Sunmountain's Log

I've had upper endoscopy, and they look with a scope as far down as the beginning of small intestine, as Tara said. I was sedated. They can see if there is an ulcer or irritation or just anything that could be causing problems with eating, digestion, pain or other disturbance.

As far as the U/S, you're awake, and it's painless (unless the area they are looking at is sore, then it will feel sore when they press against it with the wand). The wand has some gel on it, and the wand is placed against the skin and they move it around to see.

Hi Tara, could you explain the risks of full sedation? One thing I can think of is that it would bring digestion to a halt, which is slow as it is. But that would be over in a day as the sedation wore off?

Peata, I also read somewhere about culturing while endoscopy (can't remember where). I wonder if they just want to look, or culture. It's hard getting an answer cuz the GI has two levels of nurses between him and patient, and I don't always get answers to questions I ask, and it takes a few days turnaround even for that.

I'm going to go ahead and schedule it soon.

BTW, anyone know what a peaty level of prolactin is for women?

I've stopped the rifaximin somewhere in week 2 due to no results. Have started the Allimed and berberine, and will slowly add neem, then oregano when I get it.

Several days on allimed/berb/neem, and no change so far. It's supposed to go for a month.

Things that ARE helping. Activated charcoal every 2-3 days. Carrot salad almost daily. Cascara one capsule twice a day. I could be wrong, but my colon feels ok. These things help keep it that way.

I wonder if activated charcoal binds to the archaea or the methane in the small intestine as it moves down the GI tract. Does it reduce their numbers, even if temporarily?

Lately I was experiencing intense fatigue. At first I thought it was plankton, or sibo, or something else. I finally connected it to thyroid. I stopped taking thyroid since a month or two because I couldn't tolerate even a little. I thought maybe cuz it's summer. When I tried taking a little, I'd get palps.

I started taking it yesterday again, and this time, I'm able to tolerate it. It's starting to help with the intense fatigue. I think the tolerance is tied to pregnenolone for me.

I've been off preg for 3-4 months cuz I wasn't sure it was doing anything anymore. A couple of weeks ago I noticed how much more stressed and anxious I was, easily panicky, insomnia again, etc. I started back on preg a week or so ago, much less than I was taking when I stopped. I've seen an improvement in mood, anxiety, and sleep. But also I think preg made it possible for me to get back on thyroid, if that makes any sense.

Earlier on, I had also stopped progesterone for a couple of months. That's when I started getting a lot of edema and going to massage, which helped with it. Eventually, I made the connection between edema and estrogen, and started back on the prog, and the edema went away.

So for me, preg-prog-thyroid are a bit of a Peatian trinity. I take them together now at bedtime, and a small amount at breakfast most mornings. I'm hoping the thyroid will help motility as well. I'll see if I can increase it slowly, this time around.

I guess without the preg, I was again functioning on stress hormones. And maybe that's why I couldn't tolerate thyroid.

Thinking back also on when I had stopped cascara after diarrhea due to adding caffeine. Part of the reason I did not go back on it was that I found I was having a BM or two everyday, so I thought I did not need it.

But what I'm starting to see is that motility is different from having a BM every day. My internist helped me understand when she said it could be old s**t coming out from a day or two or more ago. Plus I often did not feel evacuated enough. When the GI hammered "motility" and told me to take aloe or mag citrate, I realized I needed to get back on cascara and never should have stopped it.

Low FODMAPS is also helping. This diet is actually quite Peaty. I invested in a good quality citrus juicer and drink fresh OJ every day, which is allowed on fodmaps.

The GI was insistent that drugs alone could not cure my sibo. He emphasized motility and low-fodmaps, which I'm doing, and I've added AC and carrot to it. I don't think he understands AC though. He also said that diet alone will not cure the sibo.

So there is some relief from these things, but no change in bloating. Something has to be found to kill the bastards.

