Katiushka
Explorer
Hi everyone, I'd like to share what I've been through. Sorry in advance for the lengthy post.
I'm a 48-year-old woman, and roughly 3 years back I received a Hashimoto's hyperthyroidism diagnosis. My height is 5' 9" and my weight right now is 153lbs. I'm somewhat of a nerd and someone who loves numbers. Tracking my macros helps me monitor my intake and ensure I get sufficient protein.
There was a period when alcohol was a problem for me—I'd typically drink 1 to 2 beers daily. The following day I'd naturally feel somewhat exhausted, and then the same pattern would repeat. Occasionally I'd also get drunk on weekends. Because of the fatigue, I wasn't exercising much. Jogging was something I enjoyed, but the tiredness was becoming overwhelming.
For a long stretch of years, "low energy" was something I struggled with, and naturally the majority of my doctors brushed it off or blamed it on "getting older". At one point I hit 180lbs, likely around 10/12 yrs back. That's when intermittent fasting came into my life and I shed most of that excess weight. Also, roughly 12 to 15 years back, I had some annual tests where my TSH came back elevated, but upon retesting it would come back normal. I recall this occurring at least 3 years/times. These days I understand that during the early stages of Hashimoto's, that's what you'd expect while your thyroid is still partially functioning.
Naturally in later years, by my early 40s, a doctor wanted to prescribe statins because of marginally elevated cholesterol (which I now realize was likely due to years of poor thyroid function) plus an anti depressant for the "low mood / tired feeling". I feel so fortunate that I declined.
More energy problems also began to surface. As I mentioned, I was drinking somewhat, which certainly didn't help. It was also apparent that peri menopause was setting in.
I'm among those whose eyes were opened during the Covid era. My trust that doctors always act in our interest isn't complete; I do believe that taking health into my own hands is necessary. Covid, combined with having doctors who wanted to prescribe anti depressants or who told me, "if your knee hurts then don't run", destroyed most of the trust I had in them.
Reading and doing my own research is something I enjoy, so I understood that HRT was what I needed. Fortunately I'm employed and can afford a functional care doctor. Eventually she put me on all hormones. T, P, E and Thyroid (Armour). A year back I had a thyroid ultrasound and naturally I already had 2 small "smooth" nodules. According to a doctor, that kind of damage can easily have been developing over the last 10 to 15 years.
Also, roughly 2.5 yrs back I quit dinking 98%. A drink here or there might still happen, but I'm very particular about what I drink or why.
Depending on how I felt, I'd visit the doc to check my hormones every 3 or 6 months. She'd let me choose as needed. This doc is among the best things that ever happened for my health. They also diagnosed me with Hashimoto's. When I started, my TPO was 560 and on my most recent one it's 108. My Thyroglobulin began at 1.5 and the latest is 245. Honestly, aside from cutting most dairy, I'm not strict about gluten free and dairy free. Eating healthy is what I try to do, and that's it. Seed oils are also something I avoid at home, but I don't stress over them when eating out. My philosophy is that perfection isn't something you can expect. My free T has also been on the low side and my SHBG high, so Boron is what I'm taking for that now. My E is great—I might even attempt to bring it down somewhat. 165 the last time I checked.
Unfortunately, eventually increasing armour to 90mg+30mg per day, having my hormones relatively ok, not drinking and sleeping relatively good was not sufficient to resolve my energy issues. I would still get tired especially if:
Very tired is what I would become, and most of the time I'd fall asleep. When this occurs, at least 1 more full day is needed for me to recover. The next day I'll still feel tired, as if I were coming down with something or dealing with bad allergies. This became evident when in Dec 2025 I asked my husbands personal trainer to train me while I was off work. The workouts were great but few ours later I was crashing and sleeping at home.
On "normal" days, work would leave me sooo tired that I'd do nothing. Strength training matters, I know, so abandoning the gym completely was something I tried to avoid. I told myself, 1 compound exercise is what I'll do and that's it. and then evaluate. Before I started pptds, 2 or sometimes 3 exercises 3 times a week was probably what I managed, but tiredness was still there and managing energy was hard. I also remember in the past 15 to 10 yrs ago I used to do some recreational 5Ks and a couple of 10K, and that feeling of tiredness after the races... is the same one I was getting after a bit of exercise.
