Dear Dr Peatfield…

Below is the letter I sent to Dr Peatfield today. Dr Barry Durrant-Peatfield is a major guru & living legend over here in the UK. He specialises in Adrenal and Thyroid support. He is the author of “Your Thyroid and How to Keep it Healthy: The Great Thyroid Scandal and How to Survive it.” His book has been super-helpful these last 6 years. All my appointments and telephone conversations have been awesome. I base all my metabolic support on his work. He is one of the few Doctors I like and trust. Not many of them about!!!!

Looks like thyroids is my Big thing at the moment.

Dear Dr Peatfield

Hi there, we spoke on the phone about five weeks ago and you asked me to try some Nutri-thyroid at very low dose to see what might happen. I have now tried it and results are as detailed below. I will also add some history, comments and some other investigations in order to make things as clear as possible.

History: Trouble re-started in Feb 2013 after one small, low dose round of mercury chelation under the Cutler protocol. The chelation round was fine, but after five days I became super tired, massively lacking in energy and freezing cold all the time. Obvious thyroid, and possibly adrenal, issues. So I started a temperature graph to see what was happening.

IMG_0436You can see from my temp graph the temps are all low which indicates thyroid troubles. I would also have said ‘possible adrenal problems’ because the temps are not totally stable, but they are not that unstable and I am not totally methodical when it comes to always taking 3 temps a day and averaging them. You can see from the graph that I often only do one or two temps and that I know affects the ‘average daily temp’. But it is equally clear they are always low and a little up and down. As far as I can tell, I definitely have thyroid issues, and I might have adrenal issues.

The temp graph is as per Dr Rind: three temperature readings per day, which are averaged and plotted on the graph. The reason I do this is because every morning I awake to a very furry and gunky mouth and I believe that can affect the temp. I have taken my morning basal temp these last few days and you can see them on the graph. Interesting to see them above my daily average temp!!!

FYG I have been having episodes of mega-hot, mega-sweating during the night. It comes and goes but I occasionally awake at 3am drenched head to foot in sweat. I am not always aware of this and my wife told me the other day that i was mega sweaty one night, but I didn’t wake up and wasn’t aware, so I am not sure if this is every night or not. I don’t think it’s every night. Mornings when I awake I am always feeling ‘warm-and-toasty’. In the day time I generally feel ‘cold’ and always wear extra layers to keep warm.

Before we go on, I have made an important discovery. I have been getting horrible heart palpitations and high blood pressure (BP) issues. The high BP seemed to come and go at odd, different times of the day. It’s been stressing me out. It gets me down.

I generally eat bread in moderation only, trying to have just one meal a day with bread, but 2-3 weeks ago I had bread at breakfast and lunch and I felt TERRIBLE in the evening. So as an experiment I stopped the bread, and from that day onwards it’s made a world of difference: no more heart palpitations, no more raised blood pressure. I feel grounded and secure at last; everything feels stable and level. This is a big deal. Cool news and happy dayz! Note: I do not feel/get digestive issues with the bread. It feels like something deeper than just digestive troubles the bread causes. Note: I am fine with potatoes and fine with brown rice too, (even in large portions.)

I have included my notes that detail my temps, symptoms and comments from day to day. Also included are my blood pressure readings, which as you will see have all calmed hugely down since I stopped eating bread.

Eight weeks ago when I tried the Adrenal Cortex, 1 cap, 50mgs, it was my BP that went crazy, along with the crazy heart palpitations. I am not sure what would happen now, now that the removal of bread from my diet has calmed things down?

And another thing, I am currently reading ‘Stop the Thyroid Madness’ book and it talks about ‘adrenaline surges’ when stating adrenal support. I have never heard of Adrenaline Surges before, but they sound exactly what I had when I took the adrenal cortex recently…and the same as 15 months ago when the adrenal and thyroid support kicked off all the major trouble with my heart. I have included a highlighted page from the book which very well describes what happened to me. Is that what happened to me?

