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MidwestBeast in: The Case of the Mysterious Weight Gain!

Appointment with my GP in town on Thursday.

I tentatively have an appointment on the following Thursday down in Nashville with a specialist.
 
MidwestBeast said:
Appointment with my GP in town on Thursday.

I tentatively have an appointment on the following Thursday down in Nashville with a specialist.
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Nashville your going to be in my neck of the woods! I hope all goes good.
 
larrybailey said:
Nashville your going to be in my neck of the woods! I hope all goes good.
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Thanks, man. Appointment is in a few hours and I'm actually fasting so I can just go do my blood work as soon as I'm done instead of tomorrow morning. I'm hoping that will be enough turnaround time for those results to be in for me to take them to the specialist in Nashville. That's actually only a 2 hour haul for me, so it's not that far. It's certainly not something I like to do on a regular basis; especially not for this, but it could be worse.
 
MidwestBeast said:
Thanks, man. Appointment is in a few hours and I'm actually fasting so I can just go do my blood work as soon as I'm done instead of tomorrow morning. I'm hoping that will be enough turnaround time for those results to be in for me to take them to the specialist in Nashville. That's actually only a 2 hour haul for me, so it's not that far. It's certainly not something I like to do on a regular basis; especially not for this, but it could be worse.
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Yeah that's not to bad then, yeah it can always be worst!
 
Got 12 vials of blood drawn, haha. I didn't get all the things tested that I wanted to; doc said he'd rather those requests come from an endo or someone else. What was checked:

- TPO-Ab
- TPO
- FT3
- FT4
- TSH
- rT3
- B12
- Serum folate
- ANA panel
- Iodine
- Vitamin A
- Vitamin D
- Vitamin E
- Homocysteine
- Prolactin
- HGH

Still a number of things I want checked, but hopefully the specialist will write a request form for them (mainly TH-1 and TH-2 panels, as well as re-checking cortisol). I'll have to get this new doc or an endo to prescribe the caber or prami for the prolactin. Luckily I haven't developed gyno or anything, but it's obviously something I'm concerned with (as well as depleted dopamine levels in general; and possible serotonin depletion, too -- I may supplement with tyrosine and some other OTC supplements in the meantime).

Appointment with the specialist a week from today is confirmed.
 
Sorry to hear about all this. I'm just seeing this now. Have you fully tested your adrenals as well?

I have adrenal issues, and things like stims/clen/t3/etc never worked one bit for helping lose weight. Only thing that really did was gluten free / clean CKD/carb cycling. A lot of people who have adrenal issues, are also very carb sensitive, but it's also very difficult to cut/lose weight with messed up adrenals. Usually DHEA is also very low with slow / insufficient adrenals, and DHEA metabolites are really helpful.
 
Gutterpump said:
Sorry to hear about all this. I'm just seeing this now. Have you fully tested your adrenals as well?

I have adrenal issues, and things like stims/clen/t3/etc never worked one bit for helping lose weight. Only thing that really did was gluten free / clean CKD/carb cycling. A lot of people who have adrenal issues, are also very carb sensitive, but it's also very difficult to cut/lose weight with messed up adrenals. Usually DHEA is also very low with slow / insufficient adrenals, and DHEA metabolites are really helpful.
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Thanks for dropping in, man. My serum cortisol levels have been normal every time and ACTH was normal, as well. However, I had a 24-hour cortisol urine test that had my overall numbers significantly high out of range, but the doc dismissed it because the cortisol per liter was normal (because I pissed about 6 liters in that 24 hours). I've still been wanting to get a 4x saliva test to look at it, DHEA and progesterone, too.
 
Just took 25,000IU of Vitamin D. I've got a 180ct bottle of 1,000IU softgels that I pulled out of storage and dipped into while I wait for the new Swanson bottle to get here. I'm gonna high dose these first few days and then get on a regimen of about 15,000IU/day.

I also pulled out a ton of other stuff, including the iodine I'd used and stopped shortly after, NOW Thyroid Energy, and a few others. I've read that iodine can be bad for those with Hashimoto's, but mine is low and I know it's important in conversions, so I'm going to get it courtesy of the Thyroid Energy at the moment.

