Looking at your previous posts, your antibodies are negative. However you can have Hashimoto's and never have raised antibodies
Endometriosis and Hashimoto's can be linked
Are you vegetarian? It can be difficult to raise ferritin on plant based diet
SeasideSusie may have suggestions on how to improve iron levels
Would recommend getting full Thyroid and vitamin testing annually to see if situation has changed since working on improving vitamins
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
Recommended on here that 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 all 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
thankyou for the info and tips! I'm getting tests approx every six months, often private as I am rarely in the UK.
Yes I am kind of vegetarian but not super strict and when I got the ferritin level of 21 I had been eating beef and other meat several times that week or so before. I also don't usually eat cheese or milk but I do eat eggs (very regularly) and fish/seafood sometimes.
I didn't know that there was still a chance of hashimotos so I will get that tested next time.
My latest Thyroid results (February) were:
Free T3 3.05pg/mL range 1.88 - 3.18
Free T4 1.12ng/dl range 0.70 - 1.48
TSH 0.73uIU/mL range 0.35 - 4.94
So I realise that the TSH makes me look closer to HYPERthryroid. Since 2017 my TSH results have been
1.14,
0.55
1.25
0.73
Could this be a sign of hashimotos? Pituitary? Or something else??
My folate always comes out very well. B12 got very high due to supplementation so I eased up on it but I feel I do need to keep taking a b complex regularly.
I also find I need to take magnesium regularly to avoid anxiety and heart feeling weird.
I am finding it hard to raise vitamin D significantly despite living in sunny countries most of the time (I left England partly because I was always cold!) But I am going to be more aggressive with the supplements now.
no, I once decided to try wp-thyroid for 2 weeks just to see what happened but that was before i realised that basically all my vitamins/iron/minerals were low and so I ended up feeling anxious and racy! (STTM refers to that as pooling or something I think, you cant use the meds until your levels are higher?)
Hi thanks for the reply, the GP diagnosed me as anaemic based on my haemoglobin estimation (113 g/L) and hematocrit (35.6%). She didn't mention anything about the Ferritin and it was only because of this forum that I realised my ferritin was too low (since the 'normal' range on the test is from 12)
After taking iron tablets, my next test in May showed 36.8% and when I got it tested again last August, it was 38.9% so I stopped taking tablets or just occasionally.
Finally I got it tested a couple of months ago (because I was feeling really tired again) (and I had already supplemented for a couple of weeks but stopped 1 or 2 weeks before the test) it was 38%
I actually got a private blood test in the uk a few weeks ago and it didn't show heamocrit estimation but did show
Hematocrit 0.432 range 0.33-0.45
but didn't give any units! But from what I gather its saying my hematocrit estimation is 43%!! Which is odd because I haven't taken that many iron tablets since the last test. But I got ill (a cold) the night after the blood test and was pretty dehydrated that day so I read this could have affected the test results.
From what I understand normal hematocrit level for females is 36.1% to 44.3% although we don't see that used often here in the UK so I can't comment on our UK results. Iron panel (including ferritin), haemoglobin, MCH, MCV and MCHC are usually quoted when looking for iron deficiency anaemia. Your below range MCHC can suggest that so maybe your doctor should be guiding you.
My doctor seemed to think all was good as soon as my heamocrit and heamoglobin got above the 'low' range. and the most recent test with MCHC was with a private blood test, and now I'm out of the country for several months but when I return will try to get a test from NHS and see what the doctors say, thanks
Have you tried taking your supplements with fruit for natural vitamin C, & well away from foods containing other minerals such as calcium that will inhibit absorption, or tannins in tea & coffee?
I leave a gap a few hours post tea, coffee & brunch & before my evening meal so as to allow my iron & fruity/smoothy snack to work most effectively. The acids in the fruit give our stomach acid a boost so food, & supplememnts are broked down more & absorbed better.
I'm also wary of foods containing phytates that inhibit mineral absorption. If you eat bread, swap to sourdough as the slow acting yeasts destroy the phytate. Sourdough enhances rather than inhibits nutrient absorption.
Going one step further, you might benefit from going completely gluten free, though it takes a full three months with not even sniffing a breadcrumb to remove gliadin (gluten protein) antibodies & to tell if this has worked for you. Lots of people on here have found adopting a gluten free diet reduces their antibodies as well as improving digestion.