One other lesson learned. It would have been smart to have the bloating checked out much earlier, a few weeks into peating. In part, I kept going along with Gwenyeth (Your Eatopia) saying to let the bloat alone and it will go away on its own after whatever time it needs, even years. In my case, it developed into this resistant type sibo. Not only that, now I have autoantibodies lurking in my body due to the sibo as underlying stressor. Peat says that autoimmune has underlying stressor.

Although I did try to get tested almost a year ago, and my internist at the time sent me to the first GI who told me to take Align and wanted to do a colonscopy. I stopped seeing him and did nothing for a while until a couple months ago, when I went back to the internist and asked for a breath test and she agreed.

What is a good transit time? If anyone knowledgeable can answer, that would be really helpful. Should it be that I eat dinner at night and poop it out next morning?

I've been having semi-diarrhea since adding thyroid back in. I cut back on the quantity, but still. I don't know if it's the thyroid now. Took pepto just now.

The thyroid is really clearing up the fatigue and a lot of the muscle pain. I can't believe how dense I can be sometimes, or slow to perceive. Then again, maybe its's the downside of taking too many things at one time, and not knowing which is doing what.

Yesterday I went for a walk! Around work, for several blocks. I didn't get out of breath until I returned.

I really wonder what's causing the diarrhea. Another theory I have is that the antibiotic and garlic killed off all but the archea, and then the bugs that came back in are causing it. I haven't taken any probiotics and don't plan to. I noticed that it started after adding thyroid a bit but more so after I ate homemade chicken casserole and shrimp/rice.

Regular AC and carrot have definitely ended the joint pain. If I feel a twinge occasionally, I take AC that night and that's that. BTW, RP told me to take granulated instead of powdered charcoal, and to add well-cooked bamboo and white button mushrooms. The last two I still have to add.

So now, joint pain free, muscle pain free except stairs and even slight uphill, fatigue much better. No change in bloating, transit still sucks, diarrhea.

sunmountain said:

One other lesson learned. It would have been smart to have the bloating checked out much earlier, a few weeks into peating. In part, I kept going along with Gwenyeth (Your Eatopia) saying to let the bloat alone and it will go away on its own after whatever time it needs, even years.

Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing this thought, Sunmountain. I experienced a lot of bloating when I changed my diet after having read Ray Peat's works. I normally don't have gut issues. Bloating only happens when I have have eaten too much, and in the first weeks I was always hungry, so I was eating nonstop. Now hunger and calorie intake are more or less back to pre-Peat levels. While I was experiencing huge improvements during those hungry weeks, there is not much happening now. I was pondering whether I need to increase my calorie intake for further progress, but whenI tried to eat more I got bloated. Now this question is settled... I go for a happy gut.

sunmountain said:

Should it be that I eat dinner at night and poop it out next morning?

Click to expand...

This is what happens to me. What I have read is that three times a week to three times a day is considered normal.

sunmountain said:

Plus I often did not feel evacuated enough.

Click to expand...

Have you tried squatting? viewtopic.php?f=56&t=2447

sunmountain said:

I've been having semi-diarrhea since adding thyroid back in.

Click to expand...

I have used charcoal only on a few occassions (diarrhea when travelling) and it did wonders for me. Does it not work for you?

sunmountain said:

I really wonder what's causing the diarrhea.

Click to expand...

People who run on stress hormones feel fatiqued when their stress hormones go down. This lowering of the stress hormones (when it's not accompanied by increasing thyroid) unmasks their true situation.

Could it be that thyroid does the same to you? Diarrhea was there already for a while, but hidden by low metabolism? - It's a wild theory. I don't know if it makes sense.

Hi Giraffe,

I'm still thanking you for the timely link to Haidut's cinnamon post, which helped my ammonia symptoms!

And now I have to thank you for reminding me that I can take AC for diarrhea. Duh. I get confused sometimes with so many supplements. I'm taking AC every couple of days, but didn't think to take it upon diarrhea. I will do so now.

Pepto is another fallback.

