Help with results from BH plez

[speckles70]

hi all, new to PAS although not to thyroid uk. I was advised to ask about my part of my blood test on here and wonder if any can advise on my results please.

my ferritin is high 246.8 (20-150) ug/L

Vitamin B12 Low 221 Deficient <140

insufficient 140-250 consider reducing dose >725

Serum Folate 30.20 8.83-60.8 mmol/L

thankyou

[clivealive Forum Support]

Hi speckles70 I don't understand the reference to "insufficient 140-250 consider reducing dose >725" Are you having B12 injections or supplements?

[Gambit62 Administrator in reply to clivealive]

it seems to be part of the standard way of giving ranges for B12 from some labs - should be a comma after 250.

[Gambit62 Administrator]

at 221 your B12 is in the grey range - where lots of people will have symptoms of a B12 deficiency but statistically its still in the range where most people are perfectly fine.

unravelling whether or not you have symptoms - which needs to be part of the diagnosis - can be quite difficult as there is a huge overlap with thyroid.

best not to supplement with B12 at this point as it will make further testing difficult/meaningless so if you are highly symptomatic then try to hold on a bit.

I the results above are private I'd share with GP and ask for a full blood count - to see if there is any sign of macrocytosis which could help with diagnosing a B12 problem - however, about 30% of people with absorption problems present with neurological problems before there is any sign of macrocytosis so not having macrocytosis doesn't rule out PA

tests that can help clarify are MMA and homocysteiene - if you are UK based homocysteine usually isn't available on NHS, These look at waste products that build up if B12 is low.

You could also try for an IFA test - looks for anti-bodies that relate to PA which is actually an autoimmune disease that results in a B12 deficiency - it's the most common cause of an absorption problem that leads to B12 but it isn't the only one. However, this test is prone to five false negatives about 50% of the time - so a negative result doesn't rule out PA.

symptoms of B12

pernicious-anaemia-society....

please take a look through the pinned posts as well - there is lots of information there that can help in educating GPs about B12 deficiency etc.

Ferritin is a bit high - hope someone else can comment on that - I'm afraid I've run out of time. Don't think it is necessarily a problem ...

and would be useful to know if you are taking any supplements - particularly Iron, folate, B12

[speckles70]

thanks for reply. Yes I didn't tell gp about my test but he doing repeat thyroid on Monday and I requested b12 etc so say what he days when there back nxt wk. I haven't supplemented as yet waiting. Although symptoms can b confused with thyroid I do get restless leg , arm hand numbness pins needles, twitching eye. Fog, joint pain , insomnia etc....