Selenium.

[lucylocks]

Hi

I have never taken Selenium as I thought it was mainly for people with hashi's.

As my antibodies are climbing to very near top of the range I thought I should start to take it.

Can anyone recommend a good one to take.

Many thanks.

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Look for selenium l-selenomethionine as it is the more absorbable form or yeast bound selenium. Don't go for selenite or selenate forms as they are inorganic and less absorbable.

A lot of selenium supplements have an unpleasant odour. I use Cytoplan brand (a yeast bound one), which is a very small tablet with no odour.

Selenium also helps T4 to T3 conversion.

[lucylocks in reply to SeasideSusie]

Many thanks SeasideSusie,

I did read something about selenate been toxic so wanted to avoid that one.

I will look at Cytoplan and give it a try, my T4 is at a good level but T3 could be better so will try the selenium before looking at adding T3.

Thank you.

[LAHs in reply to lucylocks]

Yes, that is why I recommend eating two Brazil nuts per day. With some minerals and/or metals it is best to get them from pure organic sources, it is then unlikely that you will take amounts that will lead to toxic levels. If you eat too many Brazil nuts you are likely to feel sick before you can poison yourself.

Now, you are going to get arguments that the level of Se in Brazil nuts is not guaranteed. Seek out a good source of good quality nuts and you will bypass that argument. I personally take 2 Brazil nuts per day and I think it is responsible for my general feeling of well being - as a result of good T4 to T3 conversion. Se is the catalyst for T4 to T3 conversion (and other things but don't worry about those until you have your T4 to T3 conversion optimized.), If you want to read up more about the importance of Se in the endocrine process, read the papers published by a guy called Greg Kelly.

Repeat, don't take more than 2 Brazil nuts per day, more than 2 may cause toxicity.

[Evea in reply to LAHs]

I ate two brazil nuts a day for half a year and my blood test showed that selenium was three times higher than normal. There's lots of selenium in fish also. I ate fish about three times a week. Different meat has different amount of selenium. Check these things at first.

[lucylocks in reply to Evea]

Thank you.

Did your Doctor do your blood test, I did ask mine once for one but they said they could not do it.

[Evea in reply to lucylocks]

I did the test of minerals and paid over 100 euros for it.

[lucylocks in reply to Evea]

What company did you use please?

[Evea in reply to lucylocks]

Synlab in Estonia.

[lucylocks in reply to Evea]

Thank you,

I am in the U.K. so will have to look here for a test.

[LAHs in reply to Evea]

Yes, of course. Measure your levels of anything before you start to supplement. If eating fish is already doing it for you then forget Brazil nuts and continue with the fish. Regardless of which path you take monitor your levels after a couple of months to make sure you are not overdoing it. For what this is worth I eat both Brazil nuts and fish three times a week, my Se was about mid upper range. And my mercury was high! So be careful if you are a fishaholic like me.

[lucylocks in reply to LAHs]

Hi LAHs,

If someone has their Selenium level checked and it is near top of the range, then would this make one convert T4 to T3 O.K. or does only supplementing do that.

[LAHs in reply to lucylocks]

There are a number of factors which facilitate the T4 to T3 conversion, vit B12, ferritin, folate, vit D to name four but the catalyst for this reaction is Selenium (Se). If you have plenty of Se, i.e. it is near the top of the range then you do not need to supplement (and should not) and you should look to optimizing the other 4 factors to improve your conversion problem. But how do you know you have a problem? Well, go get your Free T3 and Free T4 measured. For every 4 molecules of T4 you should generate one T3 molecule. So your ratio of FT4 to FT3 should equal about 4:1. Or, another way: FT4 divided by FT3 =about 4. 4:1 is the ratio of FT4 to FT3 in humans who don't have a thyroid problem (pigs are slightly different, it's closer to 3:1). Now it is possible that these two quantities are not measured in the same units, often FT4 is measured in ng/dL and FT3 is measured in pg/mL. If this is your case, just take the numbers as they are reported but multiply your answer by 10. If these are not your units then use any online converter to get your numbers into the same units.

And, in answer to your question, no, you do not need to supplement Se if you are at the top of the range, the Se in your body is sufficient to do the trick.

