Medicheck's 'iron deficiency test' no longer in... - Thyroid UK

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Medicheck's 'iron deficiency test' no longer includes word 'ferritin', though their Dr. reports 'healthy iron stores': advice please

Judithdalston profile image
6 Replies

Recent '11 test' bloods by Medichecks now records an iron deficiency check under 'iron status' but does not use the words ferritin, despite the company's doctor reporting 'ferritin as normal, healthy iron stores'. This has a range of 13-150, mine was 62.8ug/L. SeasideSusie kindly mentioned earlier that the iron check is now 5 tests ( iron, TIBC,transferrin, ferritin and CRP-the latter an inflammation marker that might relate to raised ferritin). What I am not sure about now is how should I interpret the 62.8 ug/L - as equivalent to ferritin results, i.e. It should be a minimum of 70, perhaps up to 130? SeasideSusie suggests liver ( or as I can't abide it, black pudding) to bump up the iron levels.

Any suggestions to elevate folate ( result 7.48ug/L (2.91-50), I have taken a good quality folic acid (400 ug) daily for years, and perhaps despite minimal antibodies now, and no symptoms, perhaps have low gut absorption ( have lowish Vit D levels too despite years of daily 10,000 and 5,000ug tablets).

Any advice most welcome

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Judithdalston
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SeasideSusie profile image
SeasideSusieRemembering

Judith

Do you mean Medichecks Thyroid Check Ultravit?

medichecks.com/thyroid-func...

If so then the final test in the list is "Iron Status" and below that it does say "Ferritin".

Have you recently done the test and the results sheet doesn't say this? Can you upload a picture of it to your opening post (using the edit facility to add your photo)

Medichecks recently changed their separate "Iron Status" test, which included 4 tests, to an "Iron Deficiency Check" and included one extra test, total now 5 tests.

I am sure the 62.8ug/L with a range of 13-150 is Ferritin, that's exactly the units of measurement and range for all my ferritin/iron panel tests with them. If you want clarification then I would contact them.

As for your folate, instead of taking a folic acid supplement, why not take a good B Compex instead. I raised my folate from bottom of range to top of range in 2.5 months with 1 x Thorne Basic B daily.

SlowDragon profile image
SlowDragonAdministrator

Folic acid is not the same as folate. We can't always process folic acid

As SeasideSusie says, taking a good vitamin B complex with folate in, may be much more effective

chriskresser.com/folate-vs-...

Similarly with vitamin D, if we are short of magnesium, which is also very common with thyroid and gut problems, then we can't use the vitamin D

sciencedaily.com/releases/2...

easy-immune-health.com/magn...

articles.mercola.com/sites/...

Better You vitamin D mouth spray is recommended for those of us with Hashimoto's as its absorbed in mouth and avoids poor gut function

Perhaps start with 3000iu or 5000iu spray

Don't forget to add vitamin K2 Mk7 when taking vitamin D

articles.mercola.com/sites/...

humanbean profile image
humanbean

I'm not sure what it is you are asking...

Medichecks had a test bundle available until a week or two ago called the "Iron Status" test which included four tests. Those four tests were

Serum iron

TIBC (Total Iron Binding Capacity)

Transferrin

Ferritin

They have now ditched the Iron Status test and have created an Iron Deficiency test which is the same as the discontinued Iron Status test with the addition of CRP-hs - a test of inflammation levels.

medichecks.com/iron-tests/i...

They also have several thyroid test bundles which incorporate Ferritin as one of the tests, and they title this as "Iron Status", but the Iron Status they are talking about in this particular case is simply a Ferritin blood test. This is useful as a test for iron but can be misleading without the other information included in the old Iron Status test or the new Iron Deficiency test.

medichecks.com/thyroid-func...

Judithdalston profile image
Judithdalston

Apologies everyone, I am being stupid! Instead of downloading the Medichecks Thyroid Check Ultravit, I wrote down notes and somehow missed out 'ferritin' heading....mea culpa. But you have clarified and helped with ideas to boost my levels - thanks.

Folic acid can stop some people (with a methylation problem) from absorbing folate. Try methyl folate instead.

Judithdalston profile image
Judithdalston in reply to Angel_of_the_North

Might be better than the B complex recommended by others as I would assume that would contain B12 too and my Active B12 from Medichecks test was way over range (>300 instead of 25.1 -165). Thanks

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