Any advice on blood tests, please?

[overunbykids]

Hi all, and thanks so much in advance for any help.

I am been waiting for my doctors appointment and latest blood tests to ask for some advice, and finally have it in.

I am a 43yr old female and was diagnosed 5 years ago with Hashimotos. I was started on Thyroxine 125mcg, but even though my TSH came down, I was deteriorating badly. I switched over to Thiroyd with my gp's blessing in 2015. I am currently taking 2 grains but atm have raised cholesterol, grade 2 Hypertension which my GP wants to start me on Coversyl 5mg for, and PCOS. I am constantly exhausted, either constipated or have the runs, feeling hot all the time (I have never suffered with feeling cold, only hot), my hair is falling out and I have put on weight. Along with palpitations and a fast heart rate, I suffer all over body pain at night and a painful, long, and extremely heavy monthly cycle.

A RT3 test in 2014 (while on thyroxine) showed:

RT3 - 374 pmol/L (140-540)

FT3 - 12.6 pmol/L (9.0 - 19.0)

Last week's results (on 2 grains of Thiroyd) are:

Ferritin - 18 ug/L (30-250)

B12 - 156 pmol/L (>150)

Folate serum - 10 nmol (>7)

TPAb - <1 IU/ml (<6)

TGAb - 5 IU/ml H (<4)

Hydroxycalciferol - 20 nmol/L L (50-150)

Celiac panel - negative

Free T4 - 7.9 pmol/L L (9.0 - 19.0)

Free T3 - 2.8 pmol/L (2.6-6.0)

TSH - 4.1 mIU/L H (0.3-3.5)

Any advice on vitamins etc would be invaluable. Thanks.

[eeng]

I should think you feel dire. Your ferritin and B12 are awful, your FT4 is below range and your FT3 is right at the bottom of the range. Your TSH is over 4 when it should be close to 1. Have a look at some of SeasideSusie 's posts for advice on vitamins. Someone else will be along soon to comment.

Have you ever tried going gluten free? I can see your coeliac test was negative, but a lot of people find it helps anyway. One thing you could do is to start taking 210mg of ferrous fumarate at least once a day, with vitamin C to help with the constipation. (You can get ferrous fumarate over the counter at Superdrug, or more cheaply on Amazon). That might get your iron levels up and bring your pulse rate down. Have you been tested for iron deficiency anaemia? With heavy periods I should think you are probably anaemic, which would definitely give you a high pulse rate, especially after any kind of physical exertion.

Once your Ferritin, B12 and D are up at a healthy level you may well find that your body can make better use of the thiroyd you are taking. In the meantime you could try increasing it by half a grain and see if it helps.

[overunbykids in reply to eeng]

Thank you, eeng for your advice.

The only comments my gp made to me was to take a 1000 vitamin D a day and to increase my NDT by 1 tablet a day. She was happy with all other results. I have just spent the past 2 months eating gluten and dairy daily at her advice as a preparation for the celiac test, which is far more than my normal intake, but no, I haven't gone completely gluten free yet. I do plan on it, though.