lying or ignorant

For years now, I've heard the "experts" insist that goitrogenic vegetables are FINE as long as you cook them!  I mean -- vegetables are S0-0-0-0-O good for you!  It would be dangerous to restrict non-starchy vegetables (even though the paleoids snicker at those who insist that GRAINS are important sources of nutrition and shouldn't be limited).

Experience proves the contrary.  Which is why I respect doctors who present and stick by what they find to work in clinical practice ... but not "the other kind."

I was doing great, "coming down" from my nutritional excesses in N'Orleans!  Within a very few days I was in ketosis again.  THEN a neighbor invited us over for a group dinner and I "sinned" again (why do some people actually take pride in "making" us eat things that are bad for us?).  I felt really (physically) horrible for a day or so, but some fasting brought me back to the place I was before, and I am now solidly back in ketosis.  J cooked the main course at dinner last night (an Indian dish of cod with a yogurt sauce), but "let" me cook the cauliflower, which needed to be used.  I made my faux Party Potatoes dish, and it WAS delicious.  But he put a huge mound of it on my plate, and I STUPIDLY finished it.

NEWS FLASH:  cauliflower and the rest of its tribe are goitrogens.  They're goitrogenous raw.  They're goitrogenous cooked.  They're REALLY goitrogenous fermented.  Short version, they're FUCKING GOITROGENS.

I woke up this morning after sleeping the clock around.  I was cold.  I was dopey.  I was suffering from a big hairy nightmarish lack of thyroid function.  I ate ONE CUP OF COOKED CAULIFLOWER, and did nothing else that would have lowered it.

So don't listen to gurus who proclaim, SURE you can eat all the leafy green vegetables you want!  They're healthy!  They're low-carb!  They're loaded with vitamins and minerals and antioxidants and all those lovely dietician-approved phytochemicals that everyone wants to sell you in pill form!

In fact, thiol-containing vegetables cause more problems than they could possibly resolve.  Not just for people with "thyroid trouble" -- anyone who benefits from a low-histamine or failsafe diet is well advised to stay the hell away from cruciferous vegetables aka brassicas.  Especially, don't eat them fermented!  I grit my teeth every time broscience recommends home-made sauerkraut or kimchee....

Kurt Harris was right, too

A discussion i had this morning with Sidereal inspired me to dig out an old Masterjohn post, which led me to a study about the effect of dietary polyunsaturates on thyroid function (PubMed, BTW, is closed down right now thanks to the Republican Party), which inspired me to re-read Archivore's "no such thing as a macronutrient -- fats" post.

Ya know, just reading this article gives me a good opinion of Harris' insight.  It's only when i read his comments on other blogs that he irritates the hell out of me.

Speaking of the components of our diets in terms of macronutrients IS bullshit.  To put corn oil and red palm oil in the same category is just plain ignorant.  To equate tryptophan, tyrosine, taurine and glycine, ditto.  And to compare whole-wheat flour and swiss chard (silver-beet to my international friends) is madness.

***

The evidence, then, that i hoped to show Sidereal is eluding me right now; i can only pass on the bare "fact" and save the discussion for a later day.  :-(  A rodent study looked specifically at how different dietary fats affected thyroid use in tissues.  The "receptivity" of the cells was best in the presence of saturated fats, lower with monounsaturates, and SIGNIFICANTLY poorer when those hearthealthypolyunsaturates were fed.  

It hardly matters how much T3 is in your blood, if it can't get into the tissues to work!  

And again -- your starting point determines how much improvement you'll see when you make a dietary change.  I suspect this is why some people feel they get a metabolic boost from coconut oil while i never observed it particularly.  If you go from a high-omega6 "SAD" or Atkins diet straight to CO, yes -- i imagine you'll get a huge boost.  I came to LCHF via Atkins, but have never been a fan of vegetable oils.  I started using butter, olive oil and bacon drippings when i abandoned low-fat, and so the metabolic advantage i experienced with the lowered sugar and starch, and the raised saturated and monounsaturated fats came all at once.

I feel that my thyroid production, conversion and usage are optimal when i'm getting LOTS of grassfed beef and lamb fat.  I feel GOOD when i fast (ie, my body is burning my own stored saturated fat), but the reduced food intake causes my body to downshift my thyroid.  

I think this is where a lot of people get confused!  A LCHF diet reduces the appetite, because one gains access to one's own fat for fuel, BUT the body senses a reduction in intake whether it be via leptin, FIAF or something else, i don't know.  The "food scarcity" signal lowers thyroid production.

It is NOT that "low-carb reduces thyroid function" -- I CAN'T SAY THIS ENOUGH!!!  It's that an "underfed" body lowers thyroid production.  A carb-fed body requires more thyroid hormone to burn that potentially-harmful fuel flooding the bloodstream, so a euthyroid individual ramps up production.  An individual with a "weak" thyroid may not be able to meet the challenge.  THIS is why a low-carb-high-SATURATED-fat diet is so important to my well-being.

who's driving the malaise-car?

I woke up cold this morning, and a couple of times (briefly) during the night.  This means that something i consumed YESTERDAY was deleterious to my well-being.  I'm lucky that i have a promptly-responsive barometer, because those who have problems that take awhile to be observed have a much harder time figuring out what went wrong.