Maybe between the D3 and iodine (and other goodies in Thyroid Energy), this'll start going in the right direction. The doctor in Nashville is VERY alternative (more so than what I'd expected) and I'm not entirely on board with it, but some of it makes sense. Regardless of that, at least some of the supplementation runs concurrent with what Dr. Kharrazian wrote about in his book.

I'm also considering doing a provocation diet, where I basically eliminate almost everything from my diet lol. I can't remember what I get to eat (it's in the book), but it's only a few things and you do it for 3 weeks before starting to add things in. It'll blow for those 3 weeks, but it may be worth it.

I'm normally big on doing one thing at a time to minimize variables (for obvious reasons), but I think I'm just going to jump into this all at once. I don't have a lot of fight left in me, unfortunately.
 
U have fight left, I mean what else can you do?

U can't give up
 
I have no intention of giving up. I'm simply stating that I'm growing tired of the fight. I've poured as much of my time, resources and self into solving and resolving this as I can and I can't keep doing it. It's mentally and emotionally exhausting.

As for the specialist; some of it was on par with what I read in Dr. Kharrazian's book and some of it was more Eastern medicine/philosophy. That's not something I necessarily put a lot of stock in, but I'm going to trust him and see what happens. I still don't have a lot to say other than that he laid the blame on bacteria and excess aluminum. He said the thyroid was weak and the digestive system was, too, but thyroid was in the most need of priority.

Again, not stuff I necessarily put stock in, but traditional medicine hasn't done much so far.
 
Probably on Monday I'll be starting a provocation diet and going incredibly strict and minimal for 3 weeks, before adding things back in. I've also ordered caber and will start dosing that as soon as it arrives. I'll probably be dosing some tyrosine in the meantime. I've got a good sized order I'm planning to make with Swanson to pick up some iodine and a few other things that comprise NOW's Thyroid Energy, but I don't need everything in it and that will be cheaper. There are a handful of other things, as well. I'm normally not a fan at all of making more than one change at a time in order to reduce variables, but I'm past that. I'm also done waiting around. It's go time.
 
I know its not practical and it is a pain in the ass, but have you considered doing a juice cleanse? Like a solid 14 days, then after 14 days sticking with only raw foods after that?
I did a 10 day before and the first 5 were rough, but after that it wasn't to bad and it gave my body a good chance to reset. My bowels never had to worry about digesting anything, all the nutrients were absorbed quickly and it let the rest get back on track. I had some pretty bad gi issues that were resolved by doing this. I stuck with raw foods for about 5 days before my weak will power caused me to cave but I didn't go crazy after either.
Not sure if you have netflix, but fat sick and nearly dead is a pretty interesting movie to watch and you can see what it did for some people with some serious serious illnesses that were taking crazy steroids.
 
indysoccer16 said:
I know its not practical and it is a pain in the ass, but have you considered doing a juice cleanse? Like a solid 14 days, then after 14 days sticking with only raw foods after that?
I did a 10 day before and the first 5 were rough, but after that it wasn't to bad and it gave my body a good chance to reset. My bowels never had to worry about digesting anything, all the nutrients were absorbed quickly and it let the rest get back on track. I had some pretty bad gi issues that were resolved by doing this. I stuck with raw foods for about 5 days before my weak will power caused me to cave but I didn't go crazy after either.
Not sure if you have netflix, but fat sick and nearly dead is a pretty interesting movie to watch and you can see what it did for some people with some serious serious illnesses that were taking crazy steroids.
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I had looked into them a bit, but not seriously. The large reason is mostly that I don't like the idea of not taking in protein for that period of time. I could get over the fact of not eating; I'm barely hungry half the time, anyway.

As for the movie, it sounds interesting. I d/c'ed my Netflix when I finished grad school (just wasn't watching enough movies to warrant it), but I should be able to get a friend to come up with it for me.
 