Try improving your diet by removing all processed & inflammatory foods, & adding prebiotic (high fibre) foods, & probiotic foods to colonise your gut with good bacteria rather than bad bacteria that inhibit our nutrient absorption. I find dairy kefir fantastic, taken hours away from iron, though some folks prefer water based kefir or kombucha if they're dairy intolerant. Home fermented contains far more beneficial micro-organisms than shop bought probiotics. If the stuff that's peddled in shops & supermarkets was half as alive as their adverts suggest, it would explode on the shop shelves.
Thanks, I realised I actually had a big problem with food absorption and could eat hardly any foods without stomach ache and pain until about 1 year ago. And I would very quickly pass food through into stools.
So my naturopath gave me a powder with Slippery Elm Bark and Pre and Probiotics and this was amazing!! Within a couple of weeks I could eat whatever I wanted (almost!) and I put on weight which was good because I was a bit too thin.
I have continued to take that often, though not every day.
So I was disappointed to see that 1 year later my Ferritin had not increased but decreased.
My iron tablets contain vitamin C but yes I will try to eat them with fruit and not with tea for a few hours, thankyou!
I don't usually eat much processed food or inflammatory things.
I travel a lot so its a bit difficult to get home fermented prebiotic food, but I can get it sometimes/ or could make it, so I will make an effort. lol to your comment about the shop stuff!
Going gluten free is beginning to look like something I'm going to have to try (much to my dismay given that I already don't eat various things because of the endometriosis!). And because travelling makes it tricky. But it may end up being the cause of all of this so I will have to try if nothing else works.
Home made sauerkraut might be more transportable as it doesn't ferment as fast compared to kefir, though I've taken mine on holiday several times with no explosions.
Take a look at Chris Kresser's website for free dietary information. Mark Hyman is also good for advice.
I struggle to raise and maintain my ferritin levels too. It took almost 9 months on Ferrous Sulphate to go from 2 to 40.
Since then I've tried everything as I didn't like Ferrous Sulphate.
Thanks to this forum I recently started Solgar Gentle Iron which seems to be doing the trick and I barely notice I'm taking it! In 3 months my ferritin has gone from 10 to 26, and that's taking only 1 a day. I think my gut absorbs this much better than Ferrous Sulphate and I have no side effects.
One other thing is that I also had terribly heavy and long periods. I also think that improving this has helped hugely with my iron/ferritin levels.
Hope this helps - its frustrating to try everything you can think of and still get nowhere!
Thanks Lucy and wow well done! I will try to get that brand. Had you tried any other type of iron before the ferrous sulphate?
Also how did you improve your long heavy periods?
I take bioidentical progesterone cream which seems to help me with endometriosis symptoms and makes my cycles a bit longer (they were 21 days at one point!) but still have 7 day heavy periods and short cycles.
thankyou!
ps am I the only one that finds that certain iron supplements give me the runs?? today it seems my body was not happy with the dose of proferrin And ferrous suphate in one go from yesterday. Soft and black stools. Sorry if TMI.
I use Elan organics (did research and seemed like a good brand, mixed with the right type of oils or fats or something for absorbtion) and apply it twice daily for the second half of my cycle, usually on my arms or legs or stomach
I tried Ferrous Fumerate and the new Better You iron spray. The spray had no side effects but didnt do anything for my levels. I had the same side effects to Ferrous Fumerate as I did to Ferrous Sulphate.
Re heavy periods, well I had treatment for fibroids, which helped in the short term but also long term too. But I also take Tranexamic Acid which helps so much!
Thanks! I have tranexamic acid also but was a bit scared to take it for the first few days of the period (which are very heavy) in case the blood had nowhere to go??) I recently asked my doctor about it and whilst I didn't really understand the explanation he seemed to think i didn't need to worry.
Do you take it from the first day of your period? Maybe I will start doing this now on!
Totally understand. I was very hesitant also. I must admit, I didn't think it was doing anything for the first couple of months but i now notice a huge difference.
I cant say I understand either how it works but it seems to! 😀
Yes, 2 tablets 3 times a day for up to 4 days. Starting on first day of period. Definitely worth trying, if only to give your body half a chance of retaining some of its iron.
Now, for me, it's an immediate difference as soon as I take the tablets. My periods don't seem to be longer because of it or more painful etc but definitely more manageable.
I really don't think i can deal with the taste, but pate is possible, though maybe hard to get where i tend to live. Since I read your post I'm trying to get some liver in capsules! Thankyou!
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