OP, I’m sure you’ve had bloodwork done over all the trips to the doc. Was there anything else out of line besides thyroid hormones? Low test perhaps?
Hey man, you didnt list height/weight that I saw, but given your numbers I would guess that youre atleast 175-180. At that weight, 2500 calories barely covers your maintenence calories, meaning your body burns that many calories every day even if you sit on the couch and do nothing.
Doing full body workouts 3x weekly with only 1 day rest (most people recommend 2-3 days rest at least) with inaedquate nutrition its not hard to see how you were overtraining.
Lack of calories is a lot more likely cause for your problems than vitamin D deficiency or w/e. You didn’t post your goals besides “getting stronger”, but I think you would benefit from a body part split (something like chest/back/off/shoulders/legs/arms/off).
ALSO, take this with a grain of salt as I dont know anything about hyperthyroidism, but it sounds like youre scared of dietary fats. All of your bodys hormones are made from fats, so if youre having issues with low hormones its possible you arent eating enough fat. Peanut butter is high fat and calorie dense, sounds like a good food for you to start loving.
Get the natural kind, its one of the few things I spend the extra $$ on for natural. And maybe do a little research on the roles of each macronutrient in your body.
Good luck
[quote]ronaldo7 wrote:
[quote]Blackaggar wrote:
[quote]cmorgan00 wrote:
First time i’ve posted here… I’ve trained for a couple of years, I was pushing myself pretty hard and lifting heavy, didn’t take any time off for a break. I also found out I was vitamin D deficient but this was long after my problems started.
About 16 months into my training I stopped getting stronger, it was hard to notice because the change is so gradual, but once I was pretty sure I read into it, and the only thing that I learned at that time was that I must have hit a plateu, which made sense as I hadn’t really changed my workout routine much. I read that to overcome this you can try new things such as increasing the weight a lot more than what you’re used to but doing less reps.
This didn’t work. I actually found I had started to get weaker, not only that, but I was getting seriously ill at my workouts, I didn’t realise the ill feeling was not normal because this feeling came on very gradually over probably up to several months. It wasn’t until I was in seriously bad shape before I sort help from a doctor. I had begun losing an excessive amount of hair on my head, my strength had decreased and I felt fatigued often, often falling tired throughout the day. Gym workouts were so hard for me, I must have been close to collapsing.
My doctor did some tests, and he found something. He told me I had hypothyroidism, which, according to him, is usually caused by autoimmune disease, and almost nobody who gets diagnosed ever goes back to normal, so that i’d be on thyroid hormones for the rest of my life. I was only 24 at the time. The doctor told me that I should feel 100% normal once my thyroid hormone levels return to normal, which could take up to 6 months.
I keep away from the gym for a month as advised by my doctor. A new sympton has sprung up, I can’t feel much sexually, like i’ve become desensitized. One could look at this as being classed as low libido. My thyroid horome levels are apparently normal now, so I start working out again, at first I think i’m better, I decreased the weights only a little from what I was lifting before, but I could handle it. I felt it getting easier each week, but this only lasted for a few weeks, then it started getting harder again.
New thyroid tests revealed my thyroid hormone levels had dropped a bit again, so I stayed away from the gym for another month.
A month later and apparently my thyroid is ok again, I go back to the gym and the exact same thing as before happend again, at first it was ok, but within a few weeks the workouts became impossibly hard again.
All through this time I had been doing personal research, and I had many trips to my doctor, and specialists, and they were most unhelpful. I had the tests done for thyroid autoimmune diseases at least, and I tested negative, there was now hope that I could be cured completely
I looked into the causes of hypothyroidism, and found a website by someone called Dr Lam, a natural healing doctor. He had a lot of information about how the adrenal glands can become overworked through stress and when this happens, they will drag the thyroid down with it.
I became set on the idea that this is perhaps what happend to me. I looked up bodybuilding and adrenal fatigue and found a lot of information about overtraining and how it can cause the adrenals to wear out. I also found a forum with some bodybuilders who talked about their experiences with adrenal fatigue. They spoke of when leading up to it, they were getting seriously ill at their workouts. Some of them kept on pushing, even using steroids, and they collapsed, got rushed to hospital, and were diagnosed with addinsons disease, which is just a fancy name for full blown adrenal fatigue.
