandA about various light sources. I remembered fluorescent were not good, but not exactly why. Some types of illness cause bad reaction to sunlight, I think. Too much sun can cause fever blister flares. Maybe that has to do with high PUFA.
 
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j.

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Re: Shrimp's Peat log- thyroid, anxiety and acne issues, oh

The main cause of damage from the sun is excessive exposure to ultraviolet light. Some exposure is necessary to produce vitamin D, but if your skin turns a bit pink, some toxic effect already occurred.
 

Swandattur

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Re: Shrimp's Peat log- thyroid, anxiety and acne issues, oh

Of course, there's Porphyria which Peat talks about in some articles. This Mayo Clinic site describes it as far as it is understood by mainstream medicine. Sun can trigger symptoms. The symptoms sound like those many people have on this forum.
 
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Shrimp

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Re: Shrimp's Peat log- thyroid, anxiety and acne issues, oh

Had a bad night last night with anxiety. Haven't had an episode like that in a while; couldn't sleep at all, hungry but couldn't eat anything because of nausea (which made the anxiety worse), surges of adrenaline all night. It's definitely the stress of upcoming events. My parents are going away for two weeks so I will basically be home alone with occasional visits from my boyfriend who lives ~40 mins away, and working only 2-3 shifts per week. My friends live fairly far away, too. I'm scared of how I'll do alone for two weeks, to be honest...I really need better coping mechanisms. Sometimes I consider going on the Lexapro my doctor recommended, but I think that would just make my health worse in the long run. I have to figure something else out.

When I get nauseous all I want to eat is starch for some reason; rice, rice pasta in chicken broth and rice bread with butter. It fills me but I can feel it just sitting at the base of my throat for a while. Then again, all food seems to do this lately, and make me burp a ton. Most of the Peaty foods like OJ, cheese, milk etc. feel like they have an uncomfortable acidic effect on my stomach, if that makes sense. I'm sure it's related to my metabolism still being out of whack.

Waiting for fasting prolactin/cortisol/acth results.
 

Swandattur

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Re: Shrimp's Peat log- thyroid, anxiety and acne issues, oh

I guess it's because starch is bland that it seems like something good when the stomach is unsteady. Maybe you need to adjust the Peat diet to suit yourself better. By rights, it ought to be nice to have the house to yourself for a while, instead of dreading being alone, but I can remember feeling that way when I was having continuous anxiety. Does chamomile tea help on anxiety or anything like that? Maybe you can make friends with somebody who lives nearby. Are there some nice calming movies you could plan to watch? Maybe you can ask ahead of time if friends would be available for a phone chat here and there while your parents are gone.
 

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Re: Shrimp's Peat log- thyroid, anxiety and acne issues, oh

I wrote here a while ago but forgot about the thread until now. I had a setback this summer with my adrenaline levels becoming uncomfortably high for some reason. I even had to quit caffeine and aspirin and lower T3 to a minimum, but I'm still experiencing symptoms.

I can't know for sure what caused it, but it coincided pretty much only with supplementing rather large amounts of vitamin A, on top of eating lots of liver. I later found studies linking vitamin A to liver damage at doses as low as 13,000 IU/day; here are a few:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18755329
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7985711
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1 ... 4/abstract
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8290933
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17151585

My issues feel a lot like hypoglycemia (only alleviated by eating a proper meal), so I figure it might have something to do with liver. Peat has also said that excessive vitamin A can block the thyroid.

Since I see you're also supplementing vitamin A, maybe you could stop for a while to see if symptoms improve? However, from what I've read, I got a feeling it might take a while to improve even after quitting.

What has helped some people is also eating many small, balanced meals, containing all macronutrients and extra salt.

Hope you feel better soon!
 
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Shrimp

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Re: Shrimp's Peat log- thyroid, anxiety and acne issues, oh

It's been a while since I've updated.

