Still tired a lot and oversleeping

Initially I thought iodine was helping, but still most days I am tired and sleeping too much. I have been taking 2.5mg daily (when I started out I took 2 drops daily). I will sleep 12 hours at night and still feel crappy the next day. Some days I will wake up early and feel refreshed (I can tell my internal clock is working), but this feeling diminishes in 2 or 3 hours and I will feel tired again and take a nap for another 4-5 hours.

I took the thyroid thermometer test and it read around 98.2 both times. I started taking raw thyroid capsules anyway the past couple of weeks, 1 every day for one week, then EOD the second, doesn't seem to be making a difference.

Stuff I've tried so far:
Lugol's iodine
Raw Thryroid Capsules
D-Ribose
Goji/Acai/mangosteen juice
Maca
magnesium
b-complex
vitamins
eating healthy foods
COQ10

Any suggestions? Should I diagnose myself with chronic fatigue syndrome?

It can be a psychological depression

J'

I'm pretty sure that what you are getting are detox symptoms (and/or possibly allergy ones).

I have experienced this a lot of times, believe me, for a long time.

I consistently get the same symptoms and when I discontinue the offending supplement I improve immediatly. For me, there are some supplements for which I can never overcome the detox period... never. I would make the effort to hang on longer but my current life demands a lot of work from me and I just can't deal with the tiredness and mental fog.

An example of such a supplement for me is any kind of probiotic. In a matter of 2 or 3 days I get the usual symptoms, heavy eye lids, tiredness, lightheadness, sleep that barely is refreshing, etc. I hate this... and this always happens. Some years ago I was able to tolerate probiotics, but for financial problems I had to drop them, when finally I was able to resume taking them I couldn't tolerate them anymore (at least for now I can't). Seems that my leaky gut and bowel problems worsened in that period... so now I have to rebuild my gut to finally be able to tolerate them again someday and gain the benefits.

The fact that I rapidly improve when taking a particular fiber supplement with very good detoxification properties, further proves that toxins are the culprit.

I'm still not convinced of "extreme" Iodine supplementation... I'd take it carefully. I know they say there are gazillions of people out there taking high-dose (I know, compared to the low RDA) but I think this can have powerful implications in metabolism. I must admit I still have a lot to learn about this iodine subject... Right now im not even sure if I have hypo or hyper thyroidism because of my symptoms. Im underweight, feel like I sweat very easly with minimal exposure to heat and I think Im somewhat nervous, generate good amounts of sebum, etc. I feel that I dont have enough symptoms to know wether im hyper o hypo.

My advice is to do the following experiment. Drop the iodine for a few days and see what happens. If this does not help, try dropping other supplements and see what happens. I think that actually the best thing to do is to drop everything and add things slowly so you can find if something will make you feel uncomfortable for sometime or it just won't work for you. This will also help you identify what really works. For example if you find something that gives you energy or reduces sebum production (androgen mediated), it will definitely help your hair!

Many people make the mistake of dropping everything (even the good things) because they find a negative effect at some point but without ever knowing what was the culprit.

Hope this helps.

You can check into adrenal fatigue.

The easiest ways are to stop "all" sex and take cold showers and see if you improve.

j87x - If you have low blood pressure it may indicate adrenal fatigue. Maybe a break from iodine will reveal something too.

Have you checked your blood glucose levels? fasting and random, what are the numbers?

Whenever I've been to the doctor they report good blood pressure. I've had my blood tested before, after not eating anything the night before, everything was normal but I don't remember the numbers. I haven't had a blood test in a while though, but my symptoms aren't exactly new. I remember being tired all day in high school not able to focus on work, and people at work telling me I looked like I was jacked up on vicodin all the time, this was before my hairloss even set in and I was on no supplements. In 9th grade I was tested for anemia. I think it becomes more noticeable as I have more stuff I need to get done in a day and realizing I should only be sleeping 7-8 hours. Usually I sleep 12 hours. Throughout the day I will get sleepy spells again, if I didn't get 12 or more hours of straight sleep I usually can't fight it off and end up taking a nap. There's the occasional day where I can wake up early and stay energized throughout the entire day.

Shouldn't raw thyroid help adrenals since it has adrenal extract, or should I get an adrenal extract supplement?

Dude - you are shoting in the dark, and this is your body not a computer game. Go see an internist, atleast have your blood work done and have them run the needed tests including Thyroids, hormones, vital oragans, blodo chemistry, urine etc. You need to rule out basic stuff first. If your thyroids are shot, there should be some indication of this in your tests - not black and white, but something should stick out. Leaky gut (as you believe the problem to be) can be tested as well.

If I were you, I would get knowledgeable in what should be tested and what you should ask them to include in the test - as an example, certain addtional tests are required for proper identification of throid issues (to get the complete picture) vs what the internist generally order.

Throwing these supps at your body willy nilly is perhaps not the appropriate course specially if you do have some chronic condition - you should focus on finding out the cause(s). You are already reaching out for solutions when you do not not even know what is it you are trying to solve...

Taking Raw Thyroid/Raw Adrenal pills needs about 3-6 months to realize benefits, at every day.

Sounds like the anti-fungal aspect of Iodine may be kicking in here resulting in Candida die-off. This results in increased sleep and fatigue as your body normalizes. I'd say up to 12.5mg and go for it for a month or two and see how things turn out. I've been using Iodine for over a year at 12.5 to 50mg a day. Just 12.5 the last couple months.

nidhogge,

What changes have you experienced with taking Iodine at these doses (good and bad)?

Also, what's your reason for taking it?

j87x - With normal blood pressure and a temperature like you mentioned doesn't seem to indicate adrenal fatigue. Also considering you tried D-Ribose with no effect (correct?).

Here are some tests you might want to look into to get more answers:

Check CBC
Check for Vitamin B12 or methylmalonic acid
CDSA (Complete digestive stool analysis)/parasites
Intestinal permeability test
6-hour urine heavy metal analysis (DMPS oral or IV)
Candida immune complexes
Food allergy testing
Check for history of Epstein-Barr
Natural killer cell assay
Check for coagulation defects via Hemex Lab ISAC panel