Help with blood results please

[Depletedenergy]

I've got some new blood results I'd like help with.

Ferritin 94.4 (20-150)

TSH 0.44 (0.27-4.20)

T4 total 119.8 (64.5-142)

Free T4 18.66 (12-22)

Free T3 4.31 (3.1-6.8)

Vit D 49 25-50 insufficient

Vit B12 610

Serum folate 13.43 (8.83-60.8)

I'm on 100 levothyroxine and (when I remember) B12 5000, 400 methyl folate, vit b complex and more recently I've included 5000 vit D following the result in July.

Previous results in February: ferritin 110.2, TSH 2.66, total T4 114, free T4 15.77, free T3 5.01, B12 258, serum folate 15.66 (10.4-42.4)

July vit D 26 (24-167)

Obviously, vit B12 is much better, should I be looking to lower the dose?

Should I be worried about my TSH level?

I am feeling much more normal now, not totally depleted of energy but I think it could be better. i know I have to work on remembering to take my vitD and folate supplements more- my memory doesn't seem to have improved any!

Any help would be appreciated, thanks.

[HLAB35]

Your B12 is still low (610 is low end of 'normal') so continue to supplement. Think of B12 and folate as being work colleagues that need each other to do a proper job, so supplement them together at the same time. Your memory should hopefully improve once your B12 levels are on the higher end of the normal range. Also taking Magnesium with the B's works for me. A lot of people are scared of taking B12 due to the massive NRV printed on the bottle - the truth is, that only a small fraction of it is actually absorbed and you pee the rest out. It needs to be that potent to work at all!

[Depletedenergy in reply to HLAB35]

Thanks for that, for some reason I don't take B12 and folate together, I take a few more things and don't want to take them all at the same time so spread them out a bit. That's when I then forget to take them! I'll try taking them together now. Magnesium is another but that's in the 3rd set of the day so very rarely gets taken!

[Gambit62]

If you aren't supplementing B12 then I think it is unlikely that B12 is a problem - you don't give a range but 610 is upper half of normal range and it would be unusual for B12 to be an issue in this range (though supplementing could change that)

Folate is low - suggest look at diet and go for folate rich foods if possible.

Folate and B12 work together so low folate can cause B12 problems. There's a big overlap in symptoms with thyroid as well.

If I've read what is above correctly your vitamin D is below range and hence likely to be a problem - if you are having mood issues then talk to your GP about addressing that - they should be more open to looking at VitD as it has had a lot of publicity recently.

If you want to know more about B12 or feel you need help with it - eg when you look at symptoms then you are highly symptomatic then please do take a look at the PAS forum and the pinned posts there

healthunlocked.com/pasoc

[HLAB35 in reply to Gambit62]

I think it's always a possibility that you can have symptoms of low B12 even if blood results look ok'ish.

Personally, I distrust a B12 level of below 500 as normal at all, especially if you're on Levo, so 600 is just 'hanging in there'. I believe that when on Levo you need extra B12 to help with conversion to T3. Also blood results are pretty crude to our understanding of how much B12 we need, because B12 is really needed in the spinal fluid and the mechanism of getting it into our nervous system can be impaired.

[Depletedenergy in reply to Gambit62]

Thanks, with regards to vit D when it was 26, the doctor just said to me it would probably be a good idea to take vit D supplements. When I asked how much, she said the pharmacist will be able to advise you. They just said whatever the recommended daily dose was. My son was deficient a year ago and was on an extremely high dose so I didn't think that was right at all.

[HLAB35 in reply to Depletedenergy]

With regards to vitamin d - there's a good website that can help you fathom it all out..

vitamindcouncil.org/

I took 5,000 iU at first to get levels up, but am on a maintenance dose of 1,000 iU which is working fine. I also take vitamin K2 with it to help the Vitamin D work better at directing calcium to my bones.

vitamink2.org/k2-pedia/

[HLAB35 in reply to HLAB35]

N.B. - I do spend time outside and if I was confined to the indoors during sunlight hours I would stick with 5,000 iU.

[Depletedenergy in reply to HLAB35]

Thanks, I'll have a look at those links. I have very fair skin and fry easily in the sun so avoid it, that probably doesn't help things!

[HLAB35 in reply to Depletedenergy]

Please also note that as your folate's pretty low .. please read this and you'll see what I was on about earlier....

b12deficiency.info/b12-facts/