Note of my current major symptoms: greatly lacking in energy, cannot exercise at all, cold and I have burning hot feet. Without shoes the heat dissipates away, but with any shoes and walking around for 30-60 minutes; the heat builds up to unbearable levels. This has been like this for about 7-8 months. It comes and goes. Sometimes very mild, sometimes a real hassle. No idea what it means when my feet are boiling hot, and the rest of my body is cold to the bone. Comical! Is this just one of the joys of thyroid fatigue? Or another problem to figure out?

So…I started on half dose of Nutri thyroid, 70mgs, felt nothing for 4 days but on the fifth day things got better. My notes from the day read:

“Feeling good!!!!!!!!! 7pm BP 129/80 p50, Yes felling better. More stable. Still lacking in energy but defo better. Dreams have returned with a vengeance.”

As the days progressed things remained the same, i.e. a general feeling of a little progress at long last. Importantly no wildness, no raised blood pressure and no heart palpitations.

After nine days I have raise the dose again, to one capsule, 140mgs Nutri-Thyroid. Two days in and no real change. Temps slightly up, but nothing certain yet.

Since I have been on Nutri-Thyroid: very hungry all the time, gained 1-2 KG in much-needed weight. I am now having two bowel movements a day, (instead of one). I occasionally get very low levels of depression, just feeling a little down after all the troubles I have…but feel much more buoyant and happy now I’m on thyroid support. And libido seems to be making a come back! Nice! Always a good sign!!

Other signals and signals:

1) Adrenal test. I did the blood pressure lying down and then standing up thing to test the status of the adrenals: done 11am20th May 2013:
Lying down after 5 minutes: 134/69, pulse 49
Standing up: 146/57, pulse 59
Hooary! I think that means my adrenals are ok????
Please confirm that’s the case.

2) Torch pupil test for the adrenals/aldoeterone: Mildly positive for this test. My pupil did fluctuate back and forth after 1 minute, but I must say it was mild. I have done this test before and on previous occasions the flutter back and forth was strong. On this occasion it was however pretty weak and mild.

3) I started selenium supplementation a couple of months back: noticed no difference.

4) I have added a chart of my current symptoms from ‘Stop The Thyroid Madness’ book.

Note: my current supplements:
Milk Thistle (for liver)
Hawthorn berry (for heart)
Mukta vati (for blood pressure)
Zinc
Magnesium
Calcium
Chromium Vit C
Selenium
Vit D3
1 cap Nutri Thyroid.

Conclusions and summery of questions:
1) Do I have thyroid fatigue?
2) What are my adrenals doing?
3) What’s the burning feet thing?
4) Adrenaline surges? Is that what I had?
5) What to do about these things?
6) I have read that calcium can interfere with the thyroid glandulars. Should I take the calcium at a different time?
7) Supplements? Anything else? B’s?????
8) I swallow the Nutri-Thyroid pills. Should I take them sublingually?
9) How often do I raise the Nutri-Thyroid dose? Every 7-10 days?
10) I guess no upper limit like last time. Just keep gradually raise until temps rise?
11) Should I switch to Armour at some point? Or just go with the Nutri-thyroid for now and see what happens? The reason I ask this is because in my experience both Nutri-thyroid and Armour take a LONG time to gradually raise the dose: 4-9 months each. I need to chelate my mercury out and for that I need strong thyroid support. Last time Armour was required for chelation as the glandular was not strong enough.

That’s probably enough. After I have sent this letter to you I will call and arrange another telephone conversation with you.

Thanks for the help Dr P. You da man!

Best regards
Sunshine

Note: Nutri-thyroid is thyroid glandular. That mean it is crushed up cow thyroid glands. Yummy!

