After Four More Years

Hello, everyone!

Yes, I am still alive and not doing badly at all.

My health is definitely way better than during the writing of this blog... I cannot pinpoint a reason for it. I can come up with a few theories, surely:

1. Maybe moving to California had an influence... The dry climate? Gone are the inflammation, aches and pains that made a few of my years miserable...
2. Perhaps the passage of time did wonders, as I left my body fight it out while providing minimal support in the form of T4 (currently increased to 75mcg) and the occasional transdermal estradiol, estriol and, very rarely, progesterone... I am hormonally challenged, clearly, and it turned out I did need some extra help, but I didn't go for full HRT, I am trying to keep everything very low while still functional, for fear cancers might develop if I go overboard...
3. Oh, this is quite important: I started moving quite a bit. Tracking my steps and all, I got into hiking and swimming more often. And, recently, dancing. Don't ask. OK, K-Pop. It is what it is. I get a huge kick out of it, too!
4. I started lifting weights in a more disciplined fashion and I am now pursuing a six pack. I started with FitWell, a great app, and now I am heading into more heavy lifting. Also, these days I starve myself. I'll let you know if I ever make it to that level, it is not easy at all.
5. Nutritionally, I stay gluten free and mostly grain-free, I eat tons of meat (sorry, I did try otherwise and it didn't work for me), ideally New Zealand grass-fed beef and lamb, and very few fruits and vegetables, only in season, organic, and with an eye on the calories. I drink my wine in the evenings, that's one fruit serving right there. I don't stay away from anything, but my 1400 calories a day can only fit so much, so... Oh, I did kick out chicken and eggs from my diet after reading about their inflammatory effects.
6. Sleeping. I have been using Xanax to fall asleep, 25 mg, for a few years now, paying attention to not take it more than three nights in a row... Lack of hormones clearly brings with it difficulty falling asleep... But I prefer benzodiazepines to the extra estrogen and progesterone... I never needed to increase dosage after over four years of occasional use and I have long stretches when I don't need it, but if I do, I use it (Sorry, poor affected brain cells, but this is for (y)our greater good, in the long run!) I absolutely cannot afford to miss sleep. I track it religiously on my Apple Watch. I track everything, actually, with Apple Health, it helps me enormously. My brain clearly uses all the info in the background and my life has improved because of this.
7. I did mindfulness, too. I started with Tolle, then had enough sense to move on to Headspace and then I graduated to Sam Harris' "Waking Up".

What else... I am still autoimmune, to be sure. I developed rosacea and I take care of it with 3 months of antibiotics a year (Rosex cream and Granudoxy pills), and the rest of the time I use Soolantra to keep it in check. Quite a nuisance, that one, but hey...

I stopped checking cancer markers and, in general, seeing doctors. I only see my GP once a year for a thyroid check and the miscellaneous hormonal/antibiotic prescriptions. I stopped listening to health podcasts and reading PubMed stuff.

I remember the years of writing on this blog as an anomaly... I overreacted when my hormones started to fail me. I should have never toyed with trying to fix my thyroid "naturally", through diet, etc. I did educate myself on some things and that is a good thing, going forward. But I am glad I managed cut through the piles of horrible advice out there and I got to where I am today...

I wish you splendid years in excellent health and be careful as you hack your bodies out there, as I go work on this choreography:

Another Year Later

Hello, my old blog and less than important issues!

So funny to see you still around, freezing a version of me that has ceased to exist for quite a while!

People probably still worry about their thyroids and how to fix them. I am past that. I tried all the diets and lifestyles I could think of, to no avail. Hashimoto's has no cure, but thankfully, one can live with it while on daily doses of T4.

I did finally try the famed T3 + T4 combo in the NatureThroid variation for almost a year. I went back to the good old synthetic T4 because it did nothing special for me. I am now at 50 mcg daily, probably heading slowly towards full replacement of the thyroid function by synthetic hormones. I also did another ultrasound: my thryoid looks quite alright, the good doctor said. Not homogenous, but not in too bad a shape either, so who knows how long before it finally stops working.

The US doctor who prescribed the NatureThroid wanted me to get on a hormonal therapy as well, including estrogen and testosterone. I refused. None of that. I want my body to find its way without outside help. It is bad enough that I have to help it with T4.

My thyroid antibodies hover around the 500 zone. Average, I guess. So, let them!

My CA-125 was fine for a while and now it is off again. Who cares! If it really signals a cancer, I will let you know, but I decided to stop let it worry me to pieces.

I lost some weight, intentionally, and even kept it off.  But I need to readjust my diet again, as I passed a kidney stone a few weeks ago. An awful experience. I guess too much protein will do that. Or who knows.

I still eat gluten-free since I discovered I have those antigliadin antibodies and it keeps me away from all the too tasty things in life. I stay slim and I cut risks, so it is worth it.

I am in relatively good health and worrying little about the issues I have. I sleep well, during normal hours, I no longer experience joint pains that often, things are quite alright.

I am looking forward to travelling to China and Korea and to moving to California, where I spent four months last year, looking for a house. Terrible real estate market! Difficult lifestyle, with all that driving around... I don't know... Living in a quiet corner of France has its advantages...

Living by the sea is still what I want most out of life. I managed to spend a month last year doing just that and swimming for over an hour every day. That was the best thing I feel I have done for my health.

I look a bit different. Less inflammation, overall. People tell me I look younger. I feel younger.

Studying Chinese, actually remembering it, also helped greatly. It may be totally subjective, but renewing all those forgotten neural pathways of the thousands of ideograms I used to know has really helped me feel... I don't know... Smarter? On top of things? Back "online"?

So... A lot to be thankful for.  Some big losses as well, but I will not trouble you with those.

I have reached the conclusion that my chemistry is quite heavenly. 23andme and GeneticGenie helped me figure out that I am a bad metabolizer of pretty much everything, from coffee to most medications. Yes, speaking of Peat, I will say it again: don't go drink all that coffee if you are like me and take forever to kick it out of your system... A heart attack might be just around the corner for you, poor metabolizer. Same for OJ and sugar in general... 23andme revealed double the average chances for me to develop diabetes, so... No way will I follow Peat on that path. He has his genes, I have mine, and I am sure they are vastly different.

As I said, I am a very untalented metabolizer of many things, including... guess what, my own neurotransmitters. They stick around forever, from what I understood. So I am constantly bathing in them. Probably, that is why I can be amazingly happy under terrifying circumstances. Inappropriately, shamelessly happy. I don't know. Someone should study me... It feels good, granted, but it can corner one into pretty bad situations.

Heheh... A victim to my own happiness!

What can I do... but smile! :)

One Year Later

My father will not be a centenarian. May he rest in peace...

***

I spent some time last autumn in the Neurology section, with him. All those elderly people trying to still function, battling it out, and the nurses and doctors assisting them in Purgatory, matter-of-factly... My respect for the medical establishment, imperfect as it may be, has increased even more. They have not saved my father, but they did extend his life by a few months...

***

A neurologist thought I may suffer from a subclinical case of vasculitis. She had me try "Lyrica", which I could not endure. My pain, at its worst, is not worth the side effects and the zoning out. I tried "Gabaran" as well -- much easier on me: I composed many songs on the one and only pill I tried. I am glad to know there are such powerful painkillers out there, but I hope I will never have to use them consistently.

The neurologist also suspected an incipient diabetic neuropathy. Given my high genetic risk of diabetes, over 40%, I figured my following Dr. Peat's recommendations for almost a year must have been quite unfortunate. Luckily for me, her suggestion to help with this one worked wonders: "Milgamma" (B1 as a benfotiamine and B12). It was literally like growing back a bunch of nervous endings... I had come to accept that my right big toe had left the system for some idiosyncratic reason and I was not too worried (I should have been!) Well, I was overwhelmed to feel it return to me! Regeneration after degeneration, so there is hope!

