post-stress illness

[Guest guest]

I have just been diagnosed as hypothyroid and am on 75 mcg

levothyroxine. Here's my question. Whenever I experience stress

beyond normal (even if it's not extreme, just more) or I try to

increase my activity level, I get sick. I almost dread tyring to move

because I am afraid I'll pay for it later. Has anyone experienced

this? Is it related to the thyroid?

Ramona

[Guest guest]

>

> I have just been diagnosed as hypothyroid and am on 75 mcg

> levothyroxine. Here's my question. Whenever I experience stress

> beyond normal (even if it's not extreme, just more) or I try to

> increase my activity level, I get sick. I almost dread tyring to

move

> because I am afraid I'll pay for it later. Has anyone experienced

> this? Is it related to the thyroid?

>

> Ramona

>

Stress effects the adrenals, some people who are long term untreated

hypo have stressed adrenals, or hypo adrenals..

Thyroid levels also effect more than the adrenals , they effect

every function in the body to some degree..

How long have you been on levothyroxine? It usually take up to 6

weeks for your body to adjust to that dose level..and usually people

find that the first dose level is not enough for them and they need

to increase.

Kats3boys

[Guest guest]

HI Ramona,

In what ways do you get sick? Do you mean achy and tired or drained, etc...?

When I do stress out beyond my limits, I get totally exhausted and that is as Kats says from overworking your adrenal glands.

Our bodies do not know the difference between the stress from actual danger to our well being or from life stressors and will do the same under either circumstance: it increases adrenaline and cortisol to give us extra and often “false” energy so we push ourselves well past our limits, it slows down digestion and starts converting food to fat to “save us” from starvation and a host of other things in order to “protect” us. However, after repeated episodes like this, it takes its toll on us in terms of blood pressure, digestion problems, weight gain, and fatigue due to overload on the adrenal glands.

Try to counter your stress with relaxation tapes, mediation or simple Yoga postures — I do this now and it’s amazing how much better the body works when we breathe deeply and slowly and give ourselves some “down time” to truly go into deep relaxation. I do just very simple Yoga poses—most sitting and laying down --- and after 30 minutes, I could fall asleep no matter how stressed I was!

Sue

>

> I have just been diagnosed as hypothyroid and am on 75 mcg

> levothyroxine. Here's my question. Whenever I experience stress

> beyond normal (even if it's not extreme, just more) or I try to

> increase my activity level, I get sick. I almost dread tyring to

move

> because I am afraid I'll pay for it later. Has anyone experienced

> this? Is it related to the thyroid?

>

> Ramona

[Guest guest]

Sorry, with this new Yahoo format, I can't seem to cut and paste stuff here.... it's all or nothing. Anyways, my adrenals seem to be having trouble, yet my Hashi's was dx before I was even clinically hypo. So I didn't go untreated for a long time. I wonder then why mine aren't working so well.

I've stopped the vigorous exercise I was doing for weight loss, and have started yoga this week instead. It's also interesting, that only in the past 3 or 4 nights have I dreamed and remembered vaguely the next morning. I wonder if that's a good sign for my adrenals??

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

You are right on track with what you are doing for your adrenals. I stopped my aerobic activity a couple months back as well when my adrenal testing showed I had high levels of cortisol throughout the day and into the night... I replaced it with Yoga as well --- I still do my crunches, squats, hand weights and such for flexibility and strength but I stopped the rigorous level of aerobics and found that I have indeed been dreaming more and as you say, remembering them — and I also wake up feeling “ready to go”. It can take months and even a year or more to truly heal your adrenals but you will start to feel better in a matter of weeks — or at least I did. I also added healthy fats to my diet — I was “fat-starved” in an attempt to lower cholesterol and lose weight and the funny thing is I lost a few pounds and my cholesterol went down 10 percent AFTER adding in the healthy fats and stopping aerobics. My doctor looked at me like I was NUTs but she had the proof of the pudding in the lab results in April

Sue

Sorry, with this new Yahoo format, I can't seem to cut and paste stuff here.... it's all or nothing. Anyways, my adrenals seem to be having trouble, yet my Hashi's was dx before I was even clinically hypo. So I didn't go untreated for a long time. I wonder then why mine aren't working so well.

I've stopped the vigorous exercise I was doing for weight loss, and have started yoga this week instead. It's also interesting, that only in the past 3 or 4 nights have I dreamed and remembered vaguely the next morning. I wonder if that's a good sign for my adrenals??

[Guest guest]

When I say I get sick, I really do get sick! It's as if when I'm

overstressed slightly, every virus in the neighborhood perks up their

nasty little ears and says " Party at Ramona's! "

I think you may be on to something with the adrenal stress. It comes

on after times and circumstances that I don't handle well, such as

noise, disorganization, pressure, etc.

