19yr old sons blood test results from BlueHorizon

[jbthyro]

Hi all,

Having posted my own results 2 days ago I have now had the time to ask about my sons.

His printout is below with results. (btw I am sure the Ferritin 'range' is too high! On my bloods it is 30-150).

He has been on 25mg Levo for 2 months and his TSH has come down from 3.7 to 2.54, Free T4 up from 20.8 to 22.57 so now over range.

His

His symptoms are:-

Severe brain fog to the point of not being able to read and understand what he is reading. (causing terrible problems with University work),

Severe tiredness immediately after a meal at the table,

Cannot walk far without feeling exhausted,

Has Digestion issues, and food intolerances (gluten intolerant so GF diet for 4 years, belching after eating anything, (low stomach acid poss.?),

Phlegm problems after drinking (zinc has helped to ease this a little),

Dreadful acne on face,

Depression and increasingly bad anxiety (especially social anxiety which is a huge problem).

He supplements and has now optimised his Vit D and B12.

Not sure about where his Folate and Ferritin should be if someone could advise pls?

GP wouldn't test him or give him any T4 because he is a teenager!!! Despite his TSH being high in 'normal' range.

So I gave him my 2 month supply when I changed over to NDT to see if it would help and whether it changed anything to help me find the route problem.

Sandy12 has discussed my results and thinks that I may have Thyroid Hormone Resistance. I will ask what he thinks about my sons results here as it seems similar and it is a hereditary disease needing T3 only. I am looking into this now.

If anyone has any further comments I would be most grateful. This is impacting his studying immensely and he is living in a very solitary, lonely, anxious world atm.

Thanks in advance again

jbthyro

x

[Clutter]

jbthyro,

Since he wrote his e-book Sandy12 appears to advise most members he replies to that they may have resistance to thyroid hormone.

What were your son's results before you put him on 25mcg? Have his symptoms improved since taking 25mcg?

He is mildly over medicated to have FT4 over range. FT3 is very good, high in range.

Antibodies are negative for autoimmune thyroid disease (Hashimoto's).

Perhaps your son's ferritin was sent to a different lab or the lab range has changed. 89 is adequate although >100 to halfway through range is optimal.

Vitamin D is optimal.

Is your son supplementing B12?

______________________________________________________________________________________________

I am not a medical professional and this information is not intended to be a substitute for medical advice from your own doctor. Please check with your personal physician before applying any of these suggestions.

[jbthyro in reply to Clutter]

Thanks Clutter,

His previous blood results were only from GP so TSH and Free T4 were only ones he had.

TSH has come down from 3.7 to 2.54,

Free T4 up from 20.8 to 22.57 so now over range.

Symptoms have worsened to be honest since starting the 25mg Levo. Certainly the brain fog and procrastination and just unable to think straight, gets his words in a muddle, no confidence in writing anything, this is all dreadful now.

He is supplementing vit D (which he will now drop down to taking a couple of times a week to keep it at optimal,

B12 has been taking Jarrows 5000 lozenges, previous result was 453, now 1017 so I know that it may not be a true result.

Folate was 10, now 32.10

Ferritin was 92, now 89.12

[Clutter in reply to jbthyro]

jbthyro,

I would advise your son to continue supplementing 2,500iu daily or 15,000iu weekly to maintain vitD level until April.

He could reduce to 1,000mcg methylcobalamin as a maintenance dose now that B12 is high.

If your son feels worse having taken 25mcg Levothyroxine it is probably best to discontinue.

[jbthyro in reply to Clutter]

Thank you so much Clutter x

I will try that

x

[Marz]

The B12 result is only as high as the result suggests as your son has been supplementing I believe. In order to find out if he has B12 deficiency at a cellular level he will need additional testing. MMA - a urine test - and Homocysteine. If the latter is raised that would indicate B12 Deficiency. These are not routine tests within the NHS - so you will have to plead.

His results look pretty good to me. Are you certain he is completely gluten free ? If so then maybe it is Dairy Intolerance that is causing problems - including the phlegm.

[jbthyro in reply to Marz]

Thanks Marz,

He is studying with the OU so he is definitely totally gluten free and in fact is paranoid about eating anything that could remotely be contaminated! lol

He has also cut down on dairy due to the digestive issues to try to work out if that is the problem. He was totally dairy free for 3 months, but now trying Lactose free milk etc because symptoms did not improve on a dairy free diet.

