Intermitting fasting and hormones (growth hormones and testosterone)

This topic contains 7 replies, has 3 voices, and was last updated by dutchsoulbr 8 years, 3 months ago.

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dutchsoulbr

7:33 am
6 Sep 16
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I am on a intermitting fasting protocol for about half a year .I follow the program because off health reasons, not because i need to lose weight. (being middle aged a want to increase testosterone and growth hormones the natural way)

I never had any problem until recently when i had problems with anxiety attacks and irregular heartbeats . Although this irregular heartbeat happened only 1 time, it was a scary experience. I don’t drink any coffee and i removed all foods and vitamines that might be responsable for heart palpatations ( ginkgo biloba, fresh coconut meat, vitamine k2 mk7, fenugreek and nettle root) Still removing those foods and vitamines did not have the results i hoped for. Still have those anxiety attacks and a feeling that my heart flutters.

Could it be possible that i have these problems because of the increase of growth hormones and testosterone ? Has anyone had similar experiences.

(I also sleep on a waterbed (since early 2016) May be the electromagnetic fields are causing the problem)

bigbooty

8:04 am
6 Sep 16
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So did you have anxiety attacks when you were younger and had more testosterone? If not then what makes you think that testosterone is causing anxiety attacks now? EM fields causing anxiety? Unlikely but easy to prove or disprove. Turn off the heating element when you go to bed and turn it back on in the morning when you wake up and get out of bed. The thermal mass of the water bed should be large enough so that you get through the night without the water getting too cold. if it does add a couple of blankets under the sheets to increase the thermal resistance between you and the bed. Id be looking for external “work/relationship/diet” stressors as a possible reason.

dutchsoulbr

9:56 am
6 Sep 16
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Thank you very much ! You have a very good point there. Never thought of it that way. When i was young with higher testosterone levels i never had those problems. On some sites i read that growth hormone levels (HGH) can raise with 2000 % through intermitting fasting and body building forums reports people with heart palpitations who inject HGH. But this would not explain why i did not have problems sooner, just when i started with intermitting fasting. May be it has to do with autophagie (through exercise and intermitting fasting toxins are released in the body which might irritate the heart musscle)But than again it is strange that i did not have problems before. Will unplug the waterbed tonight just before i go to bed and see if this will help.
The blankets is a very good idea when temperature lowers too much. Strange thing is that the problems always occur when i have been in the waterbed (in the very early morning).
In the summer i sleep in this large waterbed alone with only a sheet (i removed the inside because it is too hot) which causes ofcourse that the heating element will run harder and more radiation will occur.

bigbooty

12:19 pm
6 Sep 16
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Autophagy is occurring all the time, although intermittent fasting does accelerate the process. IF does release toxins which make your kidneys work harder. I used to get lower back pains when I first started IF and I put this down to my kidneys working hard. I no longer get lower back pains. Cant say the toxins affect different people differently? Maybe they do?

dutchsoulbr

8:36 am
7 Sep 16
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very interesting , i guess i have to take a few nasty side effects (for now)for granted together with all the benefits (lot’s of energie, low body fat etc) that i have from the IF program

dutchsoulbr

7:57 am
8 Sep 16
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This is something that i have found out:

IF raises levels of the stress hormones norepinephrine and cortisol. When you have too much cortisol and norepinephrine, you’ll tend towards anxiety, insomnia , jitters, nervous stomach, feelings of panic, even paranoia.

Minka

11:22 am
8 Sep 16
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It’s true that our body produces cortisol in response to all stress, including fasting.

However, the symptoms of anxiety, insomnia, jitters, nervous stomach and panic attacks can be either symptoms of too low or too high cortisol. It is a balancing act and either extreme produces those symptoms.

As a patient with a history of adrenal imbalance, I’ve experienced those symptoms from unknowingly having reached both ends of the spectrum.

When adrenals are weak and not able to produce enough or any cortisol, our body will instead produce adrenaline as a back-up and an adrenaline surges produce all of those symptoms you describe, often with a big energy crash deficit in the aftermath.

The most reliable method of discovering whether or not low or high cortisol is an issue is from a 4 point adrenal saliva test. Unfortunately, such tests are not routinely offered by doctors and they usually incur out of pocket expense for the patient.

dutchsoulbr

9:55 am
10 Sep 16
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Very interesting what you are writing. I did not realise that, that the problem could also be a too low cortisol. Because during training i give always 100% in combination with IF lifestyle the problem is probably too high levels of cortisol. Because of these problems i have deceided to stop the IF program. I will continue with IF when the problem is solved and than continue with a program like one week IF followed by a week of normal eating. I am experiencing the same problem over here in the Netherlands. Doctors are not willing to presribe a cortisol test. They did only a TSH test. Check others variables (T3 , T4,anti-TPO,cortisol,vitamine D3,Holo TC,anti-Tg ,T3 reversed) is alternative medicine and not according to dutch protocol. And that is too bad because those variables could point in a direction of a theriod problem (although the levels of TSH are normal) I my case TSH was 1,3.