Thanks Swandattur for the suggestions. I've done fine while my parents are away; watching movies and talking with friends help. Chamomille tea with a little gelatin and honey mixed in is fantastic, too. :)

Hi Lucy,
Thanks! That is interesting about the Vitamin A! I only take ~7500IU/day of it, and definitely need it due to acne. I don't eat liver, either. I'll try to add more salt, as well.

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As much as I've avoided it over the four years since I've been diagnosed with hypothyroidism, I think I may finally need to resort to self-medicating. My doctor has had me on 60mg of NDT since June, and I can feel it isn't nearly enough. She refuses to raise the dose until after I see an endocrinologist, as she understandably doesn't want to send me to one with a suppressed TSH. I have an appointment with one at the end of November, but given my experience with another endocrinologist at the same hospital prior to my hypo dx, I'm not too hopeful that he'll help me much...

I'm scared to medicate myself. I ended up hyper in the hospital from too much medication, and that was an experience I'd like to avoid again if at all possible because it felt like I was going to die. I have lingering doubts that I can even tolerate more medication, as my doctor keeps telling me I need adrenal support despite the supplements doing nothing or making things worse (waking up to pee constantly). However, I ended up in the hospital despite following doctor's orders, so being under a doctor's supervision is no guarantee it won't happen again, anyway.

I've waited too long to feel better. It's been a year since I was in the hospital and I feel like I've made no progress in feeling better, that I've floated through the year wrapped in this wretched cloud of disabling anxiety and fatigue. I am a shadow of my real self. This disease is ruining my life and no one close to me understands. My boyfriend is understandably frustrated (I don't know why he's still with me), my parents think I'm lazy and overreacting, and most of my friends have all but disappeared from my life. I can't help but feel that I brought this on myself by trying to deal with my skin/digestive issues with the Paleo diet, which makes me feel even worse. At least I was functional on some normal level then. Now I feel like I'm just hiding away from everything because I feel too ill to handle normal things like going out with friends or riding the train without having a weird panic episode. I'm not really living; I'm just existing.

I'm going to get some NDT and add it to my current dose, SLOWLY. I'm also looking into getting some of the special lights mentioned on this forum, as the cold New England winter is coming.

I really wish the simpler suggestions like milk, OJ, aspirin, niacin, Vit. A, salt etc.had any noticeable effect on my health, but I haven't noticed any and I've given them all time to kick in. I really hoped that thyroid wasn't my only option, as I hate being dependent on something which could disappear if a source dries up. However, something has to change, and hopefully adding a little more NDT to my current dose will help me get the energy to start getting my ***t together.
 

mandance

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Re: Shrimp's Peat log- thyroid, anxiety and acne issues, oh

I understand the panic and anxiety all too well. And as much as you try to treat your anxiety with food and supplements, that is only part of the battle. Ultimately..anxiety is a mental problem and you need to focus on not being afraid of panic attacks and going out in public if you want to overcome that problem. Of course physical things can trigger anxiety..but ultimately its how you mentally hande those feelings that come up, that determines whether or not you will panic. Are you in therapy? If you arent I would highly suggest CBT with an expert on anxiety issues.

When anxiety is bad and running rampant, it can also make you feel sick in many ways beyond hypo isses...something to think about.
 

Swandattur

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Re: Shrimp's Peat log- thyroid, anxiety and acne issues, oh

I guess people, who have never been through things like depression, panic attacks, or other serious health issues that undermine mood, have a hard time understanding how debilitating it is. It's hard enough being so unwell, but it makes it much worse when people just don't get it. Maybe you can find a book for the people close to you to read that explains what it's like. Some writers are very good at getting it across, and they often have some sort of credentials to back them up.

Probably most people on this forum have been on other diets in an effort to fix or manage a health problem and ended up worse off. Although I lost weight on a low carb diet, I think that diet made my problems with histamine much worse. So, don't blame yourself. You were just trying to help yourself get better.

Do you think something like histamine intolerance could be contributing to your symptoms? I believe that foods high in histamine or triggering histamine cause mood problems for me. Of course, you'd hope that thyroid medication would fix that kind of problem.
 

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