Help with understanding my results please.

[Starbob]

Hi,

I've posted before but now I've got my results in. They all say Normal next to them but I'm trying for a baby so I'd like your expert opinions.

A quick recap, I've been hypothyroid for 12 years and been on Levothyroxine for all 12. I've recently reduced my dose from 100mg to alternating between 100mg and 75mg of Levothyroxine every day. I'm feeling O.K, not too tired but still overweight and no extra energy to go and excercise (which I want to do). Apologies, there are lots of results as I had a bit of an MOT of testing!

Heamaglobin A1c 37mmol/mol (no range given)

Renal profile

Serum sodium 140 mmol/L Range 133.00 - 146.00mmol/L

Serum potassium 4.6 mmol/L Range 3.50 - 5.30mmol/L

Serum creatinine 68 mmol/L Range 49.00 - 90.0mmol/L

Serum urea level 3.9 mL/min Range 60.00 - 99.00mL/min

Thyroid function

Serum TSH level (AK2) 0.55 mu/L Range 0.35 - 5.00 mu/L

Lipids

Serum Cholesterol 3.8 mmol/L (no range given)

Serum HDL cholesterol level 1.39 mmol/L 1.20 - 99999.00mmol/L

Liver function

Serum ALT level 26 iu/L Range 0.00 - 50.0 iu/L

Ferritin

Serum ferritin (AK2) 48 ug/L Range 15.00 - 250.00ug/L

Folate

Serum folate (AK2) 13 ug/L Range 2.00 - 17.00ug/L

B12

Plasma vitamin B12 level (AK2) 547 ng/L Range 200.00 - 900.00 ng/L

Thank you xx

[SlowDragon Administrator]

You really need some more results

There is no FT4, FT3, TT4 or antibodies tests here

Or any vitamin D test.

Your folate is too low. It really need to be around 70

Lots of posts on here about how to increase

But more importantly you need to know if you have Hashimoto's (high antibodies) . If you do then adopting gluten free diet may help symptoms and help with ability to conceive

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

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

Episode 6 or 7 looks at pregnancy, fertility etc

thethyroidsecret.com/trailer/

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to SlowDragon]

SlowDragon I think you mean ferritin should be around 70, not folate

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to SeasideSusie]

Whoops - I will blame spell check....corrected now

[humanbean in reply to SlowDragon]

Hi SlowDragon - you've got your folate and your ferritin mixed up! Ferritin needs to be at least 70 if the reference range is the usual one of 15 - 150, but the range supplied by Starbob is different.

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Serum ferritin (AK2) 48 ug/L Range 15.00 - 250.00ug/L

Your result is only 14% of the way through the range. You need it to be 50% of the way through the range (mid-range) or a little bit more. Mid range in the range of 15 - 250 is around 130 - 135 and you could go up to a level of 160 - 170 or thereabouts. You need to find your own sweet spot.

You would need to take iron supplements to raise your level. Be aware that too high a level of iron is poisonous so regular testing is essential. The best test I've found for a reasonable price is this one (a finger-prick test) :

medichecks.com/iron-tests/i...

medichecks.com/how-it-works

medichecks.com/dl/Medicheck...

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There are quite a few different kinds of iron supplements. One of the admins, helvella, has written a useful document on the subject :

dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u...

High dose iron supplements can be bought from pharmacies in the UK (it is up to the pharmacist whether or not they agree to sell them without a prescription), or can be bought online.

The important thing in any iron supplement is how much pure iron they actually contain.

Ferrous fumarate 210mg (FF) can be bought in boxes of 84. Each pill contains 69mg of pure iron. The maximum dose is one tablet, three times a day, making a total iron intake of 207mg of pure iron. You should consider this to be the maximum safe dose of iron, and obviously you could decide to only take 1 tablet, twice a day. Three isn't compulsory!

Ferrous sulphate (or sulfate) has roughly the same amount of iron as FF.

Ferrous gluconate has roughly half the iron content of FF.

Ferrous bisglycinate has roughly a quarter to a third of the iron content of FF.

Whichever iron supplement you try, take 500mg - 1000mg of Vitamin C with each dose of iron. This has two functions. Firstly, Vitamin C helps the body to absorb the iron. Secondly, iron has a tendency to cause constipation in some people. Vitamin C does the reverse. Adjust the dosage of Vitamin C to "keep things comfortable".

Some people can never tolerate iron supplements and (assuming they aren't vegetarian) they can increase their iron levels by eating liver or black pudding once or twice a week.

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Remember to test frequently. Don't leave your first test longer than 2 - 3 months. People absorb iron at different speeds. Some people may correct a low level in 6 months, others could take 18 months - 2 years. Until you test you won't know how fast you absorb it.

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Iron supplements must be taken at least 4 hours away from thyroid hormones.