I thought I was doing a good job of giving myself what I need in terms

of recovery and relaxation, but perhaps I need to be more agressive in

countering the stressful influences, or more frequent.

Thanks for the insights.

(I've been on 50 mcg levothyroxine for 4 weeks and then up to 75 for

another 4 weeks. The " adjustment period " should be over, don't you

think?)

Ramona

[Guest guest]

Hi Ramona

I used to be like that — I would get viruses all the time – it seemed I would get one if someone even SNEEZED over the phone!

I don’t think I have had a cold in years now... So I am not sure what changed that — other than I have been doing the ‘adrenal’ thing and take my thyroid meds now, eat better, exercise, ok, ok, I see why LOL

As far as adjusting, it may not be a matter of that but that you still need more and also maybe some T3 in addition to the levoxyl.

Most docs are content to just get you “in range” with the TSH and call you a “success” and that is bull crap.

Your T34 and T34 are actually more indicative of whether you are hypo or hyper and those need to be tested and treated in needed.

75 is not much of a dose — are you a light person? I was started on .88mcg — went to .100 mcg then .112 mg for awhile and then when we added Cytomel, the T3, I am now down to .88 mcg of the levoxyl and 25 mcg of the T3. If your body is not converting the T4 to T3 then you won’t feel much better no matter how long you have been on or how much of the T4 you take.

Did you post your numbers? If you did, can you repost, cuz I don’t keep track..thanks.

Sue

When I say I get sick, I really do get sick! It's as if when I'm

overstressed slightly, every virus in the neighborhood perks up their

nasty little ears and says " Party at Ramona's! "

I think you may be on to something with the adrenal stress. It comes

on after times and circumstances that I don't handle well, such as

noise, disorganization, pressure, etc.

I thought I was doing a good job of giving myself what I need in terms

of recovery and relaxation, but perhaps I need to be more agressive in

countering the stressful influences, or more frequent.

Thanks for the insights.

(I've been on 50 mcg levothyroxine for 4 weeks and then up to 75 for

another 4 weeks. The " adjustment period " should be over, don't you

think?)

Ramona

[Guest guest]

Sue,

My a.m. cortisol levels were below normal. I'm hoping to see my thryoid doc in the next couple of weeks and have him do more testing than that. I've added more fats in also. And have reduced the carb intake some. Unfortunately since doing that, I've gained back 2.5 lbs! I'm so overweight as it is, I don't need that. I had been eating healthy fats even as part of my low cal diet. I wasn't really restricting any one group before, but just calories in general. I wonder if maybe I overdid the fats. Or somehow didn't quite get the idea right. Anyways, I'm paying more attention to veggie intake this week. And moderating my fat intake more.

[Guest guest]

Hi ,

You really need to get your coritsol readings four times a day: wake up time; noonish; dinner time and then bedtime. They are supposed to start out higher and taper off during the day into the night. You may already be suffering from adrenal exhaustion/fatigue which comes from years of not giving yourself enough stress relief and from being on the go – it’s very common in working women and moms.

My levels being high, means I do not have the adrenal exhaustion yet — but the adrenal overload is the precursor to adrenal fatigue so I made many major life changes these past few months — I used to work 7 days a week 10- to 12 hours a day and now I work 5 days, 6 to 8 hours a day; more if absolutely necessary and take most weekends off; I do the Yoga, added those healthy fats and I go to bed two hours earlier than I used to ---

On your weight issue, you may still be on course — in Dr. Schwarzbein’s book on adrenal and hormonal health, she gives the regimen to follow but warns that we very well may start to gain some fat weight and actually feel MORE tired than when we began healing and even though that’s depressing and seems we are going backwards, it does change and it makes sense to me: once we start nurtuing out bodies and are not on constant alert, things start to slow down and we can feel sluggish – it’s like that crash after an adrenaline high – in fact that is what is actually is and it takes time to normalize.

As long as you are not eating a lot of fat you should be fine — I do just a tablespoon of butter or olive oil a day and then a handful of nuts – before I ate no fat – none at all – I ate dry toast if I even ate bread and was gaining weight...that was depressing!

Veggies are your best friend too — they help with everything and should be the main part of most meals — also it’s crucial to never eat a fat or carb alone – always throw in some protien with each one or they just store as fat.

I will find my Schwarzbein book and give you the name, it’s been my bible for the last 3 months

Sue

Sue,

My a.m. cortisol levels were below normal. I'm hoping to see my thryoid doc in the next couple of weeks and have him do more testing than that. I've added more fats in also. And have reduced the carb intake some. Unfortunately since doing that, I've gained back 2.5 lbs! I'm so overweight as it is, I don't need that. I had been eating healthy fats even as part of my low cal diet. I wasn't really restricting any one group before, but just calories in general. I wonder if maybe I overdid the fats. Or somehow didn't quite get the idea right. Anyways, I'm paying more attention to veggie intake this week. And moderating my fat intake more.