New to this forum

[angelacorcoran]

Hi guys, I'm new here I was diagnosed with RA at the beginning of this year, I was diagnosed with under active thyroid about 10yrs ago but I never really understood it, I've not been doing too good so went to the doctor asking if all the medications I am on work okay with each other she suggested an anti depressant and to get my thyroid tested again which I did and she phoned said I had to increase my levo from 75mg to a 100mg and re-establish 6-8 weeks, I've been reading various posts on here to try and get some clarification on what is going on with me and wondered if anyone could shed some light on my test results I have taken pictures of them, they test me every 2wks because I'm on sulphasalazine for ra and these results include my thyroid also thank you in advance.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Sorry impossible to read this, too fuzzy

Can you type up results for these plus ranges (figures in brackets after each result)

TSH

FT4

FT3

TPO antibodies

TG Antibodies

Vitamin D

Folate

Ferritin

B12

[angelacorcoran in reply to SlowDragon]

Tsh 6.87 mu/L (0.35-5.00 u)

Free t4 16.9 pmo1/L(9.0-21.00 u)

That's all the results under thyroid function test

Vitamin b12 514 ng/1 (200-900 u)

Ferritin 44 ug/1 (15-200 u)

Folate 13.4 ug/1 (3.1-20.0 u) it also says 15-50 intermediate result, consider Iron deficiency in patients with inflammatory disease

Vitamin d was refused as result from 1.12.2016 are valid for 340 days and that result was 96 nmo1/L no range given x

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to angelacorcoran]

So your TSH was too high, indicating you needed dose increase. Which you have now done.

Ferritin is a bit low, you could try to improve by eating liver once a week. Other options see SeasideSusie vitamin replies to others

B12 and folate, both need watching. Might improve on increased dose of Levo.

Vitamin D was good. Suggest you check in January via private test

Vitamindtest.org.uk £28 postal kit

Government recommends we supplement Oct to April 800iu daily

Vitamin D mouth spray by Better You comes in 1000iu dose

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

angelacorcoran I hope you refused the antidepressant. That's just lazy doctoring rather than trying to get to the root of the problem.

See how your levels are in 6-8 weeks time. The aim of a treated hypo patient generally is for TSH to be 1 or below or wherever it needs to be for FT4 and FT3 to be in the upper part of their respective reference ranges when on Levo.

Make sure that your appointment for thyroid blood tests is for the very earliest appointment of the morning, fast overnight and leave off Levo for 24 hours. This gives the highest possible TSH which is needed when looking for an increase in dose or to avoid a reduction. TSH is highest early morning and lowers throughout the day. It also lowers after eating. This is a patient to patient tip which we don't discuss with doctors or phlebotomists.

**

You can look for any interactions between your meds by googling "levothyroxine + sulphasalazine" and doing that for all of them.

Keep Levo as far away as possible from all other medication.

**

Vitamin b12 514 ng/1 (200-900) Folate 13.4 ug/1 (3.1-20.0)

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."

I keep my level at around 1000. Sublingual methylcobalamin lozenges are what's needed if you wish to self supplement, along with a good quality B Complex to balance all the B vitamins.

**

Ferritin 44 ug/1 (15-200) it also says 15-50 intermediate result, consider Iron deficiency in patients with inflammatory disease

You'll need to discuss the Iron Deficiency part with your GP but for thyroid hormone to work (that's our own as well as replacement hormone) ferritin needs to be at least 70, preferably half way through range. 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...

**

Vitamin d was refused as result from 1.12.2016 are valid for 340 days and that result was 96 nmo1/L no range given

You can always do a private fingerprick bloodspot test costing £28 from City Assays vitamindtest.org.uk/

and I think I would be doing that as it is now winter and you'll need a maintenance dose. The 800iu recommended by the government is only good if your level is already decent. The Vit D Council recommends 100-150nmol/L. My maintenance dose is 2000iu all year round now that I am within the recommended range, but we all have our own individual maintenance dose that we need to find.

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 helps D3 to work and 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.

There are combined D3/K2-MK7 supplements available if you only want to take one rather than separate supplements. Magnesium you would have to supplement separately.

[angelacorcoran in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thank you for taking the time to reply to me x