Cholesterol 220 mg/dl. This is high. Range <200 normal and >200 high.
Vitamin b12 148 ng/l . Low. Ränge 180-914
Ferritin is 14.7 micro g/l . low. Range 15-300
For thyroid only tsh is tested.
TSH is 2.62 mU/l . Range 0.35-3.5
The doctor was refusing to take blood test hearing my symptoms telling it's not a problem. I had difficulty in breathing sometimes and from past few days have chest pain sometimes.
But after I insisted, it's done. But now she just prescribed vitamin b12 tablets and nothing else.
I am also worried about high cholesterol. I never had any issues and now all these.
Any suggestions or ideas what I can do next. Feels so confused
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Wins24
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Why did your doctor not do a blood test for your Thyroid Function. A high cholesterol level should have been a red flag to the doctor as that is a very common clinical symptoms but she is probably unaware of that. You need TSH, T4, T3, T4, Free T4, Free T3 and thyroid atibodies.
Go back and make another appointment for your thyroid hormones and say you've been advised by the NHS Choices as a high cholestrol may not be due to diet but is a clinical symptom of hypothyroidism and want to exclude this autoimmune condition.
The test should be the very earliest, fasting (you can drink water) and if you were taking thyroid hormones you'd allow a gap of 24 hours between the last dose and the test and take afterwards. Get a print-out and they must have the ranges stated. You haven't put the ranges above in your question and labs differ so these are important. They are in brackets after the results. Always get a print-out of blood tests with the ranges for your own records.
Your B12 should be nearer 900 not 180.
Other members will respond about your other results
Hi, thanks for ur reply. I updated my post. Only Tsh was tested. My doctor did not tell anything about cholesterol. May be I take an appointment with other doctor.
The 'modern' method of diagnosing hypothyroidism isn't so useful as the doctors only take the TSH. This is by a doctor who lost his licence due to treating 'patients' and not the result on a piece of paper. He is Canadian but our UK doctors also lost theirs if they didn't toe the line.
Thanks for your reply. True. I will get tested with full thyroid tests. Last year also my TSH level was almost same, but everything else was fine. May be i should have taken care and got it tested before. But as usual my doctor said everything is fine. So now i would test for all T4, T3, T4, Free T4, Free T3 and thyroid antibodies. Its so frustrating when doctor dont listen to us and dig deeper into our small symptoms. But our body keeps sending signals that something is not right.
If i can trace a year time now, i felt unmotivated to do things i use to enjoy before. I use to force myself thinking i was lazy. May be everything is related to this.
Thanks alot for all your comments. I was totally frustrated and now getting some hopes.
It's good we have a forum because before, no-one would have been able to enquire or not know who to ask. I bet a lot of people have had serious conditions which may have been connected to the thyroid gland but they were never 'in a range' to be diagnosed.
I'm sure you will now be able to go forward by your own methods.
As your dose of levo is increased your cholesterol should drop. Many doctors instead of increasing levo give patient statins and that the worst thing to do.
I have looked at your previous post and your TSH was 2.62 which you will see from the following link, with symptoms you should be prescribed levothyroxine. The worst part is that the BTA have decided that our TSH has to reach 10 before being diagnosed which is so ridiculous, but awful, in that people cannot get diagnosed but have disabling symptoms.
You will see from the link what you need to be tested for FT4 and TT4 also ask to have thyroid antibodies to be tested. It is really diagnosing your own results as doctors are untrained. If GP wont do these if you can afford it you could have them through one of our recommended labs. At the same time get B12, Vit D, iron, ferritin and folate
Breathing problems are extremely worrying for anyone and click on the following and tick off your symptoms and make an appointment to discuss with your GP.
You can say you've taken advice from the NHS Choices for information on the thyrid gland, (TUK) and it is suggested you have a prescription for levothyroxine.
Hi, can you edit your post and add the units of measurement, please. Some countries use different units of measurement, and it makes a difference when interpreting results. Also, we need the reference ranges.
Just for example, nobody in the UK would ever be told their cholesterol was in the 100s. Almost everyone would expect a cholesterol level less than 10 because the units of measurement are entirely different to yours.
To edit your post, look beneath it and find the little square with a v in it. Click on that, then click on Edit. Make the changes you need to, then Post again.
Your result is in range, suggesting you are not anaemic, which is amazing given your other results.
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Ferritin is 14.7 micro g/l . low. Range 15-300
Your ferritin (iron stores) is dreadful and suggests you have very low iron. You probably need to start taking iron supplements, but it would be a good idea to know your serum iron level first, just to double check. I am only guessing at your doctor's motives, but I assume she is ignoring the low ferritin because you aren't anaemic. It isn't a good reason, in my opinion. Most people feel much, much better with higher ferritin. I try to keep my own ferritin level at mid-range or a little bit higher, which would be about 160 mcg/L for your reference range. When it was low in range I could only get upstairs by crawling on hands and knees.
