Just recieved my most recent thyroid, Iron and Vitamin D tests. Before anyone comments about thyroid test (FT3 was not tested) can't get Endo to think it's relevant... "sigh"! For those who don't know me I've been thyroid-less (cancer) since 10/2016 and developed debilitating Psoriatic Arthritis as a bonus since having no thyroid wasn't enough" sigh"!
Currently I'm on 100mcg synthyroid and 10mcg cytomel.
Current Supplements: D3 (5000iu) K2 (75mg) and 420mg magnesium citrate and B-12 complex recommended from here.
Current issues: mild breathlessness, chronic cough, sleeping issues(I get 7hrs per night normally) Crazy high cholesterol (stopped statins a month ago those things crippled me) psoriatic arthritis inject monthly with immunosuppressive drugs, hives off and on, extreme nasal sores and horrible dry skin that lotion won't fix, light red face that never leaves.
Hi SD, Had everything tested this week, Yes No B12 mine no matter what is always very high I do a lot of spinach and I supplement.
You think my ferritin is too low, my doctor won’t do a thing for it because of being in range so what do you think I should do to elevate it? Please no liver or blood products...yuck!
You need to get full iron panel test to see if iron is low too
Don’t start any iron supplements without testing
Eating iron rich foods red meat, pumpkin seeds and dark chocolate, plus daily orange juice or other vitamin C rich drink can help improve iron absorption
This is interesting because I have noticed that many patients with Hashimoto’s disease and hypothyroidism, start to feel worse when their ferritin drops below 80 and usually there is hair loss when it drops below 50.
A total iron binding capacity value above 450 mcg/dL usually means that there’s a low level of iron in your blood. This may be caused by a lack of iron in the diet, increased blood loss during menstruation, pregnancy, or a chronic infection.
Whoa.... The CHF thing just scared me. I don’t have any of those symptoms except breathlessness and even that has gotten a little better with the addition of spinach (crazy right). I really think the cough which isn’t like Im coughing up a lung type of cough its more of something irritating me, only way to explain it and its (not a wet cough) and random.
I do see my Rheumy on Monday and hope to get the inflammation fixed once and for all because clearly the immune system injection isn’t working.
Cytomel gives me breathlessness sometimes. Idk if it’s because it reduces T4 and then I become more hypo. I have no clue. lol. The higher my T3, the harder it is for my breathing.
Batty1 I'm so sorry your experiencing hyper symptoms . FT 4 at 1.6 would make me or anyone feel awful . Yes palpitations insomnia fatigue hot/cold intolerant, irritable, moody and more . I would suggest that you ask your Dr to lower your T4 dose to perhaps 88 mcg T4 and to raise your T3 meds from 10 mcg to 15 mcg . Your T3 is very low and it looks like you don't convert well T4 to T3. Do you split your T3 dose ? I found years ago that splitting my T4 dose 2x/day makes a huge difference for me too.
Can I suggest trying 'Calmurid' cream by galderma for your dry skin. It is amazing, i first came across it at a national eczema society function, i listened to the rep and thought 'yeah right' he gave me samples, he said it would get rid of the cracked dry heels on my feet, (another of my bloomin symptoms) well it was a miracle, it is great for face, smooths out all those little lines, it was the original cream using urea to moisturise. It stings a bit if cracked skin, like lemon jiuce on broken skin but its brilliant,, you have to shake tube really well before using. Keeps my gardening hands soft too. Well worth a go. About £7 a big tube but can also get on prescription xx
Sorry, I can’t comment on any medicine you’re taking but wonder if you’re not taking too high a dose of vit D. In order to see an increase in your level of vit D, why don’t you combine letting your skin do its job (during the recommended hours of the day) as well as eating food known to contain this vitamin like oily fish: salmon, sardines, mackerel.
Hi and Thank you, yes I do need to get a lower dose of D3 at the time I started it thats the only bottle they had and yes I do sit outside but sadly can not do this often or long due to sun rash (immune drug) I believe is causing this because if I could just sit outside I wouldn’t take the D3 at all until winter and the whole fish thing i’m not very fond of fish and tend to not buy it and I have a hard time eating meat.
I can’t take too high a dose of vit D because of my parathyroid glands; I have too much calcium in the blood but I still take 800 UI. You can take even half of it but on the market I saw the minimum being 1,000 UI.
In general, if you can take the minimum of chemicals the better as my GP was alarmed a few years ago when he thought I had cancer of the liver after taking one pill a day for BP and another one after breast cancer, so the moment I stopped the former, the liver results were perfect.
I think I'm going to ask for increase in thyroid meds at my appointment next month, I feel like my immune drug is messing me up and the causing a-lot of my problems.
Just a quick throw in here ... I get breathless whenever my ferritin is getting low, it is ‘in range’ but low in range. But not low enough to get an iron infusion, but that’s another story lol. I have Hashimotos hypothyroidism, PA, Sjogrens, mild lupus and its very hard to keep everything balanced. I’ve just discovered (to my horror) that if I eat a small piece of liver once a week, I don’t get the breathlessness. I’ve never eaten liver in my life and I certainly don’t enjoy it, but it seems to do the trick, 🤮
Hemoglobin - Your level is well in range and so you aren't anemic
Iron - Optimal is 55% - 70% of the way through the range, which with your test is approximately 96 - 112. In your shoes I would want a result of around 95 - 105.
Iron Binding Capacity - Yours is mid-range so I can't really say anything about it.
Iron saturation - Optimal is 35% - 45%, so yours is rather too low.
Ferritin - Most of us feel best with a ferritin level around 50% of the way through the range, so yours is too low. [50% of the way through the range is approx 80 - 85.]
Iron supplementing isn't something to undertake casually. Too much iron and ferritin in the body is poisonous because the body has no normal means of excreting the excess. So getting a regular iron panel done is essential.
In the UK doctors often prescribe ferrous sulfate or ferrous fumarate. They can also prescribe ferrous gluconate but they rarely do - it is almost never mentioned on this forum.
People differ in which iron supplements they can tolerate. Personally I prefer ferrous fumarate to ferrous sulfate and I think I'm in the majority in that, but I have seen some posts where people say they cope with ferrous sulfate better.
With every iron supplement people take the important thing is how much pure iron it contains.
When I took prescribed iron tablets I was taking ferrous fumarate 210mg (FF210), one tablet three times a day, which meant I was taking a total of 207mg of pure iron per day. I would suggest that should be an absolute maximum. The prescribed maximum doses of FF210 have been reduced in recent years in the UK to one tablet twice a day.
When I looked at US Amazon the iron tablets on sale contained anything from 14mg of iron per pill up to 65mg per pill. You'll have to decide which one you want to try.
My sister is a dermatologist & a specialist in hair loss, ferritin has to be 70+ to maintain hair on your head. 24 is probably why you’re breathless too! I hope you’re feeling better these days!
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