I'm trying to understand your theory about what is causing the diarrhea, but not sure. Are you saying that the raised metabolism due to thyroid is causing the diarrhea? And that instead of lowering thyroid, deal with the diarrhea using AC? In which case, it will stop at some point? Sorry for all the questions.

Thanks for answering my question about what is considered normal transit. Of course, that is a very wide range! So if I think back to pre-Peat, when I was low carbing and starving, I went once or twice a day, and I think that's what it has been for most of my life. So I guess that's normal for me. But the problem is that I'm going 2-4 times a day now, and stuff is still moving slower than prepeat. For example, when I take AC at night, it doesn't come out the next morning, but only the next evening or so.

So even a normal number of poops does not correlate with a healthy transit. Which is very confusing to me. I guess tracking when the AC comes out is one way of tracking transit?

It's interesting that you made a choice between happy gut and hunger, and chose gut. Gwen would say to keep eating, which is what I am doing. If I eat less, I can't sleep and can't tolerate thyroid. That is what drove me to peat in the first place.

So it might be that you've leveled out at your current calories, which is fine if you are symptom free.

BTW, Dr. Peat advised to try Pen-VK (a low dose such as 125mg) occasionally to keep the small intestine sterile (in addition to cascara, carrot, etc.). I have ordered it and will try it as an adjunct to all the other disinfection strategies I am doing.

And furthermore, it just struck me that all the people on the internet going on about methane sibo and archaea -- no one talks about thyroid supplementation. They are trying or recommending this and that, but not trying or recommending to raise thyroid.

Another thing. AC makes me pee all night long. What's up with that?

sunmountain said:

I like having a log. A place to rattle on without bothering anybody.

So now and then I try to connect some dots. Like ADHD. How come I had stress symptoms that were exactly like my daughter's ADHD: difficulty focusing, lack of motivation, forgetfulness, etc. Is ADHD a stress disorder? Caused by hypothyroidism? Has anyone actually cured their ADHD with thyroid?

Why is only T4 sold in the USA? Why do docs let people suffer hypo symtoms just because their TSH is "normal"? Why has the TSH threshold been raised so that many are undiagnosed?

Is it so that pharma can invent problems like ADHD and then market expensive drugs?

Is it really that simple? Or is there truly something to ADHD that is beyond thyroid?

And the ADHD meds. They work by increasing the stress hormones, don't they? Kind of like soldiers under combat. That's what gives you the intense focus on ADHD meds, right? Like soldiers under combat?

No wonder those elevated stress hormones make my daughter's GAD out of control, to where she picks her face uncontrollably.

Click to expand...

You know, I was thinking about this very subject today. Thyroid meds= no adhd. Im on disability for add.

So last night I took AC and had diarrhea early this morning. That has never happened before! Then I took pepto right after. Again diarrhea x 2.

Am going to experiment with stopping cascara and continuing thyroid. I don't want to stop the thyroid (I'm taking little enough as it is) as it is making me feel so much better fatiguewise.

Hi goodandevil, welcome to the forum! I'm sorry to hear you're on disability for add. AND I did not know you could do that for add. Are you in the US? My ex is suffering very much from it and is also an alcoholic, so if you don't mind sharing how you got on disability for it, I'd like to let him know.

I've been doing some thinking about add/adhd/bipolar disorder lately. A bipolar engineer friend once told me that add or adhd and bipolarity share a striking number of symptoms and challenging to diagnose from each other. I'm wondering if my daughter and ex are bipolar. They do seem to cycle into hypomania: impulsive purchases which he regrets later, hypersexuality, saying he feels invincible, risky behavior for my daughter, etc. Of course, it could just be teenage for her, and add/adhd for both of them.

I wonder if there would be any advantage for either of them to get diagnosed for bipolarity. For him, I think he could then claim disability if he wanted to.

RP's approach to it if I understand correctly is much simpler in that these are metabolic disorders. Unfortunately right now neither of them has much faith in what I'm doing for my health because I have been ill for so long.