What i ate yesterday:  black coffee, important supplements, the last serving of Fat Fast Cookbook cheese-broccoli soup (the first time i had no problem on a larger bowlful, so i exonerate it), swiss cheese and pork rinds (similar side-comment), one small Campari-and-soda (ditto), 6 oz. chardonnay (ditto), and the condemned-by-elimination leftover-pork-roast-based chow mein i made!  It contained the coconut oil i cooked it all in, a minuscule amount of konjac flour (the stuff shirataki noodles are made of) to thicken, meat and natural broth, a little shallot, a little canned mushroom, moderate amounts of celery and canned bean sprout, and the largest vegetable component, my half of the small can of bamboo shoots i shredded to make the "noodle bed."

Insignificant quantities of carbs, as you see!  Can't blame the rice because i didn't have any.   Not likely the shallot or celery as i seem to find them non-toxic.  I've had the same brand of mushroom recently, and they're from the same cartonful of cans, so that too is unlikely.  Only suspects, the histaminic buildup of the meat, or the MULTIPLE GOITROGENIC COMPOUNDING of the bean sprouts and bamboo shoots.

Even eating tiny quantities of certain questionable foods can gang up together to give a sensitive person problems!  Now, imagine that your doctor is trying to help you determine how much your dosage of exogenous thyroid hormone should be, and you're eating a mixed diet of all sorts of things that affect your native output...!  No wonder it can be such a battle and such a puzzle.

What i DIDN'T eat yesterday, now -- ruminant meat that i know makes me feel GOOD...

the chicken or the egg

There are so many things which cause a body to dial back on its thyroid production and T4-to-T3 conversion!  Malnutrition (ie inadequate raw materials), illness, infection, excessive omega-6 or insufficient saturated fat, stress, a very-low-calorie diet, too-heavy exercising....  Anything which makes the body think it's in danger of hard times coming and needs to garner its resources -- a siege situation -- is enough to make it slow metabolism via the thyroid.

As i read about the assaults that "tainted" foodstuffs make (my histamine studies), and the postulated infective origins of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS/ME), i can't help but connect dots until i get back to thyroid function.  (It may not be my only tool, but i DO have a hammer....)  I had already supposed that there was a chicken/egg situation going on before, and this complicates the matter further.

Bad nutrient absorption (amino acids, vitamin A, iron or B12 perhaps) because one has poor stomach-acid production due to low thyroid will lower thyroid function which will lower stomach acid which will ... ad infinitum.  Or h. pylori infection can lower stomach acid which will also ....  Or other viral, bacterial or mycoplasma issues -- whew.  All roads lead to Rome.

So for those of us who suffer from thyroid misfunction (low, high or fluctuating), does the trouble originate in a faulty body, or do infective or nutritional influences cause the poor function which snowballs into worse function?  I suspect all the above.

tying it all together

 What people call "having a life" can really disrupt one's train of thought.  ;-)  I was chugging right along on the subject of histamine/tyramine when a distraction or two caused me to lose control of the mental plates i was juggling  and CRASH -- the shards of ideas lying around my feet are quite a mess i need to clean up!

The short version is, when our bodies can't process properly what we put into them, repercussions spread far and wide.  Anything that hints to our bodies that things aren't going well causes stress hormones to rise and thyroid levels to fall.  Such simple things as too much exercise or glucose-yielding foods, environmental mold, extremes in temperature, and foods for which we don't reliably produce the right breakdown enzymes can set off a cascade of different symptoms.

To be fair, it's not surprising that doctors don't know how to diagnose a lot of the illnesses they see until they have a good deal of experience -- especially considering how many textbooks seem to be written by purveyors of pharmaceuticals, disease seems to be a kind of drug-deficiency to a lot of people.  The old days of young medicos going into practice with old-timers, thus having a sort of in-the-field apprenticeship, would appear to be over; doing apprenticeships in hospitals (as interns and residents) where illness is more of an acute situation wouldn't seem as sound a background for someone with an eye to General Practice.  Because of the current system, we end up with excellence in dealing with trauma and we totally suck at promoting actual WELLNESS.  If the difficulty can't be sewn up, cut out or killed with antibiotics, or if the dis-ease is too subtle or generalized, the medical industry doesn't know what to do with it.

And wellness is exactly what a lot of us want to be pursuing, in the paleo/primal/WAPF blogosphere!  This is why those of us whose difficulties can't be sewn up, etc., have turned into renegades and iconoclasts and have turned our backs on the mainstream medicine which is not interested in our goal.

If we want to be as healthy as possible, we HAVE to define what's best for us, usually by trial and error.  Then when that line is defined, we have to toe it to the best of our ability, realizing that every excursion from it causes pain and suffering commensurate with how far out of bounds we have let ourselves go.  Some can have the occasional "fling" with nutritional good-for-nothings and experience minimal repercussions, while others flirt with anaphylaxis merely by light exposure to some substances.  Some can have a "forbidden" treat occasionally, and others find one cookie can put them on the slippery slope.  It's all highly individual.

Having become alerted to how bad high-histamine foods can make me feel and the range of possible symptoms, i've started to notice histamine-related responses more.  This is a good thing!  Like other kinds of allergy, these responses are cumulative.  Balancing range-of-tolerance of foods with environmental conditions can make a huge difference to daily quality of life.

