Sorry, ive posted before but it seems to have gotten lost and i cant access it after replying to the original thread... so trying again. Had my thryorid checked last week. THS was 0.261 and T4 was 7.8
B12 and everything came back fine. Iron is quite low so I've been given iron tablets. But that's all.
Doctor today said it's not low enough to warrant concern and I'm only just displaying under active results. She's sent me away and wants to re check in 6 weeks. She said if they've not dropped anymore itll be just a case of keeping an eye on it. I asked why both my results were low as usual in an underactive thyroid one is high ans one os low (?) and she just brushed it aside and said my THS levels could be from a recent infection.. which, to my knowledge, I've not had anything or been unwell. Didn't mention my t4 levels.
Just curious how low they need to drop before they will act? And should they be looking into the fact both results are low? I didn' have my ft3 tested or anything.. would I be better off requesting these too?
Thanks 😊
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victoriageorgina
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Those thyroid results suggest central hypothyroidism and your GP probably knows nothing about it. You should be referred to a thyroid specialist, not an endo who is a diabetes specialist but a thyroid specialist familiar with central hypothyroidism.
Low enough for medication for underactive thyroid. That's when I asked her about my results not showing either as both low.. to which she responded about an infection making my ths low.
I'll have a read of it and get it printed off. Thank you.
"Low enough for medication for underactive thyroid"
If that is what she said then she can't even diagnose primary hypothyroidism (underactive thyroid). That is the most common form of hypothyroidism and TSH would high, not low.
That's not the point, you aren't HYPER; you are HYPO - it's the low free t4 which is the concern and the last thing that they should be trying to do is treat you for overactive thyroid.
Medichecks Thyroid plus ultra vitamin or Blue Horizon Thyroid plus eleven are the most popular choice. DIY finger prick test or option to pay extra for private blood draw. Both companies often have money off offers.
All thyroid tests should ideally be done as early as possible in morning and fasting. This gives highest TSH and most consistent results. (Patient to patient tip, GP will be unaware)
If antibodies are high this is Hashimoto's, (also known by medics here in UK more commonly as autoimmune thyroid disease).
Your ferritin is absolutely dire. Have you been prescribed iron 3 x daily?
I have looked at medichecks tests, as i was interested in doing one to check for antibodies, and wonder how accurate they are from a pin prick? I read about someone who had the pin prick test, then had a blood test, and the results were quite different!
I have successfully done many, many fingerprick tests as I can't get blood drawn without having a home phlebotomy service from Blue Horizon at a cost of £49 and they can't get to me until midday at the earliest due to where I live.
As long as you can get the blood to flow easily enough from a fingerprick, without squeezing it out, and fill the tube to the level required, then they are fine. I've done them the same day as an NHS test, a few days apart and a week apart, and the results are always where expected.
I’ve found your original post (click on your user name picture and it’ll take you to the page with your posts on) and see that you saw a different doctor this time. The first doctor *did* seem to think it was a pituitary issue. See if you can make an appointment with that one again. The second doctor will leave you feeling ill for goodness knows how long.
Unfortunately these days repeated visits to the doctor are the only way to get taken seriously. And tell the doctor that the people at Thyroid UK - an NHS Choices approved source of info - say they think it looks like central hypothyroidism and could you be referred for further tests please.
B12, folate, vit d all came back fine too. Have been prescribed iron 2x daily to be re evaluated when my thyroid is re checked in 6 weeks. Have always suffered low iron so take supliments. Stopped my supliments a week or so before my tests as I ran out and kept forgetting to stock up.
You want to see the first doctor you saw NOT just another doctor.
So even if you have to wait a month to see him/her it's worth it as that first doctor has a clue on what they are doing.
If your GP practice has a website they may have a timetable for when that first doctor has surgeries. So ask for an appointment then.
Btw the tip about when to have your blood tests shouldn't be discussed with any medical profession, as some posters have been delibrately penalised for trying to ensure they should have morning appointments. Their practices have absolutely refused to give them morning appointments and as they can't have their blood tests at a hospital/clinic they have been stuck.
If you want to find your past posts, just click on your name and it will take you to another page and your previous posts and also responses you may have made.
What are your symptoms? My doctors were reluctant to give me levo for 6 months until my walking got so bad with pain and weakness in my legs and feet and other joints, horrible depression and massive weight gain, then they started to investigate.
