Help with results please

[Stargazing1608]

Hi, I've just had my results back from Thriva and wondered if any of you very knowledgeable people could shed some light on them for me. They all seem OK except vitamin D which I expected. I am on 100mcg Levothyroxine, diagnosed 13 years ago but have never felt well since, fatigue, joint and muscle pain, weight gain, all the usual suspects. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Glendamccall

Your ferritin level is dire. This could be causing your fatigue.

Ferritin is recommended to be half way through range (so about 82 with that range) and I have also seen that a good level for females is 100-130. According to some experts the optimal ferritin level for thyroid function is between 90-110 ng/ml.

Low ferritin can suggest iron deficiency or iron deficiency anaemia. You should ask your GP to do an iron panel (this would show iron deficiency) and a full blood count (this would show anaemia).

Don't consider taking an iron supplement yourself unless you do an iron panel, if you already have a decent level of serum iron and a good saturation percentage then taking iron tablets can push your iron level even higher, too much iron is as bad as too little.

**

TSH: 0.98 (0.27-4.2)

FT4: 14.7 (12-22)

FT3: 4.05 (3.1-6.8)

The aim of a treated Hypo patient on Levo only, generally, is for TSH to be 1 or below with FT4 and FT3 in the upper part of their reference ranges. Your TSH is good but your FT4 is only 27% through range and FT3 is 25.68% through range. They are well balanced, which means that you seem to be converting T4 into T3 well enough, but you are just not on a high enough dose of Levo to bring your Free Ts into the upper part of their ranges. Your results suggest that you need an increase in your dose of Levo. The fact that you are undermedicated could be causing your weight loss.

If your GP is reluctant to raise your dose due to your TSH already being low in range, use the following information:

Dr Toft, past president of the British Thyroid Association and leading endocrinologist, states in Pulse Magazine (the professional magazine for doctors):

"The appropriate dose of levothyroxine is that which restores euthyroidism and serum TSH to the lower part of the reference range - 0.2-0.5mU/l. In this case, free thyroxine is likely to be in the upper part of its reference range or even slightly elevated – 18-22pmol/l. Most patients will feel well in that circumstance. But some need a higher dose of levothyroxine to suppress serum TSH and then the serum-free T4 concentration will be elevated at around 24-28pmol/l. This 'exogenous subclinical hyperthyroidism' is not dangerous as long as serum T3 is unequivocally normal – that is, serum total around T3 1.7nmol/l (reference range 1.0-2.2nmol/l).*"

*He recently confirmed, during a public meeting, that this applies to Free T3 as well as Total T3.

You can obtain a copy of the article by emailing Dionne at

[e-mail]

print it and highlight question 6 to show your doctor.

**

Thyroid antibodies are negative so your current results don't suggest autoimmune thyroid disease (aka Hashimoto's).

**

Active B12 is OK. Below 70 suggests testing for B12 deficiency so you're not in that category, but I would want mine over 100.

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Folate at 14.8 (8.83-60.8) is low at just 11.10% through range. Folate is recommended to be at least half way through range. My suggestion would be to supplement with a good quality, bioavailable B Complex such as Thorne Basic B or Igennus Super B. This will improve both Folate and B12 levels.

It is important to remember that when supplementing with a B Complex it must be left off for 7 days before any blood test. This is because it contains biotin and when the testing procedure uses biotin (which most labs do) then it gives false results.

**

Vit D: 47.5nmol/L is in the insufficient category. This could be causing your muscle and joint pains.

The Vit D Council/Vit D Society recommend a level of 100-150nmol/L. If you want to improve your level the Vit D Council suggests supplementing with 4,000-5,000iu D3 daily. It is important to retest after 3 months to check your level.

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:

vitamindtest.org.uk/

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.

I have done very well with raising my severely deficient Vit D to the top of the recommended range with Doctor's Best D3 softgels. For Vit K2-MK7 I like Vegavero or Vitabay.

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.

naturalnews.com/046401_magn...

drjockers.com/best-magnesiu...

afibbers.org/magnesium.html

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Don't start all supplements at once. Start with one, give it a week or two and if no adverse reaction then add the next one. Again, wait a week or two and if no adverse reaction add the next one. Continue like this. If you do have any adverse reaction then you will know what caused it.

[Stargazing1608 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thank you so much for that. I'm in awe of how much knowledge the people on here have and you're reply is so detailed. I will certainly look at the articles you highlighted and try once again to get the iron panel from the GP.

Thanks for your help, much appreciated

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to Stargazing1608]

Glendamccall

If your GP refuses the iron panel (which hopefully he wont) then Medichecks do it, called Iron Deficiency Check. I do it occasionally because I need to raise my ferritin level but the rest of my iron panel is good.

[Stargazing1608 in reply to SeasideSusie]

OK thank you