Blood test results and some folate advice needed!

[Sick-and-Tired]

Hello!

I've got some blood test results and I'm hoping you guys can make some suggestions on the direction I should be looking to go in now.

I'm currently taking 100mcg and 75mcg Levothyroxine on alternate days. I take 20,000 D3 once a week, magnesium oil every night and for the last month have been using a B12 transdermal oil daily, which seems to have considerably increased my Serum B12 (I don't know about active though at this point). I also eat 2 brazil nuts a day for the selenium.

I have hashimoto's disease (diagnosed on here, as the doctors seem to think the antibodies mean nothing) and also tested positive for Parietal Cell Antibodies, but not for Intrinsic Factor Antibodies.

I'm 30 years old, have been struggling with symptoms for over a decade, and am currently barely coping working 3 days a week. There's a park near my office and I have to go and sleep on a bench every lunchtime to make it through the day, which isn't a sustainable solution!

Unfortunately they won't test FT3, FT4 etc so I'm saving up to test privately.

Serum TSH level: 1.0 mu/L (0.35-5.0)

Neutrophil count: 7.4 10*9/L (2-7.5)

Lymphocyte count: 1.6 10*9/L (1-4)

Monocyte count: 0.5 10*9/L (02-0.8)

Eosinophil count: 0.2 10*9/L (0.0-0.4)

Basophil count 0.0 10*9/L (0-0.1)

Total white cell count: 9.8 10*9/L (4-11)

Red blood cell count: 4.63 10*12/L (3.5-5.5)

Haemoglobin estimation:139 g/L (115-165)

Haematocrit: 0.44 ratio (0.37-0.47)

Mean corpuscular volume: 94.7fL (75-105)

Red blood cell distribut width: 12.6 (11-15)

Mean corpusc. Haemoglobin: 30.0 pg (26-35)

Mean corpusc.hb conc.: 317 g/L (290-350)

Platelet count: 128 10*9/L (150-450)

Percentage hypochromic cells 1.6% (n/a)

Serum folate 4.2ug/L (2-17)

Plasma vitamin b12 (404ng/L (200-900)

Vitamin D tested June: 92 nmol/L (75-200)

I have been working really hard on my folate. I eat what I would consider to be a relatively good diet anyway, but after advice on here I have been particularly focused on making sure I get my folate and ferritin. I eat liver once a week (I'm just about used to it now), and make sure I get lots of dark leafy green veg. I'm definitely eating considerably more than I used to. But looking at my folate levels they just drop more and more every time I get tested. I know with taking the b12 oils I've probably depleted them, but even before that they were dropping every time I got tested. I was hoping to be able to fix it with diet but it just isn't working. Does anyone have any suggestions of supplements I should take and a dosage? I've read that I should take folate rather than folic acid, and I'd be keen to get these levels up as soon as possible.

Sorry this got so long. Any advice would be really appreciated!

Thanks.

[fibrolinda]

Igennus super b complex got my ever dropping folate up from 7 to 40 😃

[Sick-and-Tired in reply to fibrolinda]

Perfect, thanks so much!!

[fibrolinda in reply to Sick-and-Tired]

You are very welcome 🙂

[rjb112]

"I take 20,000 D3 once a week"

The Vitamin D Council in the US recommends daily Vitamin D and not once weekly dosing.

They suggest 5,000 IU daily for the average person.

But then you should get your Vit D blood level tested after a while, and 'tailor' the dose to your specific needs. Some people need less.......others more.

[Sick-and-Tired in reply to rjb112]

Thanks... Yes, this is sort of a weird hangover from my treatment with another doctor. I was on 3,200 a day for about 18 months but my levels didn't really shift. So I was put on 20,000 3 times a week for 12 weeks and then once a week from then on. Those loading doses did finally push me up to just about within range.

My current doctor wanted to take me off vitamin D completely, but I start getting symptoms coming back by the time I need to take my weekly dose, so I definitely still need it! She reluctantly agreed to keep me on this dose.

It did occur to me though that my overall intake is now lower than when I was on 3200 daily!!

Do you think I'd be better off going along with the doctor's wishes to stop the prescription and just buying supplements myself to take daily?

