Lab ranges

[Andypandy30]

Can anyone tell me the range in the uk for folate blood serum test ? As I cannot get it from my doctor for some reason . Also what is the usual measurement in ?

[Margaret-S]

Hi Andy. Sorry I can't help you with this. Hope you are feeling better. I'm having problems with my stomach. So tiresome. All the best in getting the info you need 🌞

[Andypandy30 in reply to Margaret-S]

Thanks Margaret hope ur ok x

[Margaret-S in reply to Andypandy30]

Thankyou Andy. Not too bad. Could be worse but would like to be better 🌞

[fbirder]

South Tees NHS say 2.5 - 20 mcg/L

Berkshire and Surrey say above 2 mcg/L

Gloucester say above 4 ng/mL (the same as 4 mcg/L)

NICE say above 7 nmol/L (equivalent to 3 mcg/L) but 7 - 10 nmol/L is an indeterminate range.

Hull and East Yorkshire say above 3 mcg/L

The World Health Organization say anything below 7 nmol/L is deficient and below 13 nmol/L is possibly deficient.

So I would consider anything below 3 mcg/L (7 nmol/L) to be definitely deficient and anyth8ng between 3 and 6 mcg/L (7 to 14 nmol/L) to be possibly deficient.

[Andypandy30 in reply to fbirder]

Thanks my serum folate is 10.6 ug/L I asked for ranges to be printed but he didn’t

[Andypandy30]

I understand thank you c

[Cherylclaire Forum Support]

Think I already told you before (?) -memory not great- but where my practice send their bloods, serum folate range is 3.90 - 26.80 ug/L..... top third would be upwards of 15.2 ug/L

[Andypandy30 in reply to Cherylclaire]

Thank you Cherylclaire . I have a hunch about this folate that that is what is wrong . Would it do any harm to try 5 mg . I will if course try to get it up by increasing folate in diet . There’s something missing with me and I am willing to try anything to get better x

[deniseinmilden in reply to Andypandy30]

Hi!

Sorry I couldn't reply directly yesterday but it seems like you've got better answers than I could have given you.

See also Clivealive's posts on folate.

On regular injections many of us need 5mg folate and some more, even though it's not recommended, because if you have an absorption problem you won't be getting all of what you are taking.

Try increasing your folate and see if that works. If it still doesn't do the trick you can try methylfolate. I don't survive without it! There are a few people who need folinic acid instead but this is quite expensive so see if the cheaper options work first.

I definitely get some from my diet and it's good to try that route as much as possible but if you don't absorb it properly then you have to supplement too - I estimate that I'd currently need to eat about 70 kgs of fruit and veg every day to get the folate I need and when my levels were depleted and I was trying to get them back up this was nearer 150 kgs or more a day - just not possible!!!

[Andypandy30 in reply to deniseinmilden]

Denise thank u . How did you feel prior to starting the methylfolate ? X

[deniseinmilden in reply to Andypandy30]

Like death! I can't remember much more than that coz I was so bad but I knew if I didn't get what I needed pretty pronto I was going to die.

No amount of additional B12 or anything else made any difference and I was starting to lose my sight as well as everything else.

[Andypandy30 in reply to deniseinmilden]

Thanks for sharing , so you were on 5 mg folic acid , still felt terrible then tried the methylfolate ?

[deniseinmilden in reply to Andypandy30]

At least because folic acid worked while I was taking lots of methylcobalamin sublinguals to top up the 1mg hydroxocobalamin injections I started with daily from my Dr.

Once I started buying my own 1.5mg hydroxocobalamin ampoules I was able to cut out the methylcobalamin sublinguals but after a while became progressively worse again and eventually someone suggested my body may have given up methylation properly and so I tried methylfolate and suddenly I started to improve again.

[Andypandy30 in reply to deniseinmilden]

Ithank u Denise for all your help

[Andypandy30]

Is ug/L the same as ng//ml

[fbirder in reply to Andypandy30]

Yes.

1 ng is one-thousandth of 1 mcg

and

1 mL is one-thousandth of 1 L

Thank the gods for the metric system otherwise we'd be trying to figure out if one and a half millionths of a grain per fluid ounce was equal to 13 millionths of an ounce per barrel. In fact they are both equal to 3 ng/mL.

[Andypandy30 in reply to fbirder]

Thank you so ug and ng is same ?

[helvella in reply to Andypandy30]

No.

ug or μg is the same as mcg which is microgram

dropbox.com/s/q00vyt5703f4u...

A microgram is a thousand nanograms.

[Andypandy30 in reply to helvella]

Thank you for explaining it so well

[Ferrett1 in reply to Andypandy30]

Ug is larger than ng ug refers to microgram/l and ng is nanograms/ litre nano grams is 1000th smaller than ug hope this helps

[Andypandy30]

How did you feel with the low folate ? beginner1

[Miss-guineapig]

Hi Andy, GP's in U.K. Rarely tell you exact figures. Every time I go, the Dr will let me see them on the screen and there seems to be a wide range, although if low it certainly flaws up in red. Anyway, if I phone, the answer is normally, low, high or fine. But when my folic was low the Dr straight away gave me 5mg daily for 4 months. It is fine now but she want me to remain on 5mg every second day in view of my PA.

As you will know folic, iron and vit B12 are all needed for healthy red blood cells and don't work in isolation. Hope this is of some help. If you Definately need exact levels, I can find out at work next week? X

[Andypandy30]

Thank u so much . All info is a great help x

[Cherylclaire Forum Support]

I have followed what I have been advised, not by the range given. This was advice from here, can't remember who exactly now but probably sound because tried and tested:

- Serum ferritin: [range: 13-150] - ideally at c. 100

-although I've never yet reached that even with supplementing, I am still trying.

- Serum folate: [range: 3.9 - 26.8 ug/L] - ideally at top third of this range (15.2 +)

- Low levels of these over time can have a detrimental effect on thyroid:

ideally TSH at c. 1 miu/L , FT4 at top end of range [range: 12- 22]

NHS does not generally offer more tests than this for thyroid, but you can have a private postal blood test that will include results for FT3 and thyroid antibodies (anti-TPO, anti-TG)

- and keeping an eye on all these results, whatever they are, will give you an indication of the direction of travel.

PS: GP always seems to test me for folate and ferritin whenever my mouth cracks at corners or gums bleed or hair starts falling out. ....Or all three !