Cortisol
GrannyMayOz
Posts: 1,051 Member
I wrote this in the '50s Ladies' thread on Wednesday and thought I'd share it here...
Easily back down to my lowest-yet weight of 82 kgs this morning. I've been taking one daily valerian tablet and it's got me wondering about the things @Wabmester said about raised cortisol levels in post-menopausal women. Pretty sure the valerian would be overriding some of that cortisol in that...
We have raised cortisol through being post-menopausal;
Once you're stressed, stress breeds in and of itself (exponentially);
Reducing the 'breeding' factor through taking herbal valerian, which is soothing/peace-giving may lead to lower overall cortisol;
Lower cortisol can assist with weight loss.
Other factors right now are that I've taken a very small dose of magnesium 3 nights out of the last 5, and our 'time zone' has moved to slightly more normal during this past week with David not working. We've been going to bed at midnight and getting up around 8am (instead of our usual 2am - 9.30 or 10am sleep times). Sleep times will revert to normal again after next Friday when David goes back to work, so I'll keep with the occasional magnesium and daily valerian and see how this goes. It's very early days yet and I'd love to narrow down which of the 3 things is helping me right now to lose weight, or at least not bounce back up so much.
Or it could be none of those and just a fluke to screw with my head, ha ha!
I even ate 1600 calories yesterday, where I normally aim for 1450. C34, F125, P80 so the extra calories were from fat.
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Adding today, Sat 29th May that I've lost another, new 100 grams (.2 lb). This has been fairly steady loss since last Sunday - pretty unheard of in my own experience and for Post-Men women in general.
I am anxious by nature, so being given another dose of cortisol purely thanks to my age has not been doing me any favours. But at this stage I'm convinced that the daily valerian is a bigger helper than I dared dream of. My naturopath told me to take 1 a day for my blood pressure, so this has been a surprising and happy side effect!
Very interested in opinions, speculations and anyone else who wants to join the experiment. Valerian is herbal; I know of nothing bad about it, but please use your own intelligence on your own personal situation if you want to join me.
Easily back down to my lowest-yet weight of 82 kgs this morning. I've been taking one daily valerian tablet and it's got me wondering about the things @Wabmester said about raised cortisol levels in post-menopausal women. Pretty sure the valerian would be overriding some of that cortisol in that...
We have raised cortisol through being post-menopausal;
Once you're stressed, stress breeds in and of itself (exponentially);
Reducing the 'breeding' factor through taking herbal valerian, which is soothing/peace-giving may lead to lower overall cortisol;
Lower cortisol can assist with weight loss.
Other factors right now are that I've taken a very small dose of magnesium 3 nights out of the last 5, and our 'time zone' has moved to slightly more normal during this past week with David not working. We've been going to bed at midnight and getting up around 8am (instead of our usual 2am - 9.30 or 10am sleep times). Sleep times will revert to normal again after next Friday when David goes back to work, so I'll keep with the occasional magnesium and daily valerian and see how this goes. It's very early days yet and I'd love to narrow down which of the 3 things is helping me right now to lose weight, or at least not bounce back up so much.
Or it could be none of those and just a fluke to screw with my head, ha ha!
I even ate 1600 calories yesterday, where I normally aim for 1450. C34, F125, P80 so the extra calories were from fat.
* * * * *
Adding today, Sat 29th May that I've lost another, new 100 grams (.2 lb). This has been fairly steady loss since last Sunday - pretty unheard of in my own experience and for Post-Men women in general.
I am anxious by nature, so being given another dose of cortisol purely thanks to my age has not been doing me any favours. But at this stage I'm convinced that the daily valerian is a bigger helper than I dared dream of. My naturopath told me to take 1 a day for my blood pressure, so this has been a surprising and happy side effect!
Very interested in opinions, speculations and anyone else who wants to join the experiment. Valerian is herbal; I know of nothing bad about it, but please use your own intelligence on your own personal situation if you want to join me.
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I enjoy trying to understand mechanisms. But hormones are complex. I'm not sure anybody really understands them, especially given all the interactions.
There's no downside to reducing stress. And if you lose weight, that would be a big bonus. If it turns out to really be the key for you, and others can reproduce your results, then you should publish, and you'll be celebrated by women around the world.
A quick google did indicate there's a book called The Cortisol Connection that includes some information about Valerian. No idea if it's any good.
