These days it seems that more and more people are having issues sleeping, either due to stress or other underlying issues like me with Hashimoto’s Thyroid disease. I have been taking sleeping aid tablets for 8 years, and I have always been searching for the answer to why I don’t sleep, I just don’t get tired at night time. I will take you through my journey and even though most people don’t have to deal with Hashimoto’s Thyroid disease, the things I tried and small successes are still relevant to everyone.
Where it all started….
A while back my doctor told me to cut out gluten, dairy and sugar because I kept getting a white tongue, meaning I had candida. Usually only babies and young children get candida as their immune system is still developing and cannot fight off the fungus, plus foods with diary and sugar help the fungus to multiply.
I started off eating half gluten free and half normal gluten foods but that didn’t help so I cut gluten out completely.
I started off swapping to gluten free products, not eating cheese, cream, and not eating processed sugar. Its been a hard journey to completely change everything you eat and drink. A lot of it comes down to your own willpower and retraining your mind.
Doors kept opening up I found places that did gluten free fish and chips, pasta and pizza. Which made it easier to be able to eat out at restaurants. I still wasn’t sleeping so I was still searching for the answer. My partner and I were always researching and finding new recipes to try.
A friend had thyroid problems as well but she had Graves which is the exact opposite to all my symptoms. She went through an Endocrinologist and did her own research as well and started cooking and eliminating foods. She told me about nightshades which are tomato’s, potato’s, capsicum, chilli, eggplant so I eliminated them which was really hard at first because it meant I couldn’t eat out at restaurants because there are too many foods that use tomato’s and potato’s. Plus it is all of my favourite foods that I love eating.
Trying a Naturopath….
I found The Lucy Rose Clinic which are naturopaths that specialise in naturally healing the thyroid. I did tests that my GP never knew about and didn’t really help me as doctors know nothing about stomach healing.
I did a food sensitive test, Iodine test and saliva test. The food sensitive test showed I had to cut out foods that I loved eating as they were causing inflammation in my stomach causing my sleep issues. I had to stop eating eggs so finding a new way of eating and recipes that didn’t have eggs was really hard. I would definitely recommend these tests for people with auto-immune diseases but for normal people cutting out processed foods and sugar might be enough.
No one ever tells you how important food is for your overall well being, and that it’s basically a medicine and that taking thyroxine doesn’t fix any of the symptoms. When I do a blood test to check my thyroxine levels my doctor tells me my levels are fine or to improve something. Doctors have a wider range of what they call normal levels. But it never solved any of the symptoms or problems, and I still had a lot of symptoms.
Where as Lucy Rose has narrower range and are more specific with what the numbers should be with blood tests and help to improve overall health with lifestyle choices, exercise, mindfulness, food, and supplements.
I also found out that drinking tap water has chlorine and fluoride that is bad for Hashimotos and any one with thyroid problems. I started off with doing half tap water and half spring water, but that didn’t actually help at all. Then I tried Pureau water, which is like a purified water using reverse osmosis, and I was only drinking and cooking with this water.
I started doing my own bone broth but it has a lot of tricky steps and if you don’t do it properly, bacteria can still be present in the finally product. I ended up having 6 months of diarrhoea, while my partner that was drinking normal water had no issues. I spent 6 months trying to find the answer to why I was getting diarrhoea. I kept asking my partner if it was the Pureau water that I was drinking and he didn’t think it would be the water.
I did a stool test that came back with 4 bacteria from making my own bone broth and Pureau water was giving me diarrhoea. I bought a ceramic water filter to use tap water and filter out the chlorine and fluoride but I was still getting diarrhoea. I think it was the charcoal filter. I then stopped using the ceramic filter and the Pureau water and swapped to Natural Spring Water and haven’t had any problems.
Lucy Rose had me on some natural supplements to get rid of the bacteria in my gut. I still don’t know how I worked the 6 months while having diarrhoea and being tired all the time. I drink and cook with spring water which means I don’t eat out at restaurants because they wash food in the tap water. It means I have to be organised and take water everywhere I go and my own food.
Due to not sleeping enough and being awake most of the night, I struggle with working and then coming home to cook, clean and getting up early to be work by 7am. I wake up and get sunshine in the morning to set the cortisol and melatonin in my body to work at the right times. I also come home and get more sunshine as Vitamin D is so important, then I get on the rowing machine to get my heart rate up and also do pilates twice a week.
Even with all of these things I was doing the sleeping never got better and was still on sleeping tablets. Fixing the nutrional gaps as well with supplements helped to get all my levels closer to the correct values, but again this was not the miracle cure for sleeping, it is just another part to help.
Sleeping tablet crisis….
When my doctor got covid and had to take over a month off work, I was unable to get anymore scripts for my sleeping tablets and had no choice but to start getting off them. I started by taking only half each night as I only had enough for one week. I was able to sleep but kept waking up a lot during the night. After I had used up the sleeping tablets I looked into other alternatives and found a few natural things that did actually help me sleep better.
Finally off sleeping tablets….
