I posted on here a few weeks ago re. my husband's illness. He has been very ill for the past year, started with migraines, then six months ago, tiredness, which became extreme fatigue when lockdown started. He has blurred vision, very bad muscle pain in back, tingling arms and legs, freezing cold hands and feet that turn blue, depression and dizziness. He had Hodgkins Lymphoma in 2004. To say his GP/Surgery have been hopeless, would be an understatement. He can't work at the moment (luckily still furloughed). He had a very high serum B12 result, which I found on his NHS blood results, after asking for them (3 months after taken) following advice on here. His GP has done nothing, except refer him for a liver scan, which he can't have as they are not doing them at the moment! He has a telephone consultation with CFS clinic on Thursday 16th July.
So, I booked a private ultrasound for his liver, kidneys and pancreas, which he had on Saturday, and, thankfully, was okay. Following are his Medicheck results for Thyroid panel:
I'd appreciate any help as I don't really understand them and I so desperately want to help him as his quality of life at the moment is awful. I have been reading about the late effects of ABVD chemotherapy for Hodgkins Lymphoma and one of them is thyroid problems. These can happen a few months or years/decades later. It seems this could be the problem. It's interesting as he had mild cold hands and feet on and off a few months after chemo finished and for next 15 years until much worse last year; also, blurred vision started after chemo, but maybe once a year. Now it's most days.
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sid3108
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A "normal healthy person" would have a TSH of no more than 2 with FT4 around mid-range-ish. Your husband's results seem to meet that criteria.
His Folate is a touch low, but not significantly. When there is no proper range I like mine to be in double figures.
His Vit D is on the low side. The Vit D Council recommends a level of 125nmol/L and the Vit D Society recommends a level of 100-150nmol/L. To reach the recommended level from his current level, based on the Vit D Council's suggestions he could supplement with 4,000iu D3 daily.
Retest after 3 months.
A good quality, very reasonably priced D3 supplement is Doctor's Best D3 softgels which contain just D3 and extra virgin olive oil (the oil aids absorption). Some people like BetterYou oral spray but it's a lot more expensive and has lots of excipients.
Once he's reached the recommended level then he'll need a maintenance dose to keep it there, which may be 2000iu daily, maybe more or less, maybe less in summer than winter, it's trial and error so it's recommended to retest once or twice a year to keep within the recommended range. He can do this with a private fingerprick blood spot test with an NHS lab which offers this test to the general public:
Doctors don't know, because they're not taught much about nutrients, but there are important cofactors needed when taking D3 as recommended by the Vit D Council.
D3 aids absorption of calcium from food and Vit K2-MK7 directs the calcium to bones and teeth where it is needed and away from arteries and soft tissues where it can be deposited and cause problems such as hardening of the arteries, kidney stones, etc.
D3 and K2 are fat soluble so should be taken with the fattiest meal of the day, D3 four hours away from thyroid meds if taking D3 as tablets/capsules/softgels, no necessity if using an oral spray.
Magnesium helps D3 to work. We need Magnesium so that the body utilises D3, it's required to convert Vit D into it's active form. So it's important we ensure we take magnesium when supplementing with D3.
Magnesium comes in different forms, check to see which would suit you best and as it's calming it's best taken in the evening, four hours away from thyroid meds if taking magnesium as tablets/capsules, no necessity if using topical forms of magnesium.
Don't start all supplements at once. Start with one, give it a week or two and if no adverse reaction then add the next one. Again, wait a week or two and if no adverse reaction add the next one. Continue like this. If you do have any adverse reaction then you will know what caused it.
CRP is an inflammation marker and that is nice and low.
Ferritin is recommended to be half way through range so his level is very good.
Hi, thank you for your message. My husband's mental health is deteriorating because of all his physical symptoms. He's unable to do much at all and I am starting to become desperate as I have no support from his doctors. I just want to help him. I was thinking because of the connection between thyroid and CFS and his cancer treatment that thyroid problems could be part of it. From what you have said, do you think this isn't the case? Thank you for any advice.
Hi, thank you for replying. His testosterone levels haven't been tested; I'll try to get that one done. Thank you. He has now officially been diagnosed as having cfs/me, but I know there is nothing much the cfs clinic will do. Thanks again.
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