Thanks so much for writing this up! I’m super interested in this topic, too. :)
I’d like to add one thing to check: Free testosterone levels. I once had a phase of very low energy (including brain fog). A former colleague of mine suggested getting my testosterone levels checked since our symptoms were very similar. A simple saliva test confirmed our suspicions: The levels were critically low. In their case, it had been so severe that they had to undergo testosterone replacement therapy, which solved the issue almost immediately. For both of us, the period of low energy coincided with us going vegan, and that’s still our primary suspicion for the cause. I’m no nutrition expert, but my basic understanding is that the body converts cholesterol into testosterone, and vegan diets tend to be very low in cholesterol. (There are other factors that may contribute to low testosterone, such as stress, lack of good sleep, etc., but these weren’t really an issue for us.) A couple of months after changing my diet to include more foods with cholesterol, the problem was gone and my free testosterone levels were back to high. My colleague stopped replacement therapy and keeps their levels high through their diet (plus good sleep, exercise, etc.). Testosterone tests are usually very cheap and easy to carry out, so it could be very well worth it to check.
Thanks so much for writing this up! I’m super interested in this topic, too. :)
I’d like to add one thing to check: Free testosterone levels. I once had a phase of very low energy (including brain fog). A former colleague of mine suggested getting my testosterone levels checked since our symptoms were very similar. A simple saliva test confirmed our suspicions: The levels were critically low. In their case, it had been so severe that they had to undergo testosterone replacement therapy, which solved the issue almost immediately. For both of us, the period of low energy coincided with us going vegan, and that’s still our primary suspicion for the cause. I’m no nutrition expert, but my basic understanding is that the body converts cholesterol into testosterone, and vegan diets tend to be very low in cholesterol. (There are other factors that may contribute to low testosterone, such as stress, lack of good sleep, etc., but these weren’t really an issue for us.) A couple of months after changing my diet to include more foods with cholesterol, the problem was gone and my free testosterone levels were back to high. My colleague stopped replacement therapy and keeps their levels high through their diet (plus good sleep, exercise, etc.). Testosterone tests are usually very cheap and easy to carry out, so it could be very well worth it to check.