Results, opinions appreciated please x

I'm on Levo 125mcg, statins, HRT, 20mg citralopram, 16mg candasarten for high blood pressure and still feel absolutely awful xx

[Gambit62 Administrator]

DixieDee - am going to delete the duplicated post - guess you forgot to add the picture when you were doing the first post - you can actually edit the post and add picture afterwards if that happens again - use the down arrow nedt to 'follow post'.

Your B12 may or may not be a problem - you'd need to evaluate on the basis of symptoms - and thats presuming that you aren't supplementing. You don't appear to have any signs of macrocytic anaemia but that wouldn't rule out a B12 deficiency - the results do mention that you appear to be overmedicated for thyroid - and would probably be advisable to fully rule out thyroid before persuing B12 deficiency any further.

If you want to rule out B12 then would suggest that you ask about MMA and homocysteine - which would be raised if you were B12 deficient. Important not to supplement B12 until all the tests relating to deficiency have been exhausted.

Did you succeed in posting these on the TUK forum as well? As it isn't a locked post you could suggest people look at the results on this post if you are having problems putting the picture up again.

[Hidden in reply to Gambit62]

Yes it is up on that forum too, thank you for your help

[Johnathan in reply to Gambit62]

DixieDee may struggle with his/her GP when trying to get MMA and homocystein tests. I have suggested to two people recently that they try to get these tests done. The first GP that was approached said that she could not order these tests as they are only available to a haematologist and she could not refer the patient because the serum B12 was not low enough!! The second GP did not know what the MMA or homocystein tests were. That is frankly astonishing - but those were the responses. Do you (hopefully) have any info that would help me challenge this?

[Leothelion]

Hi, I'm not medical, but looking at thyroid your TSH is suppressed and that would give symptoms of depression/anxiety also high blood pressure, has your dr not asked you to maybe reduce Levo, mine was suppressed at 0.23 and I felt terrible, it looks like you are converting T3, T4 looks on the lower side, your B12 could do with looking into as this being low would give you low mood too. I use hrt in a lower dose, as this can hinder T4 and B12 too, hope you feel better soon.

[Hidden in reply to Leothelion]

Thank you

[Polaris]

I'm by no means an expert on blood tests Dixiedee, but i would say that your B12 should be higher as, according to Sally Pacholok's book on B12, "deficiencies begin to appear in the spinal fluid below 550 pg/ml." The medication you are taking could also be depleting B12, magnesium, etc.

VItamin D is obviously low so when supplementing with D3 make sure you add K2, to ensure it goes to the bones and not the blood or arteries.

Re. thyroid result, many people only feel well with a low or suppressed TSH. My own high BP and cholesterol lowered only after I was finally diagnosed with Hashimoto's and treated adequately with thyroxine.

If you haven't already read it, 'Understanding Thyroid Disorders', written by Dr A. Toft, gives good advice and is published in association with the BMA:

"Typical results would be a fT of 24 pmol/l or TT4 of 140 nmol/l, and a TSH of 0.2 mU/l. In some patients, a sense of well being is achieved only when fT4 or TT4 is raised, for example 30 pmol/l or 170 nmol/1 and TSH low or undetectable. In this circumstance, it is essential that the T3 level in the blood is unequivocally normal in order to avoid hyperthyroidism."

"Thyroid blood tests should not be interpreted in isolation and correct medical care will also depend on careful assessment of symptoms and clinical assessment".

I'd also recommend this last sentence be applied when looking at B12 results 🙂

Finally, many researchers believe leaky gut/intestinal absorption is the source of autoimmune disease and following a gluten free diet often helps. I believe this is at the bottom of all our own family autoimmune/Hashimoto's thyroid/B12 problems.

[Hidden in reply to Polaris]

Thank you