I'm still rooting for you!0 -
I'm a naturally high stress person too. I love Valerian. (I don't take it every night though.) When I get a knot in the muscles in my neck or back from being stressed out I find it helps with relaxing the knots. I've taken both the liquid and the capsules. Maybe I should take it every night. I will have to see if it has any affect on my weight loss, which tends to be slower loss than most people my age. I'm sure my cortisol levels are higher than they are supposed to be.0
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Thanks @Wabmester
Thought you'd be interested in my ramblings, and I wouldn't have given cortisol a thought were it not for you mentioning it. Therefore, I wouldn't have realised that the valerian could be helping the weight loss - nor why. So there ya go - you're a blessing in case you didn't know that already.
I can just imagine me publishing a paper. Take a look at my travel blog next time you sit down with a bucket full of coffee mayl.id.au/ Now can you imagine if I *really* had something to say?
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Granny May - Valerian is a pretty powerful herb. It would probably make me sleepy. I love magnesium citrate and take it almost every day- I make my own pills with capsules bought from Super Supplements and magnesium from the natural food store. It really helps my achy muscles0
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My experience, I believe my cortisol has been steadily increasing the last couple of years. To the point where I was so tense and stressed around the end of March that one side of my neck was so stiff, sore and tense that it was causing one eyelid to droop. No matter what I did, I could not relax. Hot flashes, waking up a zillion times a night and sometimes not being able to get back to sleep, horrid headaches and fogginess, trigger startle reaction to the slightest thing, mood problems, big dark bags under my eyes. I never had sleep problems until recent years.
3 days after beginning this woe, all of that went away. I don't know what combination of hormones was out of whack and what combination was fixed by LCHF, but seriously, I feel like a whole different person. I had forgotten how "normal" felt. I am kicking myself for not figuring this out and trying it sooner. Even though it is sort of common advice to see LC recommended for this time of life, I either didn't believe it could make that much of a difference, or I was just in denial because I didn't want to have to give up stuff.
I'm going to read up on this Valerian stuff. Thank you!0 -
Just wanted to add that I CANNOT take Valerian during the day, unless I am under extreme stress! Otherwise I get much too sleepy. I must take it before bed. But for some reason if I am going through a really stressful day (or two) I burn right through it and it doesn't make me sleepy at all. But there is a need for caution if you want to take it during the day, it can make people very drowsy.0
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I'll be a guinea pig with you--I have some on order. How much do you take?0
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Me too (guinea pig). & where do you get it/order from?0
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I ordered from Amazon. I read to be careful about what brand you choose http://www.drwalt.com/blog/2011/01/05/less-than-25-of-valerian-herbal-sleep-supplements-pass-tests-for-quality/0
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Here is another article I came across on Cortisol. It is kind of long so I just skimmed parts of it, and I want to read it more in detail.
http://chriskresser.com/ask-the-rd-adrenal-fatigue-2/0 -
Hi everyone. Thanks for all the input, information, ideas (and other 'i' words?)
The 'help blood pressure' dosage of valerian prescribed by my naturopath was 1 tablet before bed each night. The tablets are Blackmores brand from the supermarket. I think/hope that Australian authorities are hotter than the USA on checking that dosages in supplements are all they claim to be!
Somehow I started to take the tablet (I only take one) earlier in the day. I thought that if peaceful sleep was one thing, then surely a peaceful, non-anxious day was even more desirable. And I'd taken valerian in the past when I used to suffer such awful panic attacks. Try swallowing a tablet when you are mid panic attack and already liable to throw up - but that's another story.
I can't swallow tablets even on a good day, I have to empty out capsules onto a spoon and mildly chew the powder with some coconut milk in order to get them down me. To eat the valerian I finally found that a half teaspoon of natural peanut paste is sufficiently masking of its flavour to be able to crunch the tablet until I can swallow it. My husband thinks I'm hilarious, you're allowed to laugh too.
My tablets are 'Valeriana oficialis' (Valerian) extract equivalent to dry root and rhyzome 2g (2000 mg). (Standardised to contain valerenic acids 3.2 mg). Purchased from the supermarket, as I said above. Our cheap, supermarket brand is Blackmores. They work fine whether or not their dosage is smaller than it states.