Robust thyroid function allows for the kind of energy that makes life worth living, and thyroid function can be tweaked hugely with diet.  ENOUGH of the foods which are good for the thyroid, like animal protein, and saturated and O3 fats, helps immensely, and excessive calorie-restriction is guaranteed to reduce production.  MINIMIZING what inhibits and puts excessive demand on our systems is equally important -- contrary to what euthryroid athletes believe, carbohydrates require more hormone to process and so put a strain on our resources.  Omega-6 fats make it difficult to get thyroid into our cells for use, and MUST be strictly limited.  Our digestive inadequacies make it doubtful that we can properly absorb or convert the critical nutrients we HAVE to acquire, and some kinds of supplementation can be mandatory.

Not only are grains and legumes problematic by way of the gut-damaging lectins they contain, but they also carry a large histamine load.  Large histamine load EQUALS stress, and stress causes us to produce, convert and use thyroid hormones in a less-than-optimal way.  Looking at the list of symptoms suffered by the histamine/tyramine-sensitive is almost a mirror of those experienced by the thyroid-challenged among us.

Tyramine is a breakdown product of tyrosine, which is the building-block of thyroid hormone (along with iodine) -- this was the point in my research where i was interrupted, and where i need to start regathering the tangled threads of ideas i was weaving.  When meat and fish have been processed for preservation (or simply kept around too long), some of the health-giving amino acid gets too far gone -- past tyrosine and into the irritating tyramine which behaves like those nasty histamines, setting off the alarms in our bodies which are so uncomfortable.  I strongly suspect that a lot of thyroid malfunction (both hypO and hypER) is inextricably entangled with this process.

it's always something, second edition

Yesterday, J decided to have a coffee-fast day.  I did a simple high-fat day which, when i entered it into FitDay last night, turned out to be very low in protein -- less than 40 grams -- though the energy consumed (1700 kcal) was within what i consider a reasonable range.

I woke up this morning cold and hungry.  We know what that means!  SOMEthing about yesterday's menu was severely inhibitive of thyroid function ... and my body wasn't properly satiated (though my stomach was) with what it received.  I think the lack of protein nourishment answers both questions.

Although i BELIEVE i took in enough energy to keep my body from slipping into conservation-mode, i may be mistaken.  During my periods of being able to follow the Strong Medicine protocol last year, i wasn't consuming a VERY different amount of energy.  It seemed that i was losing WELL on about 1 g. protein per pound of LEAN tissue (which is not the same as 1g/lb. WEIGHT), and a not-extremely-different proportion of protein to fat (23:77% by kcal).

So today, i'm increasing my protein intake and trying to keep my fat intake high, as well.  (Time to try out another dessert or beverage recipe from FFcookbook!)  ...It sure would be easier to tweak diet for well-being and fat-loss if all these systems weren't so entangled!  ;-)

omega-6 fats are responsible for "thyroid resistance"

When i first heard of "thyroid resistance" (as compared with that of insulin or leptin, for instance), i thought it might be a made-up malady, just like "restless leg syndrome."  It subsequently occurred to me that it might simply be the perceived lack of function which comes with excessive O6 intake ... because the latter DOES interfere with thyroid receptors.

Googling "linoleic acid interferes with thyroid receptors" will produce a plethora of hits, ranging in credibility from PubMed to jock-blogs.  The concept is neither new nor terribly controversial (though there's always reason to question in-vitro rat studies).  So why do we hear so little about it?  Until i found the concept (buried in an old book review by Chris Masterjohn), the closest i'd come to learning this was reading "saturated fat in the diet is good for thyroid function."  ...I love how so many sites state absolutes like this without any kind of reasoning or discussion....

Considering this, it's no wonder some people feel crappy on a low-carb diet -- they're doing it wrong (and god rest Dr. Atkins, but he told them to).  Yes, i DID just say THEY'RE DOING IT WRONG, and i meant it.  Much as i dislike the blame-the-victim mentality implied by those words, it IS possible that a lot of failure in the LC world has to do with mistakes that can be pure innocence or outrageous stupidity (like getting one's few allowed carbs from CANDY, like one outspoken "anti" did).

We NEED our saturated fats, BECAUSE those seem to be the best choice for thyroid-challenged people in maximizing function.  Monounsaturates are better than polys, but still inhibitive.  And we need fats, in general, because it BOOSTS CALORIE INTAKE, which is GOOD for our thyroid function*!  Learning this, i'm beginning to rethink my strategy in making mayo and other salad dressings.  I love a good olive oil, and ditto for avocado, but hey -- certain things (like well-being) are more important than others.

It becomes important for hypothyroids, even if they're not low-carbers, to avoid omega-6 fats to the best of their ability -- because they're ubiquitous.  EVERY time you dine out, you ARE getting linoleic acid, no matter what you eat.  It's in your meat, your eggs, your cheese, your fish, your coffee-creamer, your vegetables, your ice-cream and ronaldmcdonald only knows what else!  In our beloved grass-fed beef and lamb, it still comprises a significant amount of the fat involved, though in better proportion than in CAFO meat ... and there's also a goodly amount of thyroid-inhibiting monounsaturates in there.  Among our best friends, ironically, are the fruit-based oils such as coconut and red palm, and palm-kernel (SEED!), and their artificially-isolated cousin, MCT.

Eating a low-carb diet is soothing to a hypothyroid, because the less dietary glucose we have to dispose of, the farther our limited supply of hormone will go.  People who claim that it's "stressful" to us aren't looking at the big picture.  However, we absolutely positively MUST do it correctly, by minimizing disruptive poly- and monounsaturated fats, and maximizing all those heart-healthy SATURATED fats we've come to love!

