Affirmations

Some affirmations came to me on the plane to NYC yesterday that I'd like to share. Affirmations are always in the "I" so you are invited to take them on in your voice if you like them!

• I am capable and able to keep my wits about me.
• I am sharp and wise.
• I pay attention to my surroundings.
• I listen to my intuition.
• I know that other people are not trying to hurt me. They are doing the best they can with what is up for them right now, sometimes more than they can hold.
• People do what they do, but not "to" me.
• I am in possession of myself.
• I keep myself out of harm's way.
• I walk in the light.
• I am tolerant of human shortcomings, mine and those of others.
• Each moment is a new beginning.
• I continue beautifully.
• I persevere.
• I am flexible and resilient.
• I see the beauty in me and around me.
• I am so grateful for what I have.
• I choose beauty, love and gentleness in my life!
• I do not take other people's expectations or reactions personally.
• I have everything I need to make good decisions for myself.
• I can easily change course when warranted.
• I learn from every experience.
• I easily release attachments to behaviors that no longer serve me, even if I have had them for years.
• Paradox is a fact of Life ;-)

I got accepted as a Waking Down Mentor!

Yay! see my mentor page at http://teachers.wakingdown.org/laurawittke/

And while you are there look at all the other cool stuff about Waking Down in Mutuality http://www.wakingdown.org/

Hot Flashes, LDN, and thyroid

Hello dears, wanting to update you all on my progress with low dose Naltrexone even though I don't have much to report. I have been on 1.5 mg nightly for about a month and a half, and the main thing I have experienced is a big increase in hot flashes! I do not blame this directly on LDN but on my narrowed range of temperature tolerance (due to menopause) and on the way that LDN improves thyroid function. The thyroid, as you know, is responsible for regulating metabolic rate (think thermostat) and when it works well body temperature comes up to normal. In fact, one functional test for thyroid adequacy is to take one's temperature every morning at the same time, before eating or drinking. If it is <98.6 your thyroid is likely not working optimally.

"My temperature always runs low" does not cut it. If so, your thyroid has probably "always" not been up to snuff.

Recently I spent a lot of time researching the physiology of hot flashes. Science alert! Here is what I found out:

I just learned something that relates to thyroid and hot flashes. "Thyroid hormones are known to stimulate thermogenesis in rodents by exerting a permissive effect on norepinephrine that affects uncoupling protein-1 (UCP1) expression in brown adipose tissue (BAT)." (from Uncoupling protein-3 as a molecular determinant of the action of 3,5,3'-triiodothyronine on energy metabolism. 2009

Endocrine. 2009 Oct;36(2):246-54. Epub 2009 Jul 14.
Flandin P, Lehr L, Asensio C, Giacobino JP, Rohner-Jeanrenaud F, Muzzin P, Jimenez M.)

So, it doesn't matter to me about UCP1 or whatever, but it does matter about the norepinephrine- check out this really cool research article http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/510409_7

that explains step by step how hot flashes come about by the narrowing of the range at which the core temperature of the body feels "normal" - so that the woman will start sweating at a lower temperature and start shivering at a higher temperature. This is associated with higher levels of norepinephrine in the brain (not in plasma). Clonidine actually reduces hot flashes by inhibiting norepinephrine (that does not mean I am willing to take clonidine!)

Now, interestingly, anything that increases thermogenesis increases core body temperature. I remember when I started drinking green tea to lose weight and I got drastically more frequent and hotter hot flashes, that went back to baseline when I stopped! Also, MCT oil is thermogenic (says so on bottle) and we actually recommend it to people for weight loss. Backing up further, I remember reading years ago that coconut oil promotes weight loss by helping the thyroid become more efficient.

Wow, huh? It is all related. So I am backing off on my consumption of coconut oil right now until I can get the hot flashes to settle down.

I stopped Naturethroid (t3/t4) for a week until the hot flashes returned to baseline, started again on half a dose, got increased hot flashes, stopped for a day and started again on 1/4 dose and had increased hot flashes again.

This is not only interesting, it is telling me that possibly on low dose naltrexone I might not need ANY Naturethroid.

SO: I got my results back and they were not conclusive but seemed to indicate that I needed to get back on to my old dose of thyroid. Even though I'm sure if I do, my sizzling hot flashes will return ..... at least temporarily. This is my new question to investigate! Here is what I am thinking now...

It occurs to me that there is another situation where the body needs to experience uncomfortable sensations in order to regulate itself and have those sensations go away. That is in the case of blood glucose (BG) (blood sugar). When a person with uncontrolled diabetes begins to get control, that is, to bring their blood glucose down (with diet, activity and/or medication) they often FEEL like they have low blood glucose, even when they don't. That is, they have symptoms of hypoglycemia - shakes, cold sweats, faintness - but when they test their blood glucose, it is 90 or 100 - not low by any means. The correct advice is to test when experiencing these symptoms, and if blood glucose is 70 or above, sit down and rest, and re-test in 15 mins or if you feel significantly worse, sooner. Do not treat with candy, glucose tablets, orange juice or anything unless you have a BG reading of <70. If a person is using insulin shots, their BG may continue to drop, and then they have to eat to bring it up, and decrease their insulin dose so that they are not getting too much so that it doesn't happen again. BUT in most cases, these symptoms are just the body saying "hey wait a minute, I'm not used to this!!" and, like with children and dogs, it will NEVER get used to it unless you can convince it that everything really is alright and it is OK to sit with the situation. After some time like this the body stops responding as if it has hypoglycemia when it really doesn't.

So I am wondering if my hot flashes are like this? Especially because I have taken my temperature and it is still slightly below normal even during a hot flash. Note that "core body temperature" is different from the temp you can get with a regular thermometer, which is said to "lag". So next time I have a hot flash I will try to remember to take my temp a few minutes into it or at the end.

How long will it take my body to get used to a properly functioning thyroid and a body temp of 98.6? That is the big question, and can I live through it without going nuts? Stay tuned to see!!