The past week I have been following Matt Stones blog intensely. The reason why I am so taken by his blog is that it is logic and it makes sense! My intuition never fails and it had me ringing the big Christmas bells as soon as I read his blog. For the first time, my lab results now makes sense! I've done tons and tons of research, only to leave me more confused every time. The way Matt Stone combines science, research and common sense just makes it so understandable and easy to read. Also makes me a bit furious as to WHY I didn't realize this myself?! I consider myself a fairly intelligent person but it still took me a Mr. Stone to bitch slap me with his epic knowledge (!) Enough with the praising..
What I wanted to say is that after a hell lot of reading I found out that I was the one making me sick (big surprise, I know..!) Well I kinda had a suspicion about that, (I'm not a total retard) I just couldn't find the cause, since I've always lived so healthy (so I thought). One word: LOW BODY TEMPERATURE! I literally hadn't had a fever since my early child years! Not even when I had mononucleosis as a teen! My mom has pointed this out to my doctors, over the years but their response has always been; Oh, many people have low temperature, (my point exactly?!) nothing to worry about. -Nothing to worry about?? It's because we are told not to worry that we have low body temperature! -Don't even get me started on those doctors! OK, moving on before I get a hissy fit (is to a word! -Although the red line underneath proves otherwise -DAMN you dictionary!).
I have always been "healthy": Low resting pulse, low blood pressure (and low body temperature). A doctor actually once told me as part of the physical exam for the Military; If it wasn't because you were so fit, I would be slightly concerned about your low BP and resting pulse.
It wasn't until my period became less frequent (one time I didn't have my menses for almost 10 months), my hair started falling off and I kept gaining weight and couldn't loose it, that I realized something wasn't right. Doctors has been of NO help at all. Thyroids meds hasn't helped. I am done and OFF with all that and totally ON with the HED! I started last week around Friday The 3 of September, but my diet didn't totally optimize before the following Monday (The 6'th), I would say. I have been eating like there was no tomorrow and I have felt really warm after every meal (haven't taken my temperature yet). I haven't had cold hands since I started (still some cold feet)! My first little set back was yesterday where i had cold hands and feet, plus I was pretty much feeling cold all over. Today it is gone. I haven't done ANY exercise for over a week now! It's kinda a love hate relationship because I have been addicted to exercise always but if I stop up and actually listen to my body, I don't want to train at all! I just want to lie down (and even sleep) all day, if possible. For the first time in my life, I am listening to my body instead of trying to control it. -A totally new experience for me! I believe this is what is going to be my real healing process (in company with the HED of course).
I truly believe that mind and body HAS to work together for ultimate health. As soon as you start to disregard your body signals and only listen to your mind, that's when trouble starts and your health is moving on a downward spiral to disaster. Your body doesn't want to destroy you and make life difficult, it actually wants what is best for you..All you have to do is listen. Like how Matt puts it; Don't think you can outsmart your body. It's so true!
Status is: Feeling tired, heavy, edema all over basically -especially in my face (did anyone say carbo-face?) and out breaks. Assuming this is all caused my the heavy carb-load and giving me adrenals some well deserved rest..
Hi Sheila,
SvarSletFound your blog from the posts on Lisa's, we can always follow up here.
I followed RRARF/HED for one year, and it did help somewhat, my temp raised from 96.8 to 97.2 in a few months but then stayed stuck at 97.2. Even after one year of serious overeating and no exercise, I have not gained weight. It fluctuated from 196 to now 190. Leptin and the body weight setpoint are real :)
Over the last month I started following some more of Peats ideas, meaning lots of fruit in between meals, some honey, more gelatin, some coffee, no omega3/6's. I don't use white sugar yet but time will tell... anyway my basal temp is now at 97.4. So I will see how things go from here.
Good luck on your journey!
Hi Undertow.
SvarSletYeah I think this works better. that way we don't spam Lisa's blog unnecessary ;-P
It's amazing you haven't gained weight after a year full on -and with no exercise! I am so fascinated by the whole overeating, resetting weight set-point and Leptin! Just me experiencing warm hands, only one week into the RRARF/HED is pure gold to me! I can't wait to see where it takes me ;-)
Very interesting about Ray Peat.-Have you gotten those things of his website or is there a book you can recommend?
Hi Sheila,
SvarSletI also experience a lot of breakouts if I start to load too many carbs. Insulin stimulates the enzyme 5-alpha reductase that converts testosterone into DHT. DHT on the other hand attacks the hair folicules and the sebaceous glands to produce too much oil hence the breading ground for acne bacteria. Taking Zn with food for 1-2 months has helped me and couple other girlfriends. Zn is a DHT blocking mineral but there are other herbs that also do that if you would like to explore them.
