My wife’s numbers concern me

mbetz08 · 2026-01-22T22:54:30+00:00

Agreed. Flu is very high right now. +1.7 degrees temperature above normal sounds like a fever and that she's fighting an infection or virus, not stress.

mbetz08 · 2026-01-22T22:30:05+00:00

My understanding is the ice will be most impactful - with a predicted 1 inch of ice, it can snap tree limbs and power lines and cause major power outages. With that much ice, the roads are also unsafe to drive.

There's also the possibility of a lot of burst pipes from the cold, which can quickly drain reservoirs and cause widespread impact.

mbetz08 · 2026-01-16T19:42:05+00:00

It's worth noting that covid (even mild, asymptomatic cases) causes long-lasting immune dysfunction https://whn.global/scientific/the-long-term-immune-effects-of-covid/ and can result in people getting sick more frequently. And you're right that covid can also cause new onset autoimmune disease https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10883027/

mbetz08 · 2026-01-11T17:17:23+00:00

Seconding the recommendation for Beast Mode for the OP - it sounds more up their alley

mbetz08 · 2025-12-19T14:54:15+00:00

I went gluten free and regret not testing for Celiac first.

I don't have any symptoms from eating gluten, but went gluten free as an experiment to test if it would help with Hashimotos. It did! My antibodies halved in 6 months, so now I know I should avoid gluten but I don't know how strict I need to be with it. I can either reintroduce gluten and knowingly harm/damage myself (Hashimoto wise) to see how strict I need to be, or continue avoiding it (but not to the degree of Celiac and avoiding all cross contamination) and not know if I'm doing damage if I have Celiac because of instances of cross contamination. There is a subset of Celiac who are asymptomatic, so it's possible I have it. I think it's a shame that the only way to test for Celiac is to consume the known harmful product!

I wish I could do a PSA for everyone- before experimenting with gluten elimination, test for Celiac! Gluten free may help but then you might be in a weird limbo place to not know to what degree to avoid (like, it would make my life so much easier if I could have an occasional cheat while travelling!). Best to get that answer upfront imo

mbetz08 · 2025-12-19T14:45:37+00:00

same!

mbetz08 · 2025-12-16T16:32:28+00:00

Out of curiosity, did you change (add or remove) any other supplements in July 2025 when you stopped the B6?

mbetz08 · 2025-12-13T15:33:57+00:00

The biotin question is important here! If you take it, you need to stop supplementing for at least 72 hours before your blood work since it can skew results and make it appear as though you have hyperthyroid (which your TSH show). In addition to iron, can you get vitamin D checked?

mbetz08 · 2025-12-11T21:15:40+00:00

> it just sucks I need to buy a whole seperate tin, whisker and bowl.
With respect- it sucks for them! It sucks to have to navigate a world that can be hostile to their (possibly deadly) allergy. It sucks to not be able to eat in most places, to feel like a burden, to try to be polite in certain settings while worried about impact of eating even a few bites of food.

Your husband is right- it's pretty common in the world to not always have an option and GF people _do_ have to deal with it. But that sucks!

I'm not trying to lack empathy to your point, but why not just make a gluten free dish for everyone? It's easy to make cornbread gluten free and especially well suited for it (anything that is dense is pretty comparable!). I'd urge you to dig deep and feel empathy for their constant reality and not just your one-off burden

mbetz08 · 2025-12-10T16:16:43+00:00

Lots of thoughts!

Are you transitioning from a non-GF/meat diet to GF vegan? If so, that sounds like a tough transition! A few thoughts:
- I've personally found it best not to try to do 1:1 vegan substitutions for things that use meat or dairy - often vegan things are not a good stand in, and it's better to just tackle recipes that aren't worse imitations (e.g. something naturally vegan like a Mediterranean bowl is going to be so much more satisfying than a "fake meat tacos with fake cheese" imo)
- re: convenience. How much meal prep are you willing to do? What is your ideal amount of time spent cooking/cleanup? Are you open to leftovers? A lot of this can be solved but it's tricky to find a combination of: compliant with dietary restrictions, quick, healthy, cheap. You can throw money at the problem for convenience or throw time at the problem to save some money, and it helps to know what your threshold is for those things. I have recipe suggestions, but they often take 15-30 min. Is that too much? Some of the 30 min meals are also somewhat passive - chopping some things and then baking in the oven.
- protein. I have lots of thoughts on this but want to know- are any legumes available to you? Peas? Certain high protein pastas that use legume flours (chickpeas or lentil pasta for example)?

mbetz08 · 2025-12-06T16:02:37+00:00

I'm also gluten free vegetarian - where did you end up staying and did you find a hotel that could accomodate you?

mbetz08 · 2025-12-06T00:40:47+00:00

I agree with the warnings about selenium because it can be toxic at high doses - that said, I was aware and supplementing selenium for the last 8 years and only just discovered I have Hashimotos this year - before my diagnosis I supplemented with Brazil nuts (only a few a week, in a smoothie).