Welcome aboard dear @Ellen and @Kate. The worst that can happen is that you'll sleep better, or feel more peaceful. Best scenario would add weight loss to those two things as well
And I'm down yet another 100 grams (.2 lb) this morning. I've been taking a daily valerian since 3pm Wed 13th May. I weighed 82.9 kgs that morning and 81.8 kgs this morning. A 1.1 kg (2.4 lbs) loss in 18 days is pretty hard to come by for a Post-Men woman.0 -
That's wonderful, May! It's a true marvel with things come together and the body agrees to lose some weight. The valerian I ordered is Standardized Valerian root extract 300 mg with valerenic acids 2.4 mg. One capsule up to 3x day w/ meals. I'll start with one to see how it goes. Sleep and peace will be lovely. Weight loss would be unbelievably fantastic.
I was up a pound this morning and by the looks of things I'll be up another tomorrow. I look like I'm about to give birth, I'm so bloated. Could broth do that to me? That's the only new thing I've eaten.
An animal got trapped in our garage when my husband left for work. He just came back and saw that it had chewed wood trim around the door and even some drywall. He's trying right now to hunt it down and chase it out so it doesn't eat the entire garage overnight. The last thing I want it to do is chew its way into the house. And, he noticed that the upright freezer in our garage has died. Everything's totally frozen, so he and our son are just transferring everything to other fridge freezers. I'll just stay right here and pretend nothing's happening. Too bad my valerian hasn't come already....0 -
Hi Ellen. One sounds like a great idea. I try things slowly where I can too. I truly hope you have success and that we've come across something that works consistently!!! I'm cautiously excited
I'm so sorry about the bloating and hope that passes quickly. What a pain that is - and the last thing you need!
Oh heck. What animal is it, or can't he find it yet? You know about the snake we had in our house a few months ago. That took a lot for me to recover from. Not *fully* there yet, but well on my way thankfully. But yes, the valerian would help with that stress for sure.0 -
Am going to start magnesium supplement too. Is this going to skew results? Maybe just start with valerian for few weeks? (Have to wait til it gets here).0
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@Kate I don't think magnesium will skew anything, and if you feel the need for magnesium then I certainly won't be asking you not to take any.0
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I'm going to be watching this! (un?)related fact for me is I tend to loose more weight over school holidays when I'm not tired and stressed from work. Cortisol?
Keep me updated ladies 0 -
That's interesting Fi, I wonder if that is a factor?
I had a bit of a gain this morning, but then I'd eaten a square of caramello chocolate last night oooh aaaah! Interested to wait and see what develops now. I've had fairly low calories the past 4 days (barely over 1,000) which was all I wanted. I'm starting to think that the occasional high calorie day, forced if necessary, is a good idea.0 -
Great post. I have been using a formulation my compounding pharmacist recommended. It has 400MG of valerian. It also has a few other things including 300MG of GABA. While I haven't noticed it's particularly helping me sleep, my mood is improving, and the tension in my body is getting better (I'm in the middle of the menopause transition, minimal hot flashes now, random periods, lots of crankiness).
Here's the one I'm taking.
http://www.amazon.com/Pure-Encapsulations-Best-Rest-Formula-VegiCaps/product-reviews/B0015SXPI0/ref=cm_cr_dp_qt_hist_four?ie=UTF8&filterBy=addFourStar&showViewpoints=00 -
Here is another article I came across on Cortisol. It is kind of long so I just skimmed parts of it, and I want to read it more in detail.
http://chriskresser.com/ask-the-rd-adrenal-fatigue-2/
Thanks for posting this deksgrl. I've been reading some of Kresser's stuff, and was looking forward to his podcasts, so this gave me a nudge!0 -
http://cortisolconnection.com/ch4_1.php
Have a read of this. You may find it interesting...especially if you are 'of a certain age'. The supplement recommended to help this is Sytrinol and is known as a Natural Cholesterol lowering supplement. As soon as I find it I'm going to try it. Doseage 300mg daily.0 -
GrannyMayOz wrote: »
Oh heck. What animal is it, or can't he find it yet? You know about the snake we had in our house a few months ago. That took a lot for me to recover from. Not *fully* there yet, but well on my way thankfully. But yes, the valerian would help with that stress for sure.
It was a marmot, my husband and son think. I myself have not ventured to set eyes on it--that's manly work, I say! He finally got it out last night, and we hope it doesn't have a mate still in there. There was no new destruction last night. Now we have to have the garage door rubber strip replaced and the sensor lights so it will go up and down replaced. The darn thing chewed all of it to bits. And we have to repair the man door frame and drywall near it. Destructive thing! About the length of a cat, but much larger in bulk. We've never seen one before. I hope he moves out of the neighborhood. At least it wasn't a snake; much worse IMO!0 -
All this cortisol info is so interesting! Thank you for so many good links! I found this one, too, about Sytrinol: http://suzycohen.com/articles/healthybones/. It's used for strengthening bones in this case. Apparently citrus pith, especially from tangerines, is loaded with the bioflavinoids that are used to make it. I can't find yet whether grapefruit is included in the Sytrinol supplements I've found. Most of them do contain soy though.
