Help with blood results please! (I posted last night about the possibility of taking supplements for Hypothyroidism)

[LFP_]

Hi everyone,

I posted my results yesterday without ranges but I've managed to obtain them today. I'm currently on 25mcg Levo for hypothyroidism diagnosed in August.

I’m 46 yrs old who's always been sporty, but in the last 10 months I've been feeling really dreadful. I take a ggod brand of a multi vitamin for women, 2 sprays of sublingual Vit D every morning

because my gynae said my Vit D was low. She was the one who started me on the Levo. My GP sadly is an arse, I had to battle with him for my last bloods to be done. I'm having another blood test next week because I have a consistently low calcium.

My symptoms are:

Extreme tiredness

Dry skin (especially my face and legs)

⬆️Weight

Inflamed oesophagus/sore throat for 10 months (cancer ruled out, I'm taking 15mg of Lansoprazole and Gaviscon Advance......with little effect).

Easily strained muscles

when I try to go for a run

Bleeding in between periods (cancer ruled out)

Having bouts of swollen lymph nodes

- throat, armpit

Swollen joints in my fingers

Bloods done privately in August:

TSH ▲ 5.490 [1] 0.27 - 4.20 mIU/L

Free T4 12.32 [2] 12 - 22 pmol/L

Total Vitamin D ▼ 62 [1] 75 - 200 nmol/L

Bloods done by my GP at the beginning of October:

Thyroid peroxidase antibody level < 4 IU/mL [< 25.0]

Serum free T4 level 14 pmol/L [9.0 - 25.0]

Serum TSH level 4.3 miu/L [0.3 - 5.0]

Serum adjusted calcium concentration 2.19 mmol/L [2.2 - 2.6]

Serum vitamin D level 70 nmol/L (>50 nmol/L sufficient for almost the whole population)

Serum vitamin B12 level 489 ng/L [220.0 - 700.0]

Serum folate level 15.1 ug/L [2.6 - 17.3]

Serum ferritin level 12 ug/L [10.0 - 420.0]

I'd really appreciate some guidance. I was just wondering if I could take any extra supplements, like selenium, zinc , magnesium to help.

My sister suffers with Hyperthyroidism and isn't a fan of the medical model. She said that if I take Levo I'm not addressing the root cause of my hypothyroidism. I'm slightly confused. For every article I read there seems to be a counter argument regarding hypothyroidism and it's treatment.

Many thanks,

LFP

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Sorry you didn’t get any replies, this is an extremely busy forum

Standard starter dose of levothyroxine is 50mcg unless over 65 years old

Your October results show you need 25mcg dose increase

On levothyroxine the aim is to increase the dose slowly upwards in 25mcg steps until Ft4 and Ft3 are both roughly 60% through range. When adequately treated TSH is frequently around, or under one

The most noticeable result is the EXTREMELY Low ferritin result

GP should be doing full iron panel test for anaemia

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Bloods should be retested 6-8 weeks after each dose increase

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 .

Last dose of Levothyroxine 24 hours prior to blood test. (taking delayed dose immediately after blood draw).

This gives highest TSH, lowest FT4 and most consistent results. (Patient to patient tip)

Low ferritin

Never supplement iron without doing full iron panel test for anaemia first

Eating iron rich foods like liver or liver pate once a week plus other red meat, pumpkin seeds and dark chocolate, plus daily orange juice or other vitamin C rich drink can help improve iron absorption

List of iron rich foods

dailyiron.net

Links about iron and ferritin

irondisorders.org/Websites/...

drhedberg.com/ferritin-hypo...

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.

[LFP_ in reply to SlowDragon]

I can’t thank you enough for you advice SlowDragon. I’m totally lost at the moment & feeling so dreadful.

Could I ask you about what you meant about Hashimoto disease, hypothyroidism & ferritin. My antibodies came back negative for Hashimoto.

Thanks,

Elaine