Vitamin guidance please

[NWA6]

About a year ago I posted results of my daughter who was having a difficult time and I was worried about hereditary. Now we know that she actually experienced trauma last year. She has since then become more mentally stable, counselling and our support helped but so has the lockdown. It seemed to just press a pause button for her and that helped her reset.

I’ll post her previous results and her latest. I’d love some help with dosing for those vitamins that she’s struggling to maintain naturally. In 2019 she was sometimes taking supplements but not reliably. She has not taken any supplements for over 6mths.

My daughter is 19, she’s a red head so should be better at making Vit D but that’s not happening and folate is dire too. She’s so much better than last year but still gets extreme tiredness and finds it difficult to focus and can be forgetful. Periods are awful every month and can often make her feel sick and/or throw up.

I know that FT4 is the result to look at as opposed to T4 but still I’m really curious as to why it remains out of range. FT4 is low (36% through range) FT3 about half way through range but maybe this is acceptable for someone who’s not on thyriod replacement?

2019. 2020

B12 (37.5-188)

109. 84.5

Vit D (50-175)

73.1. 31.9

Ferritin (13-150)

89 31.5

Folate (8.83-60.8)

33.7. 2.93

TSH (0.27-4.2)

1.43. 2.06

T4 (66-181)

63.3. 61.5

FT4(12-22)

17.7. 15.6

FT3 (3.1-6.8)

5.1. 5.28

TgAB >115

12.2. <10

TPOab >34

18.3. <9

[NWA6]

Just answering myself here as I study the results.

2019

FT4 - 57% through range

FT3 - 54% through range

2020

FT4 - 36%

FT3 - 58%

TSH climbing slowly as FT4 lowers but FT4 remaining quite stable.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Her vitamin levels are truly awful

Vitamin D - insufficient and almost deficient - GP should prescribe 1600iu daily for 6 months

Folate is deficient - GP should prescribe folic acid

Ferritin extremely low - ask GP for full iron panel testing for Anaemia

B12 has dropped a lot too

First step is to dramatically improve all of them, then retest thyroid levels in 6-8 weeks after adding last vitamin supplement

Suggest you consider coeliac blood testing

Ask for thyroid ultrasound scan too

Remind me, are you on strictly gluten free diet

Are you Dio2 positive?

[NWA6 in reply to SlowDragon]

Hey slowDragon. Cheers, I thought the same too and they distracted me from her thyriod results which are not great either but no autoimmunity present as yet so I’m hoping that with better Vit levels the thyroid will improve.

A coeliac variant runs through my family (dna testing) and my aunt has coeliacs so it’s a possibility that my daughter may have an intolerance like me rather than an autoimmune/allergy.

I am heterozygous for DIO2

I have very little to do with GP’s and I don’t encourage my children to trust them either. I’ll look for a private coeliacs test.

What would the ultrasound scan potential show/not show?

My daughter seems to have a permanent cold/run down

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to NWA6]

You can have Hashimoto’s and negative thyroid antibodies

20% of Hashimoto's patients never have raised antibodies

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Paul Robson on atrophied thyroid - especially if no TPO antibodies

paulrobinsonthyroid.com/cou...

I have info of London scan options roughly £150.

PM me if you want details

While still eating high gluten diet ask GP for coeliac blood test first or buy test online for under £20, just to rule it out first

healthcheckshop.co.uk/store...?

Assuming test is negative can immediately go on strictly gluten free diet

(If test is positive she will need to remain on high gluten diet until endoscopy, maximum 6 weeks wait officially)

Trying gluten free diet for 3-6 months. If no noticeable improvement then reintroduce gluten and see if symptoms get worse

[S2017]

Hi,

I just wanted to share that my vitamin D levels were close to your daughter's and I literally could not think or focus anymore. I was so so ill with a range of other symptoms as well (very tired, don't feel like doing anything, palpitations, nausea, etc)

The Dr prescribed me on high dose vit D (40,000IU/for 7 weeks) and I continued with lower dose (2,000-3000IU) and after 3 months, it finally got to 80 (which is borderline). Just reaching borderline level, made a world of difference for me. For the PMS, evening primrose oil helped me a lot. It doesn't remove all the symptoms, but I experience 70-80% less symptoms (ie; less pain, less hormonal up and downs/emotions) after taking it.

