Help with test results.

[Churchie]

I have just picked up my latest blood test results from the GP and there is one on there I don't recognise.. Can anyone help?

ANA (liver sect.) - weak positive.

All the others on the autoimmune profile are negative.

No idea what this means.

Also the serum ferritin is in range - just! 23ug/l (20- 275). Does this matter that only just in range. Any help would be gratefully received and thanks in advance to anyone who can.

[mistydog]

I can't help with the ANA, but I'm pretty sure that the ferritin is too low. Should be in the top 75% of the range in order to help convert the levo if that's what you are taking?

[Churchie in reply to mistydog]

Thank you

[Clutter in reply to mistydog]

Churchie, ferritin is low but optimal is 70-90 in women and around 130 for men. Take each dose of iron with 500mg-1,000mg vitamin C to aid absorption.

[Churchie in reply to Clutter]

Thanks clutter for your reply. Do you think I could get my iron levels up through diet alone or would it need supplements to raise to a level of 70-90? I am a bit worried about taking lots of supplements as I don't know how much would be overdosing. Trying to be very cautious after recent levo experience. I just started a couple of weeks ago on nutri adrenal and have felt an improvement so was thinking of switching to nutri adrenal extra.

[Clutter in reply to Churchie]

Churchie, I think you will need to supplement iron for 3/4 months and then retest a couple of weeks after comming off supplemented iron. Eating an iron rich diet will help of course. Ferrous fumarate seems a popular supplement with members.

[Churchie in reply to Clutter]

Thank you

[Churchie in reply to mistydog]

No, I am not on Levo at the moment but I did think it seemed on the low side so thanks for your response.

[Churchie in reply to Churchie]

Oops that was meant to reply to post above!

[Mrs_Somerset]

Hi, the ANA test was liekly done to check for autoimmune liver disease.

I believe the ANA's are antinuclear antibodies.

your result is weak positive which suggest you have some, but not enough to positively suggest any liver disease.

hasimotos is an autoimmune dissease, which often go hand in hand with others - so your doc is doing a good thing by checking for other autoimmune diseases - good on him (her?)

There is a possibility you may have leaky gut syndrome - this is where particles fo food make it out of the gut and into your blood - this causes autoimmune responses to the particles but also, badly - it can cause autoimmune response to other healthy tissues, such as thyroid, the stomach and the liver.

Has any checked to see if you have a gluten intolerance? This is often linked to leaky gut, and people who manage to remove gluten from their diet find that after about 6-8 months the gut heals itself ( yey!) and their autoimmune response simmers down and even goes away.

try the group on health unlocked called gluten free guerrillas - they will be able to tell you more about leaky gut and the autoimmune response and advise which tests you should have.

Big Hugs,

M

[Churchie]

Dear M

Thank you so much for your response. It was the endo who ordered the auto immune tests and i am not seeing her again for another couple of months so I am grateful for your reply. I am not convinced that I am hypo as I seem to have few of the symptoms (certainly compared to many on this forum) but my TSH was 10.18 so I can understand why the doctor thinks so. No idea if TSH can be raised with anything else other than with hypothyroidism.

Xx