[My Tale; (Long read) with bloodwork and background]

Introduction:
Hello, I’m a 24 year old male who has been lurking this forum for some time now. I thought it was time to make an accountant, and share my story. Hopefully, it can shed some light to my own situation (through your responses). And who knows, it might be a source of recognition for others. This forum has many people mentioning auto-immune, SHBG, E2 Thyroid and Gluten. I believe it's all there in my post. This post is quite big if you don’t want to read it that is fine, I’ve highlighted a few crucial bits to make it easier for people to skim through. Thanks to CausticSymmetry for maintaining this forum. Here goes:

Story:
I’ve been working out (weights) frequently since my 18th about 4-5 times a week. Before that I used to play soccer (European).  So I’ve been pretty active all my life. Since working out, I started watching my diet more closely. This already came natural for me as I was blessed/cursed with heavy scaring acne since my 15th . Since then I started avoiding pork and other foods that was recommended on the web (ignorance is bliss).  Anyhow, since I started weightlifting I ate about half a bread or more a day (12 slices at least).  But at some point I noticed my face would become puffy and swollen. It was weird, and doing my research at the time I concluded that I must have ate to many carbs (In the form of bread) . So I stopped eating them and replaced them with different sources such as muesli and whole grain rice. Fast forward I think around my 22nd. I noticed myself wearing sweaters when working out, I always complained to my training partner about being cold. I didn’t pay much attention to it at the time,  but it is what it is. Also I started developing a congested nose which I couldn’t get to clear, I still suffer from it to this day.

I did eat some bread when there was a holiday or a family get together.  At some point I developed a rash after eating ice-cream/bread after a holiday meal. It drove me nuts to stay the least. Elbows, armpits, lower back, buttocks and the inside of my legs were covered.  The rash was so intense, I visited my GP.  She had trouble giving me an accurate diagnosis. I told her it had to be food related, and I thought it was dermatitis herpetiformis.  It cleared up when I was avoiding gluten , which toke at least a month.  Afterwards she thought it was best to keep avoiding gluten entirely, which wasn’t that difficult as I hardly ate them in my normal diet. But here, they fortify bread with iodine.  So a lot of things started to make sense. Thinking I was being healthy by watching my food(carbs). But in the process I probably stopped getting sufficient iodine. I hardly ate Iodine fortified salt(which was said to make the rash more intense) and I stopped eating iodine fortified bread. I probably have been deficient in iodine for some time.  My mother has thyroid issues herself, in the shape of Hashimoto so she never cooked with salt for that reason.  
So before messing about with the heavy guns I had a few blood tests done: at the time I was only taking vitamin d3 in the range of 4000-5000 IU and ZMA. (And a whey Isolate protein powder). This blood test was taken on  31th of January this year.

Thyroid:
TSH: 1.19 mIE/ref: 0.1-4
FT4: 17 pmol/L ref: 9-25
T3: 1.5 nmol/L ref: 1.3-2.5
FT3: 4.39 pmol/L 2.63-5.71
Anti-TPO: <2 kE/L ref: <60 negative.
Anti-Thyroglobulin: <2 Ke/L ref: <60 negative.

Hormones:
LH: 3.5 IE/L ref: 0.1 -4.
FSH:  4.0 IE/L ref: 0.6-10.
Prolactine: 0.13 E/L ref: 0.03-0.26
Estradiol(E2): 0.15 nmol/L ref: 0.04-0.13 +
SHBG: 42 nmol/L ref: 10-52
Testosteron: 28.5 nmol/L ref: 7.0- 28.0 +
Free test: 576 pmol/L ref: 175-700
Bioavailable Test: 13533 pmol/L ref: 3470-14747
Free test Index 68.3 index% ref: 15.0-100.0
Progesteron: 3.1 nmol/L: ref: 0.7-4.3

Honorable mentions:
Vitamin B12 445: ppmol/l ref: 130-700
Vitamin D (25-OH): 148 nmol/L ref: 50-100 + (Had been to the winter sun in france 1 week before the test).
Ferritine: 56 ug/L ref: 20-300

