Listen to Alternative Doc or Ray Peat? Help!

[T-Dog]

Hello All,
I recently saw an alternative doctor. He did tests like a hormone test. He said my thyroid t4 and t3 were good but my TSH was odd. He said I had the second lowest Vitamin D level he had ever seen and the lowest B6 he had ever seen.
He has prescribed essentially a paleo diet and yet is okay with rice and dairy for me as well.
I am to cut out gluten and sugar and stay away from things with yeast like beer or bread made using yeast because of a food intolerance test I took which I have heard are a waste of money but I figured I would do it anyway.
I have chronic constipation. I use milk of mag and laxatives every day. My diet is crap.
This doc wants me to take fish oil (not Ray Peat approved, correct?) and to cut sugar (and yet Peat is okay with white sugar as a supplement, correct?)
This doc is worried about my slight anemia and yet isn't Peat more concerned about iron overload?
I am thinking I would rather forget this guy's advice of taking Vit D, fish oil, a multi-vit, and gingseng for adrenals and instead do a parasite cleanse and then also do raw carrot, gelatin, coconut oil, and other Peat things.
I am confused and want to just give up.
I mean the fish oil although not Peat approved because of PUFA would probably still be better than the SAD diet I am on currently.
So, low D and B6 and chronic gut issues.
Do I listen to my alternative doc or go my own path?
Thanks to all.
Take care.

 

[north]

I suppose Peat says anemia isnt due to iron only.
CO2 affects oxygen use, and thyroid affect CO2, and thyroid affect glucose metabolism.
I noticed very reduced anemic feeling when starting thyroid.
If you have low D, maybe you need to look into calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium and sunlight.
I also noticed constipation often, but that also went away with thyroid supp.

Have you had liver?
Daily carrot also works for constipation.

I would not take fish oil at all, absolutely not! That might be one of the worst things you can put in your body.

 

[Blossom]

In my experience as a medical worker the medical field is primarily valuable at one thing- stabilizing unstable people in extreme life or death situations. There will always be a few exceptions to every generalization but for the most part medicine isn't about real healing. I've seen more healing shared on this forum by far than I have witnessed in all my years working in the medical field. That doesn't mean that there aren't some good and well meaning people working in the industry but just that their work is often based on flawed and misguided assumptions of the human body. I also followed a paleo diet on the recommendation of an alternative medicine doctor and the results were catastrophic. I consider following that advice to be in the top two worst health mistakes I have ever made. I'm casting my vote for you trying a Peat Inspired approach rather than paleo.

 

[4peatssake]

I'd find a Peat inspired practitioner if I were looking for additional support.
I'd run from anyone promoting paleo and fish oil.
I'd also run from anyone telling me to cut or eliminate sugar.

Peat pretty much turns everything on its head and unless a practitioner understands his work and is using his wisdom when working with their clients, the end result will be conflicting and confused information and advice.

Even with a Peat inspired practitioner there will be differing opinion but I'd much rather navigate that than confuse myself with "alternative" views that I have experienced to have completely missed the mark.

I recognize that some people do better with initial guidance and structure, especially as getting on solid ground with Peat can be a challenge. The trick is to find someone you feel comfortable with.

:2cents

 

[pboy]

i hate to say it...but anyone recommending supplements rather than an intelligent food and maybe herb plan, probably isn't the best person for advice. How is a naturopath that much different than a regular doctor if they just check vitamin and mineral levels and recommend a supplement...like did he even ask anything about your personal life, who you are, your goals, your home life, friends, family, how easy you get cold or hot, sleep, goals and progress...I dunno man, I think neither a regular doc or a natruopath is going to be able to help...unless its a really rare and good natruopath but it sounds like this guy is just a regurgitating fool, no offense. Id listen to Peats advice first but to be honest, in your state, not even Peat can help by just following his diet advice. Theres usually always more than food when things get pretty bad. Stop taking every supplement and laxative, know and pay attention to everything that goes on or in your body and go from there, so you can actually begin distuinguishing things. And always pay attention to the things that aggravate you or are on your mind during the day, because often they give indications as to what the more subtle reasons, real time people soul kind of reasons, that are affecting your health and well being

 

[mt_dreams]

Welcome to the forum T-Dog. This alternative doc sounds more like a naturalistic doc (yes, I may have just made that up). What I mean is they are using modern western medicine techniques, ie testing for specific levels in the body, then instead of giving you a synthetic pill to fix the problem, they are suggesting specific diet protocols. This is not a knock on nutrient testing, I'm all for testing vitamin/mineral/etc levels, and even for at time trying to fix abnormalities using isolated compounds, but I'm hesitant to believe that everyone should have the exact amount of any particular compound. For ex, consider that what was considered a plain skin liaison 25 years ago, is now considered a precursor to melanoma, which of course there is a treatment (costing money) to fix. Same amount of people dying from melanoma as there was 30 years ago, just the number of people having the "cancer" has skyrocketed. This is an ingenious way for big pharma to basically have people begging for their patented pills. The same goes for nutrients. Vitamin D is a relative newcomer to modern medicine, and the very fact that someone can spend lots of time in the mid-day sun, and still be low in the hormone, is reason enough for us to acknowledge we know very little about it. Testing for the compound in the body is a very proactive thing to do, but not if the end product is unwisely changing your diet b/c someone thinks this will fix it (or how AMA doctors use the Vit D test, which is prescribing synthetic D2).