9 thoughts on “Dear Dr Peatfield…

  1. funny you should write about bread today – I have literally just posted about the same observation. It’s not gut stuff – much more psychiatric if I had to ‘label’ it. I get super down, and a bit panicky, confused, and sometimes a touch of paranoia (obsessive dwelling on stuff). It blows over a few hrs after eating the gluten, but I have noticed this effect before… is it candida toxins, due to the ‘feast’ they’re getting, or is it the gluten itself perhaps getting into the bloodstream un-brokendown? Hmm.

    Interesting post by the way – I need to investigate thyroid / adrenal stuff, but I have energy mostly, and now don’t get those hideous adrenaline surges that I used to get all the time after round 1. disaster. It was horrible – any tiny thing could trigger the sort of adrenaline response I would only hope to get if greeted by a grisly bear on a particularly dark night.

    • Hi Anna. Bread feeding candida in the gut? I don;t know in my case. I would say not, but anything is possible. Maybe gluten getting in the bloodstream unbrokendown…yes maybe that. Easiest way out of the problem is to just avoid bread for now. Makes for an easier life!!

      Yeah adrenals and thyroids is a tricky subject…but if you can get it right, it makes a world of difference to the quality of your life. All the effort made in understanding and treating it correctly is well well worth it. Thyroid is defo my main problem at the moment.

  2. Sunshine, I’m reading your Kindle book right now (about halfway through) and wanted to thank you for putting it on Amazon. I had heard/been told by a couple of people that some find 3 hour dosing to work better than 4 hour dosing, but when I read in your book about your personal experience it convinced me to try it myself. My first three rounds were pretty rough and I basically lost about 36 hours due to brain fog, losing desire to do anything, wanting to stay in bed the whole time, crying, depression, etc. I guess I too am a fast metabolizer as this weekend for round 4 I decided to try the 3 hour dosing. What a difference!! No side effects that I’m aware and today I feel okay too so no after affects. I slept very well all three nights, even with the 3 hour alarm going off. I wish you the best of luck with your thyroid and adrenal issues. The Stop the Thyroid Madness site has some good information and I know you are opposed to using chemical drugs – I was too. I resisted for a very long time. One thing I would like to suggest is that you do the saliva cortisol test which you can get from Canary Club for about $110. I don’t know if you’ve done that testing yet but it can help to give you some insight. You would need to be off all adrenal support for two weeks. I am on two of the STTM Yahoo groups, the moderators there are very helpful in interpreting labs and guiding us through the protocols. Best of luck and thanks again for putting your book at Amazon, I am thoroughly enjoying reading it.

    • Hiya Starlene. Hey, glad you are enjoying the book! Thanks for popping in to say hello too: always cool! Getting emails like yours makes everything worth all the effort. Writing the book took a significant effort, so its super-cool to get emails and feedback :-)))))
      Lost 36 hours due to brain fog. Oh my goodness, what a ‘mare. Horrible isn’t it. I remember those bad old dayz too. Not funny. Not funny at all. But … I’m real happy to hear you have been inspired to make a change and get such an awesome result: a normal round! Happy dayz! Good on you for not giving up and keep on looking and searching for answers. All the answers are out there somewhere!
      I hope the after-round distribution is not too bad. If it is: probably means you need to lower the chelator dose.
      Thanks for the best wishes on my thyroid stuff. I have done this before, so I know whats what, but it’s still a minefield. The trick is to get the diagnoses correct. Mine has changed from 2008/2009. Dr Peatfield is a legend and I’m already making progress. I like his methods. Was good to get me to write him a letter…makes me think, which make it clearer!!
      If I need a saliva test..i will get from the canary club. Thx.
      Take care and good luck with the chelation Starlene
      Sunshine

  3. Hey, hey Danny-O! Just wanted to mention a couple things in the event that they may help… First off, have you had trouble with Vitamin E? It’s a must for chelating (along with C, zinc, and magnesium), and I’ve found it really knocks out fatigue and gives me energy. I take Unique E, one in the morning, one at bedtime, and am very happy with it. If I don’t take it, I feel it.

