Sorry, I can't find the post where a supplier was recommended (I remember someone saying they periodically have a buy-two-get-one-free offer). Does this sound familiar and could someone please point me in the right direction?
Have of course tried the site search tool *sigh* and it has been as useful as it usually is.
Ooh, didn't know this existed and what a good idea!
Did you have problems w yours? I couldn't bear it, even in the tightly-closed bottle it was just awful never mind taking the actual tablet.
puncturedbicycle The search facility is pants!
This is the selenium that is odour free, and it's a nice small tablet.
Unfortunately not on 3 for 2 at the moment 
They no longer do a 200mcg one, just the 100mcg. Good for me because I have 100mcg selenium in a very nice mineral complex 
Thank you, that's it! I must bookmark it.
100 is fine for me, I used to have to break mine in half. x
SeasideSusie can you tell us what mineral complex you take please?
Here you go Silver_Fairy It's hard to find one without calcium, iron and iodine so I was really pleased to find this one. It's based on one my practioner recommended last year, but hers contained iodine which I didn't need, I tested and was half way through the range so didn't need to supplement that.
biocare.co.uk/default.aspx?...
Thank you for that! I have been looking to supplement zinc, magnesium and selenium so this looks like a good place to start.
May I ask where your practitioner is? And did they order the mineral test? I am thinking I need to step up my efforts as the thing I mainly seem to be bringing to the table is inertia.
I ditched my practioner I'm afraid so wouldn't recommend her. I became very disillusioned with her. She put me on the right road with supplements to address adrenal and sex hormone problems, but felt she had to recommend what I did about my thyroid meds which isn't why I consulted with her.
She is another one who couldn't see what was happening with my thyroid results and told me to reduce my T3 from 12.5 to 6.25 mcg because it's 'like rocket fuel'. Well, I researched and learnt a lot more about it and I think she'd faint if she knew I was still tweaking and at the moment taking 31.25mcg. It will probably be reduced slightly when I've finished tweaking but it's fine for now.
I did the iodine test with Genova. I actually did a urine iodine/T4/T3 - all one test, as I was wanting to do a second urine thyroid test after adding T3 to see how it had changed from the original one which showed very poor conversion. I think they do urine iodine on it's own as well as urine T4/T3.
Thank you! Can I ask what iodine test you had done? Then I will stop hijacking the post!
Urine iodine test with Genova although mine was coupled with urine T4/T3.
END25 is the urine iodine test. The combined test isn't listed.
thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/testin...
Hi seasidesusie, thanks for this info, could you tell us what the combined test costs please? Thanks...
Jo5454 It was END26 and I can't remember the exact price but I know it was over £150 and that was about 9 months ago. It's not on the PDF list of tests on ThyroidUK's list so you'd have to find out if it's still available and the cost, but as they're not keen on speaking to members of the public (as we have to go through a 'practioner' to use them), I'm not sure how you can get the info. Maybe try emailing them.
Thank you, had forgotten you need to go through a prctioner for Genova, have used them in the past for some tests.
Have not heard of the urine t3/t4 test? is this only useful once taking thyroid med please? Currently been advised. To take Levo, but very wary as trying to repair b12 def and not sure if this is cause of thyroid problem?
Many thanks...
The urine T3/T4 isn't really useful for diagnosis.
It measures what is going on at cellular level over 24 hours, and is an excellent indicator of conversion.
My blood tests suggested poor conversion because of over range FT4 and less than half way through range FT3. The urine test showed a reasonable amount of T4 getting into the cells but T3 was a long way under range so virtually no T3 getting to the cells, so confirmed poor conversion.
After adding T3 to my Levo, I retested after a few months and the amount of T3 getting through to the cells had improved considerably.
Very much worth doing it in my case.
Hijack away! I got my answer and am now enjoying the rest of the info coming out of this conversation.
Sorry PB, I just realised you asked where I had minerals tested, and I answered about iodine.
I haven't had a separate mineral test. Two years ago, at the start of this journey, I did a comprehensive test with BH which included zinc and my level was virtually at the bottom of the range so I knew I needed zinc and was taking it separately for a while (a zinc/copper balanced supplement).