Some years ago I suggested to my ex to try lithium orotate. He said it made him feel unwell and did not continue. I read on the forum that Haidut recommends lithium aspartate. I wonder if anyone bipolar who takes it might weigh in.

A few weeks ago my ex mentioned on the phone that in one of his manic phases, he bought tickets to Dublin for himself and his fiancee in the middle of February because it was a "good deal."

Stopped cascara, and no more diarrhea. Yay!

For some completely mysterious reason, I can now tolerate thyroid which I couldn't at the beginning of the summer. Not only that, I'm taking more than when I had to stop. No palps so far, and no more diarrhea. I plan to try and increase slooowly.

It's making me feel so good! The fatigue is getting better each day. Transit might be even better than on cascara, though time will tell.

No change in sibo bloating.

Felt slight muscle stiffness yesterday; took cinnamon; resolved. So protein metabolism still subpar.

Internist says largish nodule on liver via ultrasound. Wants me to see liver specialist. I knew I had fatty liver going in. Results:

The liver has markedly increased parenchymal echogenicity and is with in normal limits in size with right lobe measuring 17.1 cm in length. There may be a 1.6 x 1.3 cm subtle hypoechoic nodule in the posterior segment 2 of the left hepatic lobe on image #14 corresponding to 1.1 x 1.5 cm hypovascular lesion on the CT scan of 12/24/2013 but not well seen on the chest CT scan of 7/15/2015. The 1.1 x 1.2 cm hypovascular lesion seen in segment 7 and 2 tiny hypodense lesions scattered in the right hepatic lobe seen on the chest CT scan on 7/15/2015 cannot be identified.
There is no evidence of intrahepatic ductal location. The common bile duct has normal caliber, measuring 1.1 mm.

The gallbladder is normal in size and wall thickness. The patient was not focally tender over the gallbladder.

The portal vein is patent with normal hepatopetal flow and flow velocity of 16.9 cm/sec.

The pancreas is unremarkable.

The right kidney measures 9.8 cm in length with normal cortical thickness and echotexture and patent arterial and venous blood flow.


Impression

IMPRESSION:
1. Marked hepatic steatosis. Patent main portal vein with normal flow direction. Scattered hypodense lesions in the liver seen on the CT scan are not well visualized on this study.
2. No evidence of cholelithiasis or sonographic evidence acute cholecystitis.

Ewwwwww!! My daughter just texted from camp saying there's scabies there. Two weeks ago she came home for 2 nights with 2 friends, one of whom developed "chicken pox" while staying with us. Plus the girls showered together!!!

Ewwww!! I don't wanna get it! I didn't touch anyone but did hug my daughter.

I have to pick her up from camp wednesday, then we are flying out west for college! Good grief! What if she is carrying it?? She says she has to get the cream (what cream??) and apply it.

I guess I have to call my doc too. Ugh.

sunmountain said:

I'm still thanking you for the timely link to Haidut's cinnamon post, which helped my ammonia symptoms!

Click to expand...

Welcome! :) I am reading a lot in the forum, and I am thankful to all the people who share their experiences and their knowledge.

sunmountain said:

I'm trying to understand your theory about what is causing the diarrhea, but not sure. Are you saying that the raised metabolism due to thyroid is causing the diarrhea? And that instead of lowering thyroid, deal with the diarrhea using AC? In which case, it will stop at some point? Sorry for all the questions.

Click to expand...

My theory is that the cause for the diarrhea existed for some time already, now with thyroid supps it might have become obvious.

sunmountain said:

So even a normal number of poops does not correlate with a healthy transit. Which is very confusing to me. I guess tracking when the AC comes out is one way of tracking transit?

Click to expand...

To look out for the AC sounds like a foolproof way to determine transit time, but I think time depends on the amount of solid food. I would also go by if things feel right.

sunmountain said:

It's interesting that you made a choice between happy gut and hunger, and chose gut. Gwen would say to keep eating, which is what I am doing. If I eat less, I can't sleep and can't tolerate thyroid. That is what drove me to peat in the first place.