I know its not the protein amounts you are used to, but you would be surprised at how much protein is in plants. one cup of diced aspargus has 3 g protein. By the time you juice for a day you are still close to 100g of protein a day. And you would be surprised at what your body does with all the added nutrients. I looked great when I did my fast and I hardened up and didnt lose any muscle mass what so ever.
Here is a list of the "higher" protein based raw foods
• Asparagus
• Beet Greens
• Broccoli
• Cabbage
• Invalid Link Removed
• Collard Greens
• Kale
• Mustard Greens
• Spinach
• Swiss Chard
• Sprouts
• Tomatoes
• Turnip Greens

Shoot me a pm with your email and I can send you a copy of the movie over, its only 700mb
 
You might have already covered this, but faulty adrenals cause the may of the symptoms typically associated with hypothyroidism. The conversion of T4 to T3 is significantly reduced and one of the most common mistakes physicians, accordingly to my research, is misdiagnosing adrenal fatigue as a problem with the thyroid and prescribing thyroid medications which instead of alleviating the symptoms make them worse. As far as I'm aware high levels of cortisol interfere with the production of T3 and when I focused on managing my cortisol, my body improved considerably with less volatility in my body temperature. At its worst I noticed fat loss completely halted and I even gain some fat during the worst phase of my adrenal fatigue even though I was consuming few calories than ever, expending more effort and using various fat burners. I had been far leaner eating 50% more calories and doing around 30% less work in the gym previously.

Its now been around 2.5 weeks since I started to manage my adrenal fatigue and although I haven't fully recovered I am far far better. But recovery is slow, you take three steps forward and one step back and rate of recovery is only a few percent a day.
 
saggy321 said:
You might have already covered this, but faulty adrenals cause the may of the symptoms typically associated with hypothyroidism. The conversion of T4 to T3 is significantly reduced and one of the most common mistakes physicians, accordingly to my research, is misdiagnosing adrenal fatigue as a problem with the thyroid and prescribing thyroid medications which instead of alleviating the symptoms make them worse. As far as I'm aware high levels of cortisol interfere with the production of T3 and when I focused on managing my cortisol, my body improved considerably with less volatility in my body temperature. At its worst I noticed fat loss completely halted and I even gain some fat during the worst phase of my adrenal fatigue even though I was consuming few calories than ever, expending more effort and using various fat burners. I had been far leaner eating 50% more calories and doing around 30% less work in the gym previously.

Its now been around 2.5 weeks since I started to manage my adrenal fatigue and although I haven't fully recovered I am far far better. But recovery is slow, you take three steps forward and one step back and rate of recovery is only a few percent a day.
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Thanks for chiming in, man.

I somewhat covered it.

I've had numerous serum cortisol draws (AM and PM) and both have been within normal range. ACTH also showed up as normal. Only thing not normal was a 24-hour cortisol checked by urine (it was about double the high end of in-range). My GP dismissed it by saying that it was due to urine volume being what it was (6 liters in 24 hours instead of the average of 3). So he said that since the cortisol per liter was normal, it was fine, though I'd guess that it being what it was was more of an issue because there's still high cortisol.

High cortisol does downregulate thyroid receptor sites, which is one way that numbers can show up fine on tests but there are still obvious issues. However, there didn't appear to be any adenomas showing up in my abdominal CT scan that could be responsible for the production of a surge of cortisol and the serum tests being what they are doesn't give any firm answer, either. I've started taking in extra vitamin C (~3g/day in 500mg doses; up from just the 500mg/day I'd get from my multi).

Outside of that, I'm not sure what else to do to handle excess cortisol if it is truly a problem (aside from combatting with some rhodiola or maybe running a cycle of 11-oxo, but that one would seem to me to be too much of a risk of adding more unnecessary variables).

If you have thoughts, I'm always open to hear them.
 
How are you sleeping? Do you know if there is a difference between the cortisol test you ran and the 24 hour saliva cortisol test where you take measurements at four intervals over a 24 hour period. You may not have chronically high levels of cortisol all the time but significant variations which averaged out may show as normal but could still cause problems. I know my cortisol fluctuates now without measuring it. For example its fairly low in the morning but high in the evening making sleeping difficult. I've therefore started taking Lean Extreme and PS in the evening with melatonin and that helps me get a solid nights sleep.

