Just had blood test results, can anyone help please?
- TSH is 1.60 (has fluctuated from 3.65 in last few months)
- Free T3 is 4.9
- Free T4 is 11.3
- Vitamin D is 79
- Iron is 20.5
- B12 is 405
- Folate is 15.86
(I have been taking vitamin supplements since August).
Despite having a goiter, a huge family history of thyroid problems and lots of symptoms (feel like there's a lump in inside of throat but can't feel anything there when I touch the area, tiredness, mood swings, leg muscle spasms, ears ringing, funny gurlgling noises in throat and feels like air bubbles rising up when I swallow, muscle aches - particularly middle fingers, bone joints cracking and popping a lot, to mention but a few!), doctor and endo say results "normal" and "no action required"! Can anyone help or offer advice? Could it be the goiter producing all these symptoms? I was convinced I was hypothyroid, but results don't seem to back me up!
It's good to know there are other people out there experiencing the same issues, and that I'm not (hopefully) going mad!!?
Thanks
Written by
Joybells123
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First go on an all out campaign to improve your iron level. Your B12 may be in the 400s but that may only be because it's the pill being measured in the blood. Methylcobalamin 1000 mcg sublingual is what you need to take.
Iron needs to be taken with 500 to 1000 mg vitamin C for optimized absorption. Use a high iron pill like ferrous fumarate. Make sure your protein intake is optimized as well. Ferritin needs to be at 70 to 90 for optimal.
Do this for three months (your vitamin D is okay and so is your folate)...... then get retested for thyroid
You may have a thyroid problem, or you may have a nutrition problem. There may be a reason for why your pituitary has put a minor brake on your metabolism. Keep taking the vitamins.
Which vitamins are you taking? I've improved after Vit D, selenium, zinc, magnesium, folic acid (yours is ok) and a Vit B complex. Your readings may well be in range (always quote them as differ from lab to lab) but at the bottom of it. If you were already taking medication the advice would be to try a little more but doctors seem reluctant to look at anything other than TSH reading I suspect through ignorance. I should ask because of your family history if you can trial Levo for 3 months to see if it alleviates your symptoms.
Do any of your family who are being treated live near you? If your doctor won't help if may be well worth changing to theirs.
Do you have ranges for these tests? Could be that that T3 is a tad low. Did you not have antibodies tested? If you have Hashi's, that could account for the change in TSH.
I agree with the others about vit and min supplimentation. That B12 could do with being much higher.
Do you have the ranges for the above results as it makes it easier for members to comment.
It is very common to be dismissed according to your TSH result. As yours was raised earlier, I wonder if they did an antibodies test? I think you would have posted if you had one.
This is a link and look on the left-hand side and read 'Getting a Diagnosis', then Thyroid Testing. I have picked one from the latter:-
I would google "ideal levels" of each lab result. From what I do know as a nursing student, your TSH looks awesome, but the B12 is on the border. Some labs are flagging results that are below 400 so it seems information could be changing. In Japan, you'd be flagged if you're below 500.
Was it iron or ferritin that was measured? The former is what is floating around in your body (and looks low), whereas the other is what is in your blood and determines iron-deficiency anemia. However, your hemoglobin and hemotocrit need to be measured as well to determine if you're anemic.
If that figure you have given is for serum iron then I think you have plenty. When I got my levels checked recently the reference range for serum iron was 6.6 - 30.4 umol/L. Your result of 20.5 is in the upper half of the range.
If that iron figure is actually ferritin (i.e. iron stores), then yes I would agree you may need to supplement. The reference range for ferritin when mine was last tested was 13 - 150 ug/L.
This is why reference ranges (and units!) are so important. There is so much room for error without them. In the case of iron, it could be very bad for you indeed if you supplemented when it wasn't needed because it is poisonous in overload.
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