So... I dropped my sugar consumption to almost zero. Peat was definitely wrong for me on this front!

No more weird numbness for me. That is a winner! And no, I don't miss OJ. I see it now, for myself, as the orange specter of diabetes.

Another huge improvement was the disappearance of the CA-125 marker.  I cannot be sure what brought that about. Except giving up sugar, I did not do any other spectacular diet changes.

One small thing I can think of is that I increased garlic consumption. My body was craving it. If it turns out this new garlic habit got rid of some incipient tumor, hey... The stench is a small price to pay. I also brought a bunch of PUFA back into my life in the form of potato chips -- I have to have them at least once or twice a week, dipped in my garlic salsa...

Thyroid function -- I am still at 25 mcg T4, but with my free T4 bumped up into a mid-range of normalcy (it used to hover to the lowest normal and even under that), with a rather high TSH by US standards (2.6). I think this is a pretty reasonable spot, I am sleeping well, I no longer experience those "hit by a truck" moments... Some days are better than others, energy-wise.  My weight is pretty much the same and nobody guesses my age, so I am alright. Actually, I look much better than I feel and people look confused and rather skeptical when they hear about my troubles.

I stopped measuring all the other hormones, I will let my body deal with them. I experimented with supplementation of most and I didn't like it one bit. Maybe I am oversensitive, or maybe I have a low tolerance -- my 23andme results show me as a slow metabolizer for many substances (including coffee, yet another reason for me to not follow Peat), so perhaps I should stay away from any "bio-hacking" that involves hormones. Nobody knows for sure how they work, anyway, so why be a guinea pig, life is too short even without self-experimentation.

In my search for the perfect seaside, I visited Cyprus and loved the taste of their produce... I hated the pollution, though...

I hope you are all doing well and staying healthy and gorgeous.

Peat, Honey, Chicken Thyroid? Not For Me!

My first attempt at a Peat friendly "Dacian Diet" failed miserably after only a few days. Itching and aching all over, I wonder what could have been so bad? Was it the newly introduced honey? Or the rarely before tried, Peatian chicken neck soup? These were the only novelties in the last couple of days and I feel awful.  And dismayed.

This cannot work. Autoimmunity is killing me. Something in my simple diet is just not right anymore.

I have read a lot lately.

I am afraid this entire Peatian trip has to end completely. At least for now. This is not good for me, no matter how hard I try to slant it in my favor and to tailor it to fit my genes and my condition.

I need to go back to what people call "an autoimmune diet". The harshest of all.

Hello again, old friends I had left behind... "The Scientist Formerly Known as Autoimmune Mom", Mickey Trescott? I am ready to follow your advice now... Dr. Michael Maes, formerly practicing in the Netherlands, currently in Bangkok, cited over and over for your seminal work in curing autoimmunity and leaky gut symptoms? I just might look you up one of these days... My team of Medlife doctors? OK... I will submit to the endoscopies and biopsies and all the tests you want to perform.

Milk, my trusted friend, farewell! Honey, you sounded good in theory, but... Millet, I never even knew what you tasted like, but I read that you were anti-thyroid anyway, so no big loss there -- I am glad my ancestors survived you!

Dr. Peat, your advice did not work out for me... First it was the hormones that I did not react well to. I read your books on the subject and I was less than convinced. I read what others experienced, I read all those studies warning against progesterone supplementation and the spell of your scientific writing fell apart... I kept following your dietary advice, but it became harder and harder to maintain my weight on it.  If at least my antibodies titers had improved, but they actually increased, which probably means that dairy is not good for me. As to other pro-thyroid advice you offer: I never believed in NDT for Hashimoto and it appears that even chicken necks are causing my illness to flare.  Anyway, thank you for the insights, at least you made me interrogate many mainstream views.  You cured my fear of sugar and my over-reliance on veggies, and you reinforced my trust in the almighty broth...

I will find the right diet and the right supplementation.

If I have to travel to the Moon to be myself again and if it takes tube feeding and giving up all foods I ever enjoyed in order to achieve this, I shall do whatever it takes! I sampled the best for so long and I took great pleasure in it all, but if going at it means suffering, I am not interested anymore...  I leave those pleasures to those who can experience them without losing their health -- enjoy, y'all!

Food is a pitiful "enemy" or "temptation" in the big scheme of things...

I will not be poisoned...

So...

What is there left to eat? :)

A Dacian Diet for My Ancient Mitochondria, Please!

In my stubborn search for a cure to Hashimoto's and autoimmunity, fueled by the knowledge that my mitochondrial DNA is quite ancient, I decided to tailor myself a Nutrigenetic diet.  

As a first experiment, I will attempt a diet that approximates that of the Dacians.  

The Dacians, according to Herodotus, were "the bravest and the justest of all Thracians". Remember, though, it is all relative. Historians mention they were not fond of hard work, so no farming, thank you... Which is good in my book. But they would also pillage, plunder, etc...

They lived in the area where my mother was born, along the luscious lower valley of the Danube, which was inhabited since Paleolithic times. There are tons of archaeological sites where I grew up and entire villages built with Roman bricks from ancient castra. Anyway, two thousand years and the glutenous Roman conquest separate me from my Dacian ancient great mothers.  

Since their N1a mitochondria made it so far (I assume they had them, it makes sense), and they will still battle through modern civilization for generations to come, hopefully (as my sister in California has a daughter), I figured it might be a good idea to experiment with the ancient recipes and explore the clues of the Dacians' lifestyle that still linger in Southern Romania. Forget the last two thousand years and Roman civilization, with its bread and pasta, let's pretend they never happened and go back to the lower Danube's history, as far as we can... 

The Romans were obsessed with the Dacians. When they finally conquered these lands, they filled Rome with Dacian warrior statues. That is how we know that their physique was quite muscular. Blue eyes, red or yellow hair... Crazy beliefs and war habits, but that is a different discussion.

Well... It turns out that the master basic ingredients of the Dacian diet were... milk and honey!

So, if you care to see it that way, a Dacian diet is not unlike a Peat diet. No wonder my first reaction discovering Peat was to remark on how much it resembled my father's diet! A Peat diet is simply a very traditional diet that does not despise milk and sugar, in one form or another, and stays away from starches and vegetables.

But, unlike my father's diet, the Dacian diet is much less gluten-laden, simply because their cereal of choice was millet. Historians say they considered it far easier to grow -- but maybe their reasons went deeper than that? Maybe they were able to recognize the health damaging effects of gluten, somehow? I wish I could believe that. 

They were simply unsophisticated and averse to farming (hard work, always, as I said). Good for them. Truly, they had a reputation for taking less than civilized shortcuts.  For instance, they never bothered to create their own coins, although they were quite excellent metal workers. They forged the Roman coins instead. No wonder the Romans were upset and couldn't wait to finally get their hands on their territories. And afterwards, Trajan, their emperor, built a column in Rome, depicting their epic fights - it is like a sculpted spiral comic book. 

My favorite part of Trajan's Column is where a bunch of Dacian women, potentially N1a too, possibly my direct ancestors, are torturing two poor naked Roman soldiers. They knew those relentless gluten promoters were up to no good! Get them, Grannies!

I have never eaten millet. I don't even know what it looks like. I did drink some German millet beer.

I believe the Dacians did not skimp on protein and they did not insist on millet to provide it, either... Too labor intensive and how tasty can it be?.. If they had it around it must have been for emergencies, when hunting and fishing were not plentiful.