Also I've read that adaptogens are the most useful when you have fluctuating cortisol levels, the best seems to be Siberian Ginseng and Rodea. I'm awaiting a delivery a farrows adrenal optimizer, the reviews on it are very good and it contains a nice blend of the recommended ingredients. I will let you know how it goes.
 
saggy321 said:
How are you sleeping? Do you know if there is a difference between the cortisol test you ran and the 24 hour saliva cortisol test where you take measurements at four intervals over a 24 hour period. You may not have chronically high levels of cortisol all the time but significant variations which averaged out may show as normal but could still cause problems. I know my cortisol fluctuates now without measuring it. For example its fairly low in the morning but high in the evening making sleeping difficult. I've therefore started taking Lean Extreme and PS in the evening with melatonin and that helps me get a solid nights sleep.

Also I've read that adaptogens are the most useful when you have fluctuating cortisol levels, the best seems to be Siberian Ginseng and Rodea. I'm awaiting a delivery a farrows adrenal optimizer, the reviews on it are very good and it contains a nice blend of the recommended ingredients. I will let you know how it goes.
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The weird thing is that I sleep fine. I had a sleep study done back in October when I was looking at OSA as a possible culprit and everything looks great as far as my sleep stages and such. And I also have no problem falling asleep or staying asleep. So in that respect, there is no problem, but that high 24 hour urine cortisol test is enough for me to want to still look at this to rule it out. For whatever reason, my doctor hasn't been wanting to help me pursue the saliva testing. I'm going to take a number of tests and log all the CPT codes from Quest and Labcorp and just take them to him and explain that I'd really feel more comfortable having them done and if he won't do it, I'll just have another doctor do it (not in a dickish way, but just to let him know that one way or another I'll get this done and I'd prefer he save me the time and money).
 
Need to see that movie fat sick and deadly
 
Collection of thoughts:

- I'm watching the movie at the recommendation of indy, right now (probably won't finish it, tonight, but at least watching the start of it).

- Tomorrow I'm going to start on the first of 2 3-day trials of TH-1 and TH-2 boosting supplements. I should feel worse on one and better on the other. Hopefully I'll be able to deduce that.

- Tomorrow I'm going to track down an allergy specialist in town and see if they'll do some allergy testing for me to check on any food intolerances (not sure if that'll pan out, but I'm looking into it).

- At the end of the 2 3-day trials of TH-boosting supplements, I'm going to consider a provocation diet.

- I'm also going to either go back to an intermittent fasting diet or 3 large meals, spread as far out throughout the day as possible (IF is easier with medication and needing an empty stomach) in an attempt to see if that brings my fasting blood glucose levels down (just out of curiosity, really) and to help with insulin sensitivity -- if you haven't read the article on here about this, it's worth looking at.

- I plan on starting a new supplement regimen after I get through the first few things I've listed.

- I'm going to go through and make an excel spreadsheet of all the things I want to look at and take down the Quest and Labcorp CPT codes and try to get my doc to sign off on it.

- He suggested I up my T4 to 75mcg/day from 50mcg, but I'm going to ask if he'll agree to at least the 112mcg, though I feel 150mcg may be the route for now (my FT4 levels were lower now, on 50mcg/day Synthroid for 6 weeks than when I was on just T3). Ideally, addressing the immune issue will negate my need for thyroid meds, but in the meantime, I'd like my levels to be good.
 
indysoccer16 said:
I know its not practical and it is a pain in the ass, but have you considered doing a juice cleanse? Like a solid 14 days, then after 14 days sticking with only raw foods after that?
I did a 10 day before and the first 5 were rough, but after that it wasn't to bad and it gave my body a good chance to reset. My bowels never had to worry about digesting anything, all the nutrients were absorbed quickly and it let the rest get back on track. I had some pretty bad gi issues that were resolved by doing this. I stuck with raw foods for about 5 days before my weak will power caused me to cave but I didn't go crazy after either.
Not sure if you have netflix, but fat sick and nearly dead is a pretty interesting movie to watch and you can see what it did for some people with some serious serious illnesses that were taking crazy steroids.
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So I'm about halfway through the movie and it's certainly interesting.

