Advice on supplements please

[Alana14]

Any advice regarding supplements with the results I have given would be helpful. Because there are so many results I have done what it says on the printout and put (!) against the abnormal ones.

Serum ferritin - 75 (15 - 150)

!Serum folate - 21.6 (2.5 - 19.5)

Serum vitamin B12 - 343 (180 - 900)

!Total vitamin D - 45.1 (>75 adequate)

White blood cell count - 5.83 (4.0 - 11.0)

!Red blood cell count - 5.46 (4.8 - 5.3)

!Haematocrit - 0.47 (0.37 - 0.45)

!Haemoglobin - 158 (120 - 150)

MCV - 86.1 (83 - 98)

MCH - 28.9 (27 - 32)

!MCHC - 370 (310 - 350)

Platelets - 294 (150 - 450)

Neutrophils - 3.09 (1.5 - 8.0)

Lymphocytes - 1.60 (1.0 - 4.0)

Monocytes - 0.38 (0.2 - 1.0)

Eosinophils - 0.17 (0.0 - 0.5)

Basophils - 0.01 (0.0 - 0.2)

I take 800iu vitamin D3 and 5mg folic acid which I have stopped. Also am I right in pursuing further investigations into the results? Thank you

[Hidden]

Were you also supplementing B12 at the time of the test? Have you had earlier tests which showed a lower B12? Do you have any B12 deficiency symptoms?

[Alana14 in reply to Hidden]

Thanks. No I wasn't supplementing B12 at the time of the test but when I have supplemented B12 in the past it wasn't going up by very much. About 10 or 20 points in the space of a year at best. I have symptoms which I think are B12 deficiency like tingling in feet, toes and fingers, fatigue, numbness, recurring sighs, muscle weakness, dizziness, tinnitus and general clumsiness. These symptoms worsened on folic acid which my GP insists I should take.

[Hidden in reply to Alana14]

Have you read up in the PA forum? I am no expert, but that mchc result possibly signals macrocytic anaemia, doesn't it? Your B12 is in range, but could be higher, don't supplement till you have tested intrinsic factor and MMA. If the gp refuses, you can do it privately. Intrinsic factor only 50 per cent reliable, rules in, not out.

I suspect worsening on folic acid is v significant. The PA forum is where you need to be.

[Alana14 in reply to Hidden]

Ok thanks. I will go there for advice on those results. I am mainly here for thyroid though.

[humanbean in reply to Alana14]

Following on from Aspmama's post, you'll find the PA forum here :

healthunlocked.com/pasoc

[Clutter]

Alana14,

Folate is over range because you were supplementing folic acid. Do you have a B12 result? There's no problem with high folate as long as B12 is normal.

Vitamin D 45.1 is insufficient as is the 800iu D3 dose you are taking. I would supplement 5,000iu D3 daily for a couple of months and then reduce to 5,000iu alternate days and retest in May. Take vitamin D 4 hours away from Levothyroxine.

Dehydration is the commonest cause of high RBC, haematocrit and haemoglobin evaluations but other possible reasons are outlined in labtestsonline.org/understa...

[Alana14 in reply to Clutter]

Serum vitamin B12 - 343 (180 - 900) I drank before the blood draw.

[Clutter in reply to Alana14]

Alana14,

B12 343 is sub optimal. B12 is optimal >500. I would supplement 1,000mcg methylcobalamin.

[Alana14 in reply to Clutter]

Ok thanks. I have asked to be checked for PA though.

[Clutter in reply to Alana14]

Alana14,

Then delay supplementing B12 until you have a PA result.

[Alana14]

I am sure there is something not quite right because I have a high MCHC in 2011 and that was before I supplemented.