After a long time feeling that something wasn't right, fatigue, weight gain, memory problems, depression and crazy eyebrows (outer third very sparse) I decided to order a test kit from the internet. The results came in today and I'm not sure what to make of them. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Active B12 64 pmol/L. (37.5 - 188)
Ferritin 57 ug/L (13 -150)
Folate 11 nmol/L (8.8 - 60.8)
FT3 5.4 pmol/L (3.1-6.8)
TSH 3.86 mIU/L (0.27 - 4.3)
TgAB 340 kU/L (0 - 115)
TPOAb 15.2 kIU/L (0 - 34)
T4 100 nmol/L (66 - 181)
FT4 14.8 pmol/L (12 - 22)
Vitamin D 23 nmol/L (50 - 175)
Many thanks
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veganwife
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Your vitamin D is extremely low. Active B12 is a little low, should be over 70 I believe. Ferritin is on the low side so you could benefit from checking iron levels. A full iron panel. Folate is low in range and could be better. Maybe check out vitamin B deficiency on the Healthunlocked Pernicious anaemia forum.
As far as thyroid results go...
Although TSH is on the high side your FT3 is very good so I wonder if it's your low vitamin D that's raising your TSH level?
TgAb antibodies might indicate thyroid autoimmune disease but can also be indicative of other conditions so if it were me I'd be taking results to GP and asking for further investigations to rule out autoimmune conditions and correct vitamin D deficiency.
Thanks, I think with everything that is going on i.e. covid 19 I am minded to start taking some vit d supplements and see if that improves things without going to the GP. Also after reading a lot of posts on here I am unsure whether the GP would do any investigation into having antibodies, my GP is not very good at all.
TSH110 has pointed you to some good links. GPs are still available for phone consultations and with such low vitamin D you would be entitled to a prescription of D3. However if funds are not an issue then you can just buy your own. You need a loading dose for 3 months and then retest vitamin D.
TgAb are not specific to thyroid disease so something else could be going on since your thyroid results are not conclusive of a thyroid condition at the moment. Good vitamin D levels will very likely help thyroid to function better. I still think it's worth asking GP to do further blood tests as they can test ANA antibodies to rule out something else going on.
After reading the result youve been give I'd need to go deeper into what all these codes means, I' haven't got a clue. I dont know why they dont supply a handbook with it so you know, maybe by googling you might understand it better the T this and T that
Suggest you go to the Thyroid UK site - and look at helvella 's excellent glossary [pinned on the right] to get to grips with it all. Thyroid tends to be covered very minimally in doctor training (even though levo is the third most prescribed medicine in the UK) so it's important we learn about our condition ourselves. Good luck x
When I had low vitamin D I felt very ill so my Doctor had to give me a prescription to bring my very low level of 7 up. Yours is also very low so you need to take some to bring up your level. I now use the BetterYou vitamin D spray every day because mine is still not high enough. I am going to spend some time in my garden to catch some rays today.
Hi, thanks for your reply.yes sometimes I am so exhausted and feel very ill, for a long time I put it down to having 2 young children. Is the spray more effective than tablets then? I wonder how long it has been low, is it a gradual decline over years or can it happen quickly within months/weeks?
I think the spray is easy to absorb and as for having low vitamin D a lot of thyroid disease sufferers have low levels of vitamins. I had very low ferritin when I was first diagnosed and had to take iron tablets.
Yes, I recently became vegan at the start of this year. I am taking vitamin b complex and b 12 once a day and iron and vit c tablets once a day. The b vits say take between 1-6 a day so thinking I should up mine! They contain 7mg B1, 14mg B2, 4.5mg niacin, B12 25ug.
Igennus Super B is good quality and cheap vitamin B complex. Contains folate. Full dose is two tablets per day. Many/most people may only need one tablet per day. Certainly only start on one per day (or even half tablet per day for first couple of weeks)
Or Thorne Basic B or jarrow B-right are other options that contain folate, but both are large capsules
If you are taking vitamin B complex, or any supplements containing biotin, remember to stop these 7 days before any blood tests, as biotin can falsely affect test results
The antibodies could indicate Graves or Hashimoto's. Outwardly you have more hypothyroid symptoms which is backed up by low T4 and medium/high TSH. However, your T3 would be considered not terrible for someone with hypothyroidism - but only if it remained at this level, which, I doubt is consistently true in your case (due to quite hypo'ish symptoms). My guess is you have had a Hashi's flare up a short while ago - maybe due to a stressful event or illness, or you could have Graves as well sending everything haywire.
Low vitamin D is common in all autoimmune illness, especially where hormones are involved. Vitamin D among its many vital roles is a 'master hormone' which means low vitamin D can wreak havoc on the endocrine glands.
There is a growing concern about many people's lack of Vitamin D and how it is important for a healthy immune response. Therefore, in your position I'd get cracking on some loading doses of Vitamin D, but make sure to take cofactors of Magnesium and Vitamin K2. Look at Seaside Susie's recent responses on how to get your levels up asap with appropriate doses. I agree with using spray forms of Vitamin D3 for speed as they're well absorbed. Also, try some Magnesium gels (applied to skin) if you're bad at absorbing supplements. Better You do both.
Not sure that Holland and Barrett is going to be the best quality vegan B supplement. Igennus do a really good B supplement that lots of us use to improve energy levels.
Thank you for your reply. I think that you are right about H&B, I will have a look at some of the ones that have been recommended here, I have ordered some vit d spray. I did wonder if I had post partum thyroiditis as I had some symptoms after my second pregnancy.
I was reading some scary things about the anti-bodies and cancer, should I be worried? Is there a good chance that if I correct my vitamin deficiencies the anti-bodies will reduce?
There is some evidence that selenium supplements can reduce thyroid antibodies; gluten is a possible culprit for raising antibodies, also soya protein, which may be problematic as you're vegan and you may need to find alternatives if it's a concern. Like you, I don't have dairy, but casein is said by some to be similar to gluten.
Just be careful to keep selenium dosage within your RDA, as it competes with chromium which helps regulate blood glucose levels.
If you have allergies or food reactions you could possibly get on top of these by using histamine 'blockers' like turmeric, nettle or quercetin. Histamine is very high in cooked, cured meats, alcohol and some yeasts that are present in fresh fruits. Histamine may nudge our auto immune response into going wrong as it is inflammatory and pretty toxic at out of control levels . Vitamin C is not only good for our immune system, but can help reduce histamine. Magnesium is naturally soothing for inflamed tissues and it's neuralogically quite relaxing and can help you absorb vitamin D a lot better...
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