Do you know if he lists the recipes for his juice combinations, anywhere? I know some women at my work have a few that they do, but I guess I'm more curious about recipes so it tastes good, as well as the optimal amount of certain fruits/vegetables, etc.
 
David Dunn said:
Just for the goof...get tested for Invalid Link Removed
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Interestingly enough, that's been brought up, before (I think it was the quack endo at UL, but it may have been me who came across it). My serum iron has shown up high on two occasions, but ferritin has always been fine. As for the symptoms, I haven't had any of them, either. Fatigue and lack of energy have been there, but I think a lot of it is psychological, just because it's so depressing that I do things right in the kitchen and the gym and see none of the benefits. I've had some hair shedding, but only on my head -- can't say I've lost any of the chest hair, haha.

Was there any particular reason that hemochromatosis stuck out to you? And thanks for dropping in, David.
 
I have had a genetic test and I have been diagnosed as a hemochromatosis carrier. I had an elevated liver enzyme that was not unusual (to me) and therefore my PCP tested me. I had one of the mutations - C282Y or H63D - cannot recall which. Although I do not have it my iron is high(er) and those with it have a propensity for higher iron absorption. I donate blood regularly and my blood sample drops like a rock!

Invalid Link Removed
 
David Dunn said:
I have had a genetic test and I have been diagnosed as a hemochromatosis carrier. I had an elevated liver enzyme that was not unusual (to me) and therefore my PCP tested me. I had one of the mutations - C282Y or H63D - cannot recall which. Although I do not have it my iron is high(er) and those with it have a propensity for higher iron absorption. I donate blood regularly and my blood sample drops like a rock!

Invalid Link Removed
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Very interesting.

Was the genetic test just for this? or did it cover an array of things? I ask mainly because if I keep running into brick walls and an inability to find answers, a genetic mutation would seem like a possible culprit.
 
Its a specific test for it but she also tested for hepatitis and other liver abnormalities. Because I am a carrier my children are also at risk as well. It is very under diagnosed and untested. Ironically it can also be a cause for hypogonadism. I do not have it but as a carrier I can become symptomatic.
 
I believe these are the ones he uses.
I used to have a book with like 100 different combos, but after a while I just started making my own and trying new things. I made some of my best juices that way.
Invalid Link Removed
 
indysoccer16 said:
I believe these are the ones he uses.
I used to have a book with like 100 different combos, but after a while I just started making my own and trying new things. I made some of my best juices that way.
Invalid Link Removed
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It looks like he also has (or is part of) a site: Reboot. There are some recipes on there, too (one actually had 20g of protein in a serving).

I wouldn't be doing this for a while if I were to, but in a way, it would be like a provocation diet in itself and I have to admit, it's fairly tempting. What sort of calorie ranges would one want to hit during this, though? Because if you're too low, you're going to get the thyroid downregulation and all of the negatives that come from any type of dieting. Also, the lack of lipids would hinder testosterone, I would think. And what about the use of any type of supplements during something like this? And what about fish oil? That would at least get fats in, but I don't know if that would cause issue.
 
This probably doesn't make any sense at all, but is there any chance that going keto a few times could have screwed me up? I went 10 days at one point without a carb-refeed, which for me meant maybe 25g carbs/day, TOPS (coming from nuts and other things like that).
 