No vegetable oils, obviously. No nightshades, because they did not grow in these parts at that time. No oranges or other tropical fruits. No corn. Carrots were not selected yet, I don't think... No potatoes. No rice, I doubt they grew it in these parts. No coffee, no chocolate, no tea. Apples, pears, plums, root vegetables, cabbage, parsley, dill, onions and garlic. 

They had plenty of salt, no iodine added, from salt mines. 

Cooking must have been done the easiest way, as it is still done nowadays in the countryside in those parts, by boiling... So... a lot of big broths in my future. 

Indeed, from what I read and contrary to what I intuitively believed, the Dacians were not that big on grilling. And because, according to 23andme, I have "TT genotype at rs2294008, which means 4.18 times the odds of diffuse-type stomach cancer", I will stay away from grilled meat and pickles. No processed meat, either, since the Dacians didn't have nitrites.

So I am starting this ancestral diet at my usual 61 kg, with Anti-Gliadins of around 20, Anti-TPO of over 700, on a 37.5 mcg of Levothyrox and daily magnesium supplementation. Here is a summary of my Peaty (but calorie conscious) diet so far:

As you can see, whenever I push 63 I back off. I could never do otherwise, I find it too depressing and outright dangerous for me...

And, no, I don't think I suddenly replaced three pounds of fat with three pounds of muscle come June -- I simply used a different scale - a Tanita instead of my usual Withings, which I didn't bother to take with me on vacation. I only brought the blood pressure monitor: 

I only measured my BP when I was not feeling too great...

As a final remark, please rest assured that I did not go completely mad here. I am fully aware that I am weaving together historical facts, scientific data and personal stories. I learned this from Ray Peat and other scientists. Unlike them, I do stretch this mix into plain fiction, to signal it is not to be taken at face value -- see the part about my direct ancestors torturing Roman centurions, etc.

I do not mean to entice folks to eat milk, honey, broth and millet, just because I think this might be an improvement over a Peat diet, or the PHD, or LC, or Primal/Paleo.

But since none of the aforementioned diets helped reduce her antibodies, this gluten-sensitive Hashimoto sufferer is willing to experiment with "the Dacian Diet".

I will let you know how it goes...

P.S. I did some intense socializing recently with my Romanian fellows. I love a good protest -- this was against the Rosia Montana project. A Canadian corporation is planning to overtake the ancient Dacian/Roman gold mines from Rosia Montana and use tons of cyanide in order to extract the precious metals. Quite a few people think they should not be doing that, so for over a month we spent some quality time out in the streets... It looks, feels, is fabulous! I cannot recommend this civic exercise highly enough Walking for at least five hours throughout the city every Sunday evening together with a few thousand fellow protesters can do wonders for one's trust in humanity:

Positive Anti-Gliadins After Two Years of a Gluten Free Diet & Early Central European *Farmers* mtDNA?

I don't think so! :)

My maternal haplogroup is N1a, very rare for Europe (0.2%). My ancestry is 99.8 European on a standard 23andme estimate, 100 % on a speculative estimate.  One might say I have 50,000 years old mitochondria which were transmitted to me, from mother to daughter from the proverbial European Eve.

Nice! I like to combine that with my O/O Rh- blood type and marvel at my outlandish origins! :)

But scientists also say that, since this is such a rare haplogroup, it helps them determine early migrations. They found it in the ancient LBK pottery culture, among other places, so I keep seeing it associated with the Neolithic farmers who presumably came into Europe and replaced the old Paleolithic hunter-gatherers.

A not uncharacteristic huge leap of my imagination led me to ask:

How come I am gluten sensitive then? Not only mildly sensitive, but after two years of being obsessively gluten-free, my tests still show positive for Anti-Gliadin IgG! So I must be picking up minute quantities of this stuff from cross-contamination and I keep making antibodies!

This makes me think their whole story is wrong, and Dieneke is right when proposing that

"So, it is just as likely that N1a may be indigenous to central Europe and the Neolithic was associated with some of the other 18 sequences that were found in the Linear Pottery sample. Indeed, if N1a turns out to be Paleolithic, then the conclusions of their study will be completely reversed, and the great decrease in frequency of N1a would indicate an almost complete replacement of Paleolithic people by Neolithic farmers."

I think am a true hunter gatherer at heart and cereal eating was never a forte in my lineage -- we merely survived it somehow.

So here I am, being bumped out of the genetic picture by hypothyroidism and autoimmunity, possibly brought about by gluten intolerance. So farmers still kick hunter-gatherer butt and I am an example thereof. Nice job, you morons! :)

Okay, fine, you cereal fed killers! We, noble Scythians who loved our grassfed meat and whatever Mother Earth graciously offered us, shall leave this planet to you! Do your disgusting intensive agriculture and pollute it all you want, we won't be on it anymore to witness the damage!

Paleo --> Peat --> Nutrigenetic Diet

That's right, I'm moving on... After trying Paleo and losing on it, besides a few kilos, lots of energy and precious thyroid tissue , I embarked on the Peat style diet and kept that up for eight months. I gained a lot of energy back, I increased my metabolic rate as reflected in my daily calories intake, I stuck to my pre-Paleo weight and I acquired a superior understanding of how my body works. ("Superior", as compared to the blissfully ignorant lifestyle I used to have before my health failed me, but I am sure many of you are way more in tune with their bodies than I can ever hope to be.)

I have been fascinated by deciphering the results of my genetic testing for a few weeks now and I am mesmerized by the potential answers that lie within the field of Nutrigenetics. 

I know, this is still in its infancy and there are no "gurus" around to make "following" a nutrigenetic diet an easier journey. Not that I paid attention to the "Peat practitioners" previously as I had been too burned with the Paleo "practitioners" to ever trust any of these folks again, but there is not even a Ray Peat in this emerging field. 

So much the better, no noise. These "practitioners" are all self-experimenters who gathered a bit of  knowledge, largely from extensive internet browsing, and who have superior online marketing skills. In Peatdom that is so obvious: Peat is making way less money than the astute "practitioners" who "translate" his work for their patients, whom I guess must be people too busy to bother reading all the Peat articles for themselves. The fact that these highly questionable "practitioners" do not only dispense nutritional information without qualification, but they also dabble in hormone supplementation, using a few intuitions of Peat's as "the science behind them" makes me shudder.

But enough of that. I never linked directly to them and if you used them, good luck to you, I hope no harm will ever come your way and I am the one who exaggerates here.

NUTRIGENETICS!

Just like I did not throw away many of the Paleo recommendations when I moved to Peat dieting (as a matter of fact, the valid parts of these diets tend to overlap, see the broth and/or gelatin example, which is carried forward from Paleo to PHD to Peat, in the order in which I discovered them or, rather, from Peat to Paleo to PHD, in their chronological order), I will preserve from the Peat lifestyle whatever worked for me in this self-tailored Nutrigenetic diet.

So, my Nutrigenetic diet will consist of cross-referencing my genetic risks and predispositions with the Peat style diet and adjusting everything so that I may not, well, succumb too early to the diseases that my genes "destined" me to encounter, should I not pay attention to my lifestyle and awaken any of the monsters laying dormant for now.

You see, I have already managed to disturb the Hashimoto monster during my Paleo/ketogenic experiment, and that was a second-rate one, hidden in the background, on the innocuous list of "typical risk factors".