I hope that her vitamins levels get sorted quickly as she must be feeling awful. For the other areas, others will be more well-versed on how to manage this than myself.

Hope this helps in some way. All the best.

[NWA6 in reply to S2017]

Thank you 🤗 That does help. 40,000iu?? That’s such a high dose 😬

[S2017 in reply to NWA6]

Yes I know I was very surprised at first with the high dosage. I would have never bought such a high dosage (it is meant for short term only). I was supplementing with 2,000IU a day and think I was trying to sort off catch up with a moving train and never getting there to the point where I feel better.

Literally after the first 20,000IU I could think clearer but I still had my up and downs days. It took 3 months to reach 80 (I was at 40 before). I was surprised that it moved so slowly but glad I got there at least. 🙂

Oh yes and supplement with K2 when taking vitamin D, this solves one of the issues but you will need to look into the other vitamins as well (not the best to advise on that as I’m still learning).

[lizhut]

Honestly it will not just be about her Vitamin D levels. There will be so much more to it than that. She should definitely see a nutritional therapist who specialises in thyroid health, looks at her SNPs, her gut and liver/detox pathways, Candida, nutritional profile etc. It might cost you money in the short term but it will be so much cheaper in the long term, not to mention a lot less stressful.

The Vitamin D you get from the doctors is not the best. You should also take it with the right proportion of K2. This is not a question anyone can answer off the bat. I know it's tempting but rarely is a situation like this a 'simple' answer.

[NWA6 in reply to lizhut]

Thanks for responding Lizhut. My girl is 19 and probably won’t even go gluten free to help herself. We’d pay all that money out and she’d not take a blind bit of notice! 😂

We’ll start slow and try and mend the things we can, let her grow up a bit, get a bit more tired and then see what we can do.

[lizhut in reply to NWA6]

Yes it's hard when it's your child. I know what you mean. It would still be worth it I feel. I am a nutritional therapist myself (not trying to sell anything - that is why I don't tend to mention it) and what a good therapist of any kind should be doing is explaining, in my opinion, the importance of tackling underlying health, selling the benefits and working with the client in small steps. They should also come up with tasty swaps so that the clients don't feel deprived. Most of my clients want change but don't want to change It's the job of a good therapist to negotiate that.

Even small changes and support can make a difference. And the worst case scenario is that your daughter will ignore it all right now but may revisit when things don't get better and she is a bit more mature. The worst thing any mother can do is force though. But it may be good if you can just persuade your daughter to see someone as you would not believe what goes in. I know this from experience with my own daughters! Once the seeds are sown it is then up to her and at least you will be in the right place to support her. Good luck x

[NWA6 in reply to lizhut]

Thanks Liz. Seeds are being sown! Lol I’m pretty good at nutrition, so all the kids have grown up with home cooked meals. She realised that she hasn’t been eating her weetabix which has been her breakfast staple since she was young! Lockdown has her all in a two and eight 🤪

[lizhut in reply to NWA6]

That's brilliant. I know only too well what a delicate process this is - but you'll get there

[NWA6 in reply to lizhut]

Thanks for outing yourself though Liz! I’ll be stalking you for tid bits of advice! 😏😂

[lizhut in reply to NWA6]

You're very welcome If I can help I will!

[silverfox7]

We also have to remember that the UK isn’t high on sunshine! We can’t make as much VIT D as some of us need so have to supplement. Many of us do and it’s often for life.

[NWA6 in reply to silverfox7]

Yeah but she’s a red head and so she’s supposed to make her own as she can’t ever get it from the sun (or very little).

[silverfox7]

We are generally too far north in the winter months.

[NWA6 in reply to silverfox7]

Gingers like my daughter make their own Vit D, they need very little sunlight.