I saw an allergist, today. She was actually very cool, knowledgeable and helpful. I had planned on just having the whole kit and caboodle when it came to the allergy tests, but she convinced me not to do that. She explained how it was highly unlikely that I'd have an allergy if I had none of the symptoms (rashes, digestive distress, etc.), which I kind of knew, but still wanted to try and rule stuff out. My thought process was I'd rather do that than the provocation diet. I still ended up getting tested for a few things, just for the sake of saying I know I'm not allergic: wheat (not gluten), eggs, milk, soy, and chicken. The wheat, milk and soy are the most common, but I eat a good amount of eggs and chicken on a pretty regular basis, so I wanted to check those, too. The test didn't turn anything up, which is good. I still need to work on looking into the leaky gut thing, and probably speak with someone about doing the colonoscopy I'd decided not to do several months back.

I finished my 3 days of using Apex's X-Viromin, which is:

Vitamin A (as mixed carotenoids) 500 IU
Vitamin C (as ascorbic acid) 60mg
Zinc (as zinc gluconate) 7mg
Astragalus root extract 200mg
Echinacea purpurea extract 75mg
Licorice root extract 75mg
Thymus (porcine) 12mg
Spleen (porcine) 12mg
Parotid (bovine) 10mg
Proprietary blend (300mg):
---Lemon Balm Extract
---Pomegranate Fruit Extract
---Maitake Mushroom

And today, I started my 3 day run of Apex's X-FLM, which is:

Proprietary Blend (500mg):
Pine Bark Extract (standardized to contain 50% proanthocyanidins)
Green Tea Extract (standardized to contain 95% polyphenol)
Grape Seed Extract (standardized to contain 95% proanthocyanidins)
Resveratrol (from polygonum cuspidatum root extract)
Pycnogenol

The premise is each product contains ingredients that will boost either the TH-1 or TH-2 portion of the immune system. Whichever side is weaker will result in my feeling better when I take the appropriate product to boost it, and equally, I should feel worse if I boost the strong side even more. I didn't really notice anything the past 3 days, though I was a little extra tired, it seemed. Now this evening I did manage to have a miserable bout of stomach cramps, a feeling of being unsettled, and a lot of trips to the bathroom. It seems to have subsided, and only lasted about an hour, but it's worth noting. I doubt it's from this, as I've taken green tea and grape seed before (and probably reversatrol, too) without any issue. It could have also been from the allergy testing, or it could just be a minor bug. I'll update whenever I see fit.
 
MidwestBeast said:
This probably doesn't make any sense at all, but is there any chance that going keto a few times could have screwed me up? I went 10 days at one point without a carb-refeed, which for me meant maybe 25g carbs/day, TOPS (coming from nuts and other things like that).
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I don't see how, but the human body is a miraculous, complex, and sometimes confusing machine.
 
morry said:
I don't see how, but the human body is a miraculous, complex, and sometimes confusing machine.
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lol exactly my thoughts

It's pretty irritating and confusing to me, because I understand science and the logic behind things, but when a man gains weight when consuming 500 calories/day and working out/burning calories, no less, science kind of goes out the door.

I just learned about the brain's glucose needs/day and some more of the science behind ketosis, not too long ago in the nutrition course I'm picking up and it just made me wonder. Made me curious if i screwed up how my body was able to function with digestion. I did keto in between those times, again, and had no luck, so I don't think that it's that my body can't digest carbohydrates.

It's all really just conjecture and I doubt it holds any merit; but I've come to the point of not filtering my thoughts -- no matter how strange they seem.
 
midwestbeast,
I don't know if I can contribute any help, but me and my girl did a total body cleanse a while back. We quit early, not really because of temptations, but because it was just boring. We weren't really doing it for a specific problem at the time, like what you've got going on. But my sister does do frequent fastings, and she feels great. There is so much crap in mainstream food, it's amazing people don't have more problems than they already do. The pink sludge comes to mind right away, "it's perfectly safe at 15%" lol.

It may be worth a try, since you have seemed to come to a brick wall in your journey so far. It doesn't cost anything other than some organic maple syrup (for calories daily), some lemons and water. That's what we did for 4 days. I felt great, no hunger pangs or anything. My sister does only water for weeks at a time.