Between "Scleroderma" and "Essential Tremor" there were a bunch of other conditions. Source: 23andme.com

Thus, believe me, I don't want to step on the Type 2 Diabetes or Coronary Heart Disease dragons, which reign supreme on top of my list of high risk, unlucky genetic combinations:

And the list goes on and on and on, unfortunately.. Source: 23andme, I hope they don't mind...:)

At some point on the same scary list, Hypothyroidism is mentioned, with 3 out of 5 markers indicative of higher risk...:(

Alas, it was in the (three) stars... Source: 23andme.com.

It will be a bit awkward to blog about this because that would mean revealing a lot of my genetic make-up.  On the other had, so what if I reveal too much information, who is tracking this down and what can they do about it? 

The risks associated with that are amply overshadowed by the chance that someone else might benefit, one way or another, from the story of my journey...

Dr. Raymond Peat's Books



They are thin and easy to carry around, at least..:)

If you are hoping for authoritative tomes that would once and for all put to rest your doubts regarding Dr. Peat's views, don't buy his books.

Buy them if you are on the market for more skepticism.

I must admit, I had expected books published by a publishing house specialized in scientific works, texts with a clear structure, fully edited and with a comprehensive index. I was hoping that Ray Peat's books will further my knowledge and enlighten me on the topics that his articles and radio interventions had only touched upon.

Alas, there is (let's say "almost") nothing in the books that you couldn't have found on the net already if you followed the excellent collections put together by his followers which include articles, radio shows and even published emails.

The books are self-published collections of articles.

The most developed of them is called "From PMS to Menopause. Female Hormones in Context". 189 pages ending with the following note:

 

Added to the artisanal publishing, this rather aggressive promotion of Progest-E places a serious question mark over the book's contents. I cannot see a good reason not to name Dr. Peat's patented product here and I honestly do not see why Dr. Peat does not name it as well, since he so obviously refers to it in the note above. Is this name omission business intended to not make the entire book appear like a "companion" to Progest-E? Be that as it may, even without the name of the patented product, the book still reads like an extensive effort to persuade Progest-E users that the progesterone product they bought is good for them and to persuade readers that the mysteriously unnamed but obviously referred to Progest-E should be bought and used.

 

It is all about context, right?

 

I did read the book carefully. I underlined many things. Sometimes, these were just interesting tidbits I did not know. For instance, the fact that "a male runner's estrogen is often doubled after a race" or that "Estrogen and insulin lower blood sugar, progesterone and thyroid sustain it". Sometimes, I noted snippets of speculation that sound pretty cool, stuff I tend to believe in or that I have seen elsewhere information about: "Antibodies to joint material are found after even a mechanical or thermal injury to the joint; twisting cartilage makes it antigenic; autoimmune disease is probably nothing very special" but I would stop underlining when things went off in directions I didn't find convincing, like the estrogen-demonization pathway, very present in the book. The above sentence goes on with: "estrogen is now known to be responsible for many forms of it, including osteoarthritis".

 

But many times I underlined things that were unsubstantiated in a major way. Key elements of the "progesterone is good for women" theory are left hanging, simply things we should trust Ray Peat on.

 

For instance, on page 68, there is this paragraph that had me pull my hair in frustration (my reactions are in red):  

"Progesterone and DHEA are the precursors for the other more specialized steroid hormones, including cortisol, aldosterone (sodium retaining hormone), estrogen and testosterone. The formation of these other hormones is tightly regulated (by what?), so that taking a precursor will correct a deficiency (but why would that unnamed "regulatory authority" ever allow a deficiency to begin with?) of the specialized hormone, but will not create an excess (if 'it' allowed it to be deficient, how can we trust 'it' that it will a) increase b) not overly increase the deficient hormone?). At least in the case of progesterone (why suddenly ditch the other precursors, then? Are they less likely to be properly used by the unnamed "regulatory authority" and if so, why?), an excess tends to balance or neutralize an excess of the specialized hormone, so it has been described as having anti-androgenic, anti-estrogen, anti-aldosterone and anti-cortisol functions (I find it so easy to believe all this, especially that it totally contradicts my own horrible experience of attempted progesterone supplementation!)".  

WHAT? Is that IT? I mean, the paragraph above establishes a whole universe and places progesterone on a position that is incredibly powerful, a god among hormones. No reference is given, however, Ray Peat merrily goes on to other things. That is often the feeling I get reading his books and/or articles: he drops bombs and then pretends nothing has happened and keeps on gathering pretty flowers and spreading references/explanations for THOSE!

 

Even so, I believe that the paragraph unequivocally implies that, should someone be in need of estrogen, the supplemental progesterone, its precursor, might just oblige. However, although half the book is about how estrogen is the work of the devil, this obvious pathway is never explored and the idea that women who are low in estrogen should not touch progesterone is never even mentioned, not a fleeting remark, nada! Besides, what a can of worms that is, given how a woman's hormones fluctuate throughout most of her adult life.

 

Besides the variations on the "progesterone=good/estrogen=bad" theme, the book is also replete with the usual believable advice Dr. Peat has extended for a long time and for which he has gathered his current following.  Sunlight, red light, coconut oil, saturated fat, the benefits of milk and OJ, the malediction of PUFAs are all there.  Honestly, were it not for the hormonal exaggerations, I would recommend it to my friends.

 

However, tall tales of progesterone wondrousness had me roll my eyes too many times in regret that Dr. Peat ever embarked on his progesterone-worship journey. Too many formulations like "I suspect", "probably", "seems to be", "appears", "from my observations", "x suggests y" "indicate that" we are not on solid scientific ground.

 

I will end this review with another one of Ray Peat's optimistic speculations, one that might entice you to take advantage of the summer season better, instead of embarking on unsafe hormonal supplementation. I don't know about you, but I'd rather be cured (or harmed) by some good old sun exposure than by rubbing on my skin powerful substances recognized as carcinogenic by the scientific community and labeled as such by the authorities: 

"I suspect that light on the skin directly increases the skin's production of steroids, without depending on other organs. Different steroids probably involve different frequencies of light, but orange and red light seem to be important frequencies."

T4 Trials & Tribulations

Ten days ago I treated myself to yet another round of blood tests.

TSH shot up to 2.88 from 0.11, so definitely 25 mcg is too little daily T4 supplementation for me. If 50 mcg was too much, then I guess I need 37.5? I’ll be cutting up pills every night then. Fine.

Magnesium was at the bottom of the acceptable range and calcium was at the top! That’s got to be bad news, right? Maybe that plays a role in the return of my pain and tiredness?

Estrogen doubled yet again. Progesterone increased as well, four times the amount I had when I wrote the “Perfect Ten Progesterone” posting,  however, it is now only twice as much as my estrogen, from ten times the amount. So that’s another piece of bad news.

Anti-TPO’s are falling again, 611 from over 700 (so, still a heck of a lot, they should be below 6!), so moderately good news there, although… I’m not even sure I should bother checking them anymore.

The CA-125 (an ovarian cancer marker) is higher than last year, 45 instead of <35.  I don’t like seeing it progress, needless to say, the more so as my estrogen is rising as well, steadily, if you catch my drift…

Total cholesterol at an all time high: 225, with an LDL of 67. So, still good ratio, but it was 190 five weeks ago… Vacationing in Eastern Europe increases cholesterol, who knew…

For the first time, I did Free T4, Free T3, Total T4, Total T3 and TSH, like so:

The real downer was Total T4, which was under the lower limit! Not by a whole lot, but still! What was that supposed to mean? Lab proof of hypothyroidism?  Or was my body adjusting to the lower dose of supplementation? I can't wait to check it again and to talk to someone about this.

