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MaxDarkside on Fri Nov 02, 2012 12:18 am
Hard to say, not a Dr, nor able to run tests. It could be something else, tho. I have fairly severe brain fog / grog and I have the above well within limits, I even went off Simvastatin due to other reasons. No difference for me going off of it. I do have neuropathy that is advancing, affecting my feet and organs now and my fog / grog seems to be worsening with it, so I'm starting to suspect might be related to that. I don't know. There are also brain chemicals that cause sleepiness, natural ones your body makes, the ones that make you want to sleep. Perhaps they are not "clearing" fully during sleep. Who knows. I, too, consume a bit too much caffeine to compensate.

old64mb on Fri Nov 02, 2012 12:46 am

edm_msu wrote:
Average Total Sleep = 6:47

That jumps out at me more than anything else. If you're averaging less 7 hours of sleep a night and feeling lousy, before going down all sorts of different and complicated routes...try to get 8 for a while and see how you feel?

However, on what's more than likely an unrelated topic, it's worth a conversation with your doctor if there's another statin that is appropriate - Simvastatin has recently gotten (deservedly) a lot of criticism in the medical literature and now has an FDA warning when prescribed at higher doses. Given you can usually achieve the same results treating hyperlipidemia with different doses of other statins, it's a little surprising that they prescribed it first line.

edm_msu wrote: I think I'll feel good if I sleep better

edm_msu wrote:I think the solution is numerous little things.

MaxDarkside wrote:Or none of the above.

edm_msu wrote:Around 5 years ago I was on Lipitor and insurance required that I switch to a generic. I was switched to Simistatin and that has not changed.

MaxDarkSide:
I have fairly severe brain fog / grog and I have the above well within limits

Well, do keep in mind Lipitor has gone generic over the last few months too, so returning to it might be possible (and arguably advisable), so might want to have that conversation with your MD.

And yeah, I know it's bad to be waking up in the middle of the night, but if you're constantly going to bed at 10 and getting up at 5:30, you're talking 7:30 max - and you never achieve that. I hate to say it, but try going to bed at 9. Ruins your evenings, but see how you feel after a few weeks of doing that.

Jay Aitchsee wrote:Max, I could be wrong, but I seem to remember you had quite a little "cocktail" at bedtime consisting of some Rx, OTC, and Alcohol.

edm_msu wrote:Max, there is a lot above that you are referring to. Are you sure you aren't overlooking something above?

edm_msu wrote:
....and ask my doctor about Vitamin B12, Simistatin, free T3 & T4, and Zoloft.

There is considerable discussion of the serum concentrations of 25(OH)D associated with deficiency (e.g., rickets), adequacy for bone health, and optimal overall health, and cut points have not been developed by a scientific consensus process. Based on its review of data of vitamin D needs, a committee of the Institute of Medicine concluded that persons are at risk of vitamin D deficiency at serum 25(OH)D concentrations <30 nmol/L (<12 ng/mL). Some are potentially at risk for inadequacy at levels ranging from 30–50 nmol/L (12–20 ng/mL). Practically all people are sufficient at levels ≥50 nmol/L (≥20 ng/mL); the committee stated that 50 nmol/L is the serum 25(OH)D level that covers the needs of 97.5% of the population. Serum concentrations >125 nmol/L (>50 ng/mL) are associated with potential adverse effects [1] (Table 1)

What happens if I don't get enough vitamin B12?
Vitamin B12 deficiency causes tiredness, weakness, constipation, loss of appetite, weight loss, and megaloblastic anemia. Nerve problems, such as numbness and tingling in the hands and feet, can also occur. Other symptoms of vitamin B12 deficiency include problems with balance, depression, confusion, dementia, poor memory, and soreness of the mouth or tongue. Vitamin B12 deficiency can damage the nervous system even in people who don't have anemia, so it is important to treat a deficiency as soon as possible.