    Secondly, it’s interesting that you mention the heart palpitations. I hadn’t had any experience with this symptom until my little iodine crash, and I’ve since figured out what was causing it… In the two days of my fever, I strayed from my uber strict diet and could only stomach popsicles. No surprise there, it fed my yeast and my long lost candida symptoms have been back with a vengeance. Crazy bloated tummy, nasal inflammation, furry tongue…

    In doing a bit of research, I see that heart palpitations are also a symptom of yeast overgrowth. Candida doesn’t affect the heart, but it affects the hormones that control the functioning of the heart. Soooo, as you’ve suspected, I’m thinking if you cut the bread out completely, along with anything else that may be feeding the candida, you very well may get over the heart palps…

    And finally, I’m sorry to see your temp charts. You steered me in the right direction with mine, and I’d love for your temps to be looking a bit more stable as well. I’m finally just sub-stable, averaging 98.0 to 98.1 daily. So adrenals are there, I’m just still a tad low. Selenium was huge for me; upping my 2-3 brazil nuts daily to 5-6 completely brought my temperatures up. I’m taking 1200 mg of ACE and 4.5 grains of Naturethroid daily. Aside from the iodine episode, I’m feeling more human than I have in ages. What a trip.

    Anyway, hope some of this may help, if not, sending you waves of encouragement for some answers and progress in the thyroid and adrenal arenas… 😉

  4. Yo, Tara, hi there. Hope you are over the worst of your iodine experiment. That sounded horrid, but it is an inevitable part of our lives. We have to take chances and some of them backfire. Such is life. Move on. Next!
    I have not tried Vitamin E for a while, but in the past it’s done nothing for me. Zip! It is on my list of things to try: Vit E, Niacin, different liver herbs, Vit B’s. But I can only try one at a time….and the thyroid support is next on the list.

    You could only eat popsicles? Popsicle? Like an iced lolly? For kids? How old are you! LOL…crazy girl! No wonder you had digestive issues!! No doubt you learned an invaluable lesson form that experiment! Ha!

    My Temp graph is cool and I am learning lots from it. Thyroid issue confirmed. Adrenals not too bad. Selenium supplementation did nothing. Thyroid supplementation caused the temps to steady out, and go lower. That’s means the thyroid support is working. Now I just have to raise the dose to raise the temps. No doubt another saga…but I live in hope!! The most important thing is the heart hassle. Figuring out the bread is a big deal. Everything is tranquil and calm at the moment…and i feel i’m on the up and turned a corner.
    I am on zero adrenal support and 140mg thyroid support: so small fry. I will be building up the dose over the next few months (as long as I don’t get those crazy adrenaline surges. I think that’s what I had.

    Take care young lady:-)
    Sunshine

  5. Yay, good to see your blog.
    I see on this blog you take Calcium, have you read The Calcium Lie by Robert Thompson MD & Kathleen Barnes. ?. There is a chapter on The Calcium Myth
    – Is a bit of an eye opener. Another chapter on Excess Calcium & Thyroid & Adrenal malfunctions.

    I sometimes get concerned about mentioning more stuff – it’s all such a plod sometimes to read all this stuff and find the right pathways that work for us. Anyhoo, I felt to mention it. Especially as he also talks about heart issues and calcium and sodium pump failure.

    He really socks it between the eyes, on the book cover it says ‘What Your Doctor Doesn’t Know Could Kill You’ – well as GP’s know sweet nothing about thyroid/adrenals/metals etc…… thought I would read it!

    all the best

    Judy

    • Judy, I second your opinion on calcium; I totally agree. Cutler also advises against calcium supplementation, and from what I’ve also read from other sources, the calcium/magnesium ratio is an important one. The jist of what we’re to take from it is that we need to supplement magnesium for what is typically a calcium excess in our systems. We need more Mg to balance out the ratio. Heart symptoms also often involve Mg deficiency as well.

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