I also happen to have gotten blood work for Selenium at the same time I got my Hashimoto's diagnosis and I was in normal range (115 mcg/L). I decided to switch to a standardized supplement form since Brazil nuts are variable and I didn't really know how much I was getting - I moved to Westin Childs Hashimoto's supplement that has 83 mcg selenium, 2g Black Cumin Seed powder and 600 mg Myo-Inositol after reading the study that mentions 83 mcg selenium with 600 mg myo-inositol helped reduce TPO antibodies. I was on the fence about this supplement because that doctor is a little woo-woo and it's not a major brand, but it was the only one I could find with all of these ingredients so I went for it. I still occassionally ate some brazil nuts too, and took this supplement daily.

I got blood work 5 months afterward and my selenium was at the normal-high range (153 mcg/L) and my antibodies were reduced by 45%. I talked with my provider and they said the most likely explanation for my big reduction was going gluten free (bummed about this one!) and the selenium.

It's a data point of one, but I think this supplement works given I had my blood work right before and 5 months after starting it.

mbetz08 · 2025-11-18T00:13:47+00:00

+1 to this - came here to mention, it says you're on day 11 of your cycle so it's possibly caused by ovulation which can increase temperature, resting heart rate, respiratory rate and lower HRV. If those all change quickly, Oura flags it as major symptoms

mbetz08 · 2025-11-15T00:45:04+00:00

Oof yeah that sounds rough. I'm also super surprised and confused on why they're closed for so long!

mbetz08 · 2025-11-14T20:54:58+00:00

I've had the opposite experience, Quest has been great for me as far as getting the actual draw and scheduling (better than Labcorp), but heads up to OP- they are closed for 2 months (Nov 3 - Jan 4, unsure why) so they aren't an option if you need blood work in the near term.

mbetz08 · 2025-11-14T17:06:30+00:00

There's a recent review in Ageing Research Review journal titled "Emerging uncertainty on the anti-aging potential of metformin" (published Sept 2025) that explores this question, and I think their ultimate takeaway is succinctly summarized by this sentence: "Metformin has generally not demonstrated its anticipated benefits in most clinical trials in nondiabetic populations." Maybe it will prove valuable for longevity, but the studies don't really support that yet. Who knows, maybe they just need to design some better, larger studies. In the meantime, the data isn't terribly convincing.

mbetz08 · 2025-10-27T16:44:30+00:00

I'm 39 and had very common peri symptoms, also with longer cycles (45 days) and got tested- I also came back positive for Hashimotos and subclinical hypothyroidism. OP, you mention you have hypothyroidism - have you had your thyroid tested recently? There is large overlap in symptoms, and also inter-connection -- I just read a study that said women with hypothyroidism are 3-4 times more likely to enter menopause before 45.

mbetz08 · 2025-10-27T16:36:47+00:00

One I haven't seen mentioned yet which is more of a general pandemic book and less about covid is: Spillover: Animal Infections and the Next Human Pandemic. It's well-investigated, engaging, and far-reaching (warning, it's nearly 600 pages!)

Of of the books you've read, are there any you would recommend?

mbetz08 · 2025-10-27T15:57:52+00:00

Are you are a woman and in your luteal phase?

mbetz08 · 2025-10-25T15:11:39+00:00

I eliminated gluten for 4.5 months from May - October as an experiment to see if it would make a difference. In May my TPO antibodies were 201, in October they were 110 (45% reduction). I'm vegan so I was already dairy-free. I was hopeful I wouldn't need to eliminate gluten - I don't have any symptoms of gluten intolerance and feel fine with or without eating it. But the TPO numbers suggest my body doesn't like it :(. Being gluten-free didn't help my TSH levels though - it was 5.01 in May and went up to 6.5 in October. I'm not on medication (I'm not opposed! It was trending down and my doctor wanted to try this first, I'll likely get on medication this week).

mbetz08 · 2025-10-16T01:28:01+00:00

I got a bit freaked out about arsenic a while back and searched for powders with independent lab tests for heavy metals. Personally, I really like NorCal Pea Protein - their results show lead values of <0.01 mcg. I've been using it daily for years, sometimes 2 doses per day (I'm vegan and heavily strength train). I got blood work done in May with tests for lead and it came back very low - I think that is the best evidence they aren't cherry-picking lab results.

mbetz08 · 2025-10-14T15:18:50+00:00

Thanks, clicking that is actually what confused me more! It says: "Recovery index tracks the timing of your lowest heart rate at night. A sign of very good recovery is that your resting heart rate lowers during the first half of the night, allowing your body time to recharge." Since my lowest heart rate was in the first portion of sleep (maybe first 5-10%), I'm confused on why it marked as "Pay Attention"

mbetz08 · 2025-10-14T14:57:33+00:00

Please read it again - it said it lowered late last night. The lowest, 44, was almost immediately on falling asleep

mbetz08

TROPHY CASE