DISAPPOINTING RESULTS

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roxanne
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DISAPPOINTING RESULTS

Post by roxanne »

I have been Intermittent Fasting for the past 2 years, I started at 14-15 hours and gradually increased 6 months ago to 16-20 hours. After 6 months, these are the results:

1. A1C increased from 5.4 to 5.5

2. Homocysteine went from 9.1 to 9.8

3. Blood Pressure always low 99/114 systolic 60/70 increased to 130/80 or more. (this can be because now I get very nervous when I measure, although it does generally come down to 117/73.

4. For the last 3 months I have been waking up between 3-4am with an increased heart rate and extreme fear. I can get rid of the panic in about an hour but can't get back to sleep.

5. During the day, especially at work (I am an MRI technologist and sometimes see 17 to 20 patients a day in a 15 hr shift) I am in a state of alert, ready to jump at any slight or comment from a patient. I do not know if this makes any sense but that's the best way I can describe my mental state.

My activity level when not working is high. Aerobic exercise, weights, yoga four days a week. 2 days of HIIT for 20 minutes and one day off.

My BMI is 18.5 and I'm around 116 lbs, 5.6 tall. According to Cron-O-Meter I have a caloric deficit of 300 to 400 calories some days, while I make up for that on other days. I was taking Liothyronine 5mcg a day and Progesterone 50mgs at night. I stopped both as Liothyronine (T3) increases my heart rate and I think I can't tolerate the Progesterone. I have to reintroduce them to see if the are contributing to these symptoms.

I have APOE3/4, I am compound hetero MHTFR. I do take Methylated vitamins and I'm thinking I'm overmethylated as a few years ago before taking any of these my Homocysteine was at 6. Hopefully Susan, our MHTFR expert can give me her opinion on this.

Wanting to lower my blood pressure to what it was before I read a post by Tincup that taking Potassium Citrate might help, I am taking a 1/4 teaspoon and it didn't do anything for blood pressure but I think it has calmed me down a little and helped wih headaches. I also take 1000 mgs Magnesium Citrate among other supplements.

I welcome your advise.
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SusanJ
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Re: DISAPPOINTING RESULTS

Post by SusanJ »

roxanne wrote:Hopefully Susan, our MHTFR expert can give me her opinion on this.
Seems it would be worth stopping the B vitamins. I'm finding that just because you have certain snps (like the MTHFR twins), it doesn't mean you need to supplement. You have to go by symptoms. You didn't have high homocysteine before supplementing, which probably means you were doing fine without extra Bs.

When I was taking 800 mcg methylfolate and 1000 mcg B12, I also had the 3-4 AM wakeups and couldn't get back to sleep. I now take half those doses and sleep much better. Increased BP can also happen with too much folate.

So, stop for a while and see if your sleep and other symptoms improve.
roxanne
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Re: DISAPPOINTING RESULTS

Post by roxanne »

Yes, thank you Susan. I will do that and let you know if things get better.
DaleBru
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Re: DISAPPOINTING RESULTS

Post by DaleBru »

Hi Roxanne,

IF has been very helpful for me and for many others, but there is a huge variation in how different people respond to different foods.

I recommend the free 12 week introductory program at https://idmprogram.com, Dr. Jason Fung's clinical website. It doesn't really require twelve weeks, as you immediately get access to a huge amount of information.

Depending on where you live, you might be able to find expert advice tailored to you in particular, even good medical advice.

Your work so far is impressive. Hang in there!

Dale
roxanne
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Re: DISAPPOINTING RESULTS

Post by roxanne »

Thank you DaleBru for your answer. Yes Dr. Fung's website and program is great. I am very familiar with it.

How different we are aren't we? We react to things in such different ways!

I have an FM doctor so that helps a lot but we are all learning as we go along. Yesterday we were chatting and laughed at how I give her great ideas, so I gave the credit to this website and the brilliant people that are always ready to welcome anybody who might need help.

All this to say that I will follow Susan's advise, stop the B's and continue with IF trying to increase increase.
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frankiesfriend
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Re: DISAPPOINTING RESULTS

Post by frankiesfriend »

Hi Roxanne,

The low weight, high energy, sleeplessness, anxiety and increased blood pressure, as well as increased cholesterol, were all symptoms I experienced one year when I was hyperthyroid (too much thyroid hormone) - probably induced by stress. If you were taking T3, then you probably were under the care of an endocrinologist to address a low thyroid hormone condition. It may be that you just had too much supplemental thyroid hormone and a hyperthyroid state was induced medically. Perhaps they could retest and see where you are now?

My treatment went the other way. I developed hyperthyroidism and was prescribed a drug to suppress the overstimulated thyroid, however, I overdid the suppression, and became hypothyroid for six months until it normalized. Many people need to take thyroid hormone for life when hypothyroid, but in my case, I completely recovered and now I am neither hyper or hypo-thyroid. It is a delicate balance, and a blood test can reveal any thyroid function anomalies.
E3/E4, My mother was diagnosed with AD at age 73, my age on my next birthday.
roxanne
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Re: DISAPPOINTING RESULTS

Post by roxanne »

Hi Frankiesfriend:

The reason why I was taking a very low dose of T3 was to be more in line with Dr. Bredesen's range of Reverse T3/Free T3. It was only 5mcgs. which I stopped because I thought that was the problem. My FM phiysician prescribed it and we decided to stop to see if the sympotms would subside. I believe that when you fast and go low carb your thyroid function lowers and it's not a bad thing but an adaptation, especially when you feel OK, but that's just my opinion.