(And by getting our allowed carbohydrate intake from a garnish of low-starch, low-fructose, low-toxin vegetables instead of from a chocolate box.)

______
*  nothing seems to inhibit even normal thyroid function like calorie-restriction!

recovery has been a little different this time

Most of my out-of-town adventures end by my coming home and gratefully taking up my proper diet once more, the only difficulties lying in how long it takes me to start getting enough energy from burning FAs and ketones again.  This trip and its aftermath have been slightly different.

Because i didn't get out of ketosis during the course of the weekend, i only lost speed because of weariness, stress and ... the fact that i left most of my supplements at home!

I didn't think it would make a lot of difference, because i was making sure i WOULD:  1) eat the right things;  2) NOT eat the wrong things;  3) be back home before i had time to suffer a shortage.  I was wrong.  Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday my thyroid function was on the low side; i tended to have a hard time dealing with the cold snap we've been having here, and my digestion has been weak.  And the most suspect thing i DIDN'T carry with me was the iodine.  I've gone that many days without everything else in my supplement collection before, and recently too ... but not that.

When i think of all the cautionary advice about iodine that one hears, it just MAKES ME SO MAD!  And it's predicated on ignorance and misunderstanding of the science!  Yes, if you blindly and excessively supplement without having a clue about appropriate dosing and balancing of nutrients, things can go wrong.  HRT, anyone?  Or maybe synthetic vitamin A....

I got a bit of spring back in my step today.  Tomorrow should be better.  And i'm never going anywhere without my Iodoral again (knock on wood)!

craving bitters -- a revelation

I find that mindless activities are excellent for creative thinking.  There's something freeing about having your hands busy and your brain minimally occupied!  Needlework, driving, dishwashing and solitaire games are examples of when a lot of "eureka moments" hit me ... and i had one this morning.

Way back in my Atkins-days, i found it fascinating that the foods i most craved were GREENS.  As a child, i (strangely enough) liked spinach, but never was a huge fan of the occasional beet- or turnip-greens to be found in our house -- well, i just didn't like the way my mother cooked them!  Flavor-wise, the seasoning of all these was redundant, and she cooked the roots WITH the tops, and i believe they're better separate.  My husband started making things like mustard, kale, chard and collards using different styles, and i became an AVID enthusiast.  To CRAVE GREENS -- a completely new experience....

A similar pattern emerged when i started trying new cocktail recipes.  I quickly tired of the sweet, koolaid-like bases for alcohol, and new favorites like the Calvados Cocktail (with a whopping 1/2 oz of orange bitters), Satan's Whiskers and Campari-&-soda are now my before-dinner choices.

Maybe i'm a little slow, but it took me awhile to connect the dots after i read that study last week (thanks, Bill!) and did some more googling -- bitter flavors on the tongue prompt an increase in stomach-acid AND bile production.  More of each makes for a happier digestive system, and the bile specifically encourages the conversion of more thyroxine (T4) to triiodothyronine (T3):  short answer, bitters make me feel more "normal"!

The old-timers were right ... as usual.  Eat your greens and drink your aperitif, they're good for you -- and now we know why.

avoiding goitrogenic foods is SERIOUS business

Yesterday i found the threshold.  About a half-cup of sauerkraut with my lunch, maybe a third-cup of cooked kale at dinner, plus an additional half-cup of the leftover coleslaw (just to finish it up), and i was COLD last evening.  I slept well, and woke this morning with a tongue that filled my mouth to overflowing.  Two strong symptoms with me, that my thyroid is under-performing.

I can usually have small amounts of problematic foods as long as i continue to eat well otherwise.  The other day, i had about a quarter-cup of baked beans without symptoms, and i had more than that of lentils on another day with impunity, but after my whole30 last year when i added refried beans in, a half-cup of THOSE caused the cold to grip me.  Then, a few months ago i tried a heritage variety of beans (Anasazi, and a small quantity at that) in my chili -- probably a quarter-cup was too much.

Obviously, different legumes, and different preparations of some foods (like cabbage) make a HUGE difference!  After all, i had a good-sized wedge of cabbage (probably a cup's worth) cooked with corned beef not long ago, and didn't turn a hair.  I can eat a reasonable serving of cooked broccoli or cauliflower (i avoid them raw these days) with no trouble.  If one has a weak or sensitive thyroid, only self-experimentation can teach you what you can live with and what is just TOO MUCH.

And these are only the goitrogens!  Grains and dairy cause a constellation of very different symptoms not necessarily associated with thyroid function.  One small serving of wheat doesn't bring on significant joint pain, and for those who don't realize they're sensitive because they don't have glaring symptoms -- well, they aren't likely to believe they have any problem at all.  It's only with an elimination diet and a LARGE dose of the offending substance that they'll come to notice they have ANY trouble!  I suspect that few people have as strong a reaction as Lori did to a foodstuff ... OR do as good detective-work in figuring it out.  You have to pay close attention to your body's cues, and not add too many novel foods too fast.

The additional amount of dairy (specifically, cream) that i've been consuming since my husband got home from his last business-trip has contributed its toll as well -- i've noticed before that dairy contributes to skin break-outs.  I had been thinking about trying a new recipe for barley bread, and i was curious to see if my reaction to that flour would be like what i have to wheat and oats, or more like my almost-nonexistent response to sourdough rye ... and now i'm glad i did NOT make it.  Too much of a load of "dangerous" foods at once!