After watching a program called "Eat the Sun", I believe that the human body can get alternate energy from other sources besides "mouth food". I'm not saying that will fix you, just saying you might give it a shot.

mike
 
BTW, have you tried anything since your last update? I have done atkins/ketosis a few times in my day, and I have had mixed results.
Sometimes I can drop 20 lbs., other times I had to stay on induction for a month to loose 8 lbs. LIke you say, it throws the science of things out the window.
Good luck in your journey.
mike
 
adeadbodyman said:
BTW, have you tried anything since your last update? I have done atkins/ketosis a few times in my day, and I have had mixed results.
Sometimes I can drop 20 lbs., other times I had to stay on induction for a month to loose 8 lbs. LIke you say, it throws the science of things out the window.
Good luck in your journey.
mike
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I haven't tried any fasts, yet. I'm considering a vegetable/fruit juice fast, but in all honesty, I feel like the issue is more complex (not saying I couldn't be wrong, though). I just find it baffling that no matter what I eat, I either maintain or keep gaining fat.

I'm not sure what to think or where to head in all of this, next. I'm not giving up, but I'm definitely mentally run down and tired of watching my body turn into what it has.

Thank you for chiming in, though; it is very much appreciated.
 
I just had an interesting convo with someone at work recently. Turns out he has Hashimoto's, and can't seem to lose weight even though his activity level is high and he's purposely trying to. He's still seeing more DR's or getting more tests, and this is fairly new to him (the discovery), so I'll let you know if there are any updates with him as well.

You have a definite diagnosis of Hashimotos?
 
Gutterpump said:
I just had an interesting convo with someone at work recently. Turns out he has Hashimoto's, and can't seem to lose weight even though his activity level is high and he's purposely trying to. He's still seeing more DR's or getting more tests, and this is fairly new to him (the discovery), so I'll let you know if there are any updates with him as well.

You have a definite diagnosis of Hashimotos?
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Yep. TPO-Ab. I'm not sure of Tg-Ab or anything else, but it shouldn't matter since there is an issue with TPO.

Hopefully he'll get something figured out, too. I'm at a loss.
 
Another guy with Hashimoto's and a similar issue checking in. I'm honestly starting to wonder if I have Cushing's since my cholesterol/triglyceride levels are so ****ed up...
 
ScarFace88 said:
Another guy with Hashimoto's and a similar issue checking in. I'm honestly starting to wonder if I have Cushing's since my cholesterol/triglyceride levels are so ****ed up...
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I'm sorry to hear that you're dealing with something similar. I wouldn't wish this upon anyone.

I had one 24-hour urine cortisol test come back high, so I had an abdominal CT scan to check for any tumors and that came up with nothing (following a dynamic brain MRI that didn't show anything, either), so I think that's essentially ruled out for me. I do, however, still intend to get a 4 or 6x saliva cortisol test done.
 
MidwestBeast said:
I'm sorry to hear that you're dealing with something similar. I wouldn't wish this upon anyone.

I had one 24-hour urine cortisol test come back high, so I had an abdominal CT scan to check for any tumors and that came up with nothing (following a dynamic brain MRI that didn't show anything, either), so I think that's essentially ruled out for me. I do, however, still intend to get a 4 or 6x saliva cortisol test done.
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Any new news???
 
FL3X MAGNUM said:
How did your first dose of caber go?
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Caber is good sh1t. Prami is the devil.

But your taking bc of medical reasons, not AAS....oops.
 
morry said:
Any new news???
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FL3X MAGNUM said:
How did your first dose of caber go?
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I felt like a drug dealer. It's 20 1mg tabs and they're obviously tiny. I'm just going with .25mg E3D, though I could probably get away with going .5mg E3D (at least to start) since I do, in fact, have high prolactin levels. Regardless, quartering those pills was awful. But, I dosed and nothing to mention, really. Some positive sides possibly noticed, yesterday, but it could have been placebo, too, and it wasn't too significant, anyway. Next dose will be tomorrow night.

morry said:
Caber is good sh1t. Prami is the devil.

But your taking bc of medical reasons, not AAS....oops.
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Haha, yeah. I did a lot of researching. My initial reaction was caber, but then I started leaning toward prami because of the GH inducing effect, which would be pretty nice, but it's not the reason I'm using it, anyway. But when I was looking at the half life and the possible sides, caber won out.