Adrenal fatigue itself isn’t accepted by medical science, though many alternative doctors talk of it, those backed by medical science just laugh at them. In the eyes of a doctor, either you’ve got full blown adrenal fatigue, which is life threatening, or you’re fine. They don’t see the inbetween, which obviously exists.
I decided it was time to go private and get the tests I needed to confirm I had this condition. First I got a 24h salavia cortisol and dhea test. The results confirmed it, morning cortisol 15, noon 1, early evening 1, late evening less than 1. I was well below the ranges and told I had between stage 6/7 adrenal fatigue, 7 being the worst.
Since then, i’ve stopped working out completely, and i’ve also tried to remove other sources of stress from my life too, to speed up my recovery. The results are interesting, ever since I started doing this, all my thyroid hormone levels have done is improve with each test, by time I get the next test in 3 weeks, i could be declared overactive thyroid, in which case it’s time to take me off the thyroid hormones. I’m on the verge of becoming overactive now.
I also had a reverse T3 test done recently, and it revealed I had elevated levels of reverse T3, only just, but it was there, probably nothing compared to what it was before. My free T4 levels were always fine right from the start, so really the doctors should have known my thyroid was working fine from the beginning. Reverse T3 buildup is caused by stress, too much stress reverse T3 dominates the T3 and you end up with too little T3, which is really the big important thyroid hormone.
Hopfully i’ll soon be declared no longer hypothyroid. I’m not sure how long I need to rest for, but I figure I can use the thyroid blood checks to keep an eye on my adrenals well being, if my thyroid levels show a decrease, then obviously the adrenals arn’t coping well.[/quote]
Cool story bro!
but why did you post this? You didn’t even ask a question… just a really long story out of nowhere[/quote]
I didn’t know you had to ask a question to post on the bodybuilding forum…
[/quote]
It is absolutely mandatory. How else could you take advantage of so many pros and top coaches?
[quote]doubleh wrote:
OP, I’m sure you’ve had bloodwork done over all the trips to the doc. Was there anything else out of line besides thyroid hormones? Low test perhaps? [/quote]
According to doc, testosterone was fine. Yeah I had a ton of tests done, blood sugar was fine too. The only test the doctors did to come back with a problem was the thyroid test. The adrenal test I had done privately.
[quote]doubleh wrote:
[quote]waylanderxx wrote:
That’s actually pretty interesting.
So does this mean you are physically incapable of performing demanding levels of exercise? [/quote]
x2, that’s what I got out of it.[/quote]
Don’t be silly. I’m one of the heaviest lifters and in the best shape among the people at the gym I use, mind you, it’s not exactly your heavy weights type gym with loads of big bodybuilders, it’s mainly just people living in this area trying to get in shape. I’m sure most of them have no clue what they’re doing and never did an ounce of research, but i’m not going to criticize them for it. I had a good run and got a lot stronger but after a while things just burnt out and I put this down to several mistakes I must have been making.
Saying that i’m physically incapable of of performing demanding exercise is ignorant. Though i’m sure you’re just joking about.
[quote]overstand wrote:
Hey man, you didnt list height/weight that I saw, but given your numbers I would guess that youre atleast 175-180. At that weight, 2500 calories barely covers your maintenence calories, meaning your body burns that many calories every day even if you sit on the couch and do nothing.
Doing full body workouts 3x weekly with only 1 day rest (most people recommend 2-3 days rest at least) with inaedquate nutrition its not hard to see how you were overtraining.
Lack of calories is a lot more likely cause for your problems than vitamin D deficiency or w/e. You didn’t post your goals besides “getting stronger”, but I think you would benefit from a body part split (something like chest/back/off/shoulders/legs/arms/off).
ALSO, take this with a grain of salt as I dont know anything about hyperthyroidism, but it sounds like youre scared of dietary fats. All of your bodys hormones are made from fats, so if youre having issues with low hormones its possible you arent eating enough fat. Peanut butter is high fat and calorie dense, sounds like a good food for you to start loving.
