Until lately, I have taken my lungs for granted. Without any doubt, it is natural when I had good endurance. One time, without needing to train, I was surprised I could run up a steep hill of 5 km at a brisk, competitive pace and not falter. When my kayak would roll over, and I became underwater, I could take my time underneath the waves that my companions would start to wonder why I had not popped up.
Since February this year, when my lungs were subject to irritation by chemical stress, from my having taken cinnamon bark oil orally in the wrong way, my lungs have not been the same. And actually, it has been underperforming everyone else except for elderly people and people who suffer from emphysema from smoking. When I walk, I can feel myself panting from it, and have to slow down to a crawl. When I saw I piece of soft banana trunk, I my lungs would already strain from the little effort it requires.
This is 4 months after the incident. And it isn't so bad when, despite the ugly comparison I gave you, I am getting better, although a lot of patience is needed. As the body has its own schedule of healing, and the healing pace is highly dependent on the quality of treatment it is given. As I don't rely on doctors or hospital anymore, but on my own research, based a lot on Peat's writings and research shared here, I have quite a bit of a learning curve to overcome.
Old-timers here like me (member since 1016) have already been disabused of the notion that answers are within a click of your finger on the world wide web and on the Ray Peat Forum, and that finding a solution can still be a solitary journey (at least that has been my feeling). I, for one, still have to do deep dives on RPF material and RP material, and find as much sense as I connect all that content together in my mind. And from that, I have to begin experimenting on myself.
At a certain point, without even being fully healed and using that as my basis for giving you a definitive answer to how I fixed myself, I can begin to throw out some ideas from my experience that is largely still hypothetical but not just based on a whim but some data, however rough shod and diorganized the data come to me (I used to be more organized, but now it it has given way to more analyzing rather than the tedious routine of recording data which often I cannot find justification for). It's akin to being chased by a wolf and trying to measure how fast you can run, which would be a luxury.
That is my introduction before I get to the meat of the matter. I think the reader should know where I am coming from posting this. Here comes the gist of my post:
1. Having enough oxygen, not unlimited oxygen from the lungs, is still enough to give me good metabolism. If I were just in a state of rest, and I ate right. And were not subject to much stress- in all its forms- physically, physiologically, psychologically, and socioculturally. But since I am not subject now to physical, sociocultural and psychological stress, I would not know really know their effects with regard for my need for additional oxygen. But my current lung condition, bronchitis. ;eaves me vulnerable to physiological stress.
I still eat well, go through my day waking up and doing my chores and work, and reading and writing as I used to, and not given to fits of rage. My blood pressure is as high as usual, but as usual not affecting me any differently than when my lungs were better. My heart rate and my metabolism however, would vary, and would seem to correlate to my spO2 levels, but mostly being within the normal range used by the standard of care (medical establishment).
2. The most I could expect from working with just enough oxygen is that I cannot have excellent metabolism, just good. Good is when I would still see my blood sugar still being stable, and me not getting diabetic nor hypoglycemic. But I would see myself becoming more acidic. My urine would be at a lower pH, while my saliva would be correspondingly lower but higher by about 1 pH than my urine, and my breathing rate would still be normal at 14, which means there is enough CO2 to enable tissue oxygenation. This would mean that while I'm not given to anaerobic glycolysis, I'm not running totally on oxidative phosphorylation, and it is likely I am at times running on aerobic glycolysis.
It could very well be that I'm on 50% aerobic glycolysis and 50% oxidative phosphorylation.
I suspect given that my body senses my oxygen supply is limited, it must be downthrottling my thyroid production, in order to keep my oxygen consumption down to as to match my body's oxygen demand to the limited oxygen supply
This may explain why I am slightly hypothyroid now, as based on my ECG QTc value.
It may explain why when I took thyroid and pregnenolone to rev up my metabolism, i ended with a lower metabolism and felt spacey (lack of oxygen in my head) the next day, I think I intervened against the wisdom of the body, against its decision to lower my metabolism in order to match my oxygen demand to my limited oxygen intake.
