I found out today that my TPO went from 1518 end of November, to 3739 (0-60) two days ago. I have been trying so hard to get my numbers down and I am shocked that they have more than doubled. I believe the cause could be from some sort of a virus that I had all fall. I also recently found out that I have/had a cryptosporidium, which is along the lines of giardia. I have probably had this for a very long time because I did not have classic symptoms of a recent acquisition. I took a three day treatment of Nitazoxanide last week. For a few days following treatment, I had increased GI problems and some new problems. The last few days these GI symptoms have subsided. Today I found a study on Nitazoxanide use where antibodies increased. The study said it was possibly from release of toxocara antigens by dead larvae. How nice. It also said that Nitazoxanide does not always get rid of crytpo.
For Hashimoto's I take levothyroxine 88 mcg and liothyronine 15-20 mcg. The values to the right were my bloods at the end of November.
TPO - 3739/1518 - range = 0-60
TSH - .009/.467 - range = 0.4-4.0
FT3 - 3.4/2.7 - range = 2.3-4.2
FT4 - 1.4/1.26 - range = 1.26-1.51
In the past, when my TSH has gone down, so has my TPO. Not this time.
When diagnosed, my TPO was over 1000. Several months later it was 7000. At that point I started on medication. It stayed that high for close to a year. The lowest it's been was this past summer when it was just over 1000. The highest it had been until now was this past spring when I was sick and it was 2500. But after starting antibiotics, it slowly went down to 1000.
I do not have any hypo symptoms. I do not have any hyper symptoms either. I am gluten free, dairy and soy free. However, I had to eat gluten to get a coelic biopsy, which was negative. I might have a urinary tract infection and I am waiting for reflexing of that test. In the past, that sort of illness has made my TPO increase, but never to this extent.
I had serious problems all winter with my body temperature. I took 5 temperatures daily and more, as symptoms came and went. If I was suddenly cold and had increased aches, my temperature was usually in the 96's or 95's. I few times I felt feverish, had aches and my temperature went as high as 99. All of that stopped about a month ago. Today I tested my temperature and it was in the upper 96's.
Then there's my iron bloods. Is it just me, or does something look wrong here? Can anyone give some insight about what my numbers mean? Until a few months ago I did not take iron supplements. My ferritin has always been in the 20's, range is 10-330. I've never been told this was a problem. When I started getting sick this fall and suddenly became so fatigued, I decided to try some iron. It helped, so I continued taking it. I took daily iron pills and ate beef frequently. Ferritin increased 15 points in 3 weeks. Here are my current and previous numbers. February 6/December 19/November 28.
Ferritin - 54/38/23 - range (10-291)
IBC Unsaturaged - 67/173/177 - range (130 - 300)
Iron - 184/96/102 - range (35-140)
Iron Percentage Sat - 73%/36%/36% - range (15%-50%)
TIBC - 251/270/278 - range (220-390)
So now do I have iron poisoning?
SED rate: last tested was 3. Previous was 6-7. I need to get this retested this week.
Vitamin D: 84
I was scheduled to see a thyroid autoimmune endocrinologist tomorrow, but she had a death in the family and my appointment has been rescheduled to later March.
Ideas about what is going on in my body?
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I've been told by many, many doctors that the heterozygous hemachromatosis H63 that I have means absolutely nothing and is not causing any of my problems.
Thank you! Very good point! December and into January. You are right, it could be the gluten. The non flu type a or b virus that lasted almost two months and the parasite probably didn’t help either. Any way to help along eradicating those gluten bad boys faster than just time?
I take 200 mcg selenium almost daily. I also started taking E and inositol with that over a month a go. Those two additions are not supposed to be a problem? I wonder if the extra iron is causing any problem?
I’ve decided to cut back on my T3 a bit. 3.4 is getting a little high for me. I recently had a bit of new anxiety. Maybe it was that. I previously didn’t take my 15 mcgs everyday as prescribed. I’d forget the afternoon dosage. After suffering from being too cold, I decided to make sure I took it. It did seem to help me feel warmer even though my temp earlier yesterday was quite low. I was not cold or achy at the time I took it.
