Hyperthyroidism? severe insomnia
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Mary
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Thanks @L'engle - absolutely! 
Learner1
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@Mary You might find this helpful.
https://healthmatters.io/understand-blood-test-results/dopac
The NAC helping points to oxidative stress. Have you tried other antioxidants as well, like high dose melatonin (10-30mg), vitamins C & E, alpha lipoic acid, anthracyanins (the red/purple stuff in fruits)?
These are on glycine and taurine overload:
Could you be short of molybdenum?
Does anything above stand out to you?
Have you looked into high ammonia, which ornithine or citrulline could help with and which could keep you up at night?
The other thing you might look at is your progesterone level. Deficient progesterone in women over 35 can definitely keep you up at night.
https://healthmatters.io/understand-blood-test-results/dopac
The NAC helping points to oxidative stress. Have you tried other antioxidants as well, like high dose melatonin (10-30mg), vitamins C & E, alpha lipoic acid, anthracyanins (the red/purple stuff in fruits)?
These are on glycine and taurine overload:
Could you be short of molybdenum?
Does anything above stand out to you?
Have you looked into high ammonia, which ornithine or citrulline could help with and which could keep you up at night?
The other thing you might look at is your progesterone level. Deficient progesterone in women over 35 can definitely keep you up at night.
Mary
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Hi @Learner1 - thanks for the suggestions - I've recently increased my melatonin to 9 mg (3 x 3 mg. caps), have been taking vitamin C and E and alpha lipoic acid for years and recently added in a pomegranate supplement.
Also, I take both taurine and glycine before bed which might account for the high levels. I recently stopped the taurine because it seemed to be contributing to my insomnia and now take it in the morning.
I have been taking ornithine - it didn't seem to make any difference. I don't think I have high ammonia at night. And citrulline unfortunately raises my blood pressure! It was supposed to the do the opposite.
I use a progesterone cream, and my levels are okay.
I still think my thyroid is involved. I just added in l-carnitine and went to sleep more quickly last night. l-carnitine is supposed to block T3 and T4 entry into the cell nuclei. Effects of carnitine on thyroid hormone action - PubMed (nih.gov) I first tried acelty-l-carnitine but that seemed to make the insomnia worse (!)
And I've been off my thyroid med for a few weeks now - I can't remember how long it's been - 3 weeks? (I'm out of town and don't have my notebook here) anyways, I've never gone this long without it without negative effects.
I've been taking 5 mg liquid doxepin at night for about 5 days - I don't like taking it, it leaves me woozy but I'm at my son's house and had to take something for sleep, I hope to stop it once I get home - if it has been my thyroid, hopefully it's calming down!
Mary
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@xploit316 - Well, good question. This was all over a year ago and as I recall, taking thyroid calming herbs and l-carnitine did help and a plain calming herb (California poppy) helped as well. I was able to stop the doxepin, which I hated taking. Eventually my doctor checked my thyroid levels which were too low, started my med back up cautiously, though now I'm taking 1/2 of what I was originally prescribed several years ago.
Since then I've had various run-ins with insomnia. I have all sorts of triggers and each time it (insomnia) hits, I have to run through my checklist, so to speak:
1. MSG in all its iterations, eaten at dinner, causes severe insomnia (anything on this list: https://www.truthinlabeling.org/names.html)
2. Fish oil taken at night
3. Thyroid - what are my symptoms
4. Too much calcium - this is tricky. About 5 years ago hair analysis showed that my magnesium/calcium ratio was very badly skewed in favor of calcium and I was told to immediately stop my calcium supplelment and dairy products, which I did, and I started sleeping better almost immediately. But a few years after that again hit by intractable insomnia and this time I needed calcium - it's maddening trying to track everyhting!
Off and on I have to tweak my calcium, going by symptoms. Just recently I had to stop my calcium again. I do take loads of magnesium, which I never stop.
There have been other causes but these are what come to mind right now.
A few other things I have found that can help - if I first rule all the above things out -
1. I've restarted doing the pose described in this thread . I know it may lead to stimulating my thyroid but for right now it's helping, and if it does over-stimulate my thyroid, I may try cutting my med again, instead of stopping the pose.
2. Chair back massager - I think it hits some acupressure points, helps me sleep a little better if insomnia is not too bad
3. CBD/THC gummies - these help some, if the insomnia is not too bad.
4. Grounding - having my feet on the ground (or cement) literally, 2 hours was optimal for me. To do this the weather has to be warm enough and you need a good place to do it. Unfortunately where I live right now it's not possible due to all the pesticides and chemicals put on the grass here. Unsealed cement will work too.
5. PEMF device - this is new to me, @Wayne suggested PEMF, said it's helping him quite a bit with sleep. I can't afford his device but just bought something much smaller and cheaper and with a 30-day return window. It feels almost silly, the device is so small and unprepossessing, but I'm willing to try it. It will either help or not, and I should get my money back if it doesn't help. https://resona.health/vibe/ It's actually supposed to be more powerful than many larger devices (see Gauss levels) I do want to learn more about PEMF. They had incredibly fast shipping - I ordered it 1/18, they shipped it that afternoon, and it arrived yesterday, 1/22. Here's one of @Wayne 's posts about PEMF: https://forums.phoenixrising.me/threads/partial-hip-replacement-and-me.89365/page-2#post-2450917
Mary
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Hi @Seadragon - no, it's not menopause or perimenopause. When I hit that stage I started taking bio-identical hormones - I couldn't deal with MORE insomnia on top of the insomnia which accompanies ME/CFS, I'm sure as a result of our overactive sympathetic nervous systems.
I forgot to mention one other thing which can cause insomnia and that is high cortisol at night. This insomnia can be quite severe and nothing will help me sleep unless I can get my cortisol lowered. There's a product called Seriphos, which is very effective in helping to normalize high cortisol levels. Counterintuitively, I found it to be most effective when taken in the morning. It doesn't take me tired in the morning, just calmed me down, but noticeably helped with going back to sleep in the middle of the night. So this is another box I have to tick off when trying to figure out why I can't sleep.
I forgot to mention one other thing which can cause insomnia and that is high cortisol at night. This insomnia can be quite severe and nothing will help me sleep unless I can get my cortisol lowered. There's a product called Seriphos, which is very effective in helping to normalize high cortisol levels. Counterintuitively, I found it to be most effective when taken in the morning. It doesn't take me tired in the morning, just calmed me down, but noticeably helped with going back to sleep in the middle of the night. So this is another box I have to tick off when trying to figure out why I can't sleep.