So it might be that you've leveled out at your current calories, which is fine if you are symptom free.

Click to expand...

No, you misunderstood me. :) When I am hungry I am eating, and I always carrry food with me when I go out. When I started peating I was always hungry. Remember Tara's signature?" "I don't know the meaning of between meals." That was me.

sunmountain said:

BTW, Dr. Peat advised to try Pen-VK (a low dose such as 125mg) occasionally to keep the small intestine sterile (in addition to cascara, carrot, etc.). I have ordered it and will try it as an adjunct to all the other disinfection strategies I am doing.

Click to expand...

Carotenes are nasty to me, and the bamboo shoots I bought taste like plastic. Antibiotics are prescription drugs where I live. So yesterday I tried AC for detox to find out if it makes a difference: Within an hour I got a stuffed nose and this morning sinus-type headaches. The AC tablets contain cornstarch... Dammit! I try AC to get rid of endotoxins, and the stuff contains food for the little endotoxin-producing beasts. I take vitamin E to prevent damage from PUFAs, and the capsules are filled with PUFA. I ordered AC granules now. My feeling was that the pharmacist did not get it that I really wanted pure stuff. Talked about pills and capsules all the time...

Giraffe said:

sunmountain said:

BTW, Dr. Peat advised to try Pen-VK (a low dose such as 125mg) occasionally to keep the small intestine sterile (in addition to cascara, carrot, etc.). I have ordered it and will try it as an adjunct to all the other disinfection strategies I am doing.

Click to expand...

Carotenes are nasty to me, and the bamboo shoots I bought taste like plastic. Antibiotics are prescription drugs where I live. So yesterday I tried AC for detox to find out if it makes a difference: Within an hour I got a stuffed nose and this morning sinus-type headaches. The AC tablets contain cornstarch... Dammit! I try AC to get rid of endotoxins, and the stuff contains food for the little endotoxin-producing beasts. I take vitamin E to prevent damage from PUFAs, and the capsules are filled with PUFA. I ordered AC granules now. My feeling was that the pharmacist did not get it that I really wanted pure stuff. Talked about pills and capsules all the time...

Click to expand...

I get averse to grated carrot within a couple of days if I don't don't rinse it well to get rid of some of the carotene. Well rinsed, I could happily eat it everyday (just the shortage of tuits that get in the way of making it, esp. the round ones).

toxinless.com mentions sources of activated charcoal - incl. bulk powder - I know Germany has strict controls on some things, but maybe charcoal is known to be benign enough to get through? I got some shipped from Charcoal House, but I think there may be cheaper vendors.

Thanks, Tara.

Each time I check toxinless.com and follow the link I get "address in the US", "no delivery to Germany", "Parcels get lost. You agree ..." Toxinless.com is very useful for me to decide, what to look out for, but ordering something seems difficult.

I will try carrot again when I have done with my current carotene poisoning. I had a yellowish skin and calluses on the feet for years, but did not know what caused it. Everyone said I had a beautiful tan... ha-ha! At the moment I also have calluses on the fingers and the palms of my hands, the ankles... and the soles my feet hurt. I started supplementing B12 a couple of days ago.

Giraffe said:

Thanks, Tara.

Each time I check toxinless.com and follow the link I get "address in the US", "no delivery to Germany", "Parcels get lost. You agree ..." Toxinless.com is very useful for me to decide, what to look out for, but ordering something seems difficult.

Click to expand...

ONLINE ordering ONLY available to:
....Germany ...
http://www.buyactivatedcharcoal.com/shipping_info

Giraffe, Dr. Peat recommended granular and not powdered charcoal for me. FYI.

Thanks, Sunmountain. I got granular, tried it. Transit time was a little longer than usual, but no other effect. Maybe endotoxins are not a problem for me, or the fibers from fruit take care of them.