Intense tiredness. Doesn't matter how much sleep I get I just cant break through the tiredness. My head is in a constant fog and my brain feels so heavy. I really struggle to concentrate and focus. Dizzy spells that can last for up too two days and leave me bed bound and palpitations that make it feel hard for me to catch my breath and can cause me to get light headed momentarily.
I don't have any issues with hair falling out or any aching and sore muscles. I seem to be able to manage my weight and keep it maintained and don't suffer any depression and joint pain. I'm sorry to hear you had to wait so long and get such a way before they investigated 😔
A lot of your symptoms will be based on your iron deficinecy anaemia.
However although your folate and b12 are ‘in range’ they are not optimal either. If you google signs of b12 deficinecy you will realise how many you tick.
B12 below 4/500 can produce symptoms in most people. You can add liver to your diet or start supplementing to bring those up too. Iron folate ferritin and b12 all work together with making blood cells/haemoglobin transportstion.
Thyroid does also appear low as others have said and needs investigation. But vitamin supplementation you definitely need to up - and quickly
Thank you. I can't eat liver as I'm a Vegan. But I'll look into other ways of upping my iron as well as taking my iron tablets and starting my b12 vit d and such vitimans again.
From looking at my symptoms more they do seem more in line with low iron and b12 than tyroid.
Stopping b12/d3 (and even iron to some extent ) a week before your test would not lower so quickly. So it does sound like your quite low overall. Having had similar levels to you and being told I was ‘normal’ left me half crippled with similar symptoms to you.
Try a b12 sublingual/oral spray and take high vitamin C with your iron. I suspect you may have a slight absorption issue in your gut/low stomach acid which could be adding to it.
If your iron remains that low despite supplementation - I would ask Gp about iron infusion to at least bring it to normal first.
Good luck- once my b12 injections and now iron is up I feel like a completely different person.
Thank you. I had the deepest two and a half hour nap today and still feel like I haven't slept for days, even though i am sleeping well at night too. I'm like such a dead weight constantly. I could easily just sleep and sleep and sleep ha!
Any idea how long it takes to notice the benefit of iron tabs? I'll try the different b12 too, rather than the capsules.
Vitamin C was a game changer for me- improved iron absorption and helped with my adrenals so I slept so much better and better sleep pattern. 1000mg vit C.
Ferritin and iron can take a while- sometimes weeks sometimes months. But I did notice a slight difference within a few weeks.
Do you take take B vitamins or nutritional yeast (containing biotin)? If not, it looks like central hypothyroidism, which GPs don't understand. I'd worry about the HbAc1 results which are very close to being type 2 diabetes. B12 and folate are also too low.
I take iron supliments, b12 and d3. I'e always been low on iron, even as a meat eater so take supliments which has always been suficiant. I ran out of iron a week or so before my tests and stoped taking my b12 and d3 so I knew what my results were at a base line so to speak. I've started taking them again. I'm surrised you say my b12 and folate are quite low as she told me they were fine and my folate was at a really good level. I'm a Vegan and only eat plant based the vast majority of the time.. no refined sugar or processed foods and I'm at a healthy weight.. I also had a good excersis routine before this tiredness took over so I'm also suprised I'm close to type 2 diabetes... I'll get that looked into. Thanks.
I think its worth double checking vitamins. Doctors tend to know nothing at all about them.
If you're supplementing to raise levels, you must make sure the levels are raising and new results are higher than old results. The standard doses tend not to be high enough to improve levels, and people are left with low levels, and the symptoms that go with it, for years.
Usually I'd say that B12 looks low, because the minimum is about 500 (which is usually over the NHS range), but the range here is really incredibly low. I think it's just a very low bar to what they'd call deficient. It is worth upgrading you B12 supplement, and taking a good B-complex alongside. The better form of B12 is methylcobalamin, and ideally sublingual (dissolve under the tongue) tablets. Less good supplements will be other forms of -cobalamin.
Thanks. That makes sense. I've also just read that being annemic can give you low hbac1 results. I'll upgrade my vitiman intake and hopefully these iron tablets will kick in soon and help things too.. lots to learn here 🖒
I'm also vegan, but my B12 doesn't drop like a stone if I stop taking it for a while - your body should be able to store B12 for months if not years, so I'd be concerned. My iron levels are also always low and always have been. Most vegans have high folate - mine is always top of range. it's difficult when no top of range is given - mine is usually around 20. The GP won't think you are close to Type 2 but anywhere near the top of the range for HbAc1 is not good - it's been said that the range goes up too high. Mercola says that " An A1C level between 5.7 and 6.4 is considered pre-diabetic" and you are at 5.4%, so not far off. You might be having post-prandial blood sugar surges.