Well, i've had fun experimenting but it's time to go back to a purer diet.  The last few days have "gifted" me with more body aches and allergies than i've felt for quite awhile, so enough is obviously enough.

thyroid sufferers -- do NOT be afraid of low-carbing!

I just read the study Eddie linked on The Low Carb Diabetic, about "shifting the paradigm" in treating various illnesses with a low-carb diet (co-authored by our good Adele Hite); i was COMPLETELY on board with the paper till i found THIS statement (emphasis mine):

 There are, however, certain populations in which reducing carbohydrate intake to very low levels may not be appropriate:  patients with ... thyroid defects, .... 

 There are a couple of rationales for why this hypothesis persists, and i wish to gawd somebody would run a proper RCT to straighten it out -- because i'm absolutely, positively sure that the position is BULLSHIT.

I'm not the only one, either.  One of those who agree, Sam the "worldly monk," wrote an outstanding article about this misconception -- i can hardly add anything to make the point better!  It's just that compared to a lot of theorizers, i'm the one in the trenches with considerable experience.  Notably, the only significant argument Sam got was NOT from a hypothyroid....

The more starch/sugar one consumes, the more thyroid hormone is needed by the body to clear the ensuing glucose spike from the blood.  We see the same situation with vitamin C -- the more BG, the more C is needed.  Apparently, lab-test-junkies of the gym-rat persuasion have extrapolated LOW T3 FROM A LOW-CARB DIET!!! without actually experiencing any hypothyroid symptoms ... the absence of which defines a diagnosis of EUthyroidism.

Wooo also CLEARLY elucidated the situation of hypothyroid symptoms being seen in euthyroid individuals who are losing fat weight; it's all about the body getting enough fuel so that it knows it can afford to "waste" energy for optional purposes!  One apparently just does not see people damaging their thyroids irrevocably on a low-carb diet, and becoming clinically hypothyroid!  But you DO see people doing that who insist on eating things like wheat and legumes and sugar and industrial seed-oils -- THAT is where the modern glut of thyroid patients are coming from (opinion:  don't ask me for references).

So if you're hypothyroid and want to try LC-paleo to see if you can improve your health and sense of well-being, DON'T AUTOMATICALLY BELIEVE that because someone as savvy as Adele wrote it, it has to be true.  The paper quoted above makes the point ITSELF, that the historical record of health and dietary recommendations are full of mistakes.  You'll only KNOW if LC gives you a better quality of life if you dive in and try it yourself -- and NOT like that Oz yoyo did for ONE DAY!!!

supplements to keep and increase

As i was saying before i so rudely interrupted myself....  ;-)

The results i've felt from adding liver to my diet have really impressed me, as have the last couple of additions to my supplement collection.  It has prompted me to make some revisions in my nutrient regimen, which should amplify the benefits i've found in my supplement additions over the past year as well as reduce the appalling number of bottles which clutter my side of the bathroom counter.  The following are STAYING:

At this point, the most valuable of my supplements are two different glandular preparations which i've been taking for several years now, Dynamic Nutrition's T-100 and Natural Sources' Raw Thyroid.  They both contain other dried glandular substances and additional nutrients as well as the thyroid, and they SEEM only slightly different from each other, but i experimented with using different dosages of each alone as well as using both on the same day, and i finally concluded that i do BEST when i have their different virtues working for me in tandem.

After the dried thyroid preparations, the next most important supplement in my lineup has got to be iodine -- i use the caplet version of the antique formula of Lugol's solution.  It was the first item in my collection-to-be, recommended to me by one of the best doctors's i've ever had;  he had thyroid problems himself, and so had my other great doctor -- amazing isn't it, that a physician having a problem him/herSELF might cause them to actually give a damn about the subject, and give good advice about it? ... Hello?  (Hello, skinny obesity experts???)

Iodine's value, however, goes far beyond its part in composing the thyroid molecules themselves.  There are iodine receptors all over the body, to which the toxins bromine, fluorine and chlorine (which are so overabundant in modern life) may attach, and a generous supply of iodine in the body is protective against them.  It's also postulated that iodine is protective against bacterial and viral threats, and that cancer cells cannot thrive in its presence.

When you take iodine, it's highly recommended that you take selenium as well.  The research i've been doing today has given me a hint that i may even want to RAMP UP my selenium, as i've found that not only is this mineral a component of the deiodinase which helps convert the more-or-less-inert T4 to the metabolic torchbearer T3 -- it also is an important component of the molecule which escorts hormone into cells for use, transthyretin.  So although i've found that liver is an excellent vehicle for ingesting selenium, i believe that an extra daily supplement is a great idea.

I've recently sung the praises of pregnenolone, so i won't weary my gentle readers* by going on any more about it.  I recently did a stop-and-restart of systemic enzymes, and i believe they're still doing me good; i wrote a whole post about them during the summer, so that can stand as an explanation and defense of them ... if the latter is actually needed!  Carnitine, too, has been recently discussed....  Magnesium and zinc STAY -- we have a close and caring relationship.  ;-)  They're great for everyone, and doubly important to hypothyroids.

