Switch to the American diet, then you’ll get plenty of sodium
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Im sure there are conditions that lower sodium. But just start with the diet. I add salt into my protein shakes. Potato chips are my ‘cheat’ food.
Depending on your iodine intake from other sources, id use non iodized salt. But if you think Iodine intake is low(another source of potential thyroid issues) use the iodized salt.
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Trying not to do that…
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@blizzardtest
How much sodium should he be taking in?
For people deficient from sodium they say should crave salt, but I dont and I dont like eating too salty. I crave sweet and I can easily forget to put salt on my meal. Just drunk my creatine with salt…
@dextermorgan I don’t know the exact number. Like everything in this game it depends on the individual. We don’t know his current sodium intake. But sodium is a safe place to start given his labs and him noticing his blood pressure was a bit low. Im a proponent of just trying to check things off the list.
@blizzardtest
My sodium is 1 point higher than his and is 4 points lower than pre-TRT. So are we talking adding a tsp to one meal a day or 5 tsp a day?
@dextermorgan
Definitely not 5 teaspoons. More like 1/4 to 1/2 tsp a day. 500mg-1g as a start.
Cool I’ll give it a go
Tomorrow I hope will come out the aldesterone result. If it is suboptimal it can be a reason I cannot hold the sodium I read, could also be connected to my frequent urination
Your low sodium is related to your frequent urination, actually.
What do you guys think of my iron levels?
I’m no doctor but you don’t have an iron deficiency so probably best not to take iron
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Man your ferritin is way up there. Mine was 40 with the same ranges. Several folks here are at 20.
Ferritin looks great but the other iron readings dont look this way. In STTM site they claim iron is optimal above 23 on this range up to 27, maybe they are a bit too pedantic. Also according to them my ACTH totally sucks and I have secondary adrenal insuficiency
Came out from the lab selenium and aldosterone:
Selenium S 
124.0 µg/L 50 - 120 AAS
Aldosteron EP* 217 ng/L 22.1 - 353 CLIA
Aldosterone looks a middle value, not sure where it needs to be. Selenium is a bit high, maybe need to reduce the brasil nuts a little bit, but I think this value is not a problem, right?
So the adrenal values do not look as bad as my symptoms. For the aldosterone I’m not sure(maybe its like testosterone and needs to be on the high end), but ACTH looks low for sure and morning and afternoon cortisol. But even compared to the optimal values they do not look so bad.
Maybe some of the adrenal fatigue symptoms or most of them really can be fixed by TRT as well?
The reading I’ve done regarding adrenal fatigue and TRT points that optimal testosterone should help regulate the cortisol.
No, you’re ferritin doesn’t look good. This is an inflammation marker and you’re about 200 points higher than you want to be. Your body is taking your iron and throwing it into storage (ferritin). Supplementing iron will only push your ferritin higher.
I’m willing to bet your stress and inflammation (that you’re probably not even aware of) are driving many of your issues. I’m also willing to bet this is probably in your gut and diet/digestion related. What does your diet look like? A huge tell is your stools. Are you painting the toilet or not at all? Clean up your diet and reduce your stressors. As far as sodium, Celtic Sea Salt (1/2 - 1 tsp) in 1 liter of clean water, twice a day has done great things for me. Salt your food (not overly) and eat nutrient dense foods. Spinach and lean beef will help your iron. Focus on bringing your ferritin down.
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Your iron stores looks excellent, maybe this is all your body requires because you have plenty of iron stored. When your body needs more iron, it will pull it from ferritin which you have plenty of.
The flip side is higher ferritin is associated with increased mortality and disease → liver disease, rheumatoid arthritis, other inflammatory conditions or hyperthyroidism.
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My diet has been far from perfect for years due to the fact Ive overeaten consistently and eaten like everything. Also my stomach was very irregular.
I started improving diet a year and a half ago and improved it a lot since this May. From May Ive lost 10kg and Ive basically restricted calories, cut almost all sugar although from time to time I eat some sweets, Ive cut all gluten and all processed food. Im eating meat(all kinds in all forms mainly baked), rice, potatoes, eggs, vegetables, fruits and some skyr/cottage cheese plus whey protein around workouts. And since I started metformin and taking fibers as a supplement my going to toilet much improved. Occasionally I still get issues in toilet if I introduce new supplements, I always get various side effects when starting new supplements