It could be that my b12 never really had time to build a decent suply as I only started taking supliments for it in February as I was told it was best to take b12 along with iron supliments when I became vegan this year (vegiterian for two years previous) I'd not taken the b12 before hand. I'll carry on taking it and hopefully it'll go up. Not really sure what to do about being close to type 2 though other than diet and that's really good. I don't think I'd be functioning at all if it wasn't for that being good. The last thing I want is to tip over into the diabetic range. Hopefully the iron tablets will help pick that up like I read earlier. 🤔 guess I just have to keep am eye on everything over the next few weeks and make sure the doctors keep on top of it too 🤔
Have a look at the iodine protocol if you time it right it will raise your tsh levels enough for gp to take action without feeling awful. im doing this through a friend who has like me gone through repeated gp appts getting nowhere other more stressed
Good thing you came here, since your doctor is a complete failure! Your thyroid panel is incomplete and is missing the other thyroid hormone, T3. There should be an FT3 test, and yes, you need to re-test this. Where are your thyroid antibody tests?? With thyroid levels like this, it would not at all be surprising that you have high thyroid antibodies TPOab and/or TGab, and that you have Hashimoto's.
Where is your Vitamin D test?
Aside from your thyroid results showing hypothyroidism, the rest of your blood work also has problems.
You hemaglobin is flagged as too low. 112 (115-165)
Your hematocrit is flagged as too low. 34.2 (36-46)
Your MCV is flagged as too low. 75.9 (77-101)
Your MCH is flagged as too low. 24.9 (27-32)
Your sodium is a little too high. 139 (133-146)
What did this doctor have to say about these issues?
ABSOLUTELY! Since your mum has Hashi's and here you've got thyroid levels like this and all of your symptoms, it would not be at all surprising that you have Hashimoto's. Hashimoto's can be hereditary, or the cause can be many other things.
Thanks. I wasn't sure at all. Could all my other results be so rubbish because of my thyroid issues and the fact I'm so low in iron? I'm just trying to figure them all out as i'm pretty healthy and try and be very conscious about my food and diet choices. I'm not sure what else I can do to get them back on track really.. 🤔 my mum cuts gluten out, maybe I could try that.. although I'm really plant based anyway so there's not much in there to cut out.
You're welcome! Yes, they could very well be caused by your low iron, but not likely due to your low thyroid and likelihood of Hashimoto's. Being plant based in your diet is quite likely why you have low ferritin and appear to be anemic. Unless the right amounts of certain iron containing foods are consumed, a vegetarian diet is very low in iron.
The very strong possibility of Hashimoto's being the cause of your thyroid disease provides another piece to your puzzle. First you need to find out if you have Hashimoto's or not. This is very important because if you have it, you need to do everything in your power to keep your antibodies from increasing. Sometimes you do everything correctly, but they still increase due to illnesses and other factors.
The treatment for Hashimoto's is thyroid medication. The treatment for hypothyroidism is also thyroid medication. If you have Hashi's, it is recommended that you become gluten free, just as your mum has.
Did you tell the doctors that your mum has Hashimoto's?
You'll be seeing a different doctor, I hope? If a doctor can not interpret your bloods correctly the first go around, indicating they have not been able to comprehend thyroid function or thyroid disease, it is likely that no amount of a patient trying to influence them with knowledge will broaden their mind.
The first doctor I went to see, who originally for my bloods checked addmited that he knew very little about tyroid problems and told me that my mum will know more that he did. He seemed much more open to discussng it and finding out what was up.. so I am hoping if I go back to see him he will have the same attitude again. I definitey wouldn't go back to the one they booked me in with to go over my results. I'll be staying clear of her all together from now on.
The first doctor sounds honest and like he might be open minded. He sounds like he could be the type that might like to expand his knowledge and that could possibly be open to being guided. Just tell him you'd like to run certain tests to check for Hashimoto's since your mum has it and that you need to fully evaluate your thyroid (FT3 this time, and TSH and FT4 again, because these are evaluated all together), and tell him which tests you need. Ask for Vitamin D, too, and any others.
Just a random thought and wondering if anyone would know... can breastfeeding effect any of this? Any of my results at all I Guess? I've been breastfeedng for almost 4 years now so just wondering if this could or can impact anything?
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Blood test results I'd appreciate any comments
Test results 
My results up to now? Yet no tablets given 
Back to square one