How is your daughter doing?

Hi Giraffe, It's promising that the granular AC did not cause you side-effects! At least now you have something you can take if you feel bloat or endo. If you can't take carrot salad for now, then would it be a good idea to AC once a week, say, as long as you have gut symptoms when you eat more? How are your energy levels?

My daughter is doing fine now. When I picked her up from camp, they said they weren't actually sure it was scabies, but were treating for it anyhow. I took her to college out west, and spent time (and money!) settling her into her dorm room. Right now she is out in the backcountry for a few days with a bunch of students, doing service work and sleeping under the stars, and bathing in hot springs! She is somewhere in New Mexico at around 6000 feet, she says. I am very happy that she is in such a good place.

Her ankle does hurt her from time to time, but she doesn't want to take supplements. She agreed to some vitamin D, which helped her as a child, so I'll send that to her. I do remind her to eat well (they have great food at the college), as so many students neglect their food and get into trouble healthwise.

Now for my own update:

I can't do too much protein, too much sugar, no milk, etc. I can't NOT eat starch as there's little else to eat. 've added back veggies. There are beautiful baby eggplants in the stores, so I peeled, sliced and cooked them with heirloom tomato and a bit of ginger, and seasoned with lots of salt and chipotle powder. Then I put it on a rice cake like a spread, on top of a slice of low-fat cheese. I also made palak-paneer and ate it the same way. That's pureed spinach cooked with tomato, and homemade farmer cheese crumbled into it.

I'm drinking tea with breakfast for now, instead of coffee, though I'll go back to coffee once weather turns cooler. I'm using lactose-free milk, which is working fine.

For starch, I try to eat mainly rice and potatoes, as I know they don't cause bloat. Sometimes I eat wheat when there's nothing else, and it does cause some discomfort now, though it never did before. More meal planning might help reduce it even more.

The biggest and best change in my diet is the addition of fresh squeezed and strained OJ. I bought the Breville citrus juicer, and it's a snap to juice with it. I drink about 24+ oz per day.

I crono'd the other day, and found I ate 1600 calories. Not optimal, but the best I can do right now on a low-fodmaps, low-fat diet. I'm careful about not undereating or missing meals.

The other interesting thing is that I've been able to increase thyroid, which I couldn't do before. I just increased to a quarter cynoplus and nibbles of T3 during the day. I'll need to switch to NDT in a month or two when cynoplus runs out. For T3, I'm trying to source chicken necks where they haven't removed the gland.

I'm starting to feel really good.

Yeah, the stomach is still bloated, but a little less so long as I do low fodmaps.

I was surprised to find out yesterday that I lost 3 lbs since starting back on thyroid about two weeks ago. From 138 down to 135. While being sedentary.

The biggest change I feel is in my muscles. I had forgotten what it feels like to stand and just feel solid, no pain or senstivity even. Today I came back from work and didn't straightaway crawl into bed. I stayed on my feet doing stuff. Now I'm thinking I might go for a short walk in an hour or so.

I feel a sort of energy coursing through me -- like I used to feel way, way, way back.

All this, with a quarter cynoplus a day. It's so crazy that I can't help but laugh.

Now for the nuts and bolts. I've had trouble falling asleep the last two nights. So I moved the quarter cynoplus to the morning after breakfast. This makes me feel even better during the day than the daytime t3. But I still couldn't sleep much last night.

The low fodmaps is definitely helping with the bloat.

I just got the Pen-Vi-K and will try 125mg soon.

I made pad thai last night with rice noodles and without peanuts and using fish sauce, lime juice, and sugar to make the sauce. It occurred to me that the fish sauce is protein. I checked how it is made, and it's anchovies and salt. I ordered a really good brand called Red Boat.

If fish sauce is just fermented anchovies and salt, would it have some thyroid from the anchovies?

I gotta get some sleep tonight. Maybe I'll take 1-2mg cypro.