[lucylocks in reply to LAHs]

Thank you for your reply, but I cannot eat brazil nuts.

I will look at papers of Greg Kelly, thanks for letting me know.

[lucylocks in reply to lucylocks]

Hi LAHs

many thanks for your reply, do you mind having a look at my last results please.

Taking 125mcg. levo.

7th December 2017 Medichecks results, blood taken 9.00am approx. 24 hours after last dose of levo. and fasted for approx. ten hours.

TSH 0.014 range 0.27 - 4.20

Total Thyroxine 91.4 range 59 - 154

FT4 19.4 range 12.00 - 22.00

FT3 5.04 range 3.10 - 6.80

THYROIDGLOBULIN ANTIBODIES 103 range 0 - 115 (up from 95 on previous test)

THYROID PEROXIDASE ANTIBODIES 20.8 range 0 - 34.00 (down from 32.5 on previous test)

I also had some tests done prior to this when I attended the Immunology clinic mid November to investigate eczema and hives I started getting last year.

Blood taken 4.45 p.m.

TSH 0.04 range 0.35 - 4.7

FT4 20 range 7.8 - 21.0

Thyroid Peroxidase Antibodies 8 range 0 - 75

Vitamin D 66.8 (states 55 - 75, maybe suboptimal as it is seasonal, lower in winter, higher in summer, but should be above 50 at all times)

Vitamin B12 677 range 115 - 1000

Folate 7.8 <3

Started feeling really tired again, along with other symptoms, mid February so went to Doctor and he did some tests

7th March 2018.

Ferritin 87 (states 20 - 100 does not exclude iron deficiency) last range went up to 300

Iron 20 range 5 - 31

Folate 12.7 <3

Vitamin B12 385 range 115 - 1000 I was surprised my level had dropped from 677 but I had ran out of supplements so was not taking them for ten days before test

I do supplement with Vit B12 2500mcg.

Vitamin D 2000iu.

Thorne Stress B Complex

Vitamin C as ascorbic acid 1000 mg. daily.

Any advice would be gratefully received.

Thank you.

[silverfox7]

Have a look at your Vit D, B12, folate and ferritin. Having those optimal help conversion as well. Done that myself though it takes time depending on how low you are but well worth the effort.

[lucylocks in reply to silverfox7]

Thank you,

folate and ferritin are good, but B12 and D need to be higher, but I am working on getting them optimal.

[Glen202]

I take selenium, no problems.

[lucylocks in reply to Glen202]

Hi,

which one do you take?

[amasufindme]

I take Lamberts 200mcg Selenium - its a quality source and yeast free.

[lucylocks in reply to amasufindme]

Thank you,

I will take a look at Lamberts. I take their Vit C and find it to be a good product.

[Wattsea]

Just to say that I was taking a selenium supplement by Thorne as I thought I might need help converting T4 to T3, eventhough I was on NTD which contains T3, but thought it might help anyway. Turns out I don’t have problems converting T4 to T3. After reading various reports on this site about selenium supplements I realised it might be the cause of headaches I had been experiencing. So I stopped taking it and the headaches disappeared within a couple of months. My T3, which had also been too high, came down to within normal range. Best to get your T3 checked before supplementation (which I didn’t do) and then during.

[lucylocks in reply to Wattsea]

Thank you,

My T4 is near top of range but T3 half way through range, so I think my conversion could be better.

I wonder was it the selenium or high T3 which gave you headaches.

[Katelou]

Can you get Selenium levels tested?

[lucylocks in reply to Katelou]

Thank you,

I did ask my Doctor once, but she said they do not do it.

I may look at having it done privately.

[amasufindme in reply to Katelou]

Yes Medichecks medichecks.com/search/selenium

...do testing urine/blood/hair sample

[Katelou in reply to amasufindme]

Thank you for that

[Hidden]

I take pure encapsulations selenium, once a day in the morning with vitamin e. I used to have a continuous sore throat which I now don't have at all from taking these 🙂

[lucylocks in reply to Hidden]

Thank you,

I will look at pure encapsulations. Good to hear it helped your throat.