You should stop taking iron immediately, and don't eat extra meat to increase your iron level. Your serum iron is over the range, and it could end up being deposited in your heart, your brain, your liver and elsewhere. And once it does get deposited where it isn't wanted it takes the body ages to get rid of it.
Some causes of high iron are discussed at this STTM link :
You can ignore haemochromatosis. Your ferritin would have to be very high i.e. well over the range, for that to be at all likely, and yours is actually low.
Having an MTHFR mutation is a likely contender for the cause of your high iron - for some reason your body is not able to make use of the iron you consume in your food. The MTHFR mutation is very common.
There are other reasons suggested for high iron on link 1 above, and you would need professional help to identify if you have any of those conditions. There are even more suggestions for the causes of high iron in this link given on the high iron page :
The author of the STTM site suggests that people get their genes tested for the MTHFR gene, which I think is a little bit over the top. If you look at link 3 above, and go down the page, you can read a section entitled "How to treat it all". That section is actually quite easy to understand compared to what came before it. The suggested treatments are not difficult, and they are unlikely to cause harm to anyone whether they have gene problems or not. So you can give it a try without testing and see whether it helps. Supplementing B vitamins in the appropriate form, also vitamin C and Molybdenum is unlikely to cause any major issues. Start low, see how you get on and build up gradually to a sensible dose. If the supplements cause any problems you can just stop supplementing, or cut the dose of your supplements.
If the supplements actually help you to feel better then they may be helping your body to use the iron you have. You would have to repeat the iron-related tests to find out. What you want to happen is your serum iron to drop and your ferritin to rise.
Thank you! That is exactly what I was thinking: stop focusing on iron. I must say, it did help me with decreasing body pain quite drastically.
I actually do have an MTHFR gene. I’m 1298 hetero. I take methylfolate and methylb12. I do seem to have some b12 absorption problem but several doctors have said I’m fine because I supplement b12. My serum b12 way off range, >1500. However, my cell level b12 seems to have a problem. My b12 binding capacity or transcobalamin is deficient at 770-780, range 800-2000. (Fasting b12 over 72 hours). I take a rediculous amount of b12 orally. 10,000-15,000 mcg almost daily. I still have some b12 deficiency symptoms, but less now at that dosage. I am switching to self injections of methyl cobalamin. Need to pick that up at the postal office tomorrow.
I did just start a new medication a month ago. I went on 30 mgs duluxodine mainly for pain. The iron already helped with that a lot and the duluxodine even more so. Could this be causing me any problems? I will be doing a liver enzyme test as well as the rest of the comprehensive metabolic panel tomorrow.
I will read up on those links on my computer tomorrow. Thank you!
There is another type of active vitamin B12 apart from methylcobalamin, called adenosylcobalamin (also known as dibencozide or cobamamin). You could swap some of your methyl-B12 for adenosyl-B12 if you wanted to. You never know, it might help.
Regarding the B12-related test results and transcobalamin results you gave above you might get some help from the Pernicious Anaemia Society - they are the experts in all things to do with B12. You find them here : healthunlocked.com/pasoc
I don't think you should ignore your iron (in the sense that you shouldn't stop testing it occasionally). You need to find out ways of improving your body's use of it. And once you've done that you might be able to start supplementing again, and this time your ferritin might increase without your serum iron increasing. But you would have to be very, very careful and test frequently.
If you have a known problem with an MTHFR mutation you could try a more sophisticated protocol for treating it, if it appealed to you, although it would be expensive to follow it all :
I have never investigated Molybdenum. I'm afraid you will have to do your own research. But if you decided to try it I would suggest a low dose and buying a small number of pills.
I just had a very quick look, and opinions on supplementing it are varied.
Be aware I have no medical training, so always do your own research before acting on anything I write.
I’ve been taking 1000 mgs of C with my iron. That definitely increases absorption of iron. I had C deficiency many years ago, but dont regularly get C in my diet and also didn’t regularly take it until the last few months. I had a similar episode of increased iron absorption with C in the past, but at that time, I did not take any iron and wasnt eating beef. I also had started the C because of cold and flu season, and being sick. I would like to keep taking the C. Should I still try molybdenum?
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