Well, on the other hand, I just read today "Levothyroxine And Lung Cancer In Females: The Importance Of Oxidative Stress", by Umberto Cornelli, Gianni Belcaro, Martino Recchia and Annarosa Finco a very credible study suggesting that too much T4 can cause serious issues as well and that one cannot monitor its amounts carefully enough. I see lots of people living with undetectable TSH levels and that cannot be right either. Inducing hyperthyroidism iatrogenically apparently can cause lung cancer in women.

"During the therapy with LT4 even at the steady state condition a peak of the hormone is evident a couple of hours after the administration and may cause a temporary condition of hyperthyroidism and a further increase of oxidative stress.

Oxidative stress is well documented in hypothyroidism [22-24] and is even worsened through treatment with LT4 [1,2]. The difference between the two conditions is that, in case of hypothyroidisms, oxidative stress is due to the reduction of AO [4], whereas, after the LT4 treatment it stems from overproduction of ROS from mitochondria [5,6].

A very simple method that can be used to measure oxidative stress is related to hydroperoxides content in plasma which is considered a very reliable test compared to other common methods since it shows very limited coefficient of variation [25].

An inverse association with fruit and vegetables consumption and lung cancer recently has been documented recently in the EPIC study for 50 to 59 age group, without an effect on specific histological subtypes [26]."

 So I should start measuring the hydroperoxide levels as well while I fiddle with this dangerous stuff. Also, increase antioxidants intake. I am not so sure about vegetables, finding clean veggies is an ordeal in itself.  I will look into supplements.

How to decrease calcium and estrogen and increase progesterone, magnesium and T4, make CA-125 and Anti-TPOs go away and be happy?

That’s all I’d like to know.

P.S. on August 17, 2013: Actually, the above sounds outdated. Just an old Peatian "reflex".  I no longer believe progesterone is good and estrogen is bad, so I take that back.  I will stop caring about the progesterone/estrogen ratio and worry instead about the level of hydroperoxide in my blood. It sounds like a fair trade-off..:)

Plus, the study I mention gave me a nightmare last night. So maybe I should withdraw a bit from worrying about these things altogether, like the doctor said. Just find the time and organize another seaside session...

P.P.S. I just came across a study that supports my decision to stop considering progesterone such a good guy, a study linking it to the emission of hydrogen peroxide: "Progesterone increases skeletal muscle mitochondrial H2O2 emission in nonmenopausal women". Yep. :( And guess what, estrogen is counteracting it, according to the authors. That makes progesterone less than a hypothyroid woman's best friend, because it promotes oxidative stress. Taking this one step further: maybe it was an excess of my natural progesterone which launched the H2O2 destructive festival which may have brought about my Hashimoto's.


 

Seaside Metabolic Rendez-Vous

Why shine incandescent red lights on our heads, supplement with vitamin D3 and pour Epsom salts in the bathtub when there is... the beach?

I have experimented with that for the past two weeks and I tend to become now a believer in the sea’s therapeutic virtues -- to the point that I would consider moving by the seaside.  I have yet to decide which sea and what side. Further blissful experimentation required.

While enjoying ripe fruit under the generous sun without much in the way of UV protection I was thinking about how I spent this past year discovering my body’s functioning and how this newly achieved self-awareness under a Peat perspective has brought new depth to my life. I have always been a hedonist, now I must be truly disconcerting in that way.

So, shortly after I saw Dr. Coculescu, taking to heart his advice to stop obsessing about my “failing thyroid”, I packed my bags.

We went on a whim to spend some time on the Romanian seaside, in Mamaia to be precise, which we had not visited in a very long time.

Exotic vacation places had taken its place. While delectable, most were spent by the resorts' pools, as the sea or ocean water was either not the cleanest and inspiring, or too cold, or a bit too far -- with the notable exception of the Maldives... “Naturally”, all the while I would drench myself in sunscreen to the point that nobody could tell when I came back that I had ever been close to a beach.

This time around I spent my time at the seaside the old fashioned way, with daily sun baths and several long sea baths every day, out in the open air all day long, sand walking, barefoot as much as possible, grounding myself, close to the elements and going inside just to sleep.

I also did some "mud packings", with a supposedly healing mud found in a lake by the Black Sea called Techirghiol. It is a very black mud with a soft texture and an unpleasant smell. Some say the bacteria it contains cures all sorts of ailments, but after reading Dr. Peat's work I imagine that rather the transdermal transfer of mineral substances is the reason...

My metabolic speed and the overall well being and harmony were unbelievable! Again, no aches or pains at all and a feeling of rejuvenation, mood elevation and overall energy.

As soon as I came back to the city, all these good sensations magically vanished and the generalized aches and pains in the morning started again, as well, to the point that I wonder if what I experienced was real.

Maybe bliss is transdermal, it can come from the air, the sea, the earth?

I need to go to the sea again, ASAP, to see if its therapeutic effect is replicable. This time around I plan to go alone and pretend I lived there, see if the good stuff happens again.

That being said, Mamaia would not be the best option, it has become an incredible party resort, there is music and fun everywhere… I cannot compare it with anything else and I have a hard time imagining myself living there alone, as this hypochondriac recluse taking her dutiful baths! In Mamaia, there is always vodka in one’s OJ and the music is booming.

I should find somewhere quiet and experiment in peace.

Worst thing that can happen is that I discover the feel good effect did not come from the sea, etc., but the continuous partying…

And then… what? :)

Reality Check Feat. Dr. Coculescu

In a posh part of Bucharest, at a luxury clinic where everyone on staff had sheer reverence towards "The Professor", I had this consultation with Dr. Mihail Coculescu, the President of the Romanian Society of Endocrinology. To my surprise, we had a rather extensive chat, by my standards, and by the looks of the still waiting patients. 

As expected, Dr. Coculescu had never heard of Dr. Peat, whose books I had brought along, in the hope that they might capture his interest. Granted, I was not given the opportunity to pitch them properly as Dr. Coculescu had interventions and pointers for me at every step. However, something tells me that he would eventually check out Dr. Peat's work and theories. 

To summarize, he recommended that I simplified my life and quit the path of excessive intellectualization I had embarked upon. Decrypting PubMed articles and becoming fluent in the theories behind Hashimoto's would accomplish nothing. I should be thankful for the easy form of the disease I experience and for its simple (perhaps not even necessary, judging from my last set of blood tests) treatment. 

I could see that Dr. Coculescu was barely registering my suffering and I cannot blame him for one second. I myself felt kind of guilty for insisting on seeing him, when other people, with far more serious problems, were waiting in line by his door. But the harm is done. Refreshingly, he didn't mind this aspect, he even indicated that he would accept my "case", if I decided to switch endocrinologists, so no discrimination there on his side. 

He laughed when I mentioned that I didn't believe Anti-TPOs and Anti-TGOs were killing thyroid tissue and mentioned the "firemen at the place of the fire" analogy. He freely admitted that the science doesn't have all the answers, but refused to admit that I should complicate my life and allow myself to be affected by THAT, i.e. the proverbial things I could not change. 

He insisted that the thyroid, no matter in what shape, whether shredded or inflamed, can still accomplish its function, and that I seemed to have been in that situation.  It is OK if I feel better under T4 treatment, it is just that I should determine the optimal amount of supplementation, because it looks like even 50 mcg is too much for me. 

As to the concept of improper nutrition undoing thyroids, he mentioned the endemic lack of iodine in some places, and how entire populations develop huge goiters -- however, all those thyroid glands do keep working... They huff and they puff but... they do their jobs. So?.. At this point in the conversation, I felt kind of ashamed -- I didn't even have a goiter to complain about... 

I felt like coming out of a tunnel.  Minor twists of perspective performed by "authoritarian figures", to use a Peatism, can work wonders. In that sense, Dr. Coculescu was a tremendous doctor -- and I am convinced that he performed knowingly his "tricks".