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Mch (hbe) 27.3 pg . This is low. Range 28-34
MCH - Mean Corpuscular Haemoglobin - May be low in iron deficiency, inflammatory conditions and thalassaemia, according to the first link I gave.
MCV 82.9 fl. Range 80-100
Yours is low in range. MCV - Mean Corpuscular Volume - decreased with iron deficiency, longstanding inflammatory disorders and thalassaemia
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Cholesterol 220 mg/dl. This is high. Range <200 normal and >200 high.
Cholesterol rises in people who are hypothyroid and not on treatment or are under-treated. Having said that your cholesterol looks perfectly healthy to me. You might like to read this post from a blog by Dr Malcolm Kendrick. (Your cholesterol is 220 mg/dL. This is equivalent to 5.7 mmol/L. Check out the graphs showing mortality risks. They reduce the higher the cholesterol is.)
This is outrageously low. You need to be tested for Pernicious Anaemia. And you need injections to get your levels up. For advice on what to do, join the Pernicious Anaemia Society community on HealthUnlocked here - make sure you tell them that you are in Germany because it may alter their advice on what to do, and it may suggest alternative forms of treatment :
Click on the above link and then click on Follow in the banner.
What strength of B12 pills have you been given? And what are the B12 tablets made of? There are 4 different kinds of B12, and some are better than others in certain circumstances.
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TSH is 2.62 mU/l . Range 0.35-3.5
If you have been diagnosed hypothyroid then your TSH is too high and you are under-medicated. Most of us feel at our best when TSH is 1 or under. You also need to know your Free T4 and Free T3 levels, and also your levels of thyroid antibodies. If you don't have enough information about yourself, getting well is less likely.
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I would say, in summary, :
You probably need iron supplements.
You need B12 injections.
If you are being treated for hypothyroidism, then you need an increase in dose.
You need to get serum iron tested before supplementing iron, just as an added reassurance that it is the right thing to suggest. There are some uncommon people who have low ferritin and high serum iron. If they supplement they can feel awful because the serum iron rises but their ferritin doesn't. (I'm saying this about iron also because you aren't anaemic, which surprises me under the circumstances, so I'm wondering if your serum iron is surprisingly good, and we just don't know about it.)
You need to have folate tested.
You also need to have vitamin D tested.
You also shouldn't be taking just a single B vitamin, you need a good quality B Complex. People feel best when they keep all their B vitamin levels in sync i.e. supplementing one and ignoring the rest isn't a good idea. They should all be supplemented together.
Thanks alot. The only problem I have is pain in chest especially when I bend forward or backward and difficult in breathing sometimes. Surprisingly I don't feel fatigue.
I wasn't tested/diagnosed for hypothyroidism. May be I get tested for these which you told. I have another appointment on friday with other doctor. May be that helps. Will update once it's done.
When I improved my own vitamin D levels (and mine were never terribly low) all sorts of muscle and joint aches and pains improved or disappeared. It's wonderful stuff.
Vitamin D can become toxic at very high levels, so re-testing occasionally is necessary. Since your levels got so low you will have to take vitamin D for life otherwise you will just become deficient again. So, you need a high dose to raise your levels for 4 months or so, then re-test. Then, depending on how well your levels have risen, you may be able to lower dose to a maintenance level. If not, keep taking the high-dose supplements. You need to aim for a level of 40 - 60 ng/mL. I would suggest you try and get plenty of sunshine this summer to speed up the whole process.
When you get to a level you are happy with, I would suggest a weekly dose of roughly 15,000 iU as a first suggestion to keep your levels optimal. You could take this as 5,000 iU three times a week. But you will need to test every few months to make sure your levels don't drop or go too high.
Creatine - I don't know anything about this but since yours is bottom of the range you should read up about it. Labtestsonline (a very good site) only gives details of creatine kinase. Whether that is the same as creatine I don't know :
Iron : Your serum iron is below range, your ferritin was below range in the first set of results and is low in range in the second set of results. You are definitely suffering from iron deficiency, even though you aren't (yet) suffering from iron deficiency anaemia. You need to supplement. What kind of iron are you taking, and at what dose?
For recommended levels of iron and ferritin, see this link :
Free T4 and Free T3 - both these results are in the lower half of the reference range. To feel well, hypothyroid patients need levels to be in the upper half of the range, or even in the upper third or quarter of the reference range. You need an increase in dose of thyroid meds, assuming you are diagnosed hypothyroid and are being treated. If you are what are you prescribed?
Vitamin B12 - Are you taking vitamin B12 in any form? And do you take any other B vitamins?
