Hi, I’m 23 years old and for about 3 years now I have been suffering with various symptoms including:
- Tiredness to the point that I struggle to open my eyes in a morning and kind of feel like I’ve been hit by a bus when I first awake
- Daytime fatigue
- Brain fog
- Psoriasis
- Pale dry skin
It’s made my life a misery recently and I struggle to concentrate or hold proper conversations and I’m forgetful at work. Now I’ve been to the doctors numerous times and had blood and everything has come back “fine, no further action required”. Apart from being prescribed folate due to levels being slightly below normal. I’ve also been prescribed antidepressants even though I had these symptoms way before my mood dropped and anxiety started. Now I imagine my doctor will have tested thyroid function however I’ve heard that they don’t do an in depth search and was wondering if anyone knows if I could still have a thyroid issue even tho past blood tests for various things have come back normal. Just trying to find hope that I’ll find out what the problem is one day.
Would it be worth getting a full thyroid screening done privately? Or would I be wasting my time. Any help would be appreciated, and I know it doesn’t help that I have no previous test results to show. Could it be possible that just slightly low folate could cause such symptoms?
I’ve attached my test results to this post
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jordy124
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Folate at 4.1 (5.4-24) is BELOW range. So your GP should prescribe folic acid
B12 295 (211-911) is very low
B12 and folate work together. You need full testing for Pernicious Anaemia BEFORE starting on folic acid and possibly B12 injections
calcium is BELOW range. This strongly suggests you have very low vitamin D
Ask for vitamin D to be tested by GP
As you have psoriasis which is autoimmune, request testing of both TPO and TG thyroid antibodies for autoimmune thyroid disease
Also request coeliac blood test as possible cause of low vitamin levels
Come back with new post once you get more test results
For full Thyroid evaluation you need TSH, FT4 and FT3 plus both TPO and TG thyroid antibodies tested. Also extremely important to test vitamin D, folate, ferritin and B12
Low vitamin levels are extremely common, especially if Thyroid antibodies are raised
All thyroid blood tests should ideally be done as early as possible in morning and fasting. This gives highest TSH, lowest FT4 and most consistent results. (Patient to patient tip, best not mentioned to GP or phlebotomist)
Private tests are available. Thousands on here forced to do this as NHS often refuses to test FT3 or antibodies or vitamins
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 special offers, Medichecks usually have offers on Thursdays, Blue Horizon its more random
Thanks for the reply, I’ll go back to the GP and request for anaemia testing, however I think I’ll also just get private testing done for thyroid antibodies and free T3, same with vitamin D. Also been told to get cortisol tests done so once I have results I’ll post back here and hopefully get more of an insight. Thanks again
I would suggest holding off on the cortisol testing. If you optimise your nutrient levels it will probably have an impact on your cortisol too. So, I would suggest testing it if you still have problems after a few months of supplementing.
You don't appear to be suffering from iron deficiency anaemia - your haemoglobin is well over the bottom of the range (I can't read the top of the range). This doesn't necessarily imply that your iron is wonderful. Your ferritin (iron stores) could be better. But without knowing your serum iron level you shouldn't supplement. For optimal levels see this link :
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