Going-to-be-added is ubiquinol, on EB's suggestion; she considers it possible that it will provide the boost that ordinary CoQ10 never delivered for me.  At this point, i'm not aware of any other supplement likely to improve thyroid function for me, or provide additional energy -- but you can be sure i'll keep my eyes open!

x3

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* expression stolen from Miss Manners, whose writings have given me much pleasure!

no dieting allowed!

Shortly after i started the blog, i also started a notepad document where i compiled ideas for postings and references for later reading (and possible comment).  There are a sluagh* of items on different subjects, but most center on hypothyroidism, which is by far my biggest health hurdle.  I occasionally review my previous notations when i add something to them; sometimes i'm not ripe to appreciate them when i write them down, and i AM, later.

Today i followed a link i discovered some time ago, and it has put me onto a tangent i can believe in.  It speaks of the deiodinases which convert T4 to 3 (and also to rT3), and D1 is shorthand for the deiodinase which contributes largely to SYMPTOMATIC hypothyroidism when it's in reduced supply.  One's T4 can be in an acceptable range, and peripheral T3 can be too low as a result.  There's quite a laundry-list of things which inhibit our D1....

The conclusions drawn in the article are NOT what i find interesting here.  THEY say, because of the actions of these Ds, to be healthy the patient's TSH number is immaterial and if there's not enough free T3 ... GIVE 'EM MORE DRUGS!  We want our DRUUUUUUGGGGS!!!  MO-O-O-O-ORE TEE-THREEEEEE!!!!!

As they say down in Texas -- sheeee-YIT!  I know people want to feel normal, but did it never occur to them that the body is dialing down on thyroid conversion for a reason?

A few of the things that suppress D1 (and which they discussed in the article) are:

• physiologic and emotional stress; 
• depression; 
• dieting; 
• weight gain and leptin resistance; 
• insulin resistance, obesity and diabetes; 
• inflammation from autoimmune disease or systemic illness; 
• chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia; 
• chronic pain; and 
• exposure to toxins and plastics.

Taking the T3 to normalize physiological processes while the causes of reduced D1 are tackled is obviously very supportive to the patient.  But taking the supplement and not addressing the ROOT CAUSES is just plain dumb.  This goes back to my objection to looking for "temporary relief, indefinitely"!

The body OBVIOUSLY wants us to slow down when these destabilizing causes are in action!  It wants us to fix what's the matter, not carry on as if nothing were wrong.  Remove the poisons, heal the injuries, outwear the stressor while getting extra rest, increase omega3 and hang around upbeat friends to help inflammation and mood, and ... FGS stop calorie-restricted dieting!

One thing i find marvelous about LCHF is that i'm "never" hungry.  Assuming i eat the right foods, i can eat to fullness in two to three meals, i'm not tempted to snack, and i don't gain weight.  I just CAN'T consume those "excess" calories that CICO-enthusiasts are so fond of condemning -- there's no room.  Entering my intake in FitDay reveals to me that while eating this way, i spontaneously eat from 1200 to 2200 calories per day, with between half and three-quarters of them from fats.  I guess some people would call that low end "calorie restricted" but since i'm not consciously trying to do so, and it doesn't happen every day, i don't believe it would be accurate to call it CR.

Apparently, a thyroid-challenged person HAS to find non-toxic foods that will satisfy without causing her/him to gain, if T3 values are to remain within an acceptable range.  And while i would object to telling hypothyroids "don't diet!" if they have excess fat that is burdening their systems, i know damn well that choosing a reducing diet careful is in their best interests!  ... I also hope that they'll exercise reasonable skepticism about the absurd promotion of a LFHC diet for their condition!
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* while trying to ascertain the proper spelling of "sloo" -- whether it's slough or slew -- dictionary.com informed me that this americanism derived from an irish word.  therefore i'll honor the source by spelling the original way.  erin go bragh!  ;-)

you know your energy is better when...

That was almost like the old "you might be a redneck if" jokes.  ;-)

With me it's the temptation to run up my staircases instead of walk, the impulse to spring out of my reading-chair and do/fetch things in other parts of the house, or to spontaneously play chasing games around the dining table with Spenser.  (Of course, for the sake of my iffy knee i find it's a good idea to resist springing up those stairs....)

The supplements i've added, which i'm inclined to credit with this recent improvement, are carnitine, pregnenolone and epimedium -- which, though a little surprising, aren't really too "out there."  The last two are boosting my age-related decrease in endogenous hormones, and the first ... long story.

Wooo was taught in her medical training that carnitine binds to thyroid receptors, and is therefore not recommended for improving health in hypothyroids.  OTOH, i also read that "Hypothyroidism has been found to deplete the body of L-carnitine stores. A six-month placebo-controlled study cited in the August 2001 edition of 'The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism' examined the effectiveness of L-carnitine supplementation for the management of hypothyroidism. The subjects were given 2 to 4 g of L-carnitine daily, and the study concluded that L-carnitine effectively helped to reverse and prevent symptoms of hypothyroidism. The research is preliminary, however...." *

Whichever is the "true story" i'm not qualified to judge, but all i read gave me sufficient encouragement to TRY carnitine and see what might happen.  I started with a small bottle of 500-mg caps, but am now using a BIG bottle of the one gram size.  Again, i don't KNOW how it works but i can speculate -- does carnitine perhaps spare thyroid hormone because the receptors it binds to are where FAs are passed into cells for use?  That is, after all, what carnitine is famous for doing, and one of the many things thyroid does as well.