Get the natural kind, its one of the few things I spend the extra $$ on for natural. And maybe do a little research on the roles of each macronutrient in your body.
Good luck[/quote]
When you say 1 days rest, you’re talking about days rest between workouts right?
I know how important the right fats are. That’s why I take a lot of fatty acids. I tried peanut butter but i don’t like it one bit. Occasionally i’ve tried to start eating nuts such as almonds and walnuts on regular basis but can never keep it up, they just arn’t that satisfying. I could give it a go again though. My nutritionist has me taking fish oil with every meal and also shark liver oil twice a day. Don’t ask me why shark liver oil, but apparently it’s important, tastes rancid though, like a super strong fish.
My brother, who also bodybuilds, was diagnosed with adrenal fatigue by a private doctor too. He was tired all the time and irritable. She said that it was caused by excessive stimulants (e.g. caffeine, ephedrine).
The problem seemed to get worse when he was dieting.
He seems fine now though (despite not getting rid of the stimulants), but he has bulked in the meantime. So I believe that dieting is the main culprit.
So… what kind of workout plan should I go with? I’m waiting until i’m offically declared no longer hypothyroid before lifting again though, shouldn’t be much longer, I seem to be recovering quickly simply by skipping the gym, and my strength is coming back. I want to be off these hormone pills.
I was considering doing full body workouts just twice a week, monday and thursday, that way I get at least 3 days rest between workouts. Not sure if this is the best idea though, on the idea of splitting up the muscle groups, I actually read on the websites that talk about over-training that splitting muscle groups so you can lift on more days can actually cause over-training to occur and that a good method is to do what I just said, to do full body workouts only twice a week, perhaps that’s just one persons opinion though.
[quote]its_just_me wrote:
My brother, who also bodybuilds, was diagnosed with adrenal fatigue by a private doctor too. He was tired all the time and irritable. She said that it was caused by excessive stimulants (e.g. caffeine, ephedrine).
The problem seemed to get worse when he was dieting.
He seems fine now though (despite not getting rid of the stimulants), but he has bulked in the meantime. So I believe that dieting is the main culprit.[/quote]
Yeah i’ve read that stimulants are a main contributor to something like this, i’ve always stayed clear off them though, I don’t even like coffee or energy drinks so I just don’t even think about them.
I have had my thyroid removed, aswell as calcium glands and am taking tablets for it. I was told i would feel more tired even with the tablets and it can take them a while to find the right level, if the dose is too high for too long it can put a strain on your heart.
I cant say how long before I was ready for lifting as I had to have a couple of operations, hole in stomach for feeding tube, radiotherapy etc. I guess i was training again 10 or 11 months after the first operation. Its now been just over 2 years and I still feel drained quite often, especially with manual job aswell. When I lift 4 times out of 5 im feeling drained and tired before I start.
I did notice I need less food to put on weight now, so that will just be a case of experimenting to find whats good for you.
[quote]kickingking wrote:
I have had my thyroid removed, aswell as calcium glands and am taking tablets for it. I was told i would feel more tired even with the tablets and it can take them a while to find the right level, if the dose is too high for too long it can put a strain on your heart.
I cant say how long before I was ready for lifting as I had to have a couple of operations, hole in stomach for feeding tube, radiotherapy etc. I guess i was training again 10 or 11 months after the first operation. Its now been just over 2 years and I still feel drained quite often, especially with manual job aswell. When I lift 4 times out of 5 im feeling drained and tired before I start.
I did notice I need less food to put on weight now, so that will just be a case of experimenting to find whats good for you.
[/quote]
Oh that’s pretty serious, I take it your thyroid was extremely overactive? They’re not keen on removing thyroids unless it’s absolutely necessary.
[quote]cmorgan00 wrote:
[quote]kickingking wrote:
I have had my thyroid removed, aswell as calcium glands and am taking tablets for it. I was told i would feel more tired even with the tablets and it can take them a while to find the right level, if the dose is too high for too long it can put a strain on your heart.
