Me mum

[Saggyuk]

Hey guys

So my mum's results came back as suspected showing deficiencies. My mum has never eaten properly although she has made some progress in this since I made her go gluten free a month or so ago and has more of an appetite - just a bit too late unfortunately. Both myself and daughter are diagnosed with NCGS and NHS have stated genetic. A couple of months ago, her eyes went puffy so forced her to finally go get some blood tests and her tsh came back around 11 and low T4 so they started her on 25mcg T4 which by the looks of her results below, is enough for now and will hopefully improve a little more with deficiencies corrected. She's obviously not a bad converter like me. I will ensure that she gets this monitored as is likely to need more soon considering her antibodies.

She's clearly Folate deficient and Vit D deficient and I will go along with her to her next appointment to make sure she's medicated properly for these but I'm not sure if will treat her B12. I think she really needs it though and although her ferritin seems okay, I want to get a proper iron panel done as I don't believe for one second that her iron can be okay based on her previous diet and this can mask enlarged cells associated with B12/folate deficiency and her MCV was already on the higher side at 98 (shouldn't go over 100). I will make sure she supplements B12 if no luck with the doc but I would rather try and get her injections. Is there anything that might help me persuade her doc do you think?

She's always had bad memory and slowed movements/thinking and am thinking these levels have prob been like this for many many decades if not worse as finally getting her to eat better.

I also want to get her iodine tested as pretty certain this will be low and probably everything else but what additional checks do you think I should get. I'm thinking calcium levels is a must but any others for now as we can't afford too many blood tests so want to do the most important.

ENDOCRINOLOGY

Thyroid Function

THYROID STIMULATING HORMONE 0.33 mIU/L 0.27 - 4.20

FREE THYROXINE 17.73 pmol/L 12.00 - 22.00

TOTAL THYROXINE(T4) 124.2 nmol/L 59.00 - 154.00

FREE T3 5.25 pmol/L 3.10 - 6.80

Thyroid AntibodiesTHYROGLOBULIN ANTIBODY 34.820 IU/mL 0.00 - 115.00

THYROID PEROXIDASE ANTIBODIES*533.1 IU/mL 0.00-34.00

HAEMATOLOGYVitamins

VITAMIN B12 177 pmol/L 140.00 - 724.00

FOLATE (SERUM) *2.2 ug/L 2.91 - 50.0025

OH VITAMIN D *20.89 nmol/L 50.00 - 200.00

Inflammation MarkerCRP - HIGH SENSITIVITY 3.4 mg/l 0.00 - 5.00

Iron Status FERRITIN 111 ug/L 13.00 - 150.00

Thanks for any additional advice in finally getting my mum's health sorted

[SlowDragon Administrator]

I should ask on PAS health Unlocked forum about B12 & folate. Her B12 is already very low, when folate is supplemented, does this exacerbate low B12? I read folate supplements can mask B12 deficiency

Here's an article

medscape.com/viewarticle/72...

Vitamin D is very low, so she may/should get loading doses. Magnesium & vitamin K2 are recommended on here a lot, to take as well if on high vitamin D supplements. Calcium will increase due to vitamin D supplementing.

Iodine is a controversial subject. General mainstream view is that anyone with Hashimoto's should avoid iodine like the plague. (I always buy organic milk as it apparently has lower iodine content)

Glad to hear, like many/most with Hashimoto's that gluten free diet is helping

[Saggyuk in reply to SlowDragon]

Hiya SlowDragon

Yes I am going to treat her for this anyway as agree and wouldn't want her to supplement folate and not B12. I think I may head over to the other forum and see what they say re folate/B12, thanks for reminding me

I know high levels of iodine can cause thyroid issues but iodine deficiency is the largest cause of thyroid failure globally and I think she's been highly deficient in this as doesn't eat anything much at all with iodine in at all so want to see if this is not helping and other parts of your body need it too. I just want to make sure she's getting the right amount. I've already made sure she's increasing her selenium which helps protect against higher levels of iodine anyway.

Will get her K2/magnesium also but a little concerned about the magnesium if she's the same as me as my levels seem high and if I take supplements, I get bad side effects so maybe we'll see how it goes. Wouldn't calcium only increase if she's eating enough in the first place which is unlikely? Not sure how this works so will look into it a bit more

Thank you

[Saggyuk in reply to Saggyuk]

Also just remembered she took one 1000mcg mcg methycobalamin the day before her blood test. I had told her not to until tested but she was having extreme fatigue and not managing something active she needed to do and took it anyway - how much do you think this would have have effected her test?

[Justiina in reply to Saggyuk]

And if she has been deficient to iodine, iodine should be given very carefully as in elderly who have been deficient long term it can trigger hyperthyroidism.

[Saggyuk in reply to Justiina]

She's not elderly just yet lol - she's 55 and still working full time

I know, maybe I should just make sure she gets the rda in her food intake for now?

Thanks for the info though, hard to work out what to do but I suppose her thyroglobulin is not over

[Justiina in reply to Saggyuk]

Don't get me wrong, I am no opposing iodine, just telling you that testing is difficult.

My urine iodine was low and thyroglobulin high, no thyroglobulin antibodies. In presence of thyroglobulin antibodies thyroglobulin might not be high.

So I had low iodine and high thyroglobulin 130.4 ng/ml where 3-10 ng/ml is considered reflecting iodine sufficiency.

Supplementing iodine brought my thyroglobulin down to 37 which is in normal range, but not optimal. My urinary iodine had only increased a bit.

I had to give up on iodine which increased my thyroglobulin upto 110 , iodine was a bit higher showing mild deficiency.

I am going to restart and go for topical supplementing to avoid "detox" symptoms.

I have found an excellent article of iodine that really tells how complicated thing iodine is.

westonaprice.org/health-top...

[Saggyuk in reply to Justiina]

Thanks so much - will have a proper read through

[Singoutloud in reply to Saggyuk]

If she took the b12 the day before the test it would have shown in the results so in that case b12 is very low. However I would you need to find out the reason for the deficiency before supplementing.

Intrinsic factor antibodies cause pernicious anaemia so the gut is unable to absorb b12 from food. Others reasons for B12 deficiency can be vegetarian/vegan diet, PPIs (antacids) or some medications (antidepressants) block absorption of b12.

Is best to figure out the cause of the deficiency in case further testing is needed as supplementing shows in the blood for a number of months giving false high results

[Saggyuk in reply to Singoutloud]

Thanks Singoutloud , yeah I thought it might. It was just the once on that particular day and told her not to take any more until investigated more. I want to get a retest in case it will persuade them to treat her properly and she's going to the docs this week - do you think a week would be enough to have been removed from her system?

She will be deficient in everything as never eaten properly so nothing unexpected there. However, we seem to have gotten to the bottom of her life long lack of appetite with the gluten free as her appetite is improving - slowly but surely. She was actually hungry for once.

She's not on any other meds

I will test for PA at some point to make sure if things don't improve though or if the doc wont test - I'm assuming that intrinsic factor antibodies will be there regardless of supplementing but let me know if I'm wrong

[Justiina in reply to Saggyuk]

The problem with iodine test is that it's sort of unreliable.

24 hr urine test reflect the consumption of iodine during past few days.

Iodine loading test can fail as well.

Thyroglobulin can be somewhat sensitive marker and reflects iodine consumption long term.