Short version:  carnitine HELPS.  At least, it helps ME.

Pregnenolone, as you may know, is a precursor to a whole avalanche-ful of hormones and neurotransmitters.  I was getting SOME benefits from the progesterone creme i was using, but for various reasons i chose to swap over to an "upstream" supplement -- and am i happy i did.  The negative effects of my previous progesterone boost aren't an issue anymore, and there are many less-specific plusses!  Doubtless, my body is partitioning the pregnenolone to the balance it considers appropriate -- and its judgement seems to be sound.  Is it making more estrogen, more testosterone, more progesterone, what?  I really don't care which -- i just like it.

But why don't the makers of epimedium supplements label them EPIMEDIUM?  It would make things less embarrassing when you have to ask for help in the health-food store!  ;-)  Actually, i'm joking -- the virtue of being "older'n dirt" is that you care much less for what people think!  The common name you find on the supplement bottle is HORNY GOAT WEED, widely publicized for improving sexual performance -- it's splashed in good-sized type across the label.  I think all of us users agree, though, that its beneficial effects go far beyond improving blood flow to the penis....

LOL -- it's hard to care too much about the WHY, when the WHAT is so satisfactory!  I certainly don't agree with Dr. Lustig across the board, but when he said that quality of life pretty much equates with how much energy we are able to burn, i have to raise my glass to him!

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*  from www.livestrong.com/article/432486-carnitine-uses/#ixzz23D0J4Kz7 -- and i'm not a fan of the site.  :-)  if they hadn't quoted a "respectable" source, i wouldn't have credited it as much as i did.

"carbs for the thyroid" revisited

...But NOT revised!  THIS is why it makes me so friggin' ANGRY when i hear euthyroid people say that eating low-carb will lower your thyroid function.

Hypothyroidism is pretty much defined by its symptoms.  If lab values are "just fine" but symptoms remain, the disorder hasn't been properly treated -- this is what we see in sufferers all the time.  However, if lab values "show reduced thyroid function" in the absence of symptoms, i argue that there is no case.  I can FEEL when my thyroid is working under-par, but i don't believe for a second that the Lead Musclehead who promotes HC for people like me has any sense of his function until the blood-test results come in.

I woke up rather chilly this morning, and the only thing different was a larger-than-usual carb intake yesterday as compared with the day before.  Weather in the teens (F), no change in thermostat setting, same blankets on the bed.  This is EXACTLY the same thing that happened at the end of my whole30-ish experience last year, when i began adding neolithic foods back in --

LIGHT BULB GOES ON -- it's beans!!!  Rice doesn't seem to do it all by itself, nor potatoes.  Nor sugar, in moderation.  I'll have to experiment with lentils (i love lentils!) to see if it's ALL legumes or just some of them.

:-)  It's almost embarrassing to have a "eureka moment" publicly like this....

more thoughts on tyrosine (and levodopa)

Supplementing tyrosine was an experiment in increasing my thyroid function.  Most of the supplementation i tried before then, specific to T4 synthesis and the T4-T3 conversion pathways, had been very helpful -- each producing perceptible results.  Tyrosine supplementation increased energy, all right, but not in a positive fashion; i felt uncomfortably "wired" and the minor "essential tremor" i experience when overstimulated became almost chronic.  From my study, i figured that one of a couple of things might be going on -- either pushing myself into periodic hypERthyroidism, or (more likely) increasing my levels of adrenalin.

I discontinued the tyrosine i was taking (500mg to 1000 per day, either all at once or split dose), and started using mucuna (mucuna pruriens, marketed with the label Dopa Mucuna).  The tremor faded away to almost nothing, and my mood (equanimity) improved.  Desiring more energy on some days, i've been experimenting with tyrosine again.  One 500mg capsule taken every other day seems to give me a little boost without too much agitation -- but again, if something gets me riled up back comes the tremor.  :-(

(How i wish they were caplets, so i could cut the suckers in half, and take one of THOSE every other day!  It will be a messy job halving those damned capsules.)

WARNING:  entering the realm of conjecture!  :-)  Reading up on dopamine has given me some interesting insights on my life.  It would take a novel-length post to explain it all, so i'll give you the short version -- i strongly suspect myself of being short on the stuff all my days!  And looking at what happens to me when i supplement tyrosine, i think i see what could be happening.

For some reason, tyrosine seems to take a shortcut to adrenalin in my body -- it doesn't seem to hang around the levodopa step.  This may happen because of my "weak thyroid" and be self-perpetuating, i don't know.  Because my thyroid doesn't use enough tyrosine to make a robust supply of hormone, then more tyrosine is available to go the other route and my body compensates for the low energy with adrenalin?  GOK.

...back to my reading....

it still works -- rebop

With a secondary title, "...and i MEAN fatty meat!"  :-)

My husband stands in the way of my losing weight -- no, that's an excuse for being more careless with my intake when he's around.  We go out to eat often, i have more wine and cocktails when he's in town, he likes to cook, and he can eat a lot more carbs than i can and still lose weight....  On and on.

Having him out of town for a few days, i'm making hay while the sun shines.  I'm doing the "strong medicine" regimen with the tweaks i learned the first time around (MORE SALT etc) -- and it STILL still works.

