SSure wrote: rawkaren wrote: @judithn. I have just had my saliva tests results back and need to regroup on whether this might be doing me more harm than good.
@rawkaren, ignore this if it's intrusive - I was wondering if the saliva tests were for cortisol etc.? And if the result was interesting enough to suggest an explanation for your weight stability?
@ssure. I will try and answer your question, but the truth is I don't know! However there are some clues as to why my weight is not going down and even gaining whilst fasting with low carb. Here is the readout.
First I decided to do the tests because the low carb diet was giving me palpitations and I started not to feel great. The brain fog disappeared, but I never got the great feeling that others have on low carb - nor the weight loss! What did not help me is that I 'remembered' that I have an egg sensitivity from an IgE test from years ago and I had been mainlining duck eggs as part of the keto diet!
My cortisol reading was low. Low cortisol is consistent with adrenal exhaustion and potential links to hypothyroidism. However I have read somewhere that a keto diet can temporarily push you that way. So despite carb cycling, it may go some way to explain why I was not losing weight (and continue not to).
In tandem, my DHEA-S was higher than expected, but only slightly. This was a surprise and whilst this is a good thing when you are younger (and a sign of youthfulness), I understand that it could be a sign of insulin resistance in older people.
So where I am confused is that the ratio of highish DHEA-S to low cortisol seems a little unusual and I can find no real studies apart from in post traumatic stress disorder candidates! I also don't know if cortisol drives DHEA-S or the other way around. I'm not a medic and I'm careful not to self diagnose. I'm just very interested in solving my problem.
On other numbers, my estrogen is low-normal and progesterone is high (I take a topical 'natural' cream). My testosterone is slightly higher than normal but I think this might be driven by the DHEA-S. However my libido is non existent -
So where am I now? I'm going to get a second opinion when I'm back in California. I'm lucky to live in an area where there are both endocrinologists and naturopaths who will re-run all bloods and saliva tests. I want to do this when I'm not low carbing to the extent that I was. I probably also need to think about my supplements. For example I take D3 which I guess can be classified as a hormone. My preference is a naturopath as they will probably suggest more holistic therapies rather than an endocrinologist who will probably go down a conventional route.
So for now, IF, caffeine and VLC are all contra-indicated, so I have decided just to eat normally whilst I'm in the UK and withdraw from coffee. However after 18 months of fasting, I think I'm going to find it very hard indeed to break the habit.
Any and all insights welcome! Thanks for asking
Oh and @peebles, I have no doubt you have great insight into this. Be grateful for your words of wisdom.