It wasn’t an easy thing to do when I was going through the withdrawals, and it actually says on the tablets that going off the tablets can actually cause sleep issues. I was so tired but couldn’t nap during the day, grumpy and emotional because I didn’t know what a good night sleep was and I didn’t feel like I was getting enough quality sleep. It’s tough when you spend more time awake at night time than asleep. It’s frustrating just laying there wide wake and nothing to do because watching TV doesn’t help me it just keeps me wake. It’s frustrating having a partner who falls asleep really quickly.
All the things that helped to get off sleeping tablets….
Heat Packs
Definitely use heat packs when you go to bed, it helps to get the temperature of the bed and yourself ready for sleep. Anyone with Thryoid issues, like myself, have a lot of trouble generating heat and I am usually always cold. In order to get to sleep and stay asleep, you need to be at the right temperature.
Hot Bath or Spa
I have a hot spa with epsom salts and an essential oil blend from Doterra called Aroma Touch which helps to relax your muscles. I do this about an hour before bed, a few times a week. You can also use a bath, the important thing is to relax and get warm before bed.
Blue light is your enemy
Light from TV, phones, light bulbs and computers have the same light as the sun and stops your body from releasing melatonin as it still thinks you are outside in sunlight. Melatonin is a chemical that your body produces to help you feel tired and start to relax. Once the sun goes down and it gets dark, it’s best to avoid anything that produces blue light, or like I did, use blue light glasses to watch TV or to use my laptop. It’s still best to put away devices an hour before bed and also change your bedroom and bathroom light globes to also block blue light.
Nutrition
Make sure that you have a blood test and see if you need any suppliments to get your body back into balance. If you don’t understand the results then get the doctor to explain and help, or like I did, go to a naturopath, but be careful they can be quite expensive. It’s really important to have Iron, Vitamin C and Vitamin D in balance.
Cortisol levels
Make sure that your cortisol levels are correct, usually high around lunch and low at midnight. Mine were backwards and low at lunch making me feel tired and run-down while at night time it was high making me feel wired and awake. There is a saliva test you can do over 24 hours that can give you answers if you think this is your issue. The best way to get your cortisol back into the correct cycle is to see sunlight in the morning and get Vitamin D from 30 minutes of sunlight during the day.
Stick to a schedule
Another way to help with cortisol is to stick to a routine, and this also helps to produce melitonin at the right times as well. Most people talk about your circadian rhythm, which is your body’s natural 24 hour cycle. So sticking to a schedule helps your body to get into a regular rhythm and make you feel sleepy at the right times.
Food and drink
Probably the most important of all, is food and drink, and what you are putting into your body. Absolutely no caffine and try to avoid alcohol too late at night, as most alcohol contains sugar. Sugar is like caffine and puts your body into an alert state, so it’s best to avoid sugar completely, but this is hard so definitely no sugar once it gets dark. I have found recently that eating too much meat causes me not to sleep so I try not too eat too much at night and this has helped more than anything else at this stage.
Herbal drinks and Suppliments
There are so many vitamins and supplements on the market that it’s hard to know which one to try and whether it will work or be a waste of money. These are the vitamins that I take after dinner that help with stress, anxiety.
Rhodiola helps with mental, physical and emotional stress Caruso’s Rhodiola Health Indications:
• Relieve nervous tension
• Support a healthy stress response
• Relieve symptoms of mild anxiety
• Decrease mental fatigue
• Support concentration and focus
Ashwagandha helps with mental, physical and emotional stress.
- Promote body adaptation to stress
- Relieve symptoms of mild anxiety
- Relieve nervous tension/unrest
- Maintain cognitive function
- Decrease sleeplessness due to stress
The GO Cherry Sleep and GO magnesium sleep I use in a herbal tea I make each night. I don’t always add these every night but at least once every few nights as they help to promote sleep and relaxation.
GO Cherry Sleep contains Passionflower, which is traditionally used in herbal medicine as a sleep aid, to assist with difficulty falling asleep and to aid with sleep in cases of mental stress and restlessness. Passionflower also has a tradition of use for the relief of nervous tension, stress and mild anxiety. It also contains Sour Cherry, which contains antioxidants, vitamins, minerals and anthocyanins.
- Promote sleep.
- Assist with difficulty falling asleep.
- Aid with sleep in cases of mental stress.
- VegeCap Advantage.
- CherryPure.
GO Magnesium Sleep contains a blend of Magnesium and herbal extracts. Passionflower and Hops are traditionally used in herbal medicine as a sleep aid in cases of restlessness or insomnia due to stress and for the relief of mild symptoms of mental stress.
– Help promote sleep
– Relieve nervous tension and stress
– Relieve nervousness and restlessness
The Bioglan Magnesium has poppy which does help to get me to sleep, I add this as well to my herbal drink once every few nights.
Bioglan active Magnesium night formula, combines 3 bioavailable forms of magnesium to relieve cramps, mild spasms & twitches when dietary intake is not enough.
California poppy and hops are used in traditional Western herbal medicine to support a more restful and deeper sleep.
