posted
I am permanently hypothyroid. I had my thyroid ablated -RAI- in 1998 because I was told I had "Graves'" disease.
In retrospect, I believe this was the first symptom of my vector borne bacterias starting to hit my body.
I am on Erfa Thyroid (natural). My liver would/could not convert Synthroid.
It's also very important to check your thyroid antibodies. I recently discovered mine were 190 ! the range is to be <40.
My Lyme MD said I had Hashimoto's which is also an autoimmune disease that can hit your joints, etc.
After 4 days of increasing my thyroid med ALL of my joint pain disappeared and my walking improved 200%!!! It was as if a light bulb went off and I am almost feeling normal again.
Here I was blaming the Lyme and co's for alot my symptoms - this, after being on ABX for 4.5 years- and it was the thyroid antibodies wreaking havoc.
Lyme and co's DO throw the HPA out of wack and sometimes it is hard to keep levels in check while treating.
Also, my doc advised me Mepron and Malarone can affect thyroid levels, so you have to monitor you don't go hypothyroid while treating Babesia.
Posts: 396 | From EAPennsylvania | Registered: Dec 2007
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posted
Don't have any studies to link, but I have read that Lyme et al. disrupt the proper function of the HPA axis.
I have Hashimotos auto immune hypothyroid. It started when my other Lyme symptoms did. I take bio-identical T3 b/c as
with the other poster, my body doesn't convert T4 to T3 at the tissue level.
Since starting treatment in Feb, my thyroid levels have been fluctuating a lot, and it's difficult to regulate the thyroid meds.
Posts: 331 | From West Coast | Registered: Jan 2012
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quote:Originally posted by debilyn: Don't have any studies to link, but I have read that Lyme et al. disrupt the proper function of the HPA axis.
I believe it is also said (by Dr. H or Dr. B ?) that if you adrenals and thyroid are not balanced the ABX won't work....
Posts: 396 | From EAPennsylvania | Registered: Dec 2007
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posted
Yep, I have Hashimoto's...my antibodies were up over 1000!!! Should be less than 35...I take Armour, and I also use LDN which lowered my antibodies to less than 35...then I got Candida and now my antibodies are back up to over 300...I know I read that Lyme can really mess up your thyroid function, and your adrenals. Supposedly my cortisol level is fine but...I have to wonder. We have NEVER been able to get all my thyroid numbers regulated within normal range. I believe it gets worse when I am in a Lyme flare...
Posts: 13 | From MA | Registered: Sep 2009
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emla999/Lyme
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 12606
posted
For those with hypothyroidism, you might find the links down bellow to be interesting.
Our circadian rhythm plays a big role in the production of hormones. And anything that you do that disrupts your body's natural circadian rhythm can negatively affect your health.
Circadian rhythm disruption has been linked to hormonal problems, the development of cancer, the development of neurological diseases, sleep disorders and etc. Disruption to your circadian rhythm can also suppress your immune system making you more vulnerable to pathogenic infections.
And things such as your eating habits, water drinking habits/schedule, stress, exposure to light and your sleeping schedule can influence your circadian rhythm in a negative way.
lpkayak
Honored Contributor (10K+ posts)
Member # 5230
posted
INTERESTING-I HAVE FOUND SOME OF THIS WORKS FOR ME...NOT A LOT OF ANIMAL FAT THO
Seth Cured a Sleep Disorder With Circadian Therapy
Seth is a well-known blogger, a Paleo dieter and psychologist, author of The Shangri-La Diet, and a great self-experimenter.
Seth recently gave a talk that tells the history of his self-experimentation.
It turns out he suffered from disturbed sleep for many years. He experimented to find cures for 10 years; nothing worked. But then he got a lead.
When a student suggested he eat more fruit, he started eating fruit for breakfast. His sleep got worse! This was exciting to Seth because it was, in 10 years, the first thing he tried that changed his sleep.
He had the idea of trying no breakfast. It turned out that skipping breakfast improved his sleep. One of his slides:
This directly supports our idea that intermittent fasting (confining eating to an 8-hour window each day) should be therapeutic for circadian rhythm disorders such as disturbed sleep and hypothyroidism.
