Does everyone feel the same as me in the morning? In other words - hellish: Slow, lethargic, brain fog, dizzy, generally unwell - these are normal symptoms for me. Sometimes this goes on until the end of the afternoon. I always eat lunch and slowly blood sugar levels start to normalise and I feel better late afternoon/evening.
I deliberately try and take my levothyroxine tablet very early in the morning to allow for an hour to pass before I eat/drink anything.
The problem is it takes me a while to feel hungry and sometimes I am hungry straightaway. Even so, I eat and I still feel incredibly bad. I also get quite a few headaches.
I cannot function before midday at the earliest. I think it is something to do with blood sugar levels.
Sometimes if I eat steak or chicken or something in the evening I feel better in the morning. To complicate things I am not a huge meat eater.
Does anyone have any tips or advice to help get through the mornings better? If so, I would be very pleased to hear these!
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Your problem might not be related to blood sugar, but if it is, do some research into "dawn phenomenon". You'd need to have a method of testing your blood sugar to be sure it is connected to how you feel.
Other possible causes of feeling terrible in the morning in someone with a thyroid problem are abnormally low or high cortisol levels, or low T3. Also, nutrient deficiencies perhaps?
As to whether anyone else feels like you, I think how you feel is very common. I definitely felt similar from a couple of years before puberty onwards and the problem has continued to be an issue for 50 years. It isn't quite as bad as it used to be and I put that down to maintaining my iron levels as close to optimal as I can.
If you drink alcohol, perhaps you could give that a miss for a week or a month and see if it changes anything.
I’d be very careful with consuming anything sugary before bedtime. This can cause your blood sugar to crash during the night making your adrenals release cortisol and adrenaline to try and stabilise your blood sugar during the night. Plus chocolate contains some caffeine which doesn’t help. You may benefit from some magnesium. Hypoglycaemia gets worse for some people with thyroid issues unfortunately. I have the same issues.
I’d also check if you’re dehydrated. That doesn’t just mean not drinking enough water but whether the water is reaching your cells to create energy. You can test this with a good quality electrolyte drink. Ever since I’ve been taking one in the morning I feel so much better.
Sounds like your adrenals definitely need looking into. I would do a saliva 4 point test to see if you have high or low (or even a mixture) cortisol levels.
Yes I tend to want to snack more in the evenings too. I’m usually fine during the day. I’ve paid the price with chocolate in the evenings as it’s not only affected my sleep during the night but I’ve woken up feeling hungry too.
I hope nuts work for you because they can be quite tough on the liver.
The last time I tested my adrenals was about two years ago and all 4 points were below range. I need to work hard to bring it back into range. Easier said than done!
So I learnt about hydration and the importance of electrolytes in energy production by watching this video by Dr Ben Lynch who is a naturopathic doctor. I think everything he describes is me!
I since bought his Optimal electrolyte and I feel a lot more energetic in the mornings. It’s as though a fog has lifted within minutes of taking it. I’m sure you could benefit from any good quality equivalent. Either way it’s an very good video from an educational perspective.
Great! I must admit that I have been suffering like this most of my life. I would really like to get to the bottom of this. I have ignored it and suffered long enough I think.
Thanks again. I hoover up information and always follow up on it all.
Same here I’ve been hypothyroid for a long time. I’ve been researching for years through books, forums, online summits and websites. There’s a lot of online summits you can learn a great deal from. Some people here talk about them and post brief summaries.
I learn something new almost every day. Our GPs don’t have the knowledge or the time and only prescribe medication which manages our symptoms but never cures anything. Recently I learnt about the gallbladder and bile and it’s vital role in T4 to T3 conversion.
Finding the root cause through a functional medicine perspective I think is the only way.
Here’s a link to an article by Dr Izabella Wentz. She talks about the link between low blood sugar, adrenals and she even makes talks about hydration and the lack of it. The body is all connected.
She also describes a way to check for hypoglycaemia.
I have all the same symptoms every morning together with shaking and muscle weakness and dizziness. I have a diagnosed folate deficiency that can often be due to Masked B12 deficiency as a result of metabolic problems preventing effective absorption and utilisation. There may be B12 in the blood but it might not be absorbed into the cells. I am saving up to get blood tests for Homocysteine levels and Methylmalonic Acid (MMA) that is a more sensitive and accurate indication of B12 deficiency. Your GP might willing to do these tests and to also test for Adrenal Insufficiency that can be present in metabolic disorders such as hypothyroidism.
Thanks LotteeD - that is interesting. My paternal grandmother had regular B12 injections so I have often wondered about that.
I have ordered nutri adrenal pills- just waiting for these to show up. (Must be delayed due to Christmas post. )
I will have a look at the tests you are mentioning. Must admit my doctors are on some sort of cost saving drive so it will be tricky. If I can afford it - might get them done privately. Do you know who does the tests?
For years I used to feel as if I had low blood sugar but when I acquired steroid induced T2 a few years ago I bought a blood sugar monitor and discovered that when I took a reading when I felt ‘hypoglycaemic’ - my blood sugar wasn’t low at all. Have to say. I was very surprised when I discovered that.
At other times when I was feeling perfectly healthy - I used to test before and an hour and a half after every meal - my blood sugar would sometimes actually be pretty low before I ate - so unless you are testing your blood when you feel like you do and the readings are very low then you might not be hypoglycaemic. On the other hand if you are testing when you feel ill and know that your readings are very low then you need to find out why.
When diabetics measure blood sugar a certain time after eating (e.g. 1.5 hours), are they measuring the time from when the meal starts or when the meal ends? I have become a very slow eater in my old age.
I will ask my husband humanbean. He is diabetic- I think it is always before a meal. He does not do it religiously but his dad always did.
Hubbie has just said that you should take a reading at 11am, 1pm, 3pm etc. Then sample it at similar times to see if there is a vast change. For the first few days at least. I think he meant that before meals is best but I suppose you are checking for blood sugar peaks or not. Trying to get a feel for how your body is working (or not!).
Sorry - am not an expert in this - hope it makes some sense!
This is a very good website and this link should explain it all. I don’t test as often now because I know what spikes my blood sugar, although I still test occasionally. This link explains it all diabetes.co.uk/features/pre...
I remember being absolutely amazed when I felt weak and sick etc - how I imagined it would feel being hypoglycaemic - and I wasn’t. I’ve done it since and it’s always the same my blood sugar is fine - neither too high or too low. Bizarre.
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