Vitamin results

[Sorcia]

Total 25 OH vitamin D 23.7 (<25 severe deficiency)

Ferritin 11 (15 - 150)

Folate 2.6 (4.6 - 18.7)

Vitamin B12 201 (190 - 900)

Advice appreciated

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Are you taking any supplements, prescribed or otherwise. If so, what?

Have you been tested for and diagnosed with iron deficiency anaemia?

[Sorcia in reply to SeasideSusie]

Taking 800iu vitamin D and ferrous fumarate 3 times a day for iron deficiency diagnosed 2013

[Scazzoh]

Hi Sorcia, are you receiving treatment for thyroid disease or have you been tested? This will affect vitamin/iron levels.

[Sorcia in reply to Scazzoh]

Hi I am due to start carbimazole

Thyroid peroxidase antibody >1500 (<34)

Thyroglobulin antibody 256.3 (<115)

TSH 0.03 (0.2 - 4.2)

Free T4 21.3 (12 - 22)

Free T3 4.2 (3.1 - 6.8)

Am taking levothyroxine for hypothyroid diagnosed 2011 (100mcg)

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to Sorcia]

Sorcia You do not have an overactive thyroid so you do not need Carbimazole, as advised in your other thread. Nothing about those results even show you are overmedicated at that point. Do not start the Carbimazole.

I have to go out for a few hours, I will come back and give a detailed reply about your vitamins and minerals. You can, in the meantime, click on my username, then click on Replies, and have a look through some of my posts in reply to vitamin and mineral levels.

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to Sorcia]

Sorcia As far as your Hashi's is concerned, and the fact that you had hyper symptoms and your doctors said you were hyperthyroid and not hypothyroid, he doesn't understand autoimmune thyroid disease and how the antibody fluctuations can affect you.

The antibody attacks cause fluctuations in symptoms and test results. When the antibodies attack, the dying cells dump a load of thyroid hormone into the blood and this can cause TSH to become suppressed and Free T4 and Free T3 to be very high or over range. You may get symptoms of being overmedicated (hyper type symptoms) to go along with these results that look as though you are overmedicated. Unless a GP knows about Hashi's and these hyper swings, then they panic and reduce or stop your thyroid meds or, as in your case, say you are hyperthyroid and decide you need Carbimazole.

The hyper swings are temporary, and eventually things go back to normal. Test results settle back down and hypo symptoms may return. Thyroid meds should then be adjusted again, increased until you are stable again.

So it sounds very much as though you may have had a Hashi's flare and your GP mistook it for hyperthyroidism.

You can help reduce the antibodies by adopting a strict gluten free diet which has helped many members here. Gluten contains gliadin (a protein) which is thought to trigger autoimmune attacks so eliminating gluten can help reduce these attacks. You don't need to be gluten sensitive or have Coeliac disease for a gluten free diet to help.

Supplementing with selenium l-selenomethionine 200mcg daily can also help reduce the antibodies, as can keeping TSH suppressed.

Gluten/thyroid connection: chriskresser.com/the-gluten...

stopthethyroidmadness.com/h...

stopthethyroidmadness.com/h...

hypothyroidmom.com/hashimot...

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/about_...

[hellybaybee]

All very low, vitamin d should be over 100 gp should prescribe you high dose d3 (oral is best), b12 should be over 500 but ideally 1000 you should take methylcoblamin injections, supplement ferritin a folate too so they are higher in range

[Gambit62]

please take a look at the PAS forum in relation to B12 (and folate)

healthunlocked.com/pasoc

you seem to have multiple vitamin and mineral deficiencies which woulds suggest you have an absorption problem - possible candidates are coeliacs, PA, h pylori infection, crohn's

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Sorcia

Total 25 OH vitamin D 23.7 (<25 severe deficiency)

Taking 800iu vitamin D

Ask your GP why he hasn't followed the guidelines which state that you should receive loading doses of D3. 800iu D3 isn't going to ever raise your level. It is hardly a maintenance dose for someone with a reasonable level.

NICE treatment summary for Vit D deficiency:

cks.nice.org.uk/vitamin-d-d...

Treat for vitamin D deficiency if serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) levels are less than 30 nmol/L.

For the treatment of vitamin D deficiency, the recommended treatment is based on fixed loading doses of vitamin D (up to a total of about 300,000 international units [IU]) given either as weekly or daily split doses, followed by lifelong maintenance treatment of about 800 IU a day. Higher doses of up to 2000 IU a day, occasionally up to 4000 IU a day, may be used for certain groups of people, for example those with malabsorption disorders. Several treatment regimens are available, including 50,000 IU once a week for 6 weeks (300,000 IU in total), 20,000 IU twice a week for 7 weeks (280,000 IU in total), or 4000 IU daily for 10 weeks (280,000 IU in total)."

Each Health Authority has their own guidelines but they will be very similar. Go and see your GP and demand that he treats you according to the guidelines and prescribes the loading doses. Once these have been completed you will need a reduced amount (not the paltry 800iu prescribed) to bring your level up to what's recommended by the Vit D Council and then you'll need a maintenance dose (not 800iu) which may be 2000iu daily, it's trial and error so it's recommended to retest once or twice a year to keep within the recommended range. You can do this with a private fingerprick blood spot test with City Assays vitamindtest.org.uk/

There are important cofactors needed when taking D3

vitamindcouncil.org/about-v...

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, D3 four hours away from thyroid meds.

Magnesium comes in different forms, check to see which would suit you best and as it's calming it's best taken in the evening, four hours away from thyroid meds

naturalnews.com/046401_magn...

Check out the other cofactors too.

**

Ferritin 11 (15 - 150) - ferrous fumarate 3 times a day for iron deficiency diagnosed 2013

Ask your GP why, after 4 years of supplementing, are you still below range for ferritin and iron deficient. Perhaps he should be looking into absorption issues (very common with Hashi's), ask him to investigate this.

Ideally you need an iron infusion so ask for one, tablets will take months to raise your level (or not, as four years supplementing doesn't seem to have done anything), whereas an infusion will raise your level within 24-48 hours.

Take each iron tablet with 1000mg Vitamin C to aid absorption and help prevent constipaton. Always take iron 4 hours away from thyroid meds and two hours away from other medication and supplements as it will affect absorption.

You can help raise your level by eating liver regularly, maximum 200g per week due to it's high Vit A content, and including lots of iron rich foods in your diet apjcn.nhri.org.tw/server/in...

**

Folate 2.6 (4.6 - 18.7)

Vitamin B12 201 (190 - 900)

Ask your GP why he has ignored your folate deficiency.

Do you have any signs of B12 deficiency b12deficiency.info/signs-an...

You should post on the Pernicious Anaemia Society forum for further advice healthunlocked.com/pasoc Quote your folate, B12 and ferritin results, iron deficiency information and any signs of B12 deficiency you may be experiencing. You may need testing for Pernicious Anaemia and you may need B12 injections. Whatever they advise, discuss with yourGP.

I have read (but not researched so don't have links) that BCSH, UKNEQAS and NICE guidelines recommend:

"In the presence of discordance between test results and strong clinical features of deficiency, treatment should not be delayed to avoid neurological impairment."

And an extract from the book, "Could it be B12?" by Sally M. Pacholok:

"We believe that the 'normal' serum B12 threshold needs to be raised from 200 pg/ml to at least 450 pg/ml because deficiencies begin to appear in the cerebrospinal fluid below 550".

"For brain and nervous system health and prevention of disease in older adults, serum B12 levels should be maintained near or above 1000 pg/ml."