I've learned so much since recently joining this board. Thank you sir sharing your expertise and experiences so freely, it helps enormously when you're battling with suspected undiagnosed thyroid issues.
I've had hypothyroid symptoms for several years combined with early menopause at 39 (I'm now on bioidentical HRT). In the last few months I've gained almost a stone in weight - I'm only 5ft so I look awful - and even sustained very low cal and/or low carb high fat diets have resulted in not one single ounce lost.
I am so dispirited and feel that my metabolism must be wrecked. I had blood tests done at the GP as a precursor to private referral to an endocrinologist, but of course they have all come back 'normal'.
Please would you be so kind as to take a look at my results (attached) and share with me your expert opinions? I am desperate - I will try anything now to kickstart my metabolism into helping me return to a healthy weight again.
Thank you
Charski
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Charski
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You have iron deficiency anaemia. Please make an on the day appointment with your GP, show him/her your results, point out your haemoglobin level is below the reference range and ask him/her to prescribe you iron supplements. If she/he doesn't prescribe you at least 3 per day please come back here and start a new thread for further advice.
Your ferritin level while marked as normal is too low. It should be half way in the reference range for optimal health. Unfortunately many GPs either don't know or ignore ferritin levels. All this means is once you get your haemoglobin level up which normally happens within 3 months you must continue taking iron supplements for a further 3 months. You then will need to have a private test to check what your ferritin level is.
Your vitamin D level while shown as adequate on your test results isn't actually optimal. You want it to be over 75nmol/L but preferably around 100.
Do you go in the sun at all? Do you have a summer holiday planned in the sun? The reason I'm asking this as this will determine the level of supplementation you will need.
You also don't have any vitamin B12 and folate test results? Where these ever tested?
Also, I don't personally agree with low calorie diets as I think they can cause more problems for your metabolism than you are trying to solve. You need sufficient calories to function properly otherwise your body will slow you down on purpose to cope and will store more fat. You need a good healthy balanced diet - certainly no less than 1750 (maybe 1500 at a push) calories a day which is needed to get enough nutrients too.
I would make sure eating enough healthy food and try other ways of losing weight such as increasing exercise instead.
There's so much conflicting advice out there, Saggy! The usual basal metabolic rate calculations for someone of my height give me around 1000 kcals/day to lose a pound a week. But even following this (or less, or more cal allowance) for several weeks gives me no change whatsoever. I am frustrated and desperate to reverse the weight gain. Also finding it difficult to exercise when I am completely bereft of energy and drive. Swimming seems to be the only thing I feel capable of.
Yes, I don't agree with many of these weight loss sites or calculators etc. I'm only 5 ft 2 and I would literally collapse only eating 1000 cals a day. I eat around 2000 and I'm size 10 with metabolic disorders lol. You still need enough food to fulfill your nutritional needs and the lower the calories, the less chance you will do this - this is already showing in low iron. Any deficiencies including things like protein will cause issues with your weight.
As you can see, the calorie intake required for a two year old with a sedentary lifestyle is 1000 calories - a two year old is much tinier than you lol
I think anything under 1500 is going to slow your metabolism down and is not a good thing to do.
Maybe try using a website like cronometer which tracks all nutritional requirements including the tiny ones to see if you are meeting your daily requirements. You can even plug in any exercise you do to take into account how many calories you've lost.
Not particularly. Some constipation, plus eczema on hands which usually flares up with the super-itchy subcutaneous tiny blisters (only mentioned that because I gather they can be a sign of gluten intolerance, but I don't see any big difference if I go GF).
Ah I get these - it is called pompholyx or deshidrotic eczema - itchy little bleeping buggers lol! Mine cleared up after going gluten free and have been proven to be caused by gluten now (in me anyway). However, these evil critters, like the coeliacs associated blisters called dermatitis herpetiformis, take at least a year of gluten free to clear up unfortunately. These were the last of my symptoms to go. I get them back as soon as I accidentally get glutened by a crumb but they they go within a few days now. The itching got better after a couple of months but remained for a long time.
I suppose they mean something's bothering your system, most likely gluten but not necessarily - could be other food intolerances?
Blimey, a year of GF to clear up? They certainly are persistent! Thing is as much as I believe in the power and value of complementary medicine I'm still unsure which discipline would give me the best diagnosis of a food intolerance. So many options.
Well from what I've experienced with myself and friends and read from other people, elimination diet seems the best and truest way - removing and seeing and then adding back -testing seems some what unreliable and money making to me as you mention. From all that I've seen, the only one that causes damage to the extent that it can take six months or even longer to heal is gluten which is why it's recommended three months minimally on here as the immune system seems to take some time to calm down from this, although you should know earlier than this with other improvements. For example in coeliacs, it takes six months for the immune reaction to dampen down and nearly a year or more for the stomach to heal. Most other food groups intolerances/allergies seem to be easier and quicker so a six week elimination diet is normally sufficient to work them out.
You can google elimination diet and you will find instruction on how to do it exactly - it basically means removing all known food groups that cause issues and then adding them back in one at a time and seeing how you react to them
Oh and if it helps you get the motivation, I lost heaps of weight and realised I did in fact own a pair of ankles after all these years, gluten intolerance or others can cause swelling, bloating and water retention lol
in regards to your thyroid the range for your Free T4 is very wide. With your "normal" TSH this means your thyroid results are "normal" or euthyroid and no doctor will treat you.
i suggest you:
1. Get your iron deficiency treated,
2. Answer the questions on vitamin D so you can be advised of what you supplementation you need
3. Get your vitamin B12 and folate tested and post the results.
Thank you both for replying. My iron levels have been low for the last 20+ years, so this is a 'normal' result for me. Even with supplementation I've never achieved optimal levels. However I'm now taking Spatone 2x/daily to try to address it again, but I'm not expecting to reach the required status.
Since these results came in I've also started 1x 5000iu dose of vit D3 daily. I have a fortnight in Greece at the end of July to boost my levels but in the meantime I work indoors so I'm trying to get outside more on sunny days.
Folate and B12 weren't specifically requested (I've only realised from this forum that they are important). Is my GP likely to agree to this or should I have them done privately?
Due to the other things that were measured in your results that would indicate that vitamin B12/folate are too low being within range, you probably will have to get them done privately.
In regards to your vitamin D3 you must get your level tested dead on 3 months especially as you are going to Greece. Vitamin D is fat soluble and if you take to much it is toxic. Therefore the maximum you want your blood level to ever reach is 150nmol/L. Yes the range is higher but you don't want to go there.
I would. I also wouldn't supplement on my holiday in Greece and afterwards until I had my blood test result.
The problem is unless you have been monitoring your vitamin D levels for a couple of years you don't know whether holidays to certain places effect your levels.
Hashimoto's commonly affects digestive system, leading to poor nutrient levels, low stomach acid and very often food intolerances, most likely gluten, but sometimes dairy
We need to have top of range levels of vitamin D, folate, B12 & ferritin
Hi slowdragon, the GP asked for them to be done but I suspect the lab didn't bother as the other TSH/T4/T3 etc returned 'normal'. At least I couldn't see the antibodies on the results sheet...
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