Another thing to explore is the addition of coconut oil. Since it contains a lot of short and medium chain fatty acids that can be used directly for ATP production they should help you with boosting your metabolism and upping your body temp.
Regards,
Violeta
Hi Violeta
SvarSlet-and welcome om board;-)
I had a sneaking suspicion that DHT had a role in it. I've also experienced a lot of hair loss which I notice gets a lot worse if I spike my insulin levels. This made me think of the connection between insulin and DHT. Now I am not sure if it is my metabolism or my testosterone that has caused my hair miniaturization, because it's on my whole head, not just on the top.
What is Zn? I am very interested in any natural herbs that can help me out.
I am already taking coconut oil and it's absolutely fantastic! My hands warm up within 15mins of taking it.
Hey Sheila,
SvarSletGood to see you active on the 180 blog, JT has good input. Abel participates in his forums, and members might have issues similar to yours, so that might be good to look into. Joining is easy.
I have been following Andrews blog:
http://laproline.blogspot.com/2010/09/sick-thin-people.html
He is following Peat's advice, Jannis posted about the vitamin A angle over there. But you can email Peat directly at his website:
http://raypeat.com/contact.shtml
Also good to see Violeta here, her and I have been emailing and trying to figure why I am getting acne (well all my life), my supps arrived this week, and will start them. I will let you know how things go!
I will note that this weekend, I have been packing and doing renovations at my house, since I am selling and moving. All the stress, long hours, heavy lifting, etc.... and now I am sick with my first cold/flu this year!!!
Scott
Hi Sheila,
SvarSletZn=Zinc I have a bad habit to use abbreviations sometimes :-)
You are correct DHT is one of the primary reasons for hair loss especially in men. In women hair loss is more complex and may be due to thyroid problems and/or iron deficiency. For me personally I noticed that taking chelated iron helps a lot with my hair loss since I am prone to anemia and low hemoglobin.
I did so many things to get rid of my acne it is kind of hard to pinpoint what really helped the most. Zinc has been instrumental in the recovery from acne of some of my girlfriends too so I am certain it is very crucial element.
Daily regimen:
Multivitamin
Vit C 1 g
Vitamin B complex look for some with high dose B12 and B6
Magnesium 500mg (preferably chelated)
Zinc 15mg (preferably chelated)
Back then I was taking fish oil as well but I do not recommend it any more since it increases the level of lipid peroxidation in the body.
Chronically elevated insulin causes decrease in the sex hormone binding globulins (SHBG) and estrogen dominance. The estrogen dominance on the other hand causes increase in the thyroid hormone binding globulins which resembles a lot of the hypothyroid symptoms. Also if the cortisol is elevated it causes increased conversion of T3 to rT3 and binds to the progesterone cell receptors which furthers the estrogen dominance.
Regards,
Violeta
Hi Scott,
SvarSletHopefully you can get a good rest after your move :-))
And I am very very optimistic that the supplement program will help you :-)))
One strange thing I use when I start feeling the first symptoms of flu is 3% hydrogen peroxide. I put a drop of it in each ear every couple of hours until I feel the recovery is underway. It is quite interesting to hear the bubbles in you ears killing bacteria and viruses ;-))) I have lowered my high fever with this approach on a couple of occasions too. A lot of people do not believe this is working but I swear by it ;-))) Let me know if you find it as beneficial as I do ;-)))
Regards,
Violeta
Hi Undertow-
SvarSletYou know what? It's nice to be in a place where you can talk with like minded people ;-)
I jumped on Andrews blog too! I have also sent Peat an email. It's going to be interesting to see if he responds, as it is a little personal.
Omg -that sounds exactly like me! I did the same thing this weekend and ended up getting sick too!
I will be following your progress.
Hi Violeta-
SvarSletAh -Zinc ;-) I am taking that at the moment, along with Vitamin A. I am also low in Hemoglobin and iron! Thing is, I have been taking iron supplements (Kraüterblaut) with NO effect on my blood results, what so ever! I am taking high doses of Vitamin D3 too, which also doesn't show up on my lab results?? It's very frustrating.
Your right, female hair loss is a little more tricky. When I got my thyroid hormones tested last time, it showed low TSH (0,20) AND low T3 and T4? Could it be my liver that is the problem? Not converting T4 to T3? What are your thoughts on that?
I need to get me some B-complex. What is chelated?
Thank you for the explanation about the different hormones. You really make it easy to read. It's the chicken or egg question again. I actually think I have estrogen dominance -not that my estrogen is high but in regards to my progesterone, it is. Do you have any experience on taken natural progesterone? I have some progesterone cream in the house, which I ordered ages ago but then got cold feet (when I read some of the side affects, from different women) as I don't want to make my body more confused than it already is.
