Increasing thyroid supplementation on heavy exercise days
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Last couple of years I got way into powerlifting and noticed, following some week-long injury induced breaks, that my skin was impacted by how much effort I expended in the gym.
- On a really heavy leg day, especially ones where I was greedy and hit multiple exercises, in the next couple of days I might develop some acne around the lower corners of my mouth.
- Something else I noticed, was this wasn't as likely to happen if I restricted my food intake. I normally drink a half gallon of milk a day, and if I skipped this or a big meal (using the logic that my body has more important things to worry about than digestion, like repairing mussles) then I was less likely to get the acne.
I ended up trying a dried thyroid product for some other reason, and sometime around that time I stopped having the acne issue. Didn't put two and two together.
This last week, I skipped my thyroid dose for a few days, and went sicko mode on some zerchers. And guess what, I have a zit by my lip, first in months.It seems to me, as acne is a symptom of dysfunction, not a self-contained issue, that this indicates a big lift induced thyroid deficiency.
I'd imagine its not that simple. Any thoughts on this?
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Could be the liver being overburdened from detoxifying lactic acid from working out hard and so some toxins end up being being excreted on the skin (hence the acne). Taking thyroid relieves the liver and that's why the acne goes away. I imagine the same logic applies to a big meal or 2Ls of milk with the liver being overburdened.
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@izkrov How does thyroid "relieve" the liver?
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@rosenstein I think when the liver is overburdened you're not converting T4 to T3 as much, so the liver spends time (inefficiently) detoxifying whatever comes through. Supplementing active T3 while the liver is preoccupied speeds up the process. Just generally the higher the metabolic rate (T3), the more efficient the liver.
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@izkrov Makes some sense. I think I am going to experiment with doubling, maybe tripling my thyroid dose to see if any other symptoms are relieved. I have trouble sleeping on the nights I lift as well, which I always attributed to stress, but perhaps this is related.
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@rosenstein I Would assume that the trouble sleeping is from cortisol and empty glycogen stores. Source: I’m a former insomniac who was addicted to lifting.
Have you tried 5oz of ice cream before bed? For reference I’m 6’ 200lbs, (so you may need more or less ice cream). I also use 400mg caffeine daily, (in 2 200mg doses) and lately I’ve been using a lot of K2 mk4 before bed, (caffeine and K to further improve glycogen stores). No trouble sleeping 8 hours uninterrupted now, (would sleep longer if I didn’t have two dogs and two kids, lol).
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Yeah we sound similar, I would attribute it solely to lifting if it wasn't persistent on weeks of rest. Ice cream sometimes works but I have more luck getting up at 3am and chugging some OJ. What is this about caffeine+K before bed? Why that combination?
an update, I slammed thyroid doses yesterday, like quadruple what I normally take (30mg desiccated cow thyroid x4) and it didn't keep me up, and I slept pretty well.
And funnily enough I've had this written in my notes app for months "Glycogen depletion and t3 supplementation to compensate" but not sure where I got it from, never read anything about it.
Sounds like the glycogen depletion concept is a lead. I understand glycogen depletion from the angle of what they teach you in A&P, how the body uses fuel stores in exercise. But not as a chronic issue or what that indicates
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@rosenstein if the liver can’t store glycogen then sleep will be affected, (no fuel during sleep-which ironically is a metabolically demanding process). Stress in the form of overtraining will raise cortisol which can lead to fatty liver and decreased glycogen storage/muscle catabolism. Some of us with favorable body composition might be able to skirt this for a time because muscles can store glycogen too, (my personal theory is that they do so when subjected to the stress of training as localized glycogen storage tanks to deal with stress more immediately-especially if liver function is impaired).
I don’t do the caffeine before bed, (sorry for any confusion there). I take my last dose around 3pm. My reasoning for the caffeine and vitamin K supplementation is due to a number of studies Haidut posted on the old forum regarding their leaning out the liver and assisting in glycogen storage. When I started “Peating” I couldn’t drink black coffee without cold hands and feet. Now I can drink a double espresso on an empty stomach with no stress response, (suggesting my glycogen storage is much improved).
In the studies, I believe glycogen storage was improved with a certain amount of caffeine mg/kg. In my initial experiments I used 1200mg split in three doses of 400mg each with lots of food for two weeks. Since then I’ve found I prefer 200mg twice a day for longer periods. This also assisted in improved metabolism as I dropped body fat while increasing calories and maintaining training regime. My weight went from about 235 to 205, (and the weight loss wasn’t instant, it continued after ceasing the caffeine over the course of the next few months).
K in studies was found to lower liver enzymes dramatically at 15mg over a few weeks, or 45mg over a few days.
