First BH blood tests

[miglet54]

Hello again, well I've discovered that after over 20 years as Hyopthyroid I'm a Hashi body. I took the results to GP who then ran her own. I've had thyroxine upped to 125 from 100. I've had the loading doses of B12 and am now taking the following supplements. Thorne basic b. Vitamin d3 5000 with k2 with the fattiest meal and magnesium, zinc and selenium at bedtime. I take iron and vitamin c during the night when reading online paper. Thyroxine in the very early morning with full glass of water. The only difference I feel is my feet aren't crippling me first thins in the morning. I've been on supplements for 7 weeks. I am self injecting 1ml b12 methylcobalamin daily. Can I do more? Thanks in anticipation Mary

[humanbean]

Just for info, having crippled feet first thing in the morning is usually caused by plantar fasciitis. It is a known symptom of hypothyroidism.

(And was one of my symptoms before I started self-treating my hypothyroidism and fixing my deficiencies.)

[miglet54 in reply to humanbean]

Thank you human bean, it used to feel like all the bones on top of my feet were going to break and the soles felt badly bruised, if i go for a walk next day i know it.. Mind , the 6 stone that I put on since being hypo can't help. How long did it take you to treat your deficiencies?

[humanbean in reply to miglet54]

Ages.

My ferritin levels were rock bottom and my serum iron was under the range. It took me nearly 2 years to get my iron/ferritin levels up to optimal because I simply don't absorb it well.

As for vitamin D, I wasted 6 months supplementing far too conservatively and so my levels actually dropped. It took a few more months after that to get my levels up to optimal once I started dosing more generously.

Folate and vitamin B12 were not a problem for me, and they rose quickly, but then I don't have Pernicious Anaemia.

I actually think it was most likely to have been improving my Free T3 levels that helped my feet rather than the supplements but I'm not positive. I actually didn't notice my feet slowly getting better, strangely enough. Just one day I realised they didn't hurt any more, and that was probably between a few months and a year or so after I started taking thyroid meds? But I wouldn't swear to it.

[miglet54 in reply to humanbean]

Thanks again, I may be too impatient, I'm taking vit d3 5000 could I take a greater amount?

[humanbean in reply to miglet54]

In cases of severe deficiency people do take more. But most people will raise levels on 5000 iU quite satisfactorily. If you take more there is always the risk it might start causing side effects.

I messed up with vitamin D because I was a novice at the time, and I took only 1000 iU per day.

With your vitamin D level of 59, a supplement of 5000 iU will be absolutely fine.

[miglet54 in reply to humanbean]

Thank you.

[humanbean]

I got side-tracked by talking about feet yesterday, and didn't actually cover your results.

Ferritin : Yours is way too low. You would ideally have a result of about 90 - 100, or perhaps a little bit higher with the range you have quoted. (Top of the range would be too high.)

One dose of iron and vitamin C during the night is unlikely to be enough. What type and dose of iron are you taking?

Vitamin D : Already mentioned, just keep on supplementing. Re-test your levels in about 4 months. It is possible to become toxic with vitamin D if too much is taken, and you should avoid this. It is possible to get a single finger-prick vitamin D test if this would be helpful :

vitamindtest.org.uk/index.html

Vitamin B12 : I see that you are dealing with this with injections. Good. Don't forget you need good levels of folate as well for your body to be able to make use of the B12.

Thyroid : Obviously you are still under-medicated. I doubt that your raise to 125mcg will be sufficient to optimise your Free T4 and your Free T3. You will almost certainly need to have another raise after that one, and possibly even another after that. Don't let your doctor leave you to rot for months. You need blood tests every 6 - 8 weeks and 25mcg raises when necessary.

Since you have been hypothyroid for over 20 years, I'm shocked at how under-medicated you are. I suppose its possible you didn't have antibodies in the beginning and the problem has arisen in the last year or so, but somehow I doubt it.

Antibodies : Some people manage to lower their antibodies with dietary changes. Going gluten-free helps quite a few. For some that has no effect, and they may have to experiment with giving up dairy/lactose/casein, nightshades, probably a few other things. If an experiment doesn't help then please go back to eating the food again. I've read about some people who end up with terribly restricted diets and I can't believe it is healthy in all cases.

For better information on improving Hashi's and reducing antibodies, search for Izabella Wentz. She is a sufferer herself, has a website and a Facebook page, and has written a book which gets good reviews on Amazon.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Hi Mary

Are you on gluten free diet to try to reduce antibodies and improve your symptoms? Many of us do find it helps

Excellent web based document-series - re-running, starting March 1st

Masses of advice for all thyroid issues, but especially for Hashimoto's or Graves

thethyroidsecret.com/trailer/

chriskresser.com/the-gluten...

hypothyroidmom.com/92-of-ha...