Earlier this year, the gym guys suggested my husband to try R3, he was already on prescription tirz but his weight had staled. he has a lot of visceral fat to loose.... and that is where my entry into grey market pptds happened. About 10/15 lbs was what I had to loose too, I reached 160lbs, and since it was handy I began using it. My doses so far were once per week in mg: 0.5, 0.5, 1, 1, 0.75, 0.75, 0.8, 0.8. A co worker I discussed this with turned out to have been on it for more than a year already. Some wolverine and Klow were also given to me by him. So Wolverine was what I started first for 30 days until it ran out, and now Klow is what I'm doing.
During the first 2 weeks on R3 I messed up.... Chewing gum became my replacement for the snaking habit... sugar alcohols are in gum, I assumed it was the GLP but no.... that week I was feeling a bit weaker than usual. Once that issue was fixed, suddenly I started feeling like I have energy to do stuff. Since then, a completely different person is how I feel. Now I understand how people can have a full time job and still do stuff after work. Energy to go to the gym with no crashes is something I have. in fact, not a single crash has happened since I fixed the "too much sugar alcohols" issue. Yesterday I went for a walk/jog after maybe a year without doing cardio. This feeling is something I love. Keeping it forever is what I want. A "caffeine high" is not what this is; constant energy and brain clarity is closer to it. Whether it's the GLP or the wolverine/klow, I'm not 100% sure. Once this vial is finished, a month break is what I'm going to take to see how I feel. My suspicion is that it's the glucagon in the GLP telling my body "hey, use this energy". Feeling this way for the next 20+years would make me happy. Why people give up is now clear to me. That constant tiredness is a horrible feeling.
SS-31 / mots is also something I want to try, but if the energy is great with GLP, staying with that might be what I do. BPC/KPV for the inflammations benefits might be something I keep doing, but figuring out which one is helping me is also something I want.
Lowering my dose to 0.5mg is also something I'm going to do, as reaching my protein goals is a struggle. 40-60g is probably what I'm doing; 80-100g per day is what I'd like. Barely 1000 cal is what I reach most days. With so little food, being not more tired surprises me. Weight is also coming off and my lifts feeling a bit stalled is something I can feel. Losing the remaining weight isn't something I'm in a hurry about.
My hope is that sharing my experience can help someone. If you have any experience with Hashimoto's please leave a comment i would like to read it.
I'm a 48-year-old woman, and roughly 3 years back I received a Hashimoto's hyperthyroidism diagnosis. My height is 5' 9" and my weight right now is 153lbs. I'm somewhat of a nerd and someone who loves numbers. Tracking my macros helps me monitor my intake and ensure I get sufficient protein.
There was a period when alcohol was a problem for me—I'd typically drink 1 to 2 beers daily. The following day I'd naturally feel somewhat exhausted, and then the same pattern would repeat. Occasionally I'd also get drunk on weekends. Because of the fatigue, I wasn't exercising much. Jogging was something I enjoyed, but the tiredness was becoming overwhelming.
For a long stretch of years, "low energy" was something I struggled with, and naturally the majority of my doctors brushed it off or blamed it on "getting older". At one point I hit 180lbs, likely around 10/12 yrs back. That's when intermittent fasting came into my life and I shed most of that excess weight. Also, roughly 12 to 15 years back, I had some annual tests where my TSH came back elevated, but upon retesting it would come back normal. I recall this occurring at least 3 years/times. These days I understand that during the early stages of Hashimoto's, that's what you'd expect while your thyroid is still partially functioning.
Naturally in later years, by my early 40s, a doctor wanted to prescribe statins because of marginally elevated cholesterol (which I now realize was likely due to years of poor thyroid function) plus an anti depressant for the "low mood / tired feeling". I feel so fortunate that I declined.
More energy problems also began to surface. As I mentioned, I was drinking somewhat, which certainly didn't help. It was also apparent that peri menopause was setting in.
I'm among those whose eyes were opened during the Covid era. My trust that doctors always act in our interest isn't complete; I do believe that taking health into my own hands is necessary. Covid, combined with having doctors who wanted to prescribe anti depressants or who told me, "if your knee hurts then don't run", destroyed most of the trust I had in them.
Reading and doing my own research is something I enjoy, so I understood that HRT was what I needed. Fortunately I'm employed and can afford a functional care doctor. Eventually she put me on all hormones. T, P, E and Thyroid (Armour). A year back I had a thyroid ultrasound and naturally I already had 2 small "smooth" nodules. According to a doctor, that kind of damage can easily have been developing over the last 10 to 15 years.
