Vitamins and minerals advice please

[Jennv]

Taking the following: 800iu vitamin D3 since 2013, 210mg ferrous fumarate 3x a day since 2013, folic acid 5mg once a day since 2016. Thank you

DEC 2017

VITAMIN D TOTAL 34.4 (25 - 50 VITAMIN D DEFICIENCY. SUPPLEMENTATION IS INDICATED)

FOLATE 2.3 (2.5 - 19.5)

VITAMIN B12 197 (190 - 900)

FERRITIN 33 (30 - 400)

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Make an urgent "on the day" appointment with different GP from one that has kept you on 50mcg dose all these years

Have you had your Levothyroxine dose increased by 25mcg as recommended in last post?

These are all terrible. Thyroid hormones can not work when vitamins are too low

See this detailed reply to similar from SeasideSusie

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

You need full testing for Pernicious Anaemia, before starting B12 injections

Folic acid is not supposed to be supplemented before improving B12

Ferritin you will need full iron panel done. Possibly an iron infusion,

Ask GP to consider coeliac disease as underlying cause of low iron

certainly iron supplements have done little to improve levels

Eating liver once a week should help, but it's mainly because Thyroid is not correctly treated

Vitamin D - 800iu is nowhere near enough. You will need probably about 5000iu daily to bring level up to just above 100nmol

GP can't prescribe, so you will need to by your own. Better You vitamin D mouth spray is good as avoids gut. Comes in various strengths, suggest you try either. 3000iu or 5000iu

Retesting twice year, may need more in winter than summer. Important not to get level too high. It's trial and error working out how much you need, everyone is different

Vitamindtest.org.uk is postal test £28

Vitamins are low because you are very under medicated.

Levo dose should be increased in 25mcg steps until TSH is around one and FT4 towards top of range and FT3 at least half way in range

[Clutter]

Jennv,

VitD 800iu is prescribed as a maintenance dose after deficiency is corrected and vitD is replete >75. Your GP should refer to local guidelines or the cks.nice.org.uk/vitamin-d-d... My GP prescribed 40,000iu daily x 14 followed by 2,000iu daily x 8 weeks which raised vitD from <10 to 107 in 10 weeks. Vitamin D should be taken 4 hours away from Levothyroxine.

If your GP won't increase dose I recommend you buy your own D3 softgel capsules and take 10,000iu daily for 6 weeks then reduce to 5,000iu daily and retest in March. If you buy on Amazon please use the affiliate link healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Very low ferritin may indicate iron deficiency anaemia. Ask your GP to do a full blood count and iron panel to check. Treatment is usually 3 x 210mg Ferrous Fumarate. Take each tablet with 1,000mg vitamin C to aid absorption and minimise con-stipation. Iron should be taken 4 hours away from Levothyroxine.

B12 is very low and folate is deficient. If you have symptoms of B12 deficiency in b12deficiency.info/signs-an... go to healthunlocked.com/pasoc who are the experts on PA, B12 and folate deficiencies. My GP prescribed 5mg folic acid for a couple of months to correct folate deficiency but if B12 is deficient B12 injections need to be initiated 48 hours prior to taking folic acid.