I understand what you mean about the B12 testing and have in fact managed to get my dad tested with the homocysteine as him mother had Pernicious Anaemia so that is always in my mind for me and my son of course too. Maybe I will be able to convince my GP to test him as my dads result came up at 14 (range up to 15) so was high in range).

If supplementing with B12 can the homocyteine still give a valid realistic result, unlike the B12 itself?

[Marz in reply to jbthyro]

As far as I have read - taking B12 does not affect the Homocysteine test. The result ideally should be around 5 or 6. Mine was in double figures when diagnosed with Hashimotos - now down into single figures. Taking B12 supplements/or injecting - along with a GOOD B Complex can work wonders for the Homocysteine levels. Higher Nature also do a product that helps to chelate the Homocysteine - it is TCM or something similar.

Many of the symptoms you mention about your son could fit the PA diagnosis. As it is in the family I would seriously think about having him tested. Have you visited the PAS website ? Lots of excellent information there.

Neither does B12 affect the testing of the anti-bodies for PA - Anti-Intrinsic Factor and Anti-Parietal Cell.

Hope you find some answers soon. Always so difficult when a Mothers instinct is at play - in my case it is both the Mother and the Grandmother instincts as work - I am exhausted

[jbthyro in reply to Marz]

Wow, thank you so much Marz!

That information is fantastic for my dads GP who I am having to travel 100miles to see next week to help him get some answers!

Also I will definitely have my son tested, my GP knows what I am talking about when I visit, so I may be able to twist her arm! Especially when I explain the genetic link!

The info you give about the homocystiene is fantastic, I cannot thank you enough for that!

Yes I am treating myself, my son and my dad at the same time and it seems to be taking over my whole life atm! It is mentally draining and exhausing!

[Marz in reply to jbthyro]

Do pop over to the Pernicious Anaemia Society Forum here on HU. So many helpful people who have great knowledge - look out for Polaris - sleepybunny - and others.

Hope all goes well for you - you have your hands full

[jbthyro in reply to Marz]

Thank you, I am going to do that later today.

It is all like a big Suduku puzzle atm, trying to resolve all of our issues!

[Ruthi]

Well, RT3 is formed to mop up excess T4 in the system, and suggests that there is too much T4 in the system so the body is compensating. The raised TSH with those other results is a puzzle, though.

There are lots of other things that can cause brain fog. Is your GP not concerned?

[humanbean]

I've had a ferritin range from Blue Horizon in the past where the top of the range was 400. It has only happened once - all the other times the top of the range was 150.

With all of my results where I have a reference range like 30 - 400 or whatever I calculate how far up the range my result is as a percentage of the range, and I find this helpful when comparing results with different ranges. The time I had the result with a top of range of 400 the result fitted in very well with results before and after with different reference ranges when they were all viewed as percentages of the range.

Your son's result of 89.4 (30 - 400) is 16% of the way through the reference range.

Imagine if your son's next ferritin result is 43 (13 - 200) that is also 16% of the way through the reference range, showing that there has been no change, even though both the result and the top and bottom of the reference range have changed.

A result for ferritin which is only 16% of the way through the range is far too low. It needs to be 50% (mid-range) i.e. around 215 with the reference range given of 30 - 400.

[jbthyro in reply to humanbean]

Ah interesting, but even more interesting is that my bloods were done at the same time so I think the 400 must be incorrect, unless the 'range' changes according to age of the patient!

But thank you for that information, I will take that into consideration from now on!

[humanbean in reply to jbthyro]

The reference range for ferritin is often different for men and women. But if you have any doubts then phone up BH and ask for an explanation of the different ranges, if the two sets of results were done at the same time. Hopefully they can put your mind at rest.

[jbthyro in reply to humanbean]

yes, good idea, thank you

[humanbean]

Is there any chance your son could have Crohn's Disease or Ulcerative Colitis (UC)? I don't know how either of these are tested for, sorry. But I know that they can take years to be found because doctors just ignore the symptoms.

A family friend has recently been diagnosed with extremely severe UC and he is in his mid-50s. He's been pooing about 8 times a day most of his adult life, but was told over and over that this must be "normal for you". He's probably going to lose a huge chunk of his bowel now.

[jbthyro in reply to humanbean]

Thank you humanbean, I will look into that and mention that to the GP too.

He only functions once daily, no digestive pains at all. But has excessive belching after eating anything at all, even just a dry cracker!

I'll look up the symptoms for both of those though too.

[humanbean in reply to jbthyro]

Another thing to consider is parasites or SIBO (Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth).

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Small...

[jbthyro in reply to humanbean]

he was checked for Pylori and was clear, but I'll look at that too.

thanks