They were what I needed and he was too experienced a practitioner not to know it the minute I took out of my purse Dr. Peat's books and my stacks of blood test results...

Whose Hormones Are These?!?

        I just came back from my doctor’s office. 

        The news is intriguing. 

        Luckily, I will see Dr. Coculescu (”the Great”) soon enough. I hope he can explain these developments and advise me accordingly.

        Three weeks have passed since my previous lab tests. My TSH was a nice 1.9, down from 5.21, under 50 mcg of T4 for a few weeks. I was entertaining hopes of going up to 75 mcg of T4 (Levothyrox), an amount not exaggerated for a Hashimoto’s patient of my size. My doctor had opposed the idea (see previous post), although she had wondered about the accuracy of the tests, thinking that they showed too little TSH for such a small amount of supplementation. 

         Lucky me that she didn’t increase my T4 dose, because even continuing with the 50 mcg for these extra three weeks, my TSH is now at a bewildering 0.11!  My T4 is higher than it has ever been, bordering the upper acceptable limit.  Again, lucky me that “mymexicandrugstore” didn’t deliver my T3 on time — I would have headed for a thyroid storm, without a doubt, with T3 supplementation on top of what my body is already producing!

        I didn’t check T3 this time around, but I’d be curious about the TPO antibodies, because, unless they are really high, marking another episode of thyroid destruction and subsequent hormonal flooding, I am not sure what to make of this! 

         Is my thyroid increasing its function of its own accord? Is the Peat diet working wonders on me, with some delays? Am I possessed by a higher metabolic self? 

        The latter option would be in sync with another surprise: a high estrogen level, ten times higher than three weeks ago. I didn’t check progesterone, but I doubt it went 10 times higher as well, so as to keep the Peat favored ratio… But who knows, after all, who would have guessed the thyroid development? 

        Cholesterol is down, but it was never bothersome. Vitamin D3 is hovering on the lower admissible range, so my doctor offered 100.000 units of supplementation — that is how they like to do it in France, with vials of potent liquid stuff, called “Uvedose”. When I was in Cannes last year, I bought them without a prescription from a pharmacy. In Alsace, no such luck.

        She also directed me to decrease my T4 supplements to 25 mcg… 

        I am wondering if my recent hair loss was connected to the exaggeratedly low TSH, rather than the Synthroid type medication or some previous hypothyroid moments that were never captured on lab results.
 
       I could have sworn I would never again see that level of estrogen, let alone that TSH or the T4, but here we go… Maybe with the increased amount of calories, came increased titers of hormones, across the board. Could it be that my body is waking up? Restarting? With all the good and the bad hormonal developments? So...
 
       IS PEAT RIGHT?

What Kills A Thyroid Gland?

Today is International Thyroid Awareness Day.

I am celebrating by posting a few thoughts on the current views of Hashimoto's Thyroiditis.

Many people out there will tell you that autoimmune thyroiditis comes from the thyroid gland being attacked by antibodies. People measure those and try to evaluate their degree of thyroid health by them.

My endocrinologist advised me to stop measuring those things. "Once you have them, they're there for life. Genetics plays a big role. At some point, a stress related event may have triggered them and they would exist in your body, once in a while getting to your thyroid, until they destroy it and render it incapable of doing its job". So, according to her, there is no way to go but down and measuring antibodies levels is not constructive or conducive to any worthwhile conclusions. I have to admit, despite my continuing efforts and gluten free diet, the results of my own lab tests indicate she might have a point... Unfortunately...

Dr. Datis Kharazzian, who has a best selling book on Hashimoto's, thinks one can balance the immune system and thus stop the killing of the thyroid. He says Th1 and Th2 cells are out of balance in Hashimoto's and that all the patient has to do is bring them back into the desired equilibrium. He offers combinations of nutrients that would boost either Th1 or Th2.

Dimitry Chistiacov's study, "Immunogenetics of Hashimoto's thyroiditis", published in the "Journal of Autoimmune Diseases" in March, 2005, seems to indicate that it is only the Th1 cells that are to blame for the said destruction. So, if you believe in Dr. Kharazzian's balancing of the immune system you may combine it with the results of this study and go for increasing Th2 right off the bat.

Dr. Alexander Haskell (link to the right) thinks that autoantibodies (Anti-TPO and Anti-TGO) are not the culprits in this scenario. He says they are simply there to clean the thyroid cell debris and that lack of specific nutrients is the culprit for the destruction that does occur at the thyroid gland level. He isolates iodine among those and this has caused some serious rebuttals of his vision (as iodine deficiency is hardly a problem in the US.) If he hadn't emphasize iodine, his theory would have actually sounded a lot more credible - and it is my favorite, still...

Like Dr. Haskell, Ray Peat does not believe in "autoimmune diseases" and the body's feasting on itself via antibodies, like those described above. He thinks that the thyroid does get destroyed (like many other organs) and that this is a process of degeneration, a result of insufficient supply of energy at the cell level. A nutrition blunder, if you will.

His view is consistent with the symptoms I have had after my Paleo time -- and, apparently, more and more people come out of their low carb experiments with damaged thyroid glands.

But let us go back to D. Chistiacov's study mentioned above, from which I have stolen the graphic above (I am giving it back if there are any complaints). His description of how things go wrong in Hashimoto's is representative for the scientific community's viewpoint. Indeed, my own doctor told me about the "strong genetic component" to Hashimoto's, to which environmental triggers are added.

Incorrect nutrition is not considered a factor in this study. However, infection and pregnancy are...

A key phrase in D. Chistiacov's paper remains:

 "The mechanisms, whereby autoreactive T cells escape deletion and anergy, and become activated, remain uncertain. "

This leaves the field still open to many interpretations, in my mind, including that of Dr. Peat and Dr. Haskell -- that the said breakdowns of cells are primarily caused by issues other than our own cells gone crazy and that we can stop or even reverse that destruction through a combination of nutrition, lifestyle and supplementation. I will attempt in full Dr. Haskell's protocol (described in his video series) once I have the necessary ingredients and let you know how it goes.

Perfect 10 Progesterone & Other Curious Findings

I finished reading Dr. Raymond Peat’s book “From PMS to Menopause. Female Hormones In Context” and I am now (re)reading the articles collected in "Nutrition For Women". I will soon write review those. For now, I will just comment on my test results.

In his book, Ray Peat recommends a ratio from five to ten times more progesterone than estrogen in serum levels. He does, on several occasions, mention the possibility of progesterone’s turning into “other hormones”, but he never takes this idea to its full consequence, namely, natural progesterone's possible final transformation into Public Enemy No. 1, estrogen. I think that, sooner or later, he should address this, because it is an important part of the hormonal equation, one that has not received the necessary focus up to now.

Drum rolls, please, as my progesterone levels were exactly TEN TIMES the amount of my estrogen, many weeks after my short Progest-E experiment, when I felt things had returned back to normal. Not five, not six, not seven... Perfect 10 me! 

(So, well, I was right all along, and those who tried to tell me my symptoms stemmed from a potential “liver issue” better learn that their imaginary knowledge of how hormones can affect one would be best not shared out there. Also, if a woman describes previously non-existent symptoms of estrogen and cortisol spikes after taking natural progesterone, you can believe her, although Dr. Peat and other proponents of natural progesterone never explicitly discuss the possibility.)

I also had good levels of DHEAs. I am sorry I didn't check my pregnenolone, I forgot, but I soon will.

