I had posted here a month ago and on advice from you lovely people I have had my vitamin D tested. I have a B12 deficiency and have had various symptoms (extreme hair loss over the last lot of months one of them) and had some bloods done with the GP. My folate came back as really low so supplementing that for 8 weeks (prescribed high dose by GP) then GP will retest. I am then going to get a full thyroid panel done as well though my TSH reading was as follows: Serum TSH Level" 0.79 mU/L (0.27 - 4.2).
My vitamin D was tested privately with vitamindtest.org.uk/ and the results have come back as adequate BUT I know from reading other posts this doesn't always mean that there isn't a problem as levels should be optimal.
My results as follows:
Total Vitamin D :
72.7 nmol/L ADEQUATE
Interpretive Guide:
(25-hydroxyvitamin D 3 25-hydroxyvitamin D 2 : : 69.9 nmol/L, 2.8 nmol/L)
It states that vitamin D levels above 220nmol/L are considered high and increase the risk of vitamin D toxicity.
My question is does my result indicate that I could have a more optimal level? I have been supplementing this past couple of months with about 2000 IU per day as I was worried that a deficiency in vitamin D could have been causing the hairloss . Your thought and advice would be very much appreciated.
Best regards,
Cathy
Written by
MCkit
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The Vit D Council recommends a level of 125nmol/L and the Vit D Society recommends a level of 100-150nmol/L.
If you want to improve your level you could raise your dose to 3,000iu D3 daily and retest in 3 months.
Are you using D3's important cofactors - magnesium (helps the body convert D3 into it's usable form) and Vit K2-MK7 (directs the extra uptake of calcium to bones and teeth where it's needed and away from arteries and soft tissues where it can be deposited and cause problems).
Have you had ferritin tested? Low ferritin can cause hair loss.
Thanks so much Seaside Susie, I was hoping you would reply and this is so helpful!
I take magnesium daily but haven't been taking VitK2-MK7 but will do this - can they be taken together at the same time? (I am not on thyroid medication). My ferritin was tested and was in range see below but have tried to eat more meat to increase it but to be honest I eat loads of meat anyway! I tried liver but couldn't stomach it though was fed it as a child and didn't mind it so maybe I need to find the right recipe! Would black pudding be high in iron as I don't mind that! In your experience would my TSH level be an indicator of thyroid issues which could cause hair loss or would the most important test be for antibodies and so worth checking?
Ferritin is recommended to be half way through range (about 82 with that range). Black pudding is fine, but some brands may not contain as much iron as liver. Some brands do actually show the iron content on the label, eg The Bury Black Pudding Company have 17.43mg iron per 100g in the Black Pudding Rings (their Black Pudding Stick only has 11.8mg iron per 100g).
My local Co-op sells these but I wasn't keen on them. I had one when eating out once and it was quite spicy and I liked that.
"serum iron level" 19.7 umol/L (10-30)
"Percentage iron saturation" 31.0% (30-40)
Optimal levels for an iron panel are:
Serum iron: 55 to 70% of the range, higher end for men and yours is 48.5% so not too bad.
Saturation: 35 to 45%, higher end for men and yours is slightly lower at 31% but again not dire.
You could give the black pudding a go and see if it raises everything, I've found that liver helps raise my ferritin but my iron panel (which is pretty good) stays fairly stable.
In your experience would my TSH level be an indicator of thyroid issues which could cause hair loss or would the most important test be for antibodies and so worth checking?
Testing TSH alone is not good enough. You need at least FT4 included, preferably FT3 as well. This is because just testing TSH doesn't exclude Central Hypothyroidism (where the problem lies with the pituitary or the hypothalamus) and the TSH can be low, normal or minimally elevated with Central Hypothyroidism, it's low FT4 that suggests it.
Also, testing antibodies is important because if you have autoimmune thyroid disease (Hashimoto's) then symptoms and test results fluctuate.
Thanks s much Seaside Susie this is really helpful and I appreciate the comprehensive answer. I think I will give liver another go as well as really it seems the best food for iron so worth another try!
I prefer my liver done as a sort of Susie style stir fry! I'm no cook so it's nothing fancy.
I fry onions, peppers, mushrooms (anything you fancy throwing in), add liver for the last 5 minutes or so (I find high heat to seal then lower slightly and 5 minutes or so is enough but keep moving it around), then add in cooked rice and peas. Lots of different flavours. I always use lamb's liver which isn't strong, and calves' liver is said to be even milder, or you could use chicken livers.
That sounds good, I think my butcher gave me beef liver and hence the strong taste though I did soak in lemon juice for a couple of hours and the texture was actually nice but the taste was still very strong. I will ask him for lambs liver and try the stir fry recipe and fingers crossed! As a child my mother gave us liver and onions every week so I was surprised I found it so difficult to get down but I guess I haven't got my recipe perfected yet!
I used to do that Marz but I don't bother now. I'm not sure if it's because it's lovely fresh Welsh lamb from a really great butcher (and he does lovely award winning sausages 😋 ) but it's tasty without the bitterness.
I don't either ! Great you have a good Butcher - we are lucky too ! I think my soaking days were when I could only afford pig or ox liver ! - in those days sixpence made all the difference to the housekeeping budget of £5 a week !
As you have B12 injections it’s recommended on here to also to supplement a good quality daily vitamin B complex, one with folate in (not folic acid) may be beneficial.
Rather than just taking folic acid
This can help keep all B vitamins in balance and will help improve B12 levels too
Igennus Super B is good quality and cheap vitamin B complex. Contains folate. Full dose is two tablets per day. Many/most people may only need one tablet per day. Certainly only start on one per day (or even half tablet per day for first couple of weeks)
Or Thorne Basic B or jarrow B-right are other options that contain folate, but both are large capsules
If you are taking vitamin B complex, or any supplements containing biotin, remember to stop these 7 days before any blood tests, as biotin can falsely affect test results
Recommend getting FULL Thyroid testing including thyroid antibodies
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
About 90% of primary hypothyroidism is due to autoimmune thyroid disease
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)
Private tests are available as NHS currently rarely tests Ft3 or thyroid antibodies or all relevant vitamins
Thank you slow dragon. My folate level was dire despite a good diet so there is something going on with absorption in my body but difficult to get to the bottom of. "Serum folate" 2.1 ug/L (3.9 - 26.8). I didn't know that about the B complex so I will definitely invest in that though with me taking 5mg folic acid prescribed by my GP I am not sure if I should be taking that as well at the moment? I am due to get folate retested in a month so I am hoping the levels have improved. I am also awaiting results from 23andme for my genetic testing as I am keen to find out if I have the MTHFR gene variation that I have heard about. I will get my full thyroid tested as you suggest once I have my folate retested and hopefully can rule out a thyroid problem but it is just such a slow process of elimination!
I have had low folate before according to my GP and low iron in the past. My B12 deficiency was diagnosed 2016 but tested negative for pernicious anemia though that test is notoriously inaccurate so I am still trying to get a diagnosis. That's interesting to know then that low vitamin levels can hide thyroid issues which I have been tested for quite a few times over the years but always told they were "normal". Thank you for the link to interpret the results I am unsure also how they will come back so this is very useful.
Thank you Slowdragon, low stomach acid usually found in pernicious anemia as well which I only discovered. I will take a look at the links you have sent , thanks so much.
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