Hashimotos disease. Recent blood tests.

[jacintaoreilly]

Hi all. I have hashimotos autoimmune disease. I had recent blood tests as I am still suffering with symptoms including: Fatigue, Thin hair and nails Headaches Insomnia Eczema on hands and Dry/cracked lips. I am currently taking 3 grains of NDT, turmeric, vitamin b complex (brand name is Throne specifically recommended by fellow hashimotos sufferers) and magnesium. Please find attached blood results and help me understand them and what the next steps are. Thank you in advance.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Clearly your ferritin is dire

What’s your diet like, are you vegetarian or vegan?

humanbean or SeasideSusie may pop along .....our iron and ferritin experts

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.

You need vitamin D tested too

Are you currently taking any vitamin D supplements

£29 (via NHS private service ) and 10% off down to £26.10 if go on thyroid uk for code

thyroiduk.org/getting-a-dia...

monitormyhealth.org.uk/

Or alternative

NHS postal kit £29

vitamindtest.org.uk

[jacintaoreilly in reply to SlowDragon]

Thanks for all the helpful advice

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Are you on strictly gluten free diet?

Poor gut function with Hashimoto’s can lead leaky gut (literally holes in gut wall) this can cause food intolerances. Most common by far is gluten. Dairy is second most common.

According to Izabella Wentz the Thyroid Pharmacist approx 5% with Hashimoto's are coeliac, but over 80% find gluten free diet helps, sometimes significantly. Either due to direct gluten intolerance (no test available) or due to leaky gut and gluten causing molecular mimicry (see Amy Myers link)

Changing to a strictly gluten free diet may help reduce symptoms, help gut heal and slowly lower TPO antibodies

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 you can immediately go on strictly gluten free diet

(If test is positive you 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

chriskresser.com/the-gluten...

amymyersmd.com/2018/04/3-re...

thyroidpharmacist.com/artic...

drknews.com/changing-your-d...

restartmed.com/hashimotos-g...

Non Coeliac Gluten sensitivity (NCGS) and autoimmune disease

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/296...

The predominance of Hashimoto thyroiditis represents an interesting finding, since it has been indirectly confirmed by an Italian study, showing that autoimmune thyroid disease is a risk factor for the evolution towards NCGS in a group of patients with minimal duodenal inflammation. On these bases, an autoimmune stigma in NCGS is strongly supported

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/300...

The obtained results suggest that the gluten-free diet may bring clinical benefits to women with autoimmune thyroid disease

nuclmed.gr/wp/wp-content/up...

In summary, whereas it is not yet clear whether a gluten free diet can prevent autoimmune diseases, it is worth mentioning that HT patients with or without CD benefit from a diet low in gluten as far as the progression and the potential disease complications are concerned

restartmed.com/hashimotos-g...

Despite the fact that 5-10% of patients have Celiac disease, in my experience and in the experience of many other physicians, at least 80% + of patients with Hashimoto's who go gluten-free notice a reduction in their symptoms almost immediately.

[jacintaoreilly in reply to SlowDragon]

Thanks for all the helpful advice

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

jacintaoreilly

Ferritin: 15 (30-165)