Now, for the thyroid part of my labs: despite supplementation of 50 mcg of T4 for almost a month, my levels of T3 and T4 are only slightly changed. That is, T3 decreased a tiny bit, but it was already in mid-range, from 2.55 to 2.43, in a range of 1.71-3.71 pg/ml. T4 went from 13.4 to 13.52 in a range of 12-22 pmol/l, so it’s still lagging towards the lower part of the admissible spectrum, Levothyroxine or no Levothyroxine. TSH was the only one that took a spectacular dive, from 5.21 to 1.90, on range of 0.21 to 4.60 mui/l. This made my GP happy, albeit a bit mistrusting of the Romanian labs, so I will repeat them here in two weeks or so. I wanted to move up to 75 mcg of T4, but she said that would not be warranted and that raising my metabolism was not what she had in mind, to begin with — just getting rid of the TSH, while settling in the thyroid range my body chooses, as long as that is within what is considered normal.

I can understand her wish to tamper with key metabolic things as little as possible. However, if I ever receive my T3 supplements (I ordered them online at mymexicandrugstore.mx), I will try to supplement a little bit of that and see how I feel.

For the bad news of the day, after one year of constant and considerable decline, my TPO antibodies rose again, from 535 to 731 (normal: below 5.61!) The TGO antibodies have decreased (could this be due to the Anatabloc supplementation?) and are now within acceptable limits — but they were never that high to begin with (from 4.25 to 3.52, they should be below 4.11.)

Anyway, I do feel better with this (loosely) Peatian diet and the little T4 I am taking. I have more zest for life, more energy and my circadian rhythms are excellent — at night, there is this magnificent tired feeling, like when I was a child and I would drop in the evening, brain foggy, muscles tired, to only wake up in the morning, refreshed and ready to take on a new day. This is in itself a superb achievement and might bring with it a lot of good.

Let me not forget my “pre-diabetic” story. It turns out one should never buy cheap blood sugar monitors. After so much worrying about it, the serum glucose lab test revealed a nice 84 in a range of 60 to 105 mg/dl. My home measurement that morning: over 110. So I stopped DIY-ing in this department. 

Heart: curiously high diastolic pressure, more often than not, and a puny pulse pressure.

You can see from the upper part of the graph above that I am trying my hardest to push my calories intake and my body reacts, by packing on pounds. I fight back by reducing calories, only to start again pushing my luck. I am curious if I changed anything after all this effort, if I went past 1600 calories a day while maintaining my weight -- I shall soon check on Cronometer. 

And finally, in the ears department: another infection, this time in the right ear. I took cyprofloxacine. The otolaryngologist said I should maybe consider a CT scan or an X-ray. I said no way. She insisted, maybe at least an ultrasound? I already did that and they found nothing, just some inflamed lymph nodes. She still seemed worried. I told her about my progesterone and pregnenolone supplementation and the ear pains and now the repetitive infections — she said she would not be surprised if those played a role, because the ears are lined with mucous tissue and they react to hormones.

Dr. C.I. Parhon: A True Pioneer of Endocrinology

I decided to take a short trip to Romania and visit my father. He is doing great, no health issues whatsoever -- I am so proud of him!

I wanted to take advantage of being in Bucharest to check in with the endocrinologist who diagnosed my Hashimoto's last year, maybe discuss my current treatment options with her, but she was on a maternal leave.

As I was trying to find a good alternative, I made a fabulous discovery: there is an entire hospital attached to an institute devoted to endocrinology in Bucharest! The National Institute of Endocrinology was founded in 1946 by Dr. Constantin I. Parhon, who wrote, with Moise Goldstein, the very first treaty of endocrinology, over 800 pages, published in French, in 1909!

There are 42 medical doctors specializing in endocrinology working at the hospital which can host 400 patients. There is a research facility as well, which just got 10 million euros in funding, so things look quite promising... Maybe Dr. Ray Peat should be invited to test some of his theories?

The incredible Dr. Parhon also became the first president of Romania, when the King was forced to abdicate! How about THAT?

Dr. Parhon's fabulous accomplishments include founding yet another hospital, dedicated to old people this time, the first Geriatrics Hospital in the world -- as Parhon considered old age more of a disease than a natural state.

Parhon appointed a woman as director of this Institute of Gerontology and Geriatrics, presumably a former student and follower of his, Dr. Ana Aslan.   She went on to develop a line of youth promoting products that attracted quite a following (A. Onassis, J. Kennedy were among her clients). I think I will try to get a hold of these patented products, "the first medicine designed to delay human aging processes".  And I am in the process of locating a copy of Dr. Parhon's book "Old Age and Its Treatment".

I almost feel grateful to my Hashimoto's for enlarging my horizon... Um... Not really.

I figured there must be some pretty impressive endocrinologists in Bucharest, with such an outstanding school behind them, so I pursued my research.

I scheduled an appointment with none other than the Head of the Romanian Society of Endocrinology, Dr. Mihai Coculescu, whose impressive list of publications on PubMed and whose views on thyroid and estrogen went straight to my heart.  I'm thinking I should bring him Dr. Peat's books, maybe something develops... It would be worthwhile to see Dr. Peat invited to one of these mainstream congresses of endocrinologists. Anyway, the RSE publishes Acta Endocrinologica since...1938. It also publishes "The Romanian Journal of Diabetes, Nutrition and Metabolic Diseases".

I bought for five dollars, from the selection of a street vendor in Bucharest, "Clinical Endocrinology", published in 1976, authored by two of Parhon's collaborators, Stefan Milcu and Marcela Pitis, to which Dr. Coculescu, back then a young research assistant, is listed as a top contributor.

Here is Dr. Coculescu, delivering a speech at the Romanian Academy (in Romanian):

He talks about another illustrious Romanian endocrinologist I knew nothing about, Dr. Paulescu, who first discovered insulin, in 1921.  Dr. Paulescu is a controversial figure because of his antisemitic views.  Many claim that he was robbed of his Nobel prize.

Dr. Parhon is not much talked about in Romania nowadays because he was a communist. I guess Dr. Parhon was either inspired, or a student of Dr. Paulescu's. As Dr. Parhon was openly opposing antisemitism, his relationship with Paulescu must have been at least strained. Fascinating...

Back to 2013: confident that Romania boasts a mighty tradition of endocrinology, I crowned my stay in sunny Bucharest with another doctor's visit and a panel of brand new blood tests, of which I might soon write.

Dr. Peat vs. Dr. Servan-Schreiber, SOS Medecins, Dr. Gershon and Oysters

So what if Dr. Peat had cancer... I read Dr. David Servan-Schreiber's book "Anticancer" precisely because he was a cancer survivor. He had brain cancer at 31, survived for 20 years with a diet rich in vegetables, fish, vegetable oils, curcuma, green tea. I guess one might say that his views are quite the opposite of Dr. Peat's.

It would be interesting to know when did Dr. Peat have his terrible encounter with cancer, but if he did not make that public, it is his choice, I guess.

I know that one cannot compare these diseases, least of all someone without a medical education like myself, but still, if Dr. Peat didn't have any more issues after a diet such as his, his very state of health might be interpreted as a sign that Dr. Servan-Schreiber's diet may not be the answer and it would be really too bad that it has become the norm in the fight against cancer?

I will be seeing my doctor again, after two episodes of ... I don't know what that was. Generalized numbness. My blood glucose was 135 during the first episode. I ended up calling SOS Medecins (an association of doctors doing house calls for emergencies, very cool).  I did not impress the doctor who came, he bet on a magnesium deficiency and panic attack and said the blood glucose had gone up because I got scared. Of course I got scared. Here I was, reading peacefully, when I realize something is funny. The tips of my hands cannot feel the page, the soles of my feet cannot feel the ground... I scratch my head and cannot feel the roots of my hair, touch my face, cannot feel the fingers on it... Good Lord!