I cant say how long before I was ready for lifting as I had to have a couple of operations, hole in stomach for feeding tube, radiotherapy etc. I guess i was training again 10 or 11 months after the first operation. Its now been just over 2 years and I still feel drained quite often, especially with manual job aswell. When I lift 4 times out of 5 im feeling drained and tired before I start.
I did notice I need less food to put on weight now, so that will just be a case of experimenting to find whats good for you.
[/quote]
Oh that’s pretty serious, I take it your thyroid was extremely overactive? They’re not keen on removing thyroids unless it’s absolutely necessary.[/quote]
cancer, so out it came along with alot of other glands.
[quote]cmorgan00 wrote:
I was considering doing full body workouts just twice a week, monday and thursday, that way I get at least 3 days rest between workouts. Not sure if this is the best idea though, on the idea of splitting up the muscle groups, I actually read on the websites that talk about over-training that splitting muscle groups so you can lift on more days can actually cause over-training to occur and that a good method is to do what I just said, to do full body workouts only twice a week, perhaps that’s just one persons opinion though.
[/quote]
I beg to differ.
Tell me, what’s going to be harder to bounce back from - doing as much as you can (i.e. cover all bodyparts) over two days, or spreading it out over 4 or 5? Are you not going to feel like crap the next day and the day after by jamming as much exercises as possible into one training session? Trust me, training lower body is enough to create a “hangover” the next day, let alone adding plenty upper body movements into the same session.
I’ll be back with a decent split - got to go out now…
[quote]kickingking wrote:
[quote]cmorgan00 wrote:
[quote]kickingking wrote:
I have had my thyroid removed, aswell as calcium glands and am taking tablets for it. I was told i would feel more tired even with the tablets and it can take them a while to find the right level, if the dose is too high for too long it can put a strain on your heart.
I cant say how long before I was ready for lifting as I had to have a couple of operations, hole in stomach for feeding tube, radiotherapy etc. I guess i was training again 10 or 11 months after the first operation. Its now been just over 2 years and I still feel drained quite often, especially with manual job aswell. When I lift 4 times out of 5 im feeling drained and tired before I start.
I did notice I need less food to put on weight now, so that will just be a case of experimenting to find whats good for you.
[/quote]
Oh that’s pretty serious, I take it your thyroid was extremely overactive? They’re not keen on removing thyroids unless it’s absolutely necessary.[/quote]
cancer, so out it came along with alot of other glands.
[/quote]
Oh… I’m sorry to hear that, that’s tough.
[quote]cmorgan00 wrote:
[quote]kickingking wrote:
[quote]cmorgan00 wrote:
[quote]kickingking wrote:
I have had my thyroid removed, aswell as calcium glands and am taking tablets for it. I was told i would feel more tired even with the tablets and it can take them a while to find the right level, if the dose is too high for too long it can put a strain on your heart.
I cant say how long before I was ready for lifting as I had to have a couple of operations, hole in stomach for feeding tube, radiotherapy etc. I guess i was training again 10 or 11 months after the first operation. Its now been just over 2 years and I still feel drained quite often, especially with manual job aswell. When I lift 4 times out of 5 im feeling drained and tired before I start.
I did notice I need less food to put on weight now, so that will just be a case of experimenting to find whats good for you.
[/quote]
Oh that’s pretty serious, I take it your thyroid was extremely overactive? They’re not keen on removing thyroids unless it’s absolutely necessary.[/quote]
cancer, so out it came along with alot of other glands.
[/quote]
Oh… I’m sorry to hear that, that’s tough.[/quote]
Thanks. For lifting I find it best to go down to one body part at a time. I find it too much if I try more than that and the latter lifts suffer.
[quote]its_just_me wrote:
A tip for breakfast:
Night before, shove some oats in a blender with milk and whey protein, mix up and put in the fridge for morning…quick and easy, and you’ll have no excuse for putting off breakfast :)[/quote]
I just tried this, bought a blender, oats, milk, blended it all up, i forgot the whey but i’ll remember then next time. It worked out well, fast and easy and tastes good. Is this sort of thing ideal to have every morning or just some?