Next step(s)
So It was obvious that I also seem to have trouble with my SHBG and E2. Maybe not so much on paper, but I also felt that I stored most of my fat in my legs and buttocks. There wasn’t much that my GP wanted to do about it,  but I still felt like shit. My nose was still congested, feeling cold every now and then and I suffered from infrequent morning wood.  On top of that my bowl movements were irregular and I had trouble with constipation every now and then.  They weren’t exactly solid either, more like lumps. In my mind something had to be done.  It toke me a few steps, I started with fermented cod liver oil and butter. I started preparing for my potential iodine supplementation. By taking 200 mcg seleniummethione. I’ve been joking to a few friends of mine that I’ve felt like I was getting more stupid/dumber as the years went by. But by now I know this might also been related to lack of iodine.

Knowing full well that my lab results were decent, I decided to start lugol’s in late August of this year. Also knowing that it’s very difficult to get a reversed T3 panel done here. I was feeling desperate and I decided to proceed. I worked my way up to a large dose of about  50 mg in 3 weeks.  The first week I managed to sleep well, suffered from the headaches and other side effects such as zits. I quickly ordered a bag of Celtic sea salt and began doing salt loading.  Also using it more on my foods as a side note. Despite doing decent the first week of starting iodine, I stopped getting a good night sleep. I was lying in bed feeling so tired but I couldn’t  get any sleep in.  So I backed off, stopped my lugol’s. And 2 days later I managed to sleep again.  The doses I read about on curezone and similar are way to much for me so soon.  So I started taking it easier, and smaller steps. I toke 5mg off and on and that’s what I’ve been doing up till now. The thing is though when I take lugol’s I instantly feel cold. It’s been a little less since I’ve started it but I still get cold hands , maybe not instantly but later at least, or when I eat something it makes me cold.  Sometimes I was really shivering. Though there were also days, I woke up in sweat. This happened more often on the days that I discontinued lugol's. I now take only a drop a day, it's the first thing I do when I wake up. I can get some good sleep in, so that has improved since my high doses of lugol's. Though after exercising I'm tired, and I can almost sleep instantly. Other then that I feel quite fine still suffer from all the other complaints such as : Nose congestion, infrequent morning wood, hair issues etc.

You guessed it, I’m kinda afraid of developing Hashimoto because of lugol's supplementation.  Ever since this thought came in to my mind then I’ve started paying more attention to  other symptoms of Hashimoto such as thininng eyebrows. The left eyebrow is noticeably thinning and has white hairs covering the outer region. They are still there but white and colorless. My beard has trouble filling in 1 side(right). The hairs that refuge to budge, are you guessed it, white and fine. It seems likely that the eyebrow thinning was already happening before lugol’s . But your mind does weird things to you. I can’t help wonder whether it has started since taking lugol’s. I know for a fact that my beard was at such a state(1 side not filling in well) before taking lugol’s. So it should make sense for my eyebrows as well but still… I don't know for sure.

Hair:
My hair has been receding and getting noticeably thinner at the temples. I can still cover it well and you’d probably think I might be over reacting but regardless.  My whole male side of the family is bald. So it is in the cards.  I’ve been doing scalp exercises as long as I can remember , as  I was always able to move my ears, so It wasn’t that difficult to learn Tom’s scalp exercises . I’m hoping that when I address the underlining health issues I might be able to get this fixed as well.  One can hope, I’m taking Xenon’s advice with cold water at heart and to me it feels great. Though it’s a lot easier to do after exercising, as your body is hot then.  I’ve started Resveratrol 2 days ago taking 400mcg day. To hopefully address some issues.

Give it to me people , if you have any advice, recommendation please don’t be afraid to help a person out. Though I probably aint as knowledgeable as many here, I aint afraid to give my own opinion. So please do not hold back with yours.
Thanks for reading.

In my opinion, baldness is mostly caused by toxicity by heavy metals. MTHFR gene mutation and others would make you less efficient at eliminating mercury/lead and would cause baldness. MTHFR already has a correlation with heart disease, depression, and others that also correlate with baldness. Anyone on this forum who has done genetic test has found that their toxin eliminating genes are off.