Again, thank you for your inputs Violeta!
Hi Sheila,
SvarSletI wrote my suggestion about Zinc before reading your second post :-)) Let me know if you think it helps :-)) Zinc is very important in wound healing (no wonder all diaper rash ointments contain zinc oxide) and production of white blood cells that help our immune system to fight infections of all sorts :-)))
The inorganic minerals in the form of oxides most often are not well (only 2 to 15%) absorbed by the body regardless whether they are coming from food (vegetables, beans, cereals, etc). The chelated mineral forms are organic compounds that are more easily absorbed by the body (from 15% to 35%) and are usually amino acid based like chromium picolinate, magnezium glycinte, zinc citrate, etc.
You can try to take extra vitamin C with your iron supplement or use orange juice. Another thing is to add liver to your diet if you do not feel any aversion toward it. Grass fed beef liver is a great source of heme iron. One thing I read somewhere is that the body starts to excrete iron when there is hidden untreated bacterial or viral infection. Most microorganisms thrive when they use iron. Also iron is excreted in large amounts in feces in the form of lactoferrin geared toward killing the invaders. Also such untreated infection can be the cause of low body temperature since the body cannot kill it the goal is to keep its spread to a minimum by making the environment less hospitable for the invaders and keeping the blood circulation to only the vital internal organs.
Vitamin D3- hmm strange that you are not absorbing it ;-)) What I can suggest is to try switching to brand that has it in a fat soluble format mixed with coconut oil for instance, not soy oil. All cheap vitD supplements in US use corn oil which is unfortunate since the Omega 6 will prevent the absorption :-((((
Your TSH looks pretty low. I suspect your liver is probably overwhelmed to detoxify the estrogen's. I forgot to mention that the insulin increases the activity of aromatase enzyme that in women converts estrogen to testosterone hence the masculinization effect. In men it does the opposite- converts more testosterone to estrogen hence the low T. Keep in mind that almost all petrochemicals and environmental pollutants have xenoestrogenic effect when they enter the body and the liver has to take the load of neutralizing them. There is a lot of clinical research that the active compound from milk thistle called sylimarin helps the liver with the estrogen excretion.
One thing that is very probable is that a lot of your free T3 is probably converted to reverse T3 due to elevated cortisol levels. And cortisol may very well be elevated due to hidden infection.
Regards,
Violeta
Hi Sheila,
SvarSletFor the B vitamins I would highly recommend you to add them since they are very helpful for energy production, homocysteine neutralization and lot of other functions. The preferable forms are as follows:
- for B6 the active form is called P5P Pyridoxal-5-Phosphate
- for folic acid the active forms are folinic acid or 5-methyl-tetrahydrofolate
- for B12 the preferred form is methylcobalamin
If you cannot find them in your country let me know :-)) All these forms listed above are readily used by the body and you may find tremendous improvement by just taking the right forms. A lot of times quality also matter because from articles I glanced here and there large parts of the population cannot convert the most widely sold on the market supplements and hence they do not see any improvement in their condition :-((((
The other B vitamins are also important but are more common and if you cannot find good B complex right now you can stick your multivitamin and the three most important I mentioned.
I have used natural progesterone without any adverse side effects. It helped me to conceive my baby boy :-)) I used natural progesterone until my 15 week of pregnancy and I truly believe it prevented a miscarriage on one occasion. A lot of women that have estrogen dominance have problems with natural progesterone that are due to its conversion into bad estrogens- mainly estradiol and estrone and their metabolites. Sine you have lots of symptoms of estrogen dominance I would not suggest you to start natural progesterone right now but it is great to do it later. Also later you can step by step add a few things that will be also very beneficial like DIM (Diindolylmethane) which will help you to balance your good and bad estrogens and block a lot of the undesired breast cancer promoting metabolites :-))))
Regards,
Violeta
Hi Violeta.
SvarSletI so enjoy your comments ;-) Keep em' coming sista!
Congratz on your baby boy btw! ;-)
Interesting about an possible infection can lower iron levels.. I have had a sneaking suspicion about that myself -not about the infection "using" my iron but about me having a possible infection. It would also explain the yellow substance from my nipples.
I am aware of the whole "bad" vitamins vs good and I always make my research before I get a new supplement. About the D3 -it is surposed to be the best on the (right) marked. I got it from a doctor who is very much into the right kind of vitamins. Only thing I can think of something could be up with my stomach and/or intestines. I've been thinking about getting some digestive enzymes and some probiotics - what are your thoughts on that?
I've actually started taking b-vitamins. I have to check exactly what kind they contain. I have taken notice of b6 and b12! Thanks!
So is it really a bad thing to spike my insulin levels at meals? Referring to the not so great conversion into testosterone?