My practioner had me on a multivit/mineral, plus other things, and knowing multivits are a waste of time and money I've now changed back to a separate B Complex and that multimineral, and in the process ditched iron and iodine which were in the multi.
If you want minerals tested, Blue Horizon do a couple of tests (blood, also hair analysis if you think that's any good), as do Medichecks.
I always use solgar and have never noticed an odour? x
Good to know. I assumed it was a usual thing but maybe it varies from brand to brand. x
My first selenium was Doctors Best, that was a bit smelly.
I've just bought Solgar seelenium, & have noticed no smell.
Good to know. Last brand I had to throw away it was so objectionable.
Yuk! I usually buy Solgar stuff, & had no anticipation of it being stinky. I have enough issues with fishy tasting magnesium!
I had a doc who pronounced Solgar 'rubbish' so I've been looking further afield but I do like the way their supplements are well-labelled so you know what they don't contain. There's always something I miss out like soy, gelatine etc.
I always thought Solgar was one of the more reliable brands. I've never found Boots or H&B products very good.
No, would not go w Boots or H&B. Thorne Labs are meant to be excellent.
puncturedbicycle and BadHare Solgar and H&B are owned by the same company. Have a look at Londinium 's recent post
healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...
Really? Same products with different labels, or a different version?
I only use herbs from an organic company I've used for years, or prescribed, & wouldn't use run of the mill herbal supplements due to quality. I am very disturbed by Solgar's involvement in arms manufacture, so will certainly not buy from them again!
BadHare
"Same products with different labels, or a different version?"
That I don't know. I'm not a particular fan of Solgar, whenever I've looked at their supplements I'm interested in they seem to contain fillers and other ingredients I don't want so I look for brands with the least amount of unnecessary ingredients.
My B12 went from the bottom of the range to the top, with their sublingual methylcobalamin, so I was going to continue taking this, but the rest of the bottle won't taste s sweet! > I've no other tests to prove the efficacy of their B complex, zinc, magnesium, or the selenium I've just bought.
Out of my price range, though!
Here are three natural sources for Selenium (Se): Brazil Nuts (just 2 per day), Saskatchewan Lentils and yellow mustard. I think it would be a good idea to have an Se blood test before you start, if it is low start eating one of the above for about a month then have a second Se blood test. If your Se level is then optimal, just carry on. If your Se level didn't move much you should change your source or increase your dose. I should also say that if your base level of Se is OK, do not supplement. I do not know the dose of Lentils or mustard but you will get your daily allowance of Se from 2 Brazil nuts - this is the one I do. I recommend Se from a food source since it is easy to overdose on a supplement - before you know it. Se poisoning is serious but Se is essential for the T4 to T3 deiodinization process (and T3 to T2 for that matter but I don't know much about that).
I'd been relying on a handful of brazils, but read on here & elsewhere that they don't all contain selenium, depending on which part of the country they're grown. I thought I'd give a supplement a go to see if that will affect my hair. I've started on 100mcg, to see how I get on with this, but doubt I'd overdose on 200mcg.
I've never seen Sasketchewan lentils here. Yellow mustard is a spice I have in my cupboard that would be hard for me to eat in quantity. I expect that too would depend on provenance for efficacy.
And if you want to get your selenium from Brazil nuts, read the packaging and make sure it says 'Grown in selenium rich soil'. If it doesn't say that there will be no selenium in the nuts.
There is variation in the selenium content though I have not read that there are nuts that contain no selenium at all. Apparently a study was done in NZ which concluded that the variation didn't matter overly: ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/182...
Lots of good sources cited in this blog: honey-guide.com/2012/11/19/...
Oh yes, there will be a variation in the amount of selenium depending on where the nuts are grown, as your second link states
"The concentration of selenium in Brazil nuts has been reported to depend on the selenium concentration of the soil and the ability of the tree to absorb selenium from the soil. This can depend on a variety of factors including the chemical form of selenium in different Amazonian soils, the rain intensity, the genetics of the tree, the forms of selenium containing proteins in the nut and even the position of the nut on the tree (Lisk 1989; Pacheco 2007)."
