I am new to this forum and I was recommended by my friend. Recently (or maybe more than one year) I have been feeling not so well - I have been loosing my hair (and they became weak), my skin is dry, I have sleeping problems, feeling tired and irritated quite often, one minute my mood is good another I am super angry. As I have had problems with iron and ferritin for more than 5 years I was told that all these symptoms are because of that and that it is because of my heavy menstruation. My mom is having problems with thyroid for many years so I was recommended to make some tests too. But because of the COVID-19 situation it is impossible to get an appointment with doctor. I would appreciate if You could help me.
Ferritin 8.2 ug/l (10-291)
Iron 21.2 umol/l (9-30.4)
TSH 4.74 mlU/l (0.35-5.5)
Free T3 - 4.4 pmol/l (3.5-6.5)
Free Thyroxine - 16 pmol/l (11.5-22.7)
Thyroid Peroxidase Antibodies - 28 mlU/l (<60)
Thanks!
Written by
Stirna
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My ferritin is quite high here. Mostly I have it around 3-4 Iron serum about4. I am drinking now SiderAl forte and few months ago I got birth control pils to control my mens.
I have done a full blood count some time despite low level of ferritin my Hemoglobin is around 90-100.
When it comes to TSH - it was done in the morning.
No meds only supplements of iron and vitaminC.
I will definitely do B12 and vitaminD test. Last time I did them few years ago then B12 was ok and I had lack of vitamin D.
I agree with Marz your ferritin is low and that can cause symptoms. When mine was low I losing hair by the hundreds and felt awful. I was told that my ferritin had to be over 80 for hair growth so I took spatone and ate pate twice a week to bring it up. Also most people have a TSH of 1 or lower so yours is too high and I think you have hypothyroid.
Unusual for both to be used in the same lab ! I lived in Greece where they used ng/L - here in the UK it is pmol/L. If you x 2.5 the first result it will give you the pmol/L equivalent!!
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
Low vitamin levels are extremely common, especially if you have autoimmune thyroid disease (Hashimoto's) diagnosed by raised Thyroid antibodies
Ask Doctor to test vitamin levels
And ultrasound scan of thyroid can be helpful
20% of Hashimoto's patients never have raised antibodies
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 .
This gives highest TSH, lowest FT4 and most consistent results. (Patient to patient tip, best not mentioned to GP or phlebotomist)
Heavy periods are classic sign of being hypothyroid
TSH is higher than average
Getting all four vitamins optimal is your first step
Your thyroid is struggling a little although your fT3 and fT4 are OK. This could be a consequence of the anaemia although hypothyroidism can cause anaemia in some cases. It would be interesting to see your thyroid blood test results after your iron levels are sorted.
Recommendations for a ferritin above 80 come from a cosmetic company that markets an ‘iron shampoo’, very few women have a ferritin above 80.
I would concentrate on your anaemia, perhaps taking several approaches including supplements and diet. You may find that your thyroid numbers improve a few months after your ferritin levels come up. Iron is needed to make thyroid hormone and in cases of anaemia like yours (which is quite severe) it may have a small effect on thyroid hormone levels.
The problem is that my iron level becomes higher only when I drink supplements when I stop doing that everything drops again to the minimum. I have been drinking iron for two years I got only problems with stomach
I misunderstood. You said you have recently been put on birth control pills to regulate your periods. Assuming this works your ferritin levels should improve (obviously I have no knowledge in this area).
I think your doctors need to find out why you remain anaemic, I can quite understand you are fed up with taking iron supplements. They need to establish whether it is due to blood loss or malabsorption or something else. I have no knowledge of anaemia but it's obvious you have been suffering for a long time and should be referred to a specialist.
Yes birth control pills is the idea to help with mens and doctor is hoping that it will help with iron too but is not sure. As I can see it helps a bit before my ferritin and iron level was about 3-4 but hemoglobine about 90-100.
My doctor is lost, was sending me to different specialists but no use.
Yes I guess I have anaemia for a long time, probably more than 10 years. My toungue is cracked badly and one of the doctors said that it is a sign of chronic anaemia.
As my doctor says she has no clue how to help me maybe I would need to go to endocrinologist?
I don't think an endocrinologist would help much at this stage. They are often useless with even simpler cases. A gastroenterologist would be more usefull if you haven't already seen one. I'm not knowledgeable on this subject but essentially it seems logical to stop any excess blood loss and if that doesn't solve the problem to investigate why you appear to have problems absorbing iron. Do you have any gastrointestinal problems?
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Iron serum about4. I am drinking now SiderAl forte and few months ago I got birth control pils to control my mens. 
Do my blood test results indicate a problem with my thyroid?
Help feeling confused - do I have a problem with my thyroid and is my medication working? 
Blood Test Results - following up on last week
thyroid blood test results
Latest blood test results