My thought process in staying on the prescription was that it kept the fact that I struggle to absorb vitamin D on the agenda, so that I can ask for my levels to be tested every year or so.

Thanks for your help!

[rjb112 in reply to Sick-and-Tired]

"Do you think I'd be better off going along with the doctor's wishes to stop the prescription and just buying supplements myself to take daily?"

Personally, I follow the Vitamin D Council's recommendations to take 5,000 IU daily.....and then every year I get my blood vitamin D levels checked. This has worked out well.

Vitamin D3 is available without a prescription, so I don't know why a prescription is necessary. However, what you said is important and makes sense, that you want to be able to get your blood levels checked at least once a year, so whatever you need to do to make that happen makes sense.

My primary care doctor just has me purchase my own Vitamin D 5,000 IU daily, from any source I want......but she writes an order to have my blood levels tested once a year. Interestingly, my primary care MD also suggested a dose of 5,000 IU daily. But I know people who do not need that much, and do fine on a lower dose. I have also read about some people who needed a higher dose.

Of course, the amount of sun you get on bare skin also is a big factor. I don't get much sunlight on bare skin, so I rely mainly on the Vit D supplement.

But I do think daily makes sense, rather than a weekly dose.

Anyway, your thought process is good and sound. Personally, I'd ask your doc if she/he minds if you take a daily dose, but still writes an order for you to get your Vit D blood levels tested, even if you don't take "prescription Vit D"

[Sick-and-Tired in reply to rjb112]

Thanks so much, that makes a lot of sense (and also taking it daily means I'll be in more of a routine. I have to set reminders at the moment to take it!)

Thanks again for your help.

[rjb112 in reply to Sick-and-Tired]

You're welcome

[Hidden]

@Sick and Tire I feel your pain and fatigue. I live it daily. I troll this site for my children as I believe they have PA. Wonderful information from good folks on this site.

The transdermal oils you refer to above. Are they from B12oils.com? My kids are going through all of the tests for PA but in the meantime I am trying to find out if the oils from this site work. Oral B12 is not working and my boys do not want to do shots yet. I listed some tests below that you may want to think about and some links as to why I suggested them.

Free T4 and Free T3 levels

Reverse T3

Storage vitamin D test with Active vitamin D at the same time. Optimal is 2 to 1 ratio

Serum iron

TIBC

UIBC

Iron saturation

Ceruloplasmin

Saliva test to see what your adrenals are doing. It will show what your cortisol levels look like upon waking and throughout the day? There is even a saliva test that you can add for insomnia at night if that is a problem.

I know that when you take high levels of vitamin D it can take your ceruloplasmin which will throw off your iron levels which then effects your adrenals, thyroid, stomach acid, and then your B12. I hope you are giving your liver lots of vitamin A with that high of a vitamin D dosage. When my doctor prescribed a high level of vitamin D, she did not prescribe vitamin A or K. Vitamin D reduces your Vitamin A levels in your liver. She crashed my liver which through me into hypothyroid and low stomach acid. She treated the hypothyroid with high levels of T4 and crashed my adrenals. The low stomach acid killed my B12 levels etc. My reverse T3 is terrible so I am fixing adrenals and liver first but slightly helping my thyroid with low dose LDN and T3. Live and learn.

You can learn a lot about those tests and all of the above from Stop the Thyroid Madness website. I wish I could help you more but the links below should get you started. There is a wealth of information. She also has a yahoo group which is awesome support and a Facebook group. She also does phone consults. Good Luck.

stopthethyroidmadness.com/

stopthethyroidmadness.com/s... easiest way to find info on Janie's site

stopthethyroidmadness.com/l...

[Sick-and-Tired in reply to Hidden]

Thank you so much... Just when you start to think you're beginning to understand how it all works you realise you know nothing! I didn't know I needed vitamin A. I've had a look through a list of food high in vitamin A and I eat a lot of that stuff. I eat liver once a week and have a diet with dark greens and sweet potatoes. Do you think that's enough?

The oils are from b12oils.com, as you mention. I only took one bottles worth but then have stopped before Christmas so that I could get my b12 tested again. It didn't get to the point where any of my symptoms got better but my serum b12 did rise from 350 to 450.