So even when they're grown in selenium rich soil, there's no knowing how much selenium is in them as we don't know exactly where they were grown. From that link it looks like nuts from Eastern Amazon contain the most and those from Bolivia contain the least.
My supply does not mention "... Se rich soil" and it keeps my Se level at the max. Look, stay in control of what you put in your body. Measure before, eat the Se source, measure afterwards - then use your brain. Did that supply of edible Se do the job? If yes, stick with it - and let us know your source, with or without labels. If not, change your source. Don't rely on other people to tell you via labels or anything else what is good for your own, unique body. For what it is worth you get more Brazil nuts from Se rich soil than Brazil nuts from depleted soil - so your chances are good, the glass is half full already, not half empty.
I've never seen this written on a packet!
BadHare Someone mentioned in a post some time ago that Sainsburys do have some that state this. I can't remember if they're the organic ones, but if you can get to a Sainsburys it's worth checking them all.
Yes, thanks!
I'd rather get nutrients from food, & I'm concerned about eating brazils & taking a supplement. Not had any ill effects from eating lots of brazils, previously.
Lamberts Selenium Methonine 200mcg is odourless too and works for me very well!
Here is another way of thinking about this selenium (Se) content in nuts. If a tree or plant needs a specific mineral/element to grow, Se in our case - and it isn't available in it's soil, then it is unlikely that the tree or plant will thrive. i.e. it will probably not grow in that soil. It will certainly not produce an abundance of nuts good enough to harvest at commercial volume to sell. Even if you did manage to come across a bag of these deficient nuts, they probably wouldn't taste good enough for you to buy again.
Its a bit like expecting roses to grow in alkali soil, grass on nitrogen depleted soil or trying to get pink hydrangeas planted in acid soil. It probably isn't going to happen or you will certainly not win any prizes from your blooms.
It's not that the tree needs selenium to grow, the trees will grow in soil that don't contain any or very much selenium, it's just the fact that the nuts won't contain any, or they'll contain very little, selenium in those circumstances.
Puncturedbicycle's see one link shows the variation in selenium content depending where they were grown.
Another article
scientificpsychic.com/bloge...
"The amount of selenium in the nuts depends on the selenium content of the soil where the trees grow.
It is significant that some Brazil nuts have almost no selenium, whereas others have very high values. This means that it may be very difficult to regulate the amount of selenium in the diet by eating Brazil nuts. Two Brazil nuts weigh about 10 grams, so two Brazil nuts with the average concentration of 14.7 ppm contain 147 mcg of selenium. However, two Brazil nuts containing 253 ppm of selenium will contain a whopping 2,530 mcg or 2.5 mg of selenium. This is substantially in excess of the tolerable upper level and already in the toxic range."
All the more reason to do what I said above. Measure your Se level, eat the nuts for a couple of weeks or so then measure your level again. If it worked, stick to those nuts, if it didn't, change your supply or dose. Easy, don't make life so complicated, take the empirical approach.
Measure, try a brand of nuts, measure, try a brand of nuts, measure try a brand of nuts, measure, try a brand of nuts.
Where you live dictates the shopping facilities and how many brands of nuts are available to try, it's one where I live.
Measure, buy a good brand of selenium at the appropriate dose.
Yep, I see which will make life less complicated.
There are not many "bad" brands for reasons I outlined above. I bought a random brand in good faith, with no instructions on the label. I measured my Se just out of curiosity about 6 months later and my blood Se was close to max. And yes, I suppose I could have been at max to begin with and was eating a "bad" brand but my T3 increased to more than optimal level during that 6 months and I felt/feel great, so I conclude that introducing the Se catalyst improved my conversion of T4 to T3.
I think that some minerals or elements, especially the heavy metals, should be obtained from food since overdosing on heavy metals is VERY dangerous.
Selenium
Selenium
Selenium
Selenium and thyroid 