When i picked up ground beef over the weekend, however, i didn't go to Whole Paycheck for their outstanding grassfed ground beef in the family-pack -- the St. Louis store is horribly laid-out, and so a weekend-size number of customers make for an unbearable traffic situation inside.  I didn't want to face it, so ended up at Schnuck's, and their "regular" ground beef isn't the same:  it's too lean.

My body doesn't like a reduced-fat diet!  I wonder if other hypothyroids have a problem with constipation AS A RESULT of doing what conventional wisdom tells them to -- eat more fiber and drink a lot of water.  My intestines HATE that!  BUTTER TO THE RESCUE!!!

A tablespoon of butter on top of your freshly-made all-beef patty....  Your colon will thank you.

a speculation or two

[chuckle]  Well, i always DID know i was "different"....

In the comments over at Sidereal's place, Wooo describes more-or-less how i differ from a more classic hypothyroid.  However, i'm very discontented with the state of the science.  I want me a couple of dozen hypothyroid people to experiment on for a few years ... and that isn't a possibility in THIS life; maybe in my next one...?  ;-)

For instance, i KNOW that inappropriate levels of certain micronutrients (especially if i can lump O6 in this category) make me feel like hell -- or in balance, wonderful -- with absolutely no change of diet to act as a confounder.  When people get hypothyroid symptoms from taking carnitine, for ONE thing ... how do their diets and supplement regimens differ from mine?  I was all ready to speculate that carnitine spares thyroid when it binds to receptors and does the donkey work of ferrying in FAs for burning.  That's exactly what seems to happen in my case.

I really feel like a lot is misunderstood about thyroid function by those who should know better.  I feel that they THINK they have it down pat, and so have been taking a lot of things for granted.  WHY are there so many more hypothyroid people in the world than there were a few decades ago?  Like so many other categories of the not-quite-well, i think a lot of hypothyroidism is NOT derived from mysterious genetic or "god-sent" causes, but MALNUTRITION.  I'm probably alone in this belief, but that doesn't make me wrong.

an experiment

Despite being a scoffer at the type of person who, like Jerome K Jerome, could fancy himself the victim of every malady he ever read about ... i firmly believe i have a problem with lithium.  I think the mechanism is through the autoimmune connection -- lithium exacerbates autoimmunity.

Too many members of my family have developed thyroid problems while living in Arizona -- a place notorious for high levels of lithium in the soil and water.  When i was living in Salt Lake City (where there is also a goodly amount of this mineral), i started to develop slight "essential tremor," and the quantity of my conventional thyroid (Armour) dose hadn't changed in years; nor had my diet.  The tremor didn't change until i started using sea-salt exclusively in my cooking, living here in a major river valley (where there is generally more lithium in soils) ... when it got worse.

Why do some us seem to have a problem with it and others seem to benefit by getting more?  Allow me to quote the doc in the second link, above -- "This has not been studied."  There's obviously a shitload of stuff that hasn't been studied, when it comes to lithium.  They know it can reduce testosterone, but they don't know what it does to female hormones (and women receiving lithium treatment are five times more likely to become hypothyroid than men are.  FIVE TIMES).  Although it's found all over the body (and concentrated in some organs), what it does in every one of them is NOT KNOWN.  As the doc said, "this will take a lot more research to determine; research of the kind not easily funded, because there is no pharmaceutical company in a position to make money...."

I've identified a few ways to help myself detoxify.  The rest of the chili is going into the freezer and ditto for the cheese.  I'll also be using plenty of refined salt and taking my mag-zinc supplements more religiously, drinking lots of RO water, avoiding other dairy foods and nightshades (which are particularly good at concentrating lithium from soil and water), and using aspirin instead of ibuprofen if painkillers are called for. 

Next time i'm in AZ -- because there's no way to avoid visiting your mother* -- i guess i'll be drinking Aquafina....

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*  well, actually, there IS ... but i'm not going there.  ;-)

and some confirmation

Googling "PubMed" along with "lithium" and "thyroid" found me LOTS of hits.  Probably the most interesting i've read so far was this recent study, which looked at naturally-occurring lithium in drinking water.  Sure enough, they found correlation with markers of impaired thyroid function.  Not proof of my hypothesis of course, but support.

(Funnily enough, they were puzzled that higher urinary selenium was associated with better thyroid markers; they seemed to think that it should be used up, not passed out!  Did "repleteness" not occur to them?)

I did find something else that seems significant here (besides the fact that lithium can damage the heart, skin, kidneys and pancreas as well as the thyroid) -- turns out that older people can't handle the doses that younger people can.  "Elderly individuals require lower doses of lithium to achieve similar serum concentrations as those in younger adults. ... There is also a difference in lithium tolerability with age, and the prevalence of hand tremor with lithium increases with age. In the elderly, neurotoxicity clearly occurs at serum lithium levels which are considered 'therapeutic' in general adult populations."

Add to this, "there is evidence that lithium has effect on glucose metabolism and has the ability to increase the release of glucagon. Studies have suggested that lithium treatment may impair glucose tolerance or produce frank diabetes in certain patients, and the risk is higher in patients above the age of 40 years."  And some "scientists" were thinking it's a great idea to add lithium to water supplies, in order to improve mental health....

Mercifully, the folks who did these studies were a bit brighter.  Far from thinking that increased lithium is good, the first set concluded that paying more attention to levels in drinking-water is "highly warranted."  And considering what the second bunch said, i wonder how much worse the results of the drinking-water study would have been if the median age of the participants had been greater, rather than the mid-30s it was.