It may also explain why when I took 6 glasses of carbonated water one day, I would keep waking up at night to urinate 2 to 3 cupfuls of very alkaline urine. For the body wanted to limit my metabolic rate. This would be along the lines of what Ray Peat would call protective inhibition.
3. I had been wondering why my ECG curve has been looking very different also. My QRS curve has been very low (for those whos don't understand what this is, kindly google for an image, as my trend of thought is disturbed when I had to draw up a low curve and a high curve and explain why it changes. Sorry) and it reflects the low energy available to the heart as it pumps. It indicates pleural effusion in the lungs (liquid in the lungs, which would block also gaseous exchange such as oxygen intake and CO2 exhaust). I would wonder if this were true because why would the lungs affect the heart in this way. A lot of times research just says and doesn't explain why. So I spent months thinking about this. But now I think that is true and not just the medical establishment making things up (I am given to doubting what they say as I am afraid of being led down a wild goose chase). As the heart pumps to the lungs to get blood oxygenated, coming back from the lungs, the heart is the first organ that the newly oxygenated blood passes, and so the heart would know be the first to know if there is enough oxygen available for it to use as usual. With less oxygen available due the poor oxygen intake in the lungs, the heart would not be able to continue to pump in a way that would be reflected in a high QRS curve. It is probably a protective mechanism of the body to conserve the use of the limited oxygen availability.
4. Along with my bronchitis, I also have symptoms of ALS. I would be thinking of this as me having to face two problems at the same time. I would be thinking of this as both a breathing issue as well as s neuromuscular issue on an equivalent level. But now I think of it is a breathing issue primarily and a neuromuscular issue secondarily. I should fix the breathing issue first and the neuromuscular issue should be fixed as a result.
I think that the body may be inducing the neuromuscular issue to keep me from physical activity as protective inhibition, to channel my limited metabolic energy towards healing my lungs, so as to regain my ability to breathe in unlimited oxygen. And so I should just help my body towards that goal by not getting in its way.
5. Expressing my thanks once again to Ray Peat for giving me material to build on as I think my way out of my health issue. Especially for writing "Mind And Tissue," which is a deep read and which intially appeared irrelevant to me that I didn't read it. But now becomes very relevant as it exposes the wrong way by which western doctors frame their approach towards healing. It is a deep read that now I appreciate very much, although I am not even halfway to finishing reading.
Since February this year, when my lungs were subject to irritation by chemical stress, from my having taken cinnamon bark oil orally in the wrong way, my lungs have not been the same. And actually, it has been underperforming everyone else except for elderly people and people who suffer from emphysema from smoking. When I walk, I can feel myself panting from it, and have to slow down to a crawl. When I saw I piece of soft banana trunk, I my lungs would already strain from the little effort it requires.
This is 4 months after the incident. And it isn't so bad when, despite the ugly comparison I gave you, I am getting better, although a lot of patience is needed. As the body has its own schedule of healing, and the healing pace is highly dependent on the quality of treatment it is given. As I don't rely on doctors or hospital anymore, but on my own research, based a lot on Peat's writings and research shared here, I have quite a bit of a learning curve to overcome.
Old-timers here like me (member since 1016) have already been disabused of the notion that answers are within a click of your finger on the world wide web and on the Ray Peat Forum, and that finding a solution can still be a solitary journey (at least that has been my feeling). I, for one, still have to do deep dives on RPF material and RP material, and find as much sense as I connect all that content together in my mind. And from that, I have to begin experimenting on myself.
At a certain point, without even being fully healed and using that as my basis for giving you a definitive answer to how I fixed myself, I can begin to throw out some ideas from my experience that is largely still hypothetical but not just based on a whim but some data, however rough shod and diorganized the data come to me (I used to be more organized, but now it it has given way to more analyzing rather than the tedious routine of recording data which often I cannot find justification for). It's akin to being chased by a wolf and trying to measure how fast you can run, which would be a luxury.
That is my introduction before I get to the meat of the matter. I think the reader should know where I am coming from posting this. Here comes the gist of my post:
1. Having enough oxygen, not unlimited oxygen from the lungs, is still enough to give me good metabolism. If I were just in a state of rest, and I ate right. And were not subject to much stress- in all its forms- physically, physiologically, psychologically, and socioculturally. But since I am not subject now to physical, sociocultural and psychological stress, I would not know really know their effects with regard for my need for additional oxygen. But my current lung condition, bronchitis. ;eaves me vulnerable to physiological stress.
