Low folate and ferritin- please help

[Piggyoink]

Hello lovely community. I hope you are all managing to stay healthy and sane in these times! Once again I would be so grateful for your help:

I was taking 100mcg levo and 25 mcg lio at the beginning of the year. Bloods (taken as per advice here) in March were:

T4 22.2 (10-20)

T3 6.5 (3.5-6.5)

TSH 0.010 (0.5-4.4)

Folate 12.3 (3.0-17)

Ferritin 112 (12-300)

Vit D 119 ( 50-200)

Vit B12 958 (190-800)

I reduced Levo to 75mcg and increased lio to 30mcg daily, and my June bloods were:

T4: 13.7 (10-20)

T3: 5.6 (3.5-6.5)

TSH: 0.010 (0.5-4.4)

Folate: 6.7. (3-17)

Ferritin 74 (12-300)

B12. 458 (190-800)

I had previously taken B12 once a week so stopped it completely after the March results although I took my weekly dose just a few days before my blood test so that could have made the difference?

Although I’m in much better health than I was before, my low folate and ferritin levels continue to bother me. I sleep a lot, I’m constipated and feel tired even though I am generally an active person.

Last year I was referred to a haematologist because of my ongoing ‘anaemia’ and she ruled out pernicious anaemia. She suggested that because of my ethnicity (South America) I could have some red blood issue related to it’s production in the bone marrow. She suggested a spinal tap late last year but I wasn’t too keen and now things have obviously changed and there is no improvement I was wondering if anyone here had similar experiences or even some of the magical advice you guys always give?

Thanks so much for reading this far... really appreciate it. Anything you can suggest/ update with will be gratefully received 💜🙏🏾

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Piggyoink

Well, something seems to have changed between your March test and your June test and it's possibly not just your dose of thyroid meds.

I had previously taken B12 once a week so stopped it completely after the March results although I took my weekly dose just a few days before my blood test so that could have made the difference?

I don't understand that. You start off by saying you stopped your once weekly B12 after the March result, then say you took your weekly dose a few days before the June (?) test. Maybe you can clarify? If you had stopped your weekly B12 why did you take it again just before the June test?

Was this a B12 supplement or a B12 injection?

With your B12 were you also taking a B Complex (necessary to keep all the B vitamins balanced).

According to an extract from the book, "Could it be B12?" by Sally M. Pacholok:

"We believe that the 'normal' serum B12 threshold needs to be raised from 200 pg/ml to at least 450 pg/ml because deficiencies begin to appear in the cerebrospinal fluid below 550".

"For brain and nervous system health and prevention of disease in older adults, serum B12 levels should be maintained near or above 1000 pg/ml."

Folate is recommended to be at least half way through range.

Your March results of B12: 958 and your folate of 12.3 (3.0-17) were just about perfect, I wouldn't have changed anything.

**

100mcg Levo + 25mcg T3

FT4: 22.2 (10-20)

FT3: 6.5 (3.5-6.5)

75mcg Levo + 30mcg T3

FT4: 13.7 (10-20)

FT3: 5.6 (3.5-6.5)

Did you change dose of both Levo andT3 at the same time? We should only every make one change, give it 6 weeks for levels to settle before reassessing. You don't know what made the difference in your results.

Lowering dose of Levo will lower FT4 and FT3.

Lowering dose of T3 will lower FT3.

You lowered Levo which has made a dramatic change to your FT4 level and would also have lowered FT3. However, your extra 5mcg of T3 hasn't resulted in keeping your FT3 at the top of the range.

Ferritin was 112 (12-300) in March, now 74. Were you supplementing before?

[Piggyoink in reply to SeasideSusie]

Hello!! Thank you so much for your response 🤗🤗 to answer your questions:

1. Sorry I meant I took the b12 ( seeking health active b12 with l-5 mthf) a few days before the MARCH bloods and I stopped when I got my results. After June bloods I started on it once a week again.

2. I stopped taking the B12 after getting the March results because I was over range- so does it mean that going over range with b12 is ok?

3. I lowered t4 first which made me feel abit rubbish so I increased t3 after about a month...

4. I have not been specifically supplementing ferritin- I use a non- iron multi vitamin skin patch daily and also glutathione patch daily as well. Nothing else has changed. My folate and ferritin levels have always been on the low side and since I was a child I was thought to be ‘anaemic’ but it wasn’t iron deficiency. And as I mentioned, pernicious anemia was ruled out. My diet is varied and healthy, very very little dairy and zero gluten.

5. This sounds silly but the only two main changes I know of since lockdown one March have been me drinking a pint of hot water and lemon every morning but Ali having a glass ( sometimes two) of wine with diner at night. Ive never drank that much ( I’m mostly sticking to the guidelines) but I’m wondering if that could be anything? Oh- and I have bad tinnitus...

Thank you so much again 🙏🏾💜

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to Piggyoink]

Piggyoink

2. I stopped taking the B12 after getting the March results because I was over range- so does it mean that going over range with b12 is ok?

According to the quote above, yes.

3. I lowered t4 first which made me feel abit rubbish so I increased t3 after about a month...

That could be because your FT4 went too low. Some of us on combination hormone replacement need good levels of both FT4 and FT3. When I was tweaking doses I became quite unwell when my FT4 went low in range (a bit lower than yours) and I subsequently found that I need both FT4 and FT3 around 60-70%through range, others are fine with a lower FT4, we just have to keep tweaking to find what suits us best.

Tinnitus can be a symptom of low B12 and hypothyroidism.

[Piggyoink in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thank you so much... I will add 25 mcg of T4 back and see how I feel. Thanks so much for your help xx

[5095julieh]

Start on Adrenal cocktails ( no alcohol included lol) , also do you take magnesium? If not start this too

My best advice is download the “Root cause Protocol” Morley Robbins is the founder ...life changing! rcp123.org

[Piggyoink in reply to 5095julieh]

Thanks so much! Yes I take magnesium every day too... 🙏🏾💜