Vitamin, mineral results

[Netty46]

Hi all

Got some results fromTuesday's blood test

B12 -137

Ferratin- 30

Foliate- 18.1

Please help me to understand these as the results state Satisfactory however looking at some of the other results posted I don't think this is the case.

Thanks

[Hidden]

Could you post the reference ranges for each, labs have different ranges. However, B12 looks pretty low to me.

[Netty46 in reply to Hidden]

Hi

Where would I get the information re: the reference ranges?

Thanks

[Heloise]

You should get a copy of your results and the lab will place the ranges next to your blood test. This article will give you an idea of where the numbers should fall in the range and which are important for good thyroid function.

stopthethyroidmadness.com/l...

[Netty46 in reply to Heloise]

Ok so results with levels are

B12 137pmolL range 115 -1000

Foliate- 18.1 3 and below is deficient

Ferritin 30 u/L 20 -100 possible deficiency

Not sure if this means anything to you. Thanks

[Heloise in reply to Netty46]

Yes, it's basically simple math, Netty. The closest to being deficient B12 is 115 and you are 22 points above the lowest range. You are 863 points BELOW the highest score. Not good. You should be close to 1000. B12 and folate work together and it seems to be good. Ferritin helps make your levo work and really essential and that should get it up to 70. You are not going to feel good until you get those numbers UP.

[Gambit62 in reply to Heloise]

B12 serum is a notoriously difficult test to interpret and cannot really be used as a single measure to evaluate B12 deficiency. Symptoms need to be evaluated.

The test will miss 25% of people who are B12 deficient but will also pick up 5% who aren't so symptoms need to be taken into consideration

pernicious-anaemia-society....

people who have B12 absorption problems and are being treated with injections seem to need much higher levels in serum on average than the general population which is where the 1000 comes from - if everyone needed to have levels this high then the world would be in a right pickle as the normal range actually ends before this. The vaste majority of people will be perfectly okay in the normal range, and some will even be okay below the normal range.

There is a lot more information on b12 deficiency on the PAS forum - please read through the pinned posts.

healthunlocked.com/pasoc

[Netty46 in reply to Gambit62]

Great thanks I will have a look.

[Heloise in reply to Gambit62]

Gambit, I'm in the U.S. and they changed the protocol for P.A. years ago from injections to oral tablet of 500 mgs. A friend seemed to do all right on that. Do you feel when the result is as low as Netty's that there is any question about the interpretation? I have the feeling that anyone who is hypothyroid and less than optimal IS going to have B12 problems.

[Gambit62 in reply to Heloise]

people vary so much with B12 that I would strongly advise against ever using serum B12 as a single measure without evaluating symptoms. One reason for this is that one possible result of high levels of B12 in serum (which would be the result of supplementing with high doses of B12 when you don't have an absorption problem), can lead to a functional B12 deficiency - basically a reaction that stops the transition from blood to cells leaving cells deficient in B12. There aren't any hard and fast stats on how often this happens but one study in Denmark did imply that it could affect as much as 30% of the population. The most effective treatment in this case seems to be keeping B12 levels really high but it would be better to avoid getting in to that situation if at all possible as some people (myself included) need to keep levels ridiculously high and normal treatment regimes just don't work - and getting a health professional to treat you as you need is very very difficult where-ever you are. Too much following numbers and averaged protocols rather than treating individual patients.

Although having an autoimmune thyroid problem puts makes it statistically more likely that you will have PA as it is another auto-immune condition its best not to make the jump from some to all ...

My understanding of the situation in the states isn't that the treatment changed but that someone managed to get high dose oral tablets licensed as a treatment and the health insurance companies pounced on that as a potential way of saving money (in terms of medical staff time providing injections) rather than leaving things open so that people had the treatment that was appropriate to them. High dose oral definitely does work for some people but it just doesn't work for everyone ...

The change coming from medical insurance companies is something that has come up a number of times in the past couple of months on the PAS forum.

[Heloise in reply to Gambit62]

Whew, that's almost tragic. They spend so much on non essentials in the medical field and anything that isn't an instant fix gets displaced.

I really don't know much about PA but it's always difficult to determine what is happening in the cellular level.

Do you watch John Bergman's videos. He seem to know all about function and anatomy. If he has some videos on PA or B12, he does like to get to the cause because there is always a cause.

I don't know what anyone should do on the surface when their levels are very low but thank you for more of the details.

[Netty46]

Ok I will pop to the surgery and get a print out and check the website

Thanks