Features of Bioglan active night formula
- Reduces Muscle Cramps & Mild Spasms when dietary intake is inadequate
- Reduces the time to Fall Asleep
- Improves Sleep Quality
- Supports Muscle Health and Function
Kava is probably the best at helping with my sleep, but you can’t be on this for too long or it can cause issues with your liver or kidneys. It’s best to use this when nothing else is working and not be using it for long periods.
This is definitely one of the best to use if you’re looking for an all-round solution to relieve stress, muscle tension and anxiety, plus help you drift off for a restful night’s sleep. Over 3000+ years of traditional use and over a decade of research has helped develop this super, all-in-one solution. It consistently delivers therapeutic benefits for the mind and body.
The herbal drink I make each night is just a few herbs that promote calm and restfulness like Chamomile, Passionflower, Lavender and Jilungin. The best one I have found is from Kintra as it doesn’t have some herbs like Lemon Balm that can cause issues for people with Thyroid diseases.
There are other benefitial things you can try that could improve your overall health like eating organic foods and removing toxins from your body. Remove processed food from your diet as much as possible and try not to eat sugar, gluten, diary or nightshades if you have a Auto-Immune disease.
These are the the lifestyle choices I make, I only eat organic food and cook everything from scratch. I don’t eat any processed food or packet food. I choose not to eat food that has been grown using chemicals. Chemicals affect my thyroid issues mainly mine sleep cycle. I also have found that eating early 5-6pm really helps because your body is done digesting food earlier which helps with sleep. I also don’t eat as much meat as I used to especially at dinner time. I have found through experimenting that if I eat too much meat at dinner I don’t sleep well and I am awake more and my heart rate stays high.
Gluten, what is it? Why get off it?
Gluten is a protein found in the wheat plant and some other grains, Gluten is naturally occurring, but it can be extracted, concentrated and added to food and other products to add protein, texture and flavour. It also works as a binding agent to hold processed foods together and give them shape. These days most of the main crops involving wheat or corn are genetically modified to yield more and have more gluten.
If you have an autoimmune condition, such as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, gluten can trigger inflammation, and lead to gut dysbiosis. Eliminating gluten can decrease symptoms, but it is not only gluten that causes these issues. The inflammatory state that can increase symptoms is driven by more than gluten alone
Diary, why get off it?
Casein is a protein found in all dairy products, in its purest form it is a shapeless white solid that doesn’t have any taste and is unscented. Its commercial type is yellowish with a pleasing smell. All cow’s milk contain 3% casein and all animal milk contains some of this protein. Diary is still alright to have in small amounts if you do not have an auto-immune disease.
Sugar, can it cause cancer? Processed versus real?
Sugar is highly inflammatory and can worsen the imbalance of gut microbiota. The heavily processed forms of sugar like white sugar and icing sugar have been linked to cancer mulitple times but big companies just pay for research to disprove these results and so people keep eating these forms of cancer causing sugar. There are better forms available like Rapadura Sugar or Unrefined Coconut Sugar, and you can always try Stevia or Monk Fruit Sweetner. Real sugar from fruits and vegetables is obviously better for you but you should still eat the high sugar ones less often.
Get off eggs if you have an auto-immune disease
Eggs especially the egg whites may cause problems for a person with autoimmune disease. The egg whites have a higher occurrence of allergy related symptoms. People can also be allergic to the yolk in eggs, so that is why eggs is on the AIP Diet.
For a healthy person eggs wouldn’t affect them but if you have an autoimmune disease it can create all sorts of problems. The proteins in eggs (usually lysozyme, from the egg white) move through the gut barrier where they aren’t suppose to be and contribute to autoimmunity.
Eggs are a very common food sensitivity with leaky gut and who are on AIP Diet, food sensitivity is different to being allergic and can be reintroduced when leaky gut has healed. If you eat eggs regularly one of the symptoms can be swelling and joint pain. Yolks contain arachidonic acid which activate inflammation in the body. Joint pain can be induced by the saturated fats in eggs.
Nightshade, what are they and who should avoid them?
Nightshades contain one or more lectin, saponin, and capsaicin properties that cause inflammation in the body. Nightshade are all potato except sweet potato, all tomato’s, capsicum (red, yellow, green), eggplant, chilli peppers, cape gooseberries (or ground cherries, different from regular cherries), cayenne pepper, chili pepper flakes, chili powder, chinese five-spice powder, curry powder, curry spice powder, garam masala spice – because it contains peppers, goji berries, hot sauce, tomato sauce (and BBQ Sauce) – because they contain tomatoes, paprika spice.
Many of these compounds are part of the plant’s innate self-defense system, protecting it from predators and pathogens by disrupting their cell membranes. Unfortunately these substances can have a similar detrimental effect on humans, resulting in prolonged inflammation and unwanted symptoms.
What makes up the plants in build defense system that protects it from predators and pathogens by disrupting their cell membranes , but can have an affect on humans with inflammation and other symptoms.
Nightshades are found in everything from restaurant food, to takeaway food like pizza (tomato sauce), processed foods at the supermarkets. Nightshades are really hard to give up eating because it restricts what you can eat, can’t eat out at restaurants.
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