Gluten allergy can be caused by mercury. Anything with digestion can be caused by mercury. There was some study that found that IBS disappears for most people once you get rid of mercury/lead.

moby wrote:In my opinion, baldness is mostly caused by toxicity by heavy metals. MTHFR gene mutation and others would make you less efficient at eliminating mercury/lead and would cause baldness. MTHFR already has a correlation with heart disease, depression, and others that also correlate with baldness. Anyone on this forum who has done genetic test has found that their toxin eliminating genes are off.

Gluten allergy can be caused by mercury. Anything with digestion can be caused by mercury. There was some study that found that IBS disappears for most people once you get rid of mercury/lead.

If there is mercury/lead that caused in the first place, this is true. However i think this is a bit of oversimplification of things. IBS can be done by many things, beside mercury/lead. Antibiotics, low stomach acid, very bad diet - GMO, acute poisoning, to name a few.

There different ways to detox different things. MTHFR genes are not the ones to detox mold mycotoxins, for example. And if one is very high in mycotoxins, immune system is severely impared as well... There are many problems even with people who aren't in the ''bad gene'' groups... Environmental stress is just to accumulative not to address it these days. But yes, many of those people are not on online boards seeking help, but rather enjoy their aging process as not all damage is expressed in physical appearance so noticeably as for example bald scalp is...

Other than that, MTHFR will probably cure a good percent of balding people and it's good recommendation for BrodjeQuestion to check. Also as his story is full of tags that correlate with MTHFR problems...

Exactly, its not the simple, there are various patterns of baldness, some people dont lose hair at the front and bald at the crown, others are different.

BrodjeQuestion, u could very well be hyperthyroid and dont know as excessive use of ZMA depletes copper overtime which is the biggest reason for developing hyperthyroid. a 1 minute google of zma hair loss will show u countless testimonials about how it has caused them shedding, i for example have suffered extreme shedding with zinc. Topical zinc is beneficial but internally it raises dht levels, lowers estrogen and increases androgen receptors.

@ Moby and Beebrox, thank you for the reply's I've never payed much attention to the MTHFR phenomena, I'm going to do some research about it. You guys talk about Mercury and Lead, would this be affected by iodine?. Probably a rhetoric question, as I thought Iodine only affects halogens but still meant to ask it. Do you (guys) have any experience with it yourself? Removing the particular metals?.

BrodjeQuestion, u could very well be hyperthyroid and dont know as excessive use of ZMA depletes copper overtime which is the biggest reason for developing hyperthyroid. a 1 minute google of zma hair loss will show u countless testimonials about how it has caused them shedding, i for example have suffered extreme shedding with zinc. Topical zinc is beneficial but internally it raises dht levels, lowers estrogen and increases androgen receptors

YAER, interesting that you mention copper levels. I'm still on the lookout for a simple copper supplement, but at the usual shops I order I was unable to find them. While this only tells me to get one regardless. I do have a question though, as it might apply some nuances. The dose is about 20mg of Zinc a day, partly Zink L-Monomethionine. I wasn't able to find how much of the L-Monotmethionine is in the particular supplement, but I thought that this l-Zinc doesn't deplete copper levels as much. Though there is a portion of Zinc Asparate in there which probaly does  .

My reasoning for taking it.
I started supplementing with it, as I do have some troubles with gluten and I probably figured that my absorption (is) was whack. I have read a few of the testimonials,  and I still wonder if I'm doing the right thing , and yeah it's quiet easy to find those testimonials.  There is alot of conflicting information though, as I figured Zinc was an Aromatase inhibitor. I mean I started using ZMA  prior to the bloodtests I posted, all in all I was still curious about both values.  I have the blood values of both Zinc and Copper aswell from the same period, which I will post later.

Zink: 24.48 umol/L ref: 8.42-24.48
Copper in plasma: 12.87 umol/L ref:  10.99- 21.98

I continued it regardless seeing that my E2 were elevated. I mean I stand to be corrected , but I always saw DHT as a response to Estradiol rise. So I figured Estradiol to be the culprint, and DHT more of a messenger. I sadly forgot to test DHT . But then I might have to stop my resveratrol supplements as it is also an Aromatase inhibitor. Questions, questions, anyhow will surely try to find me a copper supplement.

Oeps; Cannot edit my opening post anymore, should be account instead of accountant. !

