Dear Friends, can anyone advise me what amino acids to take for sleeping? Not so long ago I read someone's thread that someone on this forum advised them on a combination of amino acids, which is very effective for sleeping - and they've had no problems since.
I am at my wits end - not sleeping at night, then feel absolutely awful during the day. What happens at night is I go to bed and just can't get to sleep till about 3 or even 4 am. Considering I go to bed at about 10-11 pm, this is truly dreadful. I tried taking valerian tablets, reading, taking a short walk/bath before bed - no effect.
Really hope someone can advise me about amino acids. Thanks so much for reading this.
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Yulia2010
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This may be useful. I could do with some of these after my baby is born. I have suffered for years with insomnia but go in and out of phases with it. I will sleep OK for a few weeks then back to square one. I personally found taking my NDT at night helps but we are all different. x
Thanks a lot. The article mentions L-Tryptophan and L-Glutamine. It says there, in EU countries L-Tryptophan is classed as a drug. Is it easy to get (health food shops, Internet)?
If you take your hormones in the morning, try taking them when you go to bed - as long as your stomach is empty. Allow around 3 hours gap (if it's been a heavy meal) between eating and taking hormones. I see Hidden found some success with this method. Also, are you on sufficient hormones as insomnia is a clinical symptom also.
Thanks, shaws, I might experiment with that as well. I usually take my thyroxine in the morning when I am so tired that it is difficult to get up without taking it.
50mcg of T4 is a starting dose, and usually after six to eight weeks it is increased by 25mcg until we feel well, i.e. that is no symptoms and normal health.
I think you're not on sufficient thyroid hormones which can backfire sometimes. I think you need your Free T4 and Free T3 tested.
Levothyroxine is T4 only - it is inactive and it's job is to convert to T3. T3 is the only active thyroid hormone and it has to do lots of work, i.e. it runs our whole metabolism from head to toe.
Never accept 'normal' 'o.k.' 'fine' with regard to blood tests. We don't want 'normal' - we want optimal and that means no clinical symptoms and feeling well again.
You must get a print-out of your results with the ranges and post on a new question for comments.
Have you had B12, Vit D, iron, ferritin and folate tested too, as we are usually deficient.
With antibodies you have an Autoimmune Thyroid Disease called hashimoto's and I'll give you a link. Going gluten-free helps reduce the antibodies which attack your gland until you are hypothyroid and they wax and wane.
Thanks for your comments, shaws. I got a printout this time - for some reason I didn't get in this printout the results of TPO but was told that it had risen from 363 to 415. I've been gluten-free for about 1.5 months now.
Next blood test referral has all these parametres (iron, vitamin D, ferritin) but I am to take it in 6 months or so.
Six months is a bit too long (and I'm not medically qualified) if you happen to be low in any which have to taken into consideration. Deficiencies can also cause problems and on the forum, many who have hypo also have deficient vits/minerals. Why wait another six months?
You can, if you wish, have a private test done before then.
I've just found the extract from the thread about amino acids I was looking for: "Hi, I use amino acids bland before bed time and it helps me a lot with insomnia. People from this forum (Eddie83 and rodz37) advised me to use amino acids as a sleeping pills." (olgadimitri).
Does anyone know how to find Eddie83 and Rodz37? In her thread olgadimitri talked about the combination of amino acids that works like a knockout sleeping pill
Usual advice on ALL thyroid tests, is to do early in morning, ideally before 9am. No food or drink beforehand (other than water) If you are taking Levo, then don't take it in 24 hours before (take straight after). This way your tests are always consistent, and it will show highest TSH, and as this is mainly all the medics decide dose on, best idea is to keep result as high as possible
Selenium supplements can help improve conversion of T4 to T3 and may also lower antibodies
Insomnia is one of the most debilitating hypothyroid symptoms. I had it for the whole of the last year. If a person with hypothyroidism develops insomnia it is usually because they are
- either taking insufficient dose of their thyroid medication,
- or the thyroid medication they take doesn't suit them.
Shaws and SlowDragon provided excellent information regarding the tests you need to have done. To be "within norm" with regards to iron, B12, D3 and FT3 is not good enough for a hypothyroid person. Iron, B12 and D3 play important roles in our metabolism. We cannot utilize thyroid meds sufficiently without very good levels of iron, B12 and D3. I learnt this the hard way: my D3 was so low I couldn't metabolise thyroid medication...
Thanks, Kitten1978. I will make sure to check the levels of B12 and D3. Last time I checked D3 (in November), it was low. I am still taking liquid vitamin D now as was told to take it till summer.
If your B12 was "low" within the UK range it means that it was definitely far too low for a hypo person. As far as I know, Japan is the only country with decent B12 norms.
It would be a good idea to do your B12 and D3 tests and post your levels here. HU members and Admins will advise on the best supplements. Take care x
That's true my insomnia has only returned recently down to a decrease in my meds. I do have to take slow release insulin also at night and this can make me pretty wide awake for a few hours after also. I take my thyroid meds and insulin apart though with a gap.
Thanks for the link, winjy, an interesting article. Yes, there seem to be dangers to everything these days and I agree it's best to get all the nutrients from food but we, hypo sufferers, don't seem to digest food that well(
I have said a bit about amino acids and sleep. The classic naturopathic response to sleep problems is to prescribe tryptophan (at about 10mg per pound body weight) or 5-HTP (at about 1mg per pound body weight), taken before bed. This may work if you have deficiency only in tryptophan and its metabolites.
If you have had a problem like the one I had (gluten enteropathy wrecked my ability to digest protein, and aging does not help either), you may find that using a mixture of the free essential amino acids (there are 8 or 9) works. PM me if you want more detail about product and dosage.
What I have found, is that GPs will administer something like a CMP (Comprehensive Metabolic Profile) to a patient, but not understand what the numbers mean and/or sometimes not even react to a test which is asterisked low. Your albumin and Total Blood Protein (TBP) are of interest. If your TBP is below the middle of the 6.2-8.3 g/dl normal range, aminos could be your problem. My TBP usually sits around 6.1 without supplementation.
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STOPPED SLEEPING help please!!! Sleeping tablets stopped working! ZERO sleep!!
Must Read ..sleeping problems and Thyroid Gland
On 100mcg Levo keep waking at 4am heart rate has increased. 