As far as new news, there isn't much. I'm afraid to even mention it, because I've been down this road before, but the last few days I've lost a little bit of weight. This morning, I was down to 269 and change, which is the first time I've been under 270 in quite a while. I also played basketball last night for the first time in at least 6 months, if not longer. That, let me tell you, blows, when you're used to playing at 210 lbs and having the stamina that I did. I just felt like crap for the 2nd and 3rd games, but I stayed out there. I just have to ease back into it and play big man defense until I get my lungs back to play the way I normally do.

I also officially went back to IF, yesterday. I'd been pretty close to it, anyway, just without the stop time in the evening. With the thyroid meds, I have to wait an hour to eat, and this was just easier to go back to. Like I said, I'm very, very hesitant to get excited about this, because I've seen this happen before and then an inability to do anything after. But, hopefully something has finally just lined up in my body that will allow me to keep losing. I can only pray and hope.
 
Well, for anyone who happens to still pay attention to this, here is an update.

I got the first batch of some blood work in (have a lengthy list of some other things to check, too). Some how they still botched part of it and didn't test everything (just T3 and not free T3, but whatever). Drove out of town to turn in two days worth of 4x salivary cortisol samples and have an appt. with my doc on Tuesday. Here are the numbers:


* Prolactin: 2.2 (4-15.2)
Vitamin D 25-Hydroxy: 85.5 (30-100)
* Calcitrol 1-25 di-OH: 153.7 (10-75)
Iodine, serum or plasma: 46.3 (40-92)
TSH: 0.977 (0.450-4.500)
T4: 7.6 (4.5-12)
Free T4: 2.4 (1.2-4.9)
T3: 161 (71-180)
T3 uptake: 32 (24-39)
* rT3: 35.4 (13.5-34.2)
Thyrotropin Ab: <0.51 (0.00-1.75)* TPO Ab: 148 (0-34)

* = out of range

The prolactin went from high OOR to low OOR (17 or so down to 2) from my .5mg E3D dosing of caber. I personally don't think there's any problem with low prolactin, IIRC.

The Vitamin D 25-Hydroxy is up from low OOR. My 15,000iu/day dosing has brought it up to an optimal level.

I've never had calcitriol checked, before, so I don't know what to think of that -- it looks like sarcoidosis or hyperparathyroidism could be issues.


Iodine is up a tad from being low OOR, but I'll still probably start dosing some kelp to bring it up higher.

TSH looks good for the first time in a long time.

T4 and FT4 are good, but I think they still need to be a bit higher (I may need to scale the T3 dose down just a tad and up the T4 dose to keep the ratio closer to the 93/7 it naturally occurs at).

Reverse T3 is high OOR, again, but no where near as bad as it had been in the past. It could be a conversion problem or just stress (which would make sense at this time of year).

First time I've had Thyrotropin antibodies checked, before -- glad to see no problems.

TPO antibodies will always be high, to the best of my knowledge, because of the Hashimoto's. However, I think as things get better, it's supposed to drop a bit.
 
So what's the next course of action from here buddy?
 
FL3X MAGNUM said:
So what's the next course of action from here buddy?
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Well, I'll meet with my GP on Tuesday and see what he has to say. One of the office associates said he specifically requested I make an appointment to come back in (which wasn't what we'd previously discussed, so that tells me he sees something he wants to talk about). I also took my two days of 4x salivary cortisol tests in, this afternoon, so I should find out next week (hopefully) what the status of those are.

I have a laundry list of other testing to look at, still. And I also have an appointment later this month to set up the colonoscopy. I was going to do one a year ago, but didn't because of what they said my out of pocket cost would be. That said, it's enough of an issue that it needs to be done and also, I may see if my doc knows any codes to help out with how insurance would cover it (the only reason I say that is because before, it was a doctor from an acute care who set it up, whereas this is set up from my GP and has been an ongoing issue).
 
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