Test results for anyone kind enough to comment

[dashi2208]

These results were when taking 1.5 Grains. What I wouldn't give for a good nights sleep!

[Jazzw]

Aha. Good follow up to your post of yesterday! Right, so (1) you definitely need an NDT increase. I’d up by half a grain a day - so start taking 2 grains a day. (2) Your Vit D levels are terrible - didn’t your doctor comment on those? You need to work on getting those levels up. I would suggest taking 3,000-5,000iu daily for a while (or speaking to your doctor to get something prescribed).

Your B12, folate and iron aren’t as bad as many we see here but none of them are optimal and could do with a bit of a boost.

But I’d say your main issues are needing more NDT and getting your Vit D levels higher.

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Jazz has got it covered but I'd just add

Vit D is recommended to be 100-150nmol/L according to the Vit D Council. With a level of 34.7 you are 4.7 above where you would be given loading doses totalling 300,000iu over a few weeks. My suggestion would be to take 10,000iu daily for 2 weeks (140,000iu) then 5000iu daily for 2 weeks (70000iu) so after 4 weeks you will have taken 210,000iu. Then reduce to 5000iu alternate days and retest 3 months after starting. [You could start lower, say 5000iu daily, it will just take longer.]

When you've reached the recommended level then you'll need to find your maintenance dose which might be 2000iu daily, maybe more or mess, maybe more in winter than summer, it's trial and error.

When taking D3 there are important cofactors needed

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 tissue where it can be deposited and cause problems. Magnesium helps the body use D3. It comes in different forms so you need to choose which would suit you best

naturalnews.com/046401_magn...

D3 and K2 are fat soluble so should be taken with the fattiest meal of the day and 4 hours away from thyroid meds, magnesium is calming so is best taken in the evening, 4 hours away from thyroid meds.

Magnesium is low (most people test low) but that will be covered as a cofactor of D3. Taking magnesium at night may help with sleep.

Ferritin needs to be at least 70 for thyroid hormone to work, preferably half way through range. Eating liver regularly will raise your level, maximum 200g per week due to the high Vit A content.

B12 should be over 500 and Folate should be at least half way through range. Sublingual methylcobalamin lozenges 1000mcg for the B12 plus a good B Complex to balance all the B vitamins.

Your TSH is high for someone on NDT, it's usually very low or suppressed so that suggests you are undermedicated. Plenty of room to increase your FT3 so I would increase your dose of NDT as Jazz says - half a grain now and any future increases should be 1/4 grain as you don't want to overshoot and miss your sweet spot.

[dashi2208 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thank you very much for your exhaustive, informative reply. I will heed all of your advice.

One further question if you don't mind. At present I split my dose into 3 halves over roughly 16 hours. Is this advisable in your opinion or should the NDT be taken in a single dose first thing in the morning as suggested on the Acella website? I found that when taking a single dose . . as above . . I occasionally had a 'turn' after which felt a little like the grogginess of having had a short afternoon nap. Weird and disconcerting. This seems to happen less frequently with splitting doses. Now that you have indicated the need for a higher dose along with the other recommendations, presumably one of these could be the problem . .. . ?

Richard

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to dashi2208]

Dashi

Some people need to split dose, others manage with taking it all at once. It really is a case of experimenting and see what suits you.

It seems as though a single dose may not be right for you if you have these occasional turns, so why not try splitting into 2 doses for now and see how that goes.

[dashi2208]

Okay . . . will do.

Thanks