Help with blood results please: B12, ferritin and D.

[distractonaught]

Hi all.

Having had a very low B12 result back in February I got sick of waiting for my GP to re-run the tests I'd had done privately, and paid to have them done again. My results are now in and I'd appreciate your input.

Background: I'm vegetarian (though not vegan and eat a lot of dairy), hypothyroid (hashis) and have struggled with fatigue and digestive problems most of my adult life. I'm borderline underweight and unable to gain it. My thyroid readings go up and down a lot (TSH often slightly too low then spikes up to 20 or 50). Intrinsic factor test was done in March and came back negative. Never seen an Endo.

Anyway...here's a summary of my results from Medichecks. The Dr's report only talks about how they are better than the last set (though not significantly) and mentions that I should try and improve my iron levels even though my ferritin is within normal range as they should apparently be 28 or above in females and mine is not far off that.

Background:

Before re-taking the tests I followed my doctor's advice and took 150mg cyanocobalamin for 1 month. I also started taking 25ug vitamin D spray daily. The plan was to re-test after that, but the pandemic happened and my tests were cancelled. At this point I decided off my own bat to try a methyl-b12 supplement, and I took 1,000 mcg of it daily for a further 4 weeks.

This takes us to the start of May, and I then came off all supplements (except the Vitamin D). So I wasn't taking B12 in the 8 weeks prior to re-testing as I was under the impression it should build in your system and taking it close to a test will skew results.

Based on these results, what supplements should I take, and do you think I should still be petitioning my GP for further investigations?

NB I've put my thyroid results in since I have them although they may not be relevant here.

Thank you so much.

Here are my recent results compared with my February results + lab range:

----

Ferritin: 29.6 ug/L - down from 32.6 (range: 13 - 150)

Active B12: 40.8 pmol/L - up from 33.3 (range > 37.5)

Vit D: 55.9 nmol/L - up from 47.5 (range 50 - 175)

Thyroid:

TSH: 0.231 mIU/L - up from 0.105 (range 0.27 - 4.2)

Free T3: 3.81 pmol/L - down from 4.46 (range 3.1 - 6.8)

Free Thyroxine: 17.2 pmol/L - down from 19.3 (range 12 - 22)

Thyroglobulin Antibodies: 3,973 kIU/L - down from >4,000 (range < 115)

[fbirder]

Your ‘Active’ B12 levels are barely above the bottom of the range. Nowhere near as high as you’d expect in somebody who has been supplementing with such high dose B12 for two months, even allowing for the 8 week gap before testing.

I interpret those results as indicating a problem absorbing B12. Levels shouldn’t drop for very high to bottom of the range in two months. So your levels almost certainly weren’t sky high.

Did the B12 talents alleviate your fatigue? If yes, start taking them again. If no, ask your doctor for a trial of injections. Ignore them if they play the ‘covid’ game. They aren’t supposed to stop regular treatment for that flimsy excuse.

[distractonaught in reply to fbirder]

Hi there, no I didn't notice any obvious difference to energy levels while I was on the supplements. I have a feeling that the cyano might have been helping in this respect to a small extent, but certainly haven't noticed any lasting improvement and the high dose methyl B12 only seems to give me weird dreams.

I was thinking the same about the B12 result, as I was expecting either an obvious strong improvement, or no change at all. Unfortunately because there's been some small improvement I suspect I'll struggle to get any doctor to take it seriously, but it does seem like a tiny increase, especially when i've deliberately been eating more B12 rich foods as well (including fortified stuff).

[Nackapan]

My ferritin also dropped to 29 from 61 on a previous test. It has a huge range si naturally people function at different levels. Everything I've read and discussed with Gp says if there are symptoms of low ferritin levels are best above 50.

She prescribed iron . I eat plenty of iron rich food but for some reason stopped absorbing it as well. It's now (after a year) 57. So i have a small maintenance dose now as told by Gp. Alsi bloods done 4-6 monthly now. Were 3 monthly.

My vit d was 21 now 75 and I'm convinced helped headaches

I dont know anything about thyroid results I'm sure that group would help you.

It I'd advised anyone over 50 should take b12 or a multivitamin for that age group.

Alsi even with an excellent diet vegetarians need supplements as well.

It's a known fact the menopause process can decrease stomach acid so tou dont absorb your food ad well.

All hindsight for me. Also should be tested routinely if you present with falls or fatigue . !! At your Gps

Sadly it is missed far too often doing alot of damage.