Hi, I posted previously as I’ve been feeling unwell for 9 months with various symptoms including extreme fatigue, bloating, poor circulation, feeling cold and pins and needles. More recently headaches, dry skin and mouth.
I’m awaiting a neurology referral but found a lump in my neck a couple of weeks ago. Was advised during ultrasound that there are 2 ‘lumps’ on my thyroid that don’t appear suspicious, no sign of cancer’. Been referred to thyroid surgeon next week.
In the meantime I did medi checks blood test. I had been supplementing vitamin D, B12 and magnesium sprays and taking iron via spatone liquid. Stopped these 1 week before blood test.
The results are in and the dr says that most things are entirely in range. Only things slightly out of range are vitamin D which he suggests I supplement and thyroid peroxidase antibodies. He said my thyroid is functioning normally and the antibody level will just need monitored.
Results are:
Ferritin 44.8ug/L (13-150)
Folate (serum) 9.15ug/L (>3.89)
Vit B12 (active) >150pmol/L (>37.5)
Vit D 63.1nmol/L (50-175)
TSH 0.685 mlU/L (0.27-4.2)
Free T3 5.82 pmol/L (3.1-6.8)
Free Thyroxine 13.400 pmol/L (12-22)
Thyroglobulin Antibodies 18.400 KIU/L (<115)
Thyroid Peroxidase Antibodies 57.5 KIU/L (<34)
Will have to wait and see what thyroid surgeon says next week but feeling a little deflated that it seems thyroid isn’t the root cause of my symptoms?
Many thanks again for anyone reading.
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Bambini83
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As far as your thyroid results are concerned, your TSH is nice and low (but not so low that it confuses the GP). Your free T3 is good at 73.5% through range, although free T4 is only 11.4% through range - which is odd in my experience unless you just take lio, as most people with unbalanced results usually have high free T4/low free T3. Are you on thyroid meds? Any changes on dose or brands?
On your nutrients, I will defer to SeasideSusie , especially on your low vit D, but would suggest ferritin also looks a bit low. You may have to do the liver-once-a-week thing (yuk) to bring it up.
Thanks for your reply! No I’m not on any thyroid meds - have very recently found 2 lumps on thyroid, Waiting to see thyroid surgeon. So it seems my thyroid is functioning normally?
This is low. Ferritin is recommended to be half way through range. You can help raise your level by eating liver regularly, maximum 200g per week due to it's high Vit A content, also liver pate, black pudding, and including lots of iron rich foods in your diet
Not too bad, Medichecks range is 3.89 to 19.45 and folate should be at least half way through range, which would be 12+ with that range.
Vit B12 (active) >150pmol/L (>37.5)
You've gone over range and it's beyond the measuring capability of their equipment. I'd stop the B12 now and just use a B Complex (which you should be using when taking B12 anyway as it keeps all the B vitamins in balance). The B Complex will contain methylfolate which will help improve your Folate level. Consider Thorne Basic B as it's a good brand with bioavailable ingredients and isn't B12 heavy but has the right amount of methylfolate.
Vit D 63.1nmol/L (50-175)
This is low. 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 your current level, based on the Vit D Council's suggestions you should supplement with 4,000iu D3 daily.
Retest after 3 months.
Once you've reached the recommended level then you'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. You 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.
Many thanks for such a detailed reply! Just to clarify I should be supplementing Vit K2? I assume this is easy to find in capsule form? I need to do some proper reasearch.
Appreciate your comments on the B12 too. Not sure my level is over range just checked and it seems their top end of range is 187.5 based on diagram included with results. Your advice with this is very much appreciated too.
Thyroid aside as these levels don’t appear to be of concern I guess the ferritin and vit d levels could be contributing to some of my symptoms. Thanks again for your reply!
Yes, you need Vit K2-mk7 for the reason given above. Easily sourced but if you want a recommendation for a good one then look for Vegavero or Vitabay.
As they've put >150 for your Active B12 then their machine doesn't measure any higher or they would have put the result. With that level you don't need to continue supplementing with a separate B12, you just need to maintain a good level now and the B Complex will do that.
Vit D needs improving but isn't deficient.
Ferritin is said to need to be 70 for thyroid hormone to work properly. Low Ferritin brings it's own problems/symptoms. Common ones listed here:
Hi, I appreciate I’m replying to my own thread here so I’m effectively talking to myself 🤣 I’ve done a bit of reading and it seems on the face of it that my TSH is normal, free T3 is normal and free thyroxine is lower end. I read that a lower end FT4 with a normal or lower end TSH can actually be indicative of a problem with the pituitary gland? I don’t know if the slightly elevated antibodies/growths on my thyroid have anything to do with it. It’s all so complicated and I could be talking utter rubbish but I wonder if this is something I should try and pursue...I can get a cortisol test and female hormone blood test done privately. Or am I barking up the wrong tree and the fact that all results are in range means there’s no real issue here?
Poor gut function can lead leaky gut (literally holes in gut wall) this can cause food intolerances. Most common by far is gluten. Dairy is second most common.
According to Izabella Wentz the Thyroid Pharmacist approx 5% with Hashimoto's are coeliac, but over 80% find gluten free diet helps, sometimes significantly. Either due to direct gluten intolerance (no test available) or due to leaky gut and gluten causing molecular mimicry (see Amy Myers link)
Changing to a strictly gluten free diet may help reduce symptoms, help gut heal and slowly lower TPO antibodies
While still eating high gluten diet ask GP for coeliac blood test first or buy test online for under £20, just to rule it out first
Assuming test is negative you can immediately go on strictly gluten free diet
(If test is positive you will need to remain on high gluten diet until endoscopy, maximum 6 weeks wait officially)
Trying gluten free diet for 3-6 months. If no noticeable improvement then reintroduce gluten and see if symptoms get worse
The predominance of Hashimoto thyroiditis represents an interesting finding, since it has been indirectly confirmed by an Italian study, showing that autoimmune thyroid disease is a risk factor for the evolution towards NCGS in a group of patients with minimal duodenal inflammation. On these bases, an autoimmune stigma in NCGS is strongly supported
In summary, whereas it is not yet clear whether a gluten free diet can prevent autoimmune diseases, it is worth mentioning that HT patients with or without CD benefit from a diet low in gluten as far as the progression and the potential disease complications are concerned
Despite the fact that 5-10% of patients have Celiac disease, in my experience and in the experience of many other physicians, at least 80% + of patients with Hashimoto's who go gluten-free notice a reduction in their symptoms almost immediately.
Thank you Slowdragon! I really appreciate you taking the time to reply. I did cut back on gluten earlier in the year but I won’t lie I wasn’t 100% strict on it so I really need to try harder with that. I posted an update earlier this evening with the results of my thyroid surgery appointment. I have a cyst on left of thyroid and nodule on right. He wasn’t concerned with the nodule but took an FNA of the cyst. Also tried to drain it fully but failed. Results in 2 weeks. He said likely non suspicious and if so he will redrain 2-3 more times. If it keeps filling up my left hand thyroid has to come out. Not really sure where that would leave me with half a thyroid with a nodule. He doesn’t think my symptoms are thyroid related as TSH normal (I didn’t get into it with him or mention private bloods as I felt it a waste of time). I will wait to see what biopsy result is then plan to see a private endo in Mancs.
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