[quote]kickingking wrote:
[quote]cmorgan00 wrote:
[quote]kickingking wrote:
[quote]cmorgan00 wrote:
[quote]kickingking wrote:
I have had my thyroid removed, aswell as calcium glands and am taking tablets for it. I was told i would feel more tired even with the tablets and it can take them a while to find the right level, if the dose is too high for too long it can put a strain on your heart.
I cant say how long before I was ready for lifting as I had to have a couple of operations, hole in stomach for feeding tube, radiotherapy etc. I guess i was training again 10 or 11 months after the first operation. Its now been just over 2 years and I still feel drained quite often, especially with manual job aswell. When I lift 4 times out of 5 im feeling drained and tired before I start.
I did notice I need less food to put on weight now, so that will just be a case of experimenting to find whats good for you.
[/quote]
Oh that’s pretty serious, I take it your thyroid was extremely overactive? They’re not keen on removing thyroids unless it’s absolutely necessary.[/quote]
cancer, so out it came along with alot of other glands.
[/quote]
Oh… I’m sorry to hear that, that’s tough.[/quote]
Thanks. For lifting I find it best to go down to one body part at a time. I find it too much if I try more than that and the latter lifts suffer.
[/quote]
I take it you have to take thyroid hormones now? If so, which ones do you take? I know that in England/uk the doctors are terrible. All they want to give you is synethetic T4, aka thyroxin. I’ve read a lot into it and many people supposedly feel a lot better on natural thyroid extract, like armour for example.
Yes she is on thyroid hormone still.
Just a sidenote and something to consider, IMO milk is something to avoid in a health conscious diet. You keep reiterating that you are becoming fond of milk like it means something.
As a personal trainer I never recommended milk and often mentioned the idea of cutting back on it. As a Chiropractic student I am finding it is less than desirble for health and will not recommend it once I am a Doctor.
[quote]mch60360 wrote:
Yes she is on thyroid hormone still.
Just a sidenote and something to consider, IMO milk is something to avoid in a health conscious diet. You keep reiterating that you are becoming fond of milk like it means something.
As a personal trainer I never recommended milk and often mentioned the idea of cutting back on it. As a Chiropractic student I am finding it is less than desirble for health and will not recommend it once I am a Doctor. [/quote]
I see, interesting, the nutritionist/chiropractor I see is also very against milk. I know there’s all that fuss about people being intolerant to it, but i personally don’t notice any negative effects from drinking it.
[quote]cmorgan00 wrote:
[quote]kickingking wrote:
[quote]cmorgan00 wrote:
[quote]kickingking wrote:
[quote]cmorgan00 wrote:
[quote]kickingking wrote:
I have had my thyroid removed, aswell as calcium glands and am taking tablets for it. I was told i would feel more tired even with the tablets and it can take them a while to find the right level, if the dose is too high for too long it can put a strain on your heart.
I cant say how long before I was ready for lifting as I had to have a couple of operations, hole in stomach for feeding tube, radiotherapy etc. I guess i was training again 10 or 11 months after the first operation. Its now been just over 2 years and I still feel drained quite often, especially with manual job aswell. When I lift 4 times out of 5 im feeling drained and tired before I start.
I did notice I need less food to put on weight now, so that will just be a case of experimenting to find whats good for you.
[/quote]
Oh that’s pretty serious, I take it your thyroid was extremely overactive? They’re not keen on removing thyroids unless it’s absolutely necessary.[/quote]
cancer, so out it came along with alot of other glands.
[/quote]
Oh… I’m sorry to hear that, that’s tough.[/quote]
Thanks. For lifting I find it best to go down to one body part at a time. I find it too much if I try more than that and the latter lifts suffer.
[/quote]
I take it you have to take thyroid hormones now? If so, which ones do you take? I know that in England/uk the doctors are terrible. All they want to give you is synethetic T4, aka thyroxin. I’ve read a lot into it and many people supposedly feel a lot better on natural thyroid extract, like armour for example.[/quote]
Yes, taking thyroxine, I didn’t look into how good they were, they are free so I just thought great. Doing a manual job doesn’t help, I imagine if I was sat in an office tiredness would be less of an issue. I will have a look at the natural one, thanks.