Comments on blood test results, please.

[Achilles_Pain]

I've never had vitamins tested, so these are the first and I have no idea if they are good, bad or indifferent.

Vit D 39.9 (No range given)

Vit B12 459 (170 - 730)

Ferritin 102 (22 - 320)

Folate 6.9 (3 - 19)

Iron 12.5 (8 - 32)

Saturation iron binding capacity 60.5 (No range given)

Unsaturated iron binding capacity 48 (27.8 - 53.7)

Transferrin saturation index 21% (20% - 50%)

A week before I had my TSH tested

2.75 (0.3 - 5.0)

T4 not tested

My new GP put me back on levo at the end of November (25mcg) due to the severity of my symptoms, before upping me to 50mcg a fortnight later when the blood test results came back (TSH 9.75, free T4 12.3 range 10 - 18.7) so presumably the TSH and T4 will continue to improve.

I'm deffo feeling much better - in just a few weeks I've gone from barely able to walk and unable to turn a key or tap due to the pain in the Achilles and right arm (all the way from my shoulder to the tips of fingers) to running fell races round the lake district, the double vision has gone and I've lost half a stone, but any comments/suggestions are always welcome.

Thanks

[lc1973]

At a quick glance and im not a medically trained person i'd say even without the VitD reference range that your result is a little on the low side and there is room for improvement with your thyroid results. Im hoping your doctor has told you to come back for a repeat blood test 6 - 8 weeks after starting treatment to see if an increase is required which may further help you to feel better which it sounds like you are getting good benefit from already?

Although your B12 is well within the reference range and much better than mine i might add...others on here will advise you that it is preferential to be over 1000 to be optimal.

P.S Next time you get your bloods done ask them to do TSH, FT4 and FT3..as a minimum they should be doing the FT4 and the TSH in my opinion.

[shaws Administrator]

Your dose of 50mcg is small and I think you'll get an increase of 25mcg when you have your next blood test which is usually around 6 weeks after a new dose.

Others will respond about your results.

When you get your next blood test it should be the earliest possible. Don't eat before the test but you can drink water. Allow about 24 hours between your last dose of levo and the test and take it afterwards. This allows the TSH to be at its highest and some doctors adjust the dose unnecessarily so if you get test later in the day which can make symptoms return. Our aim is for the TSH to be around 1 or lower but some GPs wrongly believe anywhere within the range is fine which results in us having unpleasant symptoms and prescribed other medications for the symptom rather than an increase in hormones which we really need.

I hope you feel better soon.

[Achilles_Pain]

Thanks for your comments. The doctor wants to wait twelve months before my next Thyroid bloods, but I received a letter from the practise over the weekend asking me to go in to discuss the Vitamin results, so there must be something he's seen. Which is probably a good thing because yesterday my dentist told me to go and see him because an x-ray shows my sinus is blocked, hence the tinnitus I've had the last few months.

[Achilles_Pain]

Thanks for all the replies. I saw the GP on Thursday and it was the Vit D he was concerned about. Although I'm within range he said he would prefer my count to be above 50, and it's below 40. I said I'd started taking supplements from Holland and Barrett and he said that should be fine. Although he didn't say specifically, he implied it was the lack of Vit D which is partly to cause for the Achilles pain and it should get better slowly, over the next three months or so. I've to get myself tested again in six months for everything (vitamins and thyroid)

Mind you, I think it's working faster as my Achilles, although still stiff of a morning, don't hurt as much, and yesterday I completed a hilly half marathon in the wind and the rain without needing to stop and walk at any point, the first time that's ever happened!