The next day it happened again, at the same time, around 5 p.m. and it lasted even longer, almost until I fell asleep.

Yesterday I tried a "trick". In the morning, I didn't take my 37.5 mcg of T4, nor any other supplements except  magnesium and 5 o'clock came and went without funny feelings. I took the T4 at night, as Dr. Peat advises, to improve sleep and counteract the TSH on the rise. As I type this, the back of my hands feel sort of numb. The face too, a bit. This is stupid. One and a half hour to go till I see my doctor. I can drive and walk, just that everything is bizarre. For instance, if I clench my fists together real hard, I can only feel some pain in the muscles, next to the bones, but no sensation on the skin.

I started reading Dr. Michael Gershon's book "The Second Brain -Your Gut Has A Mind of His Own". Excellent!

But it took away all desire to eat oysters, just as I had made up my mind to not let another week go by without eating at least a dozen.

(Do all these wonderful experts have to contradict each other with equal persuasion? How come Ray Peat, who is so careful about toxins, recommends oysters, despite their being these natural filters of filth next to our shores?)

Reading Gershon's story about that one sailor taking a dump in the sea during oyster harvesting and then getting so many people sick with the same bug he was carrying, all traceable back to him, cured all desire of fresh oysters I might have had. And his comments about the globalized food market and the handlers of food and the differences in microbial flora and the way things work at the colon's level made me contemplate with remorse the reckless food habits I had during my trips to SE Asia or even the forays to the local Asian markets. Just because the local people could eat all that wonderful food without any health issues did not mean I was supposed to, as well.

Who knows what is going on with me...

My Blood Glucose Makes Me Find Out About Ray Peat's Cancer Survival

Never a dull moment.

I had acquired a glucose meter in preparation for the documentation of my Peat style diet. I used it a few times when I received it, just to get the hang of it. I was a little surprised by the results -- 98 fasting, 102 post prandial... I figured it must be the sugar in the Peat diet that made the difference -- I had always been under 90 before.

The day before yesterday, I checked again my fasting glucose level. 111!!! What?!?

I freaked out. Later that day, I had 102 before lunch, 103 after lunch. Yesterday, 102 fasting, 109 post-prandial. Today, 109 fasting...

Which sent me into a googling frenzy, of course, and this came up:

Typically, blood glucose levels are unaffected by hypothyroidism because insulin sensitivity is not altered. In fact, in patients utilizing exogenous insulin, there may be a decrease in insulin requirements from reduced insulin degradation. Therefore, typically, glucose remains stable or improves while a person is hypothyroid. Once thyroid treatment is initiated, patient education and close observation is vital because normalization of the thyroid may potentially lead to higher blood glucose levels and loss of diabetes control.

(From "Diabetes and Thyroid Disease: A Likely Combination" by Jennal L. Johnson, MS, RNC, FNP, CDE, and Daniel S. Duick, MD, FACP, FACE, published in Diabetes Spectrum Volume 15, Number 3, 2002)

Basically, I might have become insulin resistant, or pre-diabetic, a tendency that thrived on my lovely Peat diet. My low thyroid levels were masking that development! Could this be actually the reason behind the down regulation of my hormones? They may have kept it all in check for me. Some argue -- and intuitively I believe them -- that the body is truly smart and should not be second guessed... Sometimes, a slowered metabolism and impaired functionality are the body's way to deal with severe issues, from Lyme disease to... diabetes, why not? I sure have the genes for it, unfortunately.

Now I have to watch this development. No fun at all. I think I need to let go of sugar. I know, I know, what an unPeatian thing to do, right? Besides, those results are not so bad and they may represent a temporary spike, caused by T4 supplementation. I should be so lucky!

I kept googling and found out that someone with full blown diabetes went on a certain forum and obtained some thoughtful advice from a certain "female German" user. The latter, true to her habit, and with best intentions, no doubt, spared no effort and wrote lengthy, persuasive messages, pushing progesterone by the spoonful, sugar, salt and such... But in the heat of the argumentation and the throes of admiration from her newly found patient, she let go off a piece of information that sent my head spinning. You be the judge:

“Once I asked Ray Peat about PAP testing and what could be done if the PAP test came back with a bad result. He told me this was a way to threaten women into unnecessary procedures. If you used vitamin A, vitamin E and progesterone and thyroid, both orally and topically - you would be fine within a month. He'd given this advice to many women over the last 50 years and it always worked. He'd thought about it when he had pre-cancerous and cancerous lesions in his mouth and used vitamin A and E and pregnenolone and thyroid to heal them (which they did). He realized that the mucous of the mouth was similar to that of the vagina. I have given this advice to many women during the last couple of years. It always worked.”

I had never read before that the man himself had dealt with oral cancer... Let alone that he cured it with vitamin A, vitamin E, thyroid and pregnenolone...

No progesterone? I wonder why…

And, most of all, I wonder how I feel about just finding out that my new diet hero had 1. "cancerous lesions" 2. in his mouth 3. where he used to administer himself experimental doses of progesterone 4. which is considered by some carcinogenic and angiogenic 5. on the background of a diet with lots of sugar, coffee, and with tons of components considered by others, well, unhealthy and cancer-promoting.

It is all about context, right?

And yes, I do realize that Ray Peat was subjected to recreational radiation in his youth. I would have hoped that his diet beat cancer by a safe margin, though...

I also did notice that Ray Peat uses most vitamins and supplements topically now. "As a precaution"...

However, I remember the same zealous Peatarian (aka Rayser?) was strongly advocating the use of progesterone on another thread, together with Vitamin K and other such treats, for someone else who was battling lung cancer. 

Both "patients" advised by Peatarian abruptly stopped writing on that board.

I hope they are OK...

I will abruptly stop reading "testimonials" and abruptly wonder more than ever. Maybe this blog should not even exist, it draws attention to a current that has a few rabid proponents who can cause quite a bit of harm in their healing attempts. That is why I am not even linking to those threads, google for yourselves, maybe they are still up there... Things do become invisible on that forum!

The mind boggles.


I don't even want to comment on the "mucous of the mouth was similar to that of the vagina" part and the fact that both Peat and Peatarian reportedly have been healing cervical cancer with progesterone used "topically". 

I learned a whole lot from Ray Peat and from many of his followers. Generally, they are open minded -- which makes them permeable to Peat's contrarian ideas to begin with.

Too bad a few of his followers out there are truly scary.

(On another thread, people were discussing Ray Peat’s “scratchy” voice. Not one brought up the cancer in his past as a possible explanation. What a sinister “community”! Under the appearance of freedom of expression and genuine care, a bunch of zealots censor everybody to the point that that entire board perversely turns into a persuasive advertisement for Ray Peat and Ray Peat practitioners' methods!) 

May my shield of common sense stay up. I need it. I don't think that most doctors are stupid and evil, nor that most studies are flawed. And while I still like Ray Peat a whole lot and I am grateful for all the new understanding he brought into my life, after time consuming research and pondering, I have reached the conclusion that he cherry-picks with the best of them and nobody should stop his or her search for health on his site.

Time to say good bye to much of the sugar I enjoyed so far. It is simply not worth it. I am at higher risk for diabetes, 25% more than the norm, according to my genetic imprint, why push it?

Besides, since the diet and supplements he advocates did not prevent Peat from having to deal with cancer (and I wonder if I shouldn't add, "on the contrary"?) it makes all the more sense to me that there may be some truth in the findings of those who say that sugar favors tumors and that progesterone favors angiogenesis and growth of new tissue.