Also, roughly 2.5 yrs back I quit dinking 98%. A drink here or there might still happen, but I'm very particular about what I drink or why.
Depending on how I felt, I'd visit the doc to check my hormones every 3 or 6 months. She'd let me choose as needed. This doc is among the best things that ever happened for my health. They also diagnosed me with Hashimoto's. When I started, my TPO was 560 and on my most recent one it's 108. My Thyroglobulin began at 1.5 and the latest is 245. Honestly, aside from cutting most dairy, I'm not strict about gluten free and dairy free. Eating healthy is what I try to do, and that's it. Seed oils are also something I avoid at home, but I don't stress over them when eating out. My philosophy is that perfection isn't something you can expect. My free T has also been on the low side and my SHBG high, so Boron is what I'm taking for that now. My E is great—I might even attempt to bring it down somewhat. 165 the last time I checked.
Unfortunately, eventually increasing armour to 90mg+30mg per day, having my hormones relatively ok, not drinking and sleeping relatively good was not sufficient to resolve my energy issues. I would still get tired especially if:
- exercise
- heat
- too much people / noise
Very tired is what I would become, and most of the time I'd fall asleep. When this occurs, at least 1 more full day is needed for me to recover. The next day I'll still feel tired, as if I were coming down with something or dealing with bad allergies. This became evident when in Dec 2025 I asked my husbands personal trainer to train me while I was off work. The workouts were great but few ours later I was crashing and sleeping at home.
On "normal" days, work would leave me sooo tired that I'd do nothing. Strength training matters, I know, so abandoning the gym completely was something I tried to avoid. I told myself, 1 compound exercise is what I'll do and that's it. and then evaluate. Before I started pptds, 2 or sometimes 3 exercises 3 times a week was probably what I managed, but tiredness was still there and managing energy was hard. I also remember in the past 15 to 10 yrs ago I used to do some recreational 5Ks and a couple of 10K, and that feeling of tiredness after the races... is the same one I was getting after a bit of exercise.
Earlier this year, the gym guys suggested my husband to try R3, he was already on prescription tirz but his weight had staled. he has a lot of visceral fat to loose.... and that is where my entry into grey market pptds happened. About 10/15 lbs was what I had to loose too, I reached 160lbs, and since it was handy I began using it. My doses so far were once per week in mg: 0.5, 0.5, 1, 1, 0.75, 0.75, 0.8, 0.8. A co worker I discussed this with turned out to have been on it for more than a year already. Some wolverine and Klow were also given to me by him. So Wolverine was what I started first for 30 days until it ran out, and now Klow is what I'm doing.
During the first 2 weeks on R3 I messed up.... Chewing gum became my replacement for the snaking habit... sugar alcohols are in gum, I assumed it was the GLP but no.... that week I was feeling a bit weaker than usual. Once that issue was fixed, suddenly I started feeling like I have energy to do stuff. Since then, a completely different person is how I feel. Now I understand how people can have a full time job and still do stuff after work. Energy to go to the gym with no crashes is something I have. in fact, not a single crash has happened since I fixed the "too much sugar alcohols" issue. Yesterday I went for a walk/jog after maybe a year without doing cardio. This feeling is something I love. Keeping it forever is what I want. A "caffeine high" is not what this is; constant energy and brain clarity is closer to it. Whether it's the GLP or the wolverine/klow, I'm not 100% sure. Once this vial is finished, a month break is what I'm going to take to see how I feel. My suspicion is that it's the glucagon in the GLP telling my body "hey, use this energy". Feeling this way for the next 20+years would make me happy. Why people give up is now clear to me. That constant tiredness is a horrible feeling.
SS-31 / mots is also something I want to try, but if the energy is great with GLP, staying with that might be what I do. BPC/KPV for the inflammations benefits might be something I keep doing, but figuring out which one is helping me is also something I want.
Lowering my dose to 0.5mg is also something I'm going to do, as reaching my protein goals is a struggle. 40-60g is probably what I'm doing; 80-100g per day is what I'd like. Barely 1000 cal is what I reach most days. With so little food, being not more tired surprises me. Weight is also coming off and my lifts feeling a bit stalled is something I can feel. Losing the remaining weight isn't something I'm in a hurry about.
My hope is that sharing my experience can help someone. If you have any experience with Hashimoto's please leave a comment i would like to read it.