Low iron & hypothyroid link

[Arpeggio]

Can someone explain the low iron & hypothyroid link? What's the chemistry going on here? I would like to know how to sort out my low iron.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

If on inadequate dose of Levothyroxine/T3 (or NDT) then low stomach acid is extremely common hypothyroid symptom, especially if you have Hashimoto's

Do you have recent blood 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

Recommended on here that all thyroid blood tests should ideally be done as early as possible in morning and before eating or drinking anything other than water .

Last dose of Levothyroxine 24 hours prior to blood test. (taking delayed dose immediately after blood draw).

This gives highest TSH, lowest FT4 and most consistent results. (Patient to patient tip, best not mentioned to GP or phlebotomist)

If/when also on T3, or NDT make sure to take last dose 8-12 hours prior to test, even if this means adjusting time or splitting of dose day before test

Is this how you do your tests?

Private tests are available. Thousands on here forced to do this as NHS often refuses to test FT3 or antibodies or all vitamins

thyroiduk.org.uk/tuk/testin...

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

Links about low stomach acid

articles.mercola.com/sites/...

thyroidpharmacist.com/artic...

stopthethyroidmadness.com/s...

scdlifestyle.com/2012/03/3-...

naturalendocrinesolutions.c...

How low is your ferritin and iron.

Has GP done full iron panel testing for Anaemia!

What are you currently taking to improve?

Eating liver or liver pate once a week, plus other iron rich foods like black pudding, prawns, spinach, pumpkin seeds and dark chocolate, plus daily vitamin C can help improve iron absorption

Links about iron and ferritin

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

drhedberg.com/ferritin-hypo...

restartmed.com/hypothyroidi...

Post about iron supplements

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Vitamin D, folate, B12 all need to be optimal too and often need supplementing as well

[Arpeggio in reply to SlowDragon]

Yes, I do the blood tests as you say. These are my recent results. I'm on 74mcg levothyroxine and 10mcg liothyronine.

Result. Range

Ferritin 35ug/L. 14-186

Iron 6 umol,/L. 11-30

TSH 0.008 mlU/L. 0.3-5.5

T4 88.8nmol/L.

FT4 12.6 pmol/L. 11.5-22.7

FT3 4.8 pmol/L 0.0-7.0

B12 82.1

Folate 21 nmol/L

TgAB 10kU/L

TPOAb 10.9kIU/L

Vit D 79.9nmol/L

I'm wondering whether to increase levothyroxine or liothyronine or both.

[humanbean in reply to Arpeggio]

Can I ask where you got the above tests done?

I noticed this result :

FT3 4.8 pmol/L 0.0-7.0

and I'm wondering who decided that a T3 of zero was "normal"? I think anyone with a Free T3 of zero would be in a coma or, more likely, dead.

[Arpeggio in reply to humanbean]

That was done by UK NHS but I also had my own done by Thriva and that range there was from 3.1 and mine was 4.8

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Arpeggio]

Well the most important thing must be to get your iron and ferritin sorted.

What's GP doing? Are you prescribed ferrous fumerate?

Eating liver or liver pate once a week and other iron rich foods plus daily vitamin c ?

But yes as well. personally I would increase Levothyroxine by 25mcg ......retest in 6-8 weeks

You should see FT3 rise a bit too, by increasing Levothyroxine

Vitamin D could be a bit higher ....around 100nmol

B12 - presumably that's a private active B12 test?

What's the range on B12 and folate ?

[Arpeggio in reply to SlowDragon]

I was thinking the same about increasing levo, but concerned about the TSH being so low and potentially going lower if I increase. Is this anything to worry about?

I have been prescribed ferrous fumarate 350mg but one tablet makes me so constipated I think I'll have to get a lower dose. But this also coincided with the colder weather and wondering if colder weather affects hypothyroid and was also creating the constipation.

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Arpeggio]

Taking ferrous fumerate with 1000mg of vitamin C may help improve iron absorption (and might help constipation)

You can take smaller ferrous fumerate (210mg) 2 or 3 times a day

Eating liver or liver pate once a week, plus other iron rich foods like black pudding, prawns, spinach, pumpkin seeds and dark chocolate, plus daily vitamin C can help improve iron absorption

SeasideSusie might have ideas on other iron supplements

Magnesium can help improve constipation too. Calm vitality magnesium powder is cheap and easy to use. Best start on low disease and increase slowly, too much can cause diarrhoea

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to Arpeggio]

Solgar Gentle Iron or any other brand with Iron Bisglycinate is supposed to be non-constipating. However, even that made my constipation worse.

I sometimes take a whole food iron supplement, which is, as it sounds, just from food, eg Garden of Life Vitamin Code Raw Iron although this is much more expensive than ferrous fumerate.. My first choice would be to eat liver regularly.