I am inclined to believe that the problem is the high amount of Methylated B's which I stopped and we will see if that solves the situation.

I will definitely post the results in a few weeks if this resolves.
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Re: More disappointing results

Post by roxanne »

I retested my A1C and Insulin and my results are quite distressing

A1C from 5.5 to 5.7, and this is with IF 16 to 17 hrs and low carb. The more I restrict carbs the higher the A1C. In fact, it has always been the case with me. This all started with the increase in IF hours from 12-14 and the addition of Progesterone. I did tell my dr. that it seemed my blood sugars were higher when testing but even though she's an FM practitioner she does not believe that to be the case, she just brushes it off, and frankly, I'm tired of these doctors that don't listen to their patients. (sorry for the rant, but I'm just upset). My insulin went up from 1 when I was doing higher carb, to 3 with low carb, and now 4. I did not get yet my homocysteine results but they will probably be higher also. I will report when I get them.
y cholesterol results are:
Total 270 -200
ldl-P 1186 -1000
ldl-c 129 0-99
hdl-c 132 >32
trig 47
hdl-P 41 >30.5
small ldl-p <90 <527
ldl size 21.3 >20.5

She's so upset about the total cholesterol which in my opinion is also high, but I would think we need to look at the whole picture.

Anyway, what I need is some perspective and maybe some advise on how to deal with the A1C and insulin. I've been working so hard to try to bring that number down and I was successful for 2 years with an A1C of 5.4, and figured by now I should have it at 5.0 or at least less than 5.3% .

So my questions are:

Has anyone experienced increased blood sugars and A1C when supplementing Progesterone? I do not use the Estrogen patch. Also, could IF play a role on this? Am I stressing my body with this pattern? I am highly active both at work and exercise. I'm a runner and do HIIT and yoga and weight training also. Maybe I should eat more carbs due to my high activity level? I'm 5.6 and 114 lbs with an IBM of 18.5. Also, I would like your thoughts reg. lipids. Grrrrr. it's all so complicated and tricky.

The good news here, is that after a few months in therapy my anxiety is greatly diminished and my sleep is much, much better. I still wake up after a couple sleep cycles but go back to sleep. Hopefully I will continue to improve.

I thank you in advance for your responses.

Roxanne
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Re: More disappointing results

Post by slacker »

roxanne wrote:I retested my A1C and Insulin and my results are quite distressing

A1C from 5.5 to 5.7, and this is with IF 16 to 17 hrs and low carb.
My insulin went up from 1 when I was doing higher carb, to 3 with low carb, and now 4. I did not get yet my
My cholesterol results are:
Total 270 -200
ldl-P 1186 -1000
ldl-c 129 0-99
hdl-c 132 >32
trig 47
hdl-P 41 >30.5
small ldl-p <90 <527
ldl size 21.3 >20.5

She's so upset about the total cholesterol which in my opinion is also high, but I would think we need to look at the whole picture.

The good news here, is that after a few months in therapy my anxiety is greatly diminished and my sleep is much, much better. I still wake up after a couple sleep cycles but go back to sleep. Hopefully I will continue to improve.
Congratulations on your improved sleep and anxiety! Great news for overall health and AD prevention.

Your total cholesterol is high because your ("good cholesterol") HDL is high (132, right?). What has your HDL been in the past? Similar to this? This is probably a good thing. Your trigs are fantastic. LDL not bad.

Fasting insulin of 4 isn't bad; "The End of Alzheimer's" suggests less than 4.5. This recent post indicates that Bredesen's new recommendation is less than 5. If you are concerned about insulin levels, you might want to test a 2 hour postprandial insulin. Here's the rationale. Bredesen has tightened up his A1C recommendation. Keep in mind that the A1C test has limitations. Per the Mayo Clinc website:
It's important to note that the effectiveness of A1C tests may be limited in certain cases. For example:

If you experience heavy or chronic bleeding, your hemoglobin stores may be depleted. This may make your A1C test results falsely low.
If you have iron deficiency anemia, your A1C test results may be falsely high.
Most people have only one type of hemoglobin, called hemoglobin A. If you have an uncommon form of hemoglobin (known as a hemoglobin variant), your A1C test result may be falsely high or falsely low. Hemoglobin variants are most often found in blacks and people of Mediterranean or Southeast Asian heritage. Hemoglobin variants can be confirmed with lab tests. If you're diagnosed with a hemoglobin variant, your A1C tests may need to be done at a specialized lab for the most accurate results.
If you have another form of hemolytic anemia, or if you've had a recent blood transfusion, this test would not be useful, as results may be falsely low.

Also keep in mind that the normal range for A1C results may vary somewhat among labs. If you consult a new doctor or use a different lab, it's important to consider this possible variation when interpreting your A1C test results.
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roxanne
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Re: DISAPPOINTING RESULTS

Post by roxanne »

Hi Slacker: Thanks for your quick response. I am of Mediterranean descent and I always knew that my A1C is generally higher than the average daily blood testing. It's just distressing to see an increase instead of a decrease when you are doing "all the right things, most of the time" . My hdl cholesterol has always been high, and trigs low. So I believe that's a good thing. Maybe I should test for a variant. It would be interesting to see if that is why I have a falsely elevated A1C. Thanks for the input
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