I have to avoid grapefruit b/c it reacts negatively with my med.
The pharmacist in this article included this caution: "Nobiletin is sold as Sytrinol, or as “citrus bioflavonoids” and I want you to be real careful because some of the products contain “naringen” or “naringenin” which comes from grapefruit and this compound can dangerously spike your blood levels of many popular medications. If you take a lot of medication then you should avoid the naringen/naringenin."
Judging from reviews online, lots of people have been helped by taking Sytrinol.0 -
Sytrinol contains tangeratin, sinensetin and nobietin and not naringenin for that very reason apparently!0
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sorry nobiletin0
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Amazon sells it by several different manufacturers.0
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Wow, so much fantastic information. I'm so happy everyone is adding to this!
Yesterday I put on 600 grams (1.2 lbs) from nowhere. Today I'm back down 500 of them (1.1 lbs) woo hoo!!!! So pleased to be shifting that gain so quickly, it would have taken *weeks* until recently. And I'm as sure as I can be that my stomach... drum roll... is deflating. *Finally* a change in that kangaroo pouch (with invisible, but solid joey inside) after 5 months of Keto.
When laying on my side, my upper hip feels really bony and solid, it's the strangest feeling to have a hard body in places ha ha!!!0 -
That's so great, May! I hate to jinx it by saying so but you seem to be at a really good pace now. I'm so glad for you!
My valerian arrived yesterday but I can't start taking it until after my procedure on the 10th. It can't be taken for 2 weeks prior to having anesthesia. Today was a 2:30 am waking/unable to get back to sleep. And, of course, the obligatory l lb gain.0 -
Oh Ellen
It can all turn around for you after your procedure. Let's believe on the brand new start, everything going well, good sleep and weight lost starting 11th June
I was bought 2 coffees while we were out today. My son lovingly bought me a soy milk one, eeek! and my husband a full milk (cow) one, so I've actually hit 53 grams of carbs today. Help!!! I've put my blood ketone tester out to see what the morning brings. I've never been higher than 43g carbs, which I've done twice since late January. Oh well, it's all research isn't it?0 -
GrannyMay - it'll probably be OK as you've been in ketosis for a good long while now, and I think by the morning after overnight fast you'll be back in ketosis even if you did flip out of it for a a short while - 53 carbs isn't huge. I am sure that "early woman" was not in ketosis 100% of the time.
While I'm not (yet!) over 50, I am interested in cortisol as I am really sleeping badly. One of the reasons is neck/shoulder pain and I can't find a combination of pillows that really works for me (today the pain has spread down my arm and I can hardly lift my left arm: I'm like an older person who struggles to get dressed as can't raise arm much if at all - does anyone know what this is and what I should do about it - so bad I have given in and taken ibuprofen which is helping).
But setting that annoying development aside, I just seem to perk up before going to bed, even when really tired from having not slept the night before, so I think this may be a cortisol issue. As per wabmester, I have stopped IF to reduce cortisol and now eat breakfast as early as I can. I have bought rhodiola, relora, theanine and valerian (the latter just now at lunchtime). But I'm really not sure how to take them all and in what combination: I'm a bit random with my supplements sometimes. Feel quite desperate as I am SO tired (twitchy eye and all - like a crazed woman here). Any advice on supplement combinations welcomed! Thanks lovely people!0 -
Oh gosh @totaloblivia I'm so sorry about your shoulder and the sleeping issues. It could be a frozen shoulder. I had something similar some years ago now (maybe 8 or so) and went to a physiotherapist. Unfortunately, she'd had a similar injury herself a while previously and was treating me for what she'd had, when that wasn't what was wrong with me. So after 6 or so visits she still didn't win. Then the light came on over her head and she fixed me in 2 visits. So I'd recommend a physio - one that listens carefully. Strangely enough, one of my cousins just got this last week as well.
I don't know about combining the supplements. It's hard to find out about reactions between natural supplements. You've been taking the other 3 already without problems? Perhaps add the valerian in at a different time of the day to those if you can? My naturopath had said to take the valerian around half an hour before bed, but I'm now taking them at some point in the morning so I have a peaceful day, and I still sleep well anyway.
Hope you solve both problems really easily and soon!0
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