I currently take 150mg of Levothyroxine in the morning on an empty stomach. I’m also B12 deficient and have regular injections every 8 weeks. For the last 4 months+ I have been experiencing horrendous brain fog and extreme tiredness. I’ve sort medical advice and have had bloods done and my range is normal. The GP offered antidepressants because she thought maybe I’m depressed. I am definitely not depressed but so exhausted. She then said that I possibly could have chronic fatigue syndrome. I left the surgery confused and upset. I’ve had time to think about her diagnosis and I’m not convinced. I’m wondering if I need T3 and I’m looking for advice on how to pursue and self medicate. Any advice will be greatly received.
Thanks in advance.
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Hufflepuff15
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I don't think we need to see your B12 as that's being taken care of. What about folate? Do you supplement with a B Complex as you have B12 injections?
How many results have you got?
You can post your Vit D result (say if the unit of measurement is nmol/L or ng/ml).
As you have Haemoglobin, do you have a full blood count, ferritin and any iron panel results?
Your TSH is in a pretty good place at 1.11 but as you are experiencing symptoms you really need FT4 and FT3 tested.
Have you ever had thyroid antibodies tested - TPO (Thyroid Peroxidase) and Tg (Thyroglobulin)?
You can ask your GP but whether they will get done is another thing. Antibodies are rarely done, occasionally you may get TPO tested at GP level, but Tg antibodies tend to only get done by an endo. Similarly, FT4 may be done at GP level but it's the lab who decides if FT3 is tested, and generally only when TSH is suppressed.
We have private labs who can do a test bundle to include the full thyroid panel (including FT3 and both types of antibodies) plus Vit D, B12, folate and ferritin. Cheapest at the moment is
Your Vit D is quite a bit lower than that recommended by the Vit D Council, the Vit D Society and Grassroots Health who say it should be 100-150nmol/L. How much D3 are you taking?
There are important cofactors needed when taking D3 as recommended by the Vit D Council -
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 tissues where it can be deposited and cause problems such as hardening of the arteries, kidney stones, etc.
D3 and K2 are fat soluble so should be taken with the fattiest meal of the day, D3 four hours away from thyroid meds.
Magnesium helps D3 to work. We need Magnesium so that the body utilises D3, it's required to convert Vit D into it's active form. So it's important we ensure we take magnesium when supplementing with D3.
Magnesium comes in different forms, check to see which would suit you best and as it's calming it's best taken in the evening, four hours away from thyroid meds
Always advised here when taking B12 is to take a good B Complex to balance all the B vitamins. We often see inadequate levels of folate and my understanding is that it should be at least half way through range. As folate and B12 work together, I thought folate would have been tested by your GP as you have B12 injections.
Are you sure it's haemoglobin that was tested, not HbA1c which is the usual test for diabetes? HbA1c is your average blood glucose levels for the last two to three months. Your result would fit in with that as a normal non-diabetic HbA1C is said to be <36mmol/mol.
It's 10mcg (micrograms) not mg (milligrams) [massive difference there] and that's 400iu which isn't even a normal maintenance dose for someone with a decent level already.
They're not a particularly good supplement, high street brands, supermarket and H&B own brands aren't either. The best forms of D3 are either softgels which contain extra virgin olive oil to help asbsorption (eg Doctors Best) or BetterYou oral spray.
The Vit D Council recommends, for your level of 66nmol, to reach their recommended level of 100-150nmol/L:
To achieve 100nmol/L take 2000 IU D3 daily
To achieve 125nmol/L take 3700 IU D3 daily
To achieve 150nmol/L take 5800 IU D3 daily
then retest after 3 months, privately if necessary with a private fingerprick blood spot test with City Assays (an NHS lab who does this test for the general public) vitamindtest.org.uk/
and adjust to a maintenance dose once the recommended level has been achieved.
Haemoglobin A1c level - IFCC standardised 32 mmol
So this is HbA1c not haemoglobin and you are nicely normal, no sign of diabetes there. So your GP should be looking for other reasons for your tiredness, eg testing thyroid hormones FT4 and FT3, testing ferritin and maybe a full blood count and iron panel.
Would the thyroid check plus blood test be a good place to start?
Only if you have had, or can get, Folate and Ferritin tested with your GP. If you can get those done then the Thyroid Check Plus with Medichecks does the full thyroid panel including antibodies. If you want to do that and order before the end of October, use the code MED99 for 20% discount.
Welcome to our forum and members will respond. GPs are poorly trained just as some Endos seem to be as well.
Do you have your blood tests at the very earliest appointment? Fasting (you can drink water)? Allow a gap of 24 hours between last dose of levo and test and take afterwards.
This procedure keeps our TSH at its highest as that seems to be all that the doctors look at. Unfortunately they know no clinical symptoms and there are quite a few.
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