Ty for the response once again:

I dont think addressing DHT is key as i was addressing it many times and no success. Meanwhile i dont experience hair loss anymore. Resveratrol is a good antioxidant, best taken with Curcumin as there are some unique synergy between the two. Still doing on gut would be the goal as digestion and proper absorbtion is what might be more improvement preventing. Is your testosterone high?

My testosterone was, at the start of this year 28,5 nmol/l (as is in the post). That converts to about 821.32 ng/dl. Not sure how high or low this might be. Considering I have issues with E2 and various other symptoms as I've posted in the my opening post. I will look in to the broth and L-glutamine. I think that I should be getting this fixed ,yes. What is your stance on dairy btw? I only eat cottage cheese, and yoghurt.

I'll add my 2 cents...

There's clearly no Hashimoto's here.

Even if there was, iodine doesn't cause it unless there is elevated intracellular calcium (Mg deficiency) and
a lack of selenium. Having said that...if there isn't enough iodine, there isn't enough iodinated lipids to brake excess
hydrogen peroxide...but that's another story....

I agree with many of the previous comments.

Look into zinc and copper. Both are needed.

Insomnia issues are often tied to gut or other issues...this has to be fixed.

Heavy metals is key, as the others have mentioned.

There is no one correct diet for everyone either....Nothing is black and white.

Finally everyone is different...oversimplification is the bane of forums.

I am typing this post for the third time, what's happening with the boards?

Milk is likely good for you if:
-grass fed
-gmo, hormones, antibiotics free
-raw
-unpasteurized (and homogenized)
-you are lactose tolerant

If probiotics (kefir, yogurt) are made with such milk, i think the benefits fights out all the harms.

I consume many other dairy products, which are supposed to be not so good for you. I find them great. Ghee and butter, brie, cottage, mozzarella, gauda cheeses...

Goat milk is supposed to be better than cow's milk for humans.

have a look at this site:

http://www.westonaprice.org/modern-foods/microphotography-of-raw-and-processed-milk

I advise u 2 get chelated copper, much highly absorbed and less toxic, just find one without potato starch as one of the ingredients as it gave me reactions due to candida which im nearly finished with thanks to the oregano oil.

@  CausticSymmetry, YAER, Beebrox, ty all for the responses!

I'm planning on starting l-glutamine and the broth next week, also I located a supplement with chelated copper (made by solgar). The dose is about 2,5mg a piece, any dose recommendations?. I've been reading about taking zinc, and copper together so that is what I'm going to do starting next week.
Now would you guys consider it usefull, to get another thyroid panel (TSH, Anti-TPO, Anti-Thyroglobulin) and maybe see where my E2 is at,since starting lugol's? I know CausticSymmetry, replied that is most likely not Hashimoto's, though I have no blood work since starting lugol's/iodine. Just wondering if it's worth the costs at this time?

Now another side note is this, I tend to ''suffer'' from 'low' blood-pressure, sometimes as low as 95/47. But 100/50 is more like the norm for me. I placed suffer in brackets cause I don't feel bad about it, in other words, I cannot tie any direct symptons to it. (Which can very well be caused by me not knowing enough). Though thought I'd mention it.  

As a 2nd side note, anyone is known with parasympathetic dominance state of the body, (or sympathetic dominance) and how it might be related to some of the conditions that I speak off or hairloss in general for that matter?  Sorry if I'm sprouting off here, that was something that I was thinking about lately.

BrodjeQuestion wrote:@ Moby and Beebrox, thank you for the reply's I've never payed much attention to the MTHFR phenomena, I'm going to do some research about it.

Get this test:
https://www.23andme.com/

That will tell you everything. Also, they're having a sale now - it's $99 instead of the usual $499.

BrodjeQuestion wrote:
You guys talk about Mercury and Lead, would this be affected by iodine?. Probably a rhetoric question, as I thought Iodine only affects halogens but still meant to ask it. Do you (guys) have any experience with it yourself? Removing the particular metals?.

Iodine may stir them up and perhaps if your body has an adequate detoxification system then it may remove them but most people on this forum are low on glutathione so all those metals will have nowhere to go without glutathione accompanying them. Also, iodine has no affect on the metals in your brain.