But what's exciting is that Seth continued his experiments to find other ways to improve his sleep. As a psychologist, he knew that human contact controls when we sleep: people are most awake at the times they have contact with other people, and asleep when isolated.
He knew that watching TV can have effects similar to socializing. So he tried watching Jay Leno one morning. He slept very well the next night.
It turns out that looking at human faces is almost as good as real socializing. Here is Seth's data relating mood to whether he looked at faces:
Seth also tracked his mood over the course of the day. The response of mood to seeing pictures of human faces clearly followed a circadian (24-hour) rhythm:
Another thing that relates to circadian rhythms is exercise: we normally exercise during the day and rest at night.
For a scholar, the easiest way to exercise is to stand rather than sit (for instance, by working at a standing desk). Seth tried standing 9 hours a day - and it cleared his sleep problem!
Of course, standing is not a very strenuous exercise. Seth found that if he just stood on one leg, the effect was much more intense, and he could fix his sleep problem with only minutes of one-legged standing per day.
He also found that eating more animal food improved his sleep. It's possible that animal fat may enhance circadian rhythms more than other foods.
Conclusion
I found this fascinating - because it adds more evidence regarding the centrality of circadian rhythms in health - and exciting, because it shows that simple tactics can be therapeutic for circadian rhythm disorders.
In the hypothyroidism post, I suggested the following tactics for improving circadian rhythms: *Light entrainment: Get daytime sun exposure, and sleep in a totally darkened room. *Daytime feeding: Eat during daylight hours, so that food rhythms and light rhythms are in synch. *Intermittent fasting: Concentrate food intake during an 8-hour window during daylight hours, preferably the afternoon. A 16-hour fast leading to lower blood sugar and insulin levels, and the more intense hormonal response to food that results from concentration of daily calories into a short 8-hour time window, will accentuate the diurnal rhythm. *Adequate carb intake: Eat at least 400 ``safe starch'' carbohydrate calories daily during the afternoon feeding window. Relative to a very low-carb diet, this will increase daytime insulin release and, by increasing insulin sensitivity, may reduce fasting insulin levels. It will thus enhance diurnal insulin rhythm.
To these, we can add several more based on Seth's findings: *Looking at human faces: If you work at a computer, keep a window up that cycles among photos of faces, or shows a video of a talk show; keep photos of your family near your screen. *Standing: Work at a standing desk or, failing that, get in the habit of standing on one leg rather than two. *Animal fat: Eat a diet high in animal fats.
These tactics cured Seth's sleep disorder. Might these tactics also cure or greatly improve other circadian rhythm disorders - including hypothyroidism and psychiatric disorders like depression and bipolar disorder? Could looking at human faces help the obese lose weight and improve their lipid profiles?
I don't know but I'd certainly give these techniques a try before pharmaceutical drugs. I believe these techniques deserve clinical testing as therapies for all diseases associated with disrupted circadian rhythms. I believe that they may be just as beneficial for the healthy: by improving immune function, they may delay aging and extend lifespan.
A few weeks ago, when I posted a video of Don Rumsfeld defending the use of a standing desk (the same video was later linked by John Durant and Mark Sisson), I brashly stated, ``There are few single life adjustments more likely to improve your health than working at a standing desk.''
Perhaps that statement wasn't as exaggerated as it may have seemed!
-------------------- Lyme? Its complicated. Educate yourself. Posts: 13712 | From new england | Registered: Feb 2004
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posted
yes- I was hypothroid since age 20, i'm 31, I also think this was the start of my lyme symptoms, it came on pretty fast, I had severe fluttering in my chest and never knew what it was.
I then was in the ER because it had my heartbeat going crazy, and was advised be a doc at a clinic to immediatly go to the er.
No one in my family has any thyroid issues.
I take synthroid, I was on bio identical T3, but had to cut costs, may go back on it, because it is supposed to be better, which I believe it is, has a t4 formula to it too.
I do think lyme and/or infectious disease is directly lined to thryoid issues, my opinion. It was another thing that kind of just hit me, when I was previously healthy.
Posts: 229 | From Forty Fort, PA | Registered: Feb 2012
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