Hypothyroid supplements advice please

[th2304]

I am currently on 125mcg Levo, supplements vit C 1000mg, vit B complex which includes folic acid, vit D3 25ug, magnesium citrate 200mg, selenium 100ug, zinc 15mg, vit K2 with Mena Q7, Alpha Lipoic Acid 300mg, Omega 3 fish oil capsules 100mg x 2. Would be grateful for any advice please, am I going over the top with supplements, and is Folic acid the same as Folate, if not should I drop the multi B complex and replace with Just B12 and folate, and what is a good quality brand ? Almost forgot also taking Glucosamine + Chondroitin + MSM which seems to help with shoulder and hand pain.

I keep supplements four hours away from Levo.

Most of vit supplements are Holland and Barrett, K2 is Doctors Best, Magnesium is Nu U Nutrition, Alph Lipoic Acid is Best Naturals, and Glucosamine combo is Amazing Formulas.

Any advice greatly appreciated.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Folic acid is not the same as folate. You may be much better taking a decent Vitamin B complex. One with folate in.

chriskresser.com/folate-vs-...

Generally you get what you pay for with vitamins and most recommendations are to avoid cheap H&B products. Having said that they do stock Better You vitamin D mouth spray, often on 3 for 2 offer.

If you are taking vitamin B complex, or any supplements containing biotin, remember to stop these 3-5 days before any blood tests, as biotin can falsely affect test results

endo.confex.com/endo/2016en...

endocrinenews.endocrine.org...

Have you had vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12 tested?

[th2304 in reply to SlowDragon]

Thanks SlowDragon for reply. The B complex I am curently taking does contain Biotin. Will be getting Medichecks blood test to include vits in around 5 weeks time as Levo dosage was lowered by GP around 3 weeks ago and intend to stop all supplements at least a week before. Intend to change over from H & B supplements once I can find quality brands.

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Have you tested your vitamins and minerals? What are your levels? Do point in supplementing anything unless you know you need to, knowing the levels tells you what dose of supplement you need.

Supplementing D3 when not needed means that excess gets stored and can reach toxicity levels, same with iron.

B Complex - look at Thorne Basic B which I like as it contains the active forms of the vitamins, or Igennus Super B which SlowDragon likes.

Selenium - I like Cytoplan because it's a nice small tablet with no odour. A lot of selenium supplements have an unpleasant odour. Look for either a yeast bound selenium (Cytoplan is) or selenium l-selenomethionine, both are well absorbed. Avoid selenite and selenate forms as they don't absorb so well.

D3 - 25mcg is just 1000iu and may be a maintenance dose if your level is good, if level is low it wont raise. Doctors Best or Now Foods softgels are good, or if you have Hashi's then BetterYou oral spray.

[th2304]

Thank you SeasideSusie for your reply. Will be getting Medichecks bloods including vits done in about five weeks, GP lowered my Levo dosage about 3 weeks ago. Intend stopping supplements at least a week before bloods taken. Have been looking at both Ingennus and Cytoplan supplements so will likely try some of those. I started vit D3 just over a year ago on consultants advice after having a Melanoma Insitu removed, although after specialists getting their head together said not 100% sure it was a Melanoma but they treated as worst case. Thank goodness for this forum, otherwise I would have wasted a lot more money on probably less effective and poorer quality supplements

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to th2304]

You still need to know your Vit D level to know how much D3 to take. I would make sure you get the Medichecks Thyroid UltraVit which includes the Vit D test, don't confuse it with the Ultra which doesn't include Vit D.

[th2304 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Yes it is the Ultravit test that I intend to get,they currently have it for same price as the Ultra £79, but can’t get mine done yet because of Levo dosage change, but don’t know if I could purchase now and keep kit for 5 weeks, will give them a call and see what they say.

Many thanks for your advice

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to th2304]

Yes you can purchase it now. I asked last year how long I could delay doing the test and the reply was that you have 6 months to return your sample. I actually have an iron status test I bought last November, I will be doing it at the beginning of May. You could email just to double check, the UltraVit is very good value at the moment and it would be a shame to miss out on the discount.

[th2304 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thank you for that, though I think I still need to ring because they have arrangement with local hospital for blood draw, for a fee of course.