OMG, petrified, on zopiclone and have hypothyroism and adrenal issues and desper

[[ce...]]

Hi,

 

I have just joined and in desperate need for advice.  I suffer from Hashimoto's (hypothjyroidsm), and also have adrenal issues with cortisol levels all over the place due to anxiety.

 

Hypothyroidism causes sever insomnia combined with incorrect cortisol levels.  I was put on zopiclone by my doctor for a month and became hooked.  I have since purchased zopiclone online and been on it for 8 weeks now and know I am now hooked.  I have not told my doctor about this so am on my own here.

 

I have purchased some Diazapam as I understand this is the method used to get off zopiclone and then wean off the diazepam.

 

I am looking for advice how to do this.  My insomnia is severe, and the hypothyroidism causes lots of neurotransmitter loss issues as well.

 

One of my worst symptoms (which I think has started since being on zopiclone) is severe breathlessness and a pounding heart.

 

To get to sleep now I use Magnesium early evening, and hour later one Valerain capsules, an hour later 1 5htp tablet, then one 25mg antihistamine (advised by moderators on hypothyroid board), then 3.5mg zop half an hour before bed.

 

This lot just about gets me to sleep, but I only get about 4 to 5 hours sleep if I am lucky.

 

I have lost my personality, have lots of anxiety and desperate for advice and support.

 

Thank you

 

[[Ve...]]

Hi Ceejay

I am so sorry for the insomnia...

I dont know what to tell you about zopiclone but I know that hypothyroidism and adrenals go hand in hand together.

Most of the times it is not the glands that are malfunctioning but it is the HPA axis (hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenals) that is not working, it does not transmit the correct message and as such the glands are not working properly.

 

I too suffer with thyroid and adrenals issue because of the HPA.

The drugs are affecting the hpa so does physiological stress (as in feeling too hot or to cold, coming down with a cold/ flu, injury, chemicals/ additives in food etc) and psychological stress.

 

The idea is to somehow manage to reset the hpa and for this we need a clean diet, a traditional (WAP)type of diet.

There was a dentist who travelled around the world and discovered that people who ate traditional diets with meals from scratch had no cavities and health problems, people who ate refined foods had cavities and health problems, his name was Weston A Price and you can read more about it here  http://www.westonaprice.org/

 

I know that for hashimotos some people have improvements after ditching gluten.

The idea is that the body is perceiving the gluten as an invader and secrets lots of antibodies which eventually start to attack the thyroid.

I suggest you read more about it from Chris Kresser.  http://chriskresser.com/

 

Try to minimize emotional stress and try not to obsess about sleep because obsessing will lead to anxiety and this in turn will lead to insomnia.

 

I read that turmeric may be helpful in resetting the HPA.

Also glandular therapy seems to help.

I am currently taking a mix of glandulars (adrenals, thyroid, liver, spleen, etc) and am planning to buy hypothalamus glandular.

There is an ancient medicine belief that says like cures like, if you have problems with the heart eating heart will help, we have problems with the hypothalamus and thats why i want to try it.

 

I am convinced that these problems can be managed but it takes a lot of dedication, effort and money.

We need a clean diet, some good supplements (fermented cod liver oil form Green Pasture is a great supp), stress management, rest, laughter and doing pleasent activities.

This is the only way to health.

 

Take care of yourself!

 

[[Ba...]]

Thank you Verona for all that incredible info and useful links. I suffer Graves' disease (hyperthyroidism) and have appreciated your links and information immensely 

[[Ve...]]

Hi Bad Choises,

Im so glad you liked the links I posted.

I came to an epiphany because of the benzos.

I used to have a diet similar with SAD (standard american diet), I am from Europe but we are pretty much stepping into the SAD footsteps.

 

After benzo wd I did not know what was wrong with me so I started to research and became quite shocked to see how much of a role diet plays in our overall health so I started to change the way I was eating.

I dont get the cold anymore and am much better but still struggle with the withdrawal and because of that I can not be very consistent with my diet but I do my best.

 

I think that people who might have had their HPA axis malfunctioning prior to benzos will have a worse withdrawal and possibly become protracted, I know I am.

 

The most important thing for us is to heal that axis because the most important thing for our health is for our hormones to function properly and they cant function in a normal manner with a dysregulated or upregulated axis.

 

It is very important to take care of the gut too, modern medicines can affect the gut lining making it permeable and thus small particles of food can enter in the bloodstream, the body secrets antibodies as a reaction to those food particles and the thyroid will suffer.

Best medicine for the gut is bone broth  http://wellnessmama.com/5888/how-to-make-bone-broth/  and fermented foods.

With a proper functioning gut all nutrients will be assimilated and used for fixing the body, with a bad gut lining a lot of the nutrients form our foods are not absorbed and so the body does not have the building blocks for repairing itself.

 

Another danger for our health and endocrine glands are soy and vegetable oil such as canola , corn, soy.

You can find really good information about healthy fats on the Weston A Price foundation link, maybe that information will come as a shock because it is in opposition with mainstream advice but really, our great grandparents and grandparents did not eat vegetable oil nor soy for that matter.

 

 

Research about salt, another missunderstood element, salt is essential to life and essential to adrenal glands which in turn regulate the thyroid.

Salt, however, must not be processed, the salt in the supermarket is too processed and bleached, we need real sea salt or himalayan salt.

 

I apologize for my rant, I am quite passionate about health and after all my research I am convinced that our modern diets, the chemicals in the food, pills (not just benzos, ibuprofen for instance is very bad for the gut) all play a part in messing with our endocrine glands and in order to restore them we need to get back to a more primitive/traditional way of eating.

The answer is not in a prescription, unfortunately.

 

I hope my message is easy to understand, I am not a native english speaker and now because of the withdrawal I developed a fobia that I can not communicate in English and this anxiety makes it very difficult to express myself.

 

Take care!

[[ce...]]

Hi Verona,

 

Thank you so much for your support and reply.  I have read some of the links you gave and found the advice very good.  I have just started posting here and starting to get lots of advice.  As I have hypothyroidism I have lots of issues to sort out and not looking forward to this journey at all.

 

Thanks again