Are you still in Germany? Vitamin D is usually only measured in ng/mL in the USA, which makes me think you might have moved.
Currently am taking vitamin d 20000 I.E. which is oil soluble. I am not sure what does I.E means. I also see on back of package it says colecalciferol 20.00mg. my doctor prescribed to take 10 tablets per week. Also started being outdoors more now since it's summer.
After 5 weeks of this vitamin D tablet my doctor said she would reduce the dosage. I would again get my blood test after 4 months or so. And check how is it going.
And iron is 80mg.
Yes I am also taking b12 dosage is 1000ug.
Am not taking any medication for thyroid since it's withing range my doctor said it's good. Let me know if any supplement I can take in general.
Yes I am still in Germany. Here it depends on the laboratory the doctors send my blood samples and so does the measurement units.
So you are taking 20,000 * 40 = 800,000 iU vitamin D3, 10 times a week as far as I can tell, which I would have thought was highly toxic. There is a mistake happening somewhere but I need somebody else to find it because I'm stuck.
I googled the brand name and found the PIL, had the page translated into English and it says
"Active ingredients:
Colecalciferol solutions, oily (20 mg each)
= Colecalciferol (20000 IU per piece)
Other ingredients:
alpha-tocopherol
Peanut oil, refined
gelatin
Glycerol 85%
Triglycerides, medium chain
Water, cleaned"
I think the 20mg probably refers to the total ingredients in the capsule but the D3 content is 20,000iu.
So I don't think there's any need to work out a conversion HB.
At 10 capsules a week then that's a loading dose of 200,000iu a week which does seem a bit high especially as it's to be taken for 5 weeks, considering here in the UK the loading dose is set at 300,000iu however the dose is taken.
I too took 40,000 daily for 2 weeks Clutter, (then dropped to 5000 daily) after asking for guidance on here when I first joined, you were very helpful when I was asking for help with my Vit and min results. Worked like a dream! I went from 15nmol/L to about 200 in two and a half months. Now maintaining at around 150ish with occasional tests.
I had a short break then resumed 5,000iu daily x 9 months and was 'toxic' at 380 or 390. Have mostly taken 5,000iu per week since but it was 87 in April so I will increase to 10,000iu during the winter.
I take 2000iu x 5 days a week now but am still taking it now we have some sun. I just can't tolerate being out on a hot day so tend to stay indoors or under a sun canopy.
Yes i too checked in internet and I.E may be same as I.U.
My doctor told me this bit high dosage but is required since it very low. And asked me to take all 10 tablets on one day in a week. And i should repeat this every week on same day preferably after heavy lunch.
She said after 5 weeks she would reduce it to half or even less.
I think we are confused about the dose you are actually on. The information you've provided seems to be contradictory to me. But then I got so confused when I was trying to work out what you were taking I think my brain has gone absent without leave on the subject.
I am used to dealing with vitamin D3 doses which are measured in iU or micrograms, not milligrams, so I can't actually get my head round what you are taking per day or per week, sorry.
No, don't let us worry you. The dosing varies considerably across the UK and we were surprised to see loading doses over 5 weeks. Hopefully your GP will do a blood test after 5 weeks to check levels so she can see how much to reduce dose.
Unfortunately for you your doctor is very ignorant.
If while waiting for the tests and/or results @humanbean has advised you to get you don't feel well then get yourself to the emergency room. This is as people feel dizzy, breathless, faint and actually collapse from low ferritin levels.
I would suggest you see another doctor or health practitioner to sort out the other tests you need.
I felt the same. Doctor wasn't interested to even prescribe or talk more about it. I have another appointment on Friday with other doctor. May be that helps. I wait till Friday and update what's done.
I went through some more tests and now the doctor found out some problem in lungs based on spasmolyse test report. My doctor has referred me to a Pneumologie as my lungs not able to get full volume. I was informed only this as I have to contact other doctor now.
I don't know where it is leading. Just keeping my fingers crossed.
By next month I will have another blood test and also contacting a Pneumologie.
My doubt is , does any deficiency cause any problem for lungs?
Wins24 - when taking D3, especially in large amounts, there are important cofactors needed. Doctors don't seem to know anything about them as they're not taught nutrition.
D3 aids absorption of calcium from food and K2-MK7 directs the calcium to bones and teeth where it is needed and away from arteries and soft tissues where it can be deposited and cause problems.
D3 and K2 are fat soluble so should be taken with the fattiest meal of the day, and if you are prescribed Levo then D3 should be taken four hours away.
Magnesium comes in different forms, check here to see which would suit you best and as it's calming it's best taken in the evening, again four hours away from thyroid meds if you take them
This is really informative. Thanks alot. I am also prescribed to take vitamin k1 and magnesium along with D. But I will look into these links to understand completely.
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