I still eat well, go through my day waking up and doing my chores and work, and reading and writing as I used to, and not given to fits of rage. My blood pressure is as high as usual, but as usual not affecting me any differently than when my lungs were better. My heart rate and my metabolism however, would vary, and would seem to correlate to my spO2 levels, but mostly being within the normal range used by the standard of care (medical establishment).
2. The most I could expect from working with just enough oxygen is that I cannot have excellent metabolism, just good. Good is when I would still see my blood sugar still being stable, and me not getting diabetic nor hypoglycemic. But I would see myself becoming more acidic. My urine would be at a lower pH, while my saliva would be correspondingly lower but higher by about 1 pH than my urine, and my breathing rate would still be normal at 14, which means there is enough CO2 to enable tissue oxygenation. This would mean that while I'm not given to anaerobic glycolysis, I'm not running totally on oxidative phosphorylation, and it is likely I am at times running on aerobic glycolysis.
It could very well be that I'm on 50% aerobic glycolysis and 50% oxidative phosphorylation.
I suspect given that my body senses my oxygen supply is limited, it must be downthrottling my thyroid production, in order to keep my oxygen consumption down to as to match my body's oxygen demand to the limited oxygen supply
This may explain why I am slightly hypothyroid now, as based on my ECG QTc value.
It may explain why when I took thyroid and pregnenolone to rev up my metabolism, i ended with a lower metabolism and felt spacey (lack of oxygen in my head) the next day, I think I intervened against the wisdom of the body, against its decision to lower my metabolism in order to match my oxygen demand to my limited oxygen intake.
It may also explain why when I took 6 glasses of carbonated water one day, I would keep waking up at night to urinate 2 to 3 cupfuls of very alkaline urine. For the body wanted to limit my metabolic rate. This would be along the lines of what Ray Peat would call protective inhibition.
3. I had been wondering why my ECG curve has been looking very different also. My QRS curve has been very low (for those whos don't understand what this is, kindly google for an image, as my trend of thought is disturbed when I had to draw up a low curve and a high curve and explain why it changes. Sorry) and it reflects the low energy available to the heart as it pumps. It indicates pleural effusion in the lungs (liquid in the lungs, which would block also gaseous exchange such as oxygen intake and CO2 exhaust). I would wonder if this were true because why would the lungs affect the heart in this way. A lot of times research just says and doesn't explain why. So I spent months thinking about this. But now I think that is true and not just the medical establishment making things up (I am given to doubting what they say as I am afraid of being led down a wild goose chase). As the heart pumps to the lungs to get blood oxygenated, coming back from the lungs, the heart is the first organ that the newly oxygenated blood passes, and so the heart would know be the first to know if there is enough oxygen available for it to use as usual. With less oxygen available due the poor oxygen intake in the lungs, the heart would not be able to continue to pump in a way that would be reflected in a high QRS curve. It is probably a protective mechanism of the body to conserve the use of the limited oxygen availability.
4. Along with my bronchitis, I also have symptoms of ALS. I would be thinking of this as me having to face two problems at the same time. I would be thinking of this as both a breathing issue as well as s neuromuscular issue on an equivalent level. But now I think of it is a breathing issue primarily and a neuromuscular issue secondarily. I should fix the breathing issue first and the neuromuscular issue should be fixed as a result.
I think that the body may be inducing the neuromuscular issue to keep me from physical activity as protective inhibition, to channel my limited metabolic energy towards healing my lungs, so as to regain my ability to breathe in unlimited oxygen. And so I should just help my body towards that goal by not getting in its way.
5. Expressing my thanks once again to Ray Peat for giving me material to build on as I think my way out of my health issue. Especially for writing "Mind And Tissue," which is a deep read and which intially appeared irrelevant to me that I didn't read it. But now becomes very relevant as it exposes the wrong way by which western doctors frame their approach towards healing. It is a deep read that now I appreciate very much, although I am not even halfway to finishing reading.