Please note: Although the reference range for Vitamin B12 is 200-1100 pg/mL, it has been reported that between 5 and 10% of patients with values between 200 and 400 pg/mL may experience neuropsychiatric and hematologic abnormalities due to occult B12 deficiency; less than 1% of pationents with values above 400 pg/mL will have symptoms.

Diagnosis of Hypothyroidism
The big myth that persists regarding thyroid diagnosis is that an elevated TSH level is always required before a diagnosis of hypothyroidism can be made. Normally, the pituitary gland will secrete TSH in response to a low thyroid hormone level. Thus an elevated TSH level would typically suggest an underactive thyroid.
The traditional tests of thyroid function, the T4 (or total T4), T3-uptake, FTI, 'T7', total T3, and T3-by-RIA tests should be abandoned because they are unreliable as gauges of thyroid function. The most common traditional way to diagnose hypothyroidism is with a TSH that is elevated beyond the normal reference range. For most labs, this is about 4.0 to 4.5. This is thought to reflect the pituitary's sensing of inadequate thyroid hormone levels in the blood which would be consistent with hypothyroidism. There is no question that this will diagnose hypothyroidism, but it is far too insensitive a measure, and the vast majority of patients who have hypothyroidism will be missed.
The clinical symptoms of hypothyroidism are many. Perhaps the most common is fatigue. The skin can become dry, cold, rough and scaly. The hair becomes coarse, brittle and grows slowly or may fall out excessively. There is a sensitivity to cold with feelings of being chilly in rooms of normal temperature. It is difficult for a person to sweat and their perspiration may be decreased or even absent even during heavy exercise and hot weather. Constipation that is resistant to magnesium supplementation and other mild laxatives is also another common symptom. Difficulty in losing weight despite rigid adherence to a low grain diet seems to be a common finding especially in women. Depression and muscle weakness are other common symptoms....
The alternative to monitor thyroid disease is to use the Free T3 and Free T4 and TSH levels and interpret them with new reference ranges. If one measures the Free T3 and Free T4 levels the only accurate measure of the actual active thyroid hormone levels in the blood, as well as the TSH, one will find out how often a low normal TSH does NOT exclude hypothyroidism. It is relatively common to find the Free T4 and Free T3 hormone levels below normal when TSH is in its normal range, even in the low end of its normal range. When patients with these lab values are treated, one typically finds tremendous improvement in the patient, and a reduction of the classic hypothyroid symptoms.

MaxDarkside wrote:Today, I am nearly non-functional. I can barely type, but got 7 hours of sleep, tho punctuated a few times in the later stages. Why is the grog more severe? I have no idea. My blood tests are fine, 7 hours is probably good for my age. I can manipulate various things and while I can make things worse (like drinking alcohol just before sleep), I can't make it better. That suggests that the "control handles" I'm looking at, such as duration and quality of sleep, diet, exercise, pressures, AHI, etc... are not related to the cause, it's something else. What else? Who the heck knows. I think the docs need some tests for measuring various things that cause grog, rather than just throwing a stimulating drug at ya and calling it good.

I do know that for me grog is correlated sometimes with wind speed. Ha! LOL... Funny that, but it's probably because the wind kicks up allergens (pollen, mold spores, etc.) or maybe it's the (+) vs (-) ion charge thing However, today there's no wind, the flag out there hangs like a drape, fog this AM. So it's probably something else.

Jay Aitchsee wrote:
I would question why your doctor does not want to do the tests. Specifically, T3/T4 and B12.
I think you owe it to yourself to do a little research.

Jay Aitchsee quoted:
Vitamin B12 deficiency causes tiredness, weakness, constipation, loss of appetite, weight loss, and megaloblastic anemia. Nerve problems, such as numbness and tingling in the hands and feet, can also occur.

Jay Aitchsee quoted:
The skin can become dry, cold, rough and scaly. The hair becomes coarse, brittle and grows slowly or may fall out excessively. There is a sensitivity to cold with feelings of being chilly in rooms of normal temperature. It is difficult for a person to sweat and their perspiration may be decreased or even absent even during heavy exercise and hot weather.