If I were low in this hormone, I would ask myself the following. Do I spend a couple minutes during summertime outdoors sometime b/w 10am-2pm with a decent amount of skin in contact with the sun. I'd then ask myself if I eat enough of the things the body needs to produce the hormone using the sun, things like cholesterol, calcium, bile, etc. I'd then ask myself if I would prefer to eat whatever nutrient I'm lacking using the protocols created from Peat's insights, or from someone else who has devised their own (or someone elses) eating plan.

If my doc told me I'm low in vitD and told me to just eat food containing it in the form of a generalized 'in' diet, I would ask why they have not told me why exactly I'm not producing the hormone in my body (which takes intellect & effort), rather just easily passing along generalized nutritional directed eating protocols aka paleo.

My one and only visit to a alternative doctor 2 years ago started off with him feeling my pulse for bit, then looking at my eyes & tongue, followed by a boatload of fantastic questions. He then proceeded to think out a plan to the problem using what I had just told him, without requesting I totally change my way of life. It was a fantastic experience, so my suggestion would be to find a doc who is willing to put in the effort to understand all of your life's variables, and come up with something that is personal to your body, and fits into your other beliefs, not just a blanket protocol which in this case requires the purchase of supplements that stem from a multi-billion dollar revenue stream that is the fish oil industry.

 

[ilovethesea]

Hello All,
I recently saw an alternative doctor. He did tests like a hormone test. He said my thyroid t4 and t3 were good but my TSH was odd. He said I had the second lowest Vitamin D level he had ever seen and the lowest B6 he had ever seen.
He has prescribed essentially a paleo diet and yet is okay with rice and dairy for me as well.
I am to cut out gluten and sugar and stay away from things with yeast like beer or bread made using yeast because of a food intolerance test I took which I have heard are a waste of money but I figured I would do it anyway.
I have chronic constipation. I use milk of mag and laxatives every day. My diet is crap.
This doc wants me to take fish oil (not Ray Peat approved, correct?) and to cut sugar (and yet Peat is okay with white sugar as a supplement, correct?)
This doc is worried about my slight anemia and yet isn't Peat more concerned about iron overload?
I am thinking I would rather forget this guy's advice of taking Vit D, fish oil, a multi-vit, and gingseng for adrenals and instead do a parasite cleanse and then also do raw carrot, gelatin, coconut oil, and other Peat things.
I am confused and want to just give up.
I mean the fish oil although not Peat approved because of PUFA would probably still be better than the SAD diet I am on currently.
So, low D and B6 and chronic gut issues.
Do I listen to my alternative doc or go my own path?
Thanks to all.
Take care.

I sympathize with where you are at, been there myself :) The information is all so overwhelming that at first, you want to find a 'professional' you can go see who will tell you what to do. Trust us, you will just end up having to figure it out yourself anyway with lots of research/reading/self-experimentation - and will have wasted 6 months or more and be a few hundred $$$ poorer :) I paid for visits with MDs, NDs, only to realize they each wanted to fit me into their own weird protocols that were only partially Ray Peat-esque. (So listening to BS about adrenals, adherence to thyroid bloodtests, etc.)

The great thing about Ray Peat is he teaches you to be your own doctor. I am confident that you will be able to see health improvements quickly with the help of the smart people on these forums and all Ray Peat's articles and email advice archives.

The first easy things I would do are:
- eliminate all PUFA oils and replace with coconut oil
- start taking aspirin (helpful for PUFA release and the constipation)
- D drops for safe source of vitamin D + spending more time outside
- increase sugar consumption - lots of OJ, sweet fruits or white sugar or honey (the sugar is also good for constipation)
- raw carrot salad daily

Have you measured your pulse and temperature? Sounds like you may be hypo too (underlying cause of the constipation), so I would consider ordering thyroid supplement from Mexico. No need for grody fish oil :)

 

[T-Dog]

Thank you for all of the responses. I am still considering my options. I did buy some carrots and some white sugar and some coconut oil.

My TSH is around 4.5 so like the top end of normal but could mean subclinical hypo.

Thanks again.

T-Dog

 

[HDD]

Thank you for all of the responses. I am still considering my options. I did buy some carrots and some white sugar and some coconut oil.

My TSH is around 4.5 so like the top end of normal but could mean subclinical hypo.

Thanks again.

T-Dog

"In recent years the “normal range” for TSH has been decreasing. In 2003, the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists changed their guidelines for the normal range to 0.3 to 3.0 microIU/ml. But even though this lower range is less arbitrary than the older standards, it still isn't based on an understanding of the physiological meaning of TSH.

Over a period of several years, I never saw a person whose TSH was over 2 microIU/ml who was comfortably healthy, and I formed the impression that the normal, or healthy, quantity was probably something less than 1.0."
http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/hy ... dism.shtml

 

[natedawggh]

I went to a naturopath who prescribed me fish oil. A whole tub of it (capsules). During her treatment my health problems went from bad to worse. My insomnia increased, my weight skyrocketed, I had slight eczema that got terrible and I developed a chronic cough. The problem is these people who prescribe these things have no understanding of what they actually do, in practice or in research, they just regurgitate what is told to them by the companies who make these products and distribute the literature and pay for the research. Ray Peat's understanding of substances like these comes from a completely different orientation on the subjects of nutrition and hormones, and comes from practical and applicable theory and experience from his own work as well as respected leaders that came before him on which his work is based. We are not fish and we don't live in cold, dark environments like fish do, we live in hot, sunny, super-oxegenated environments where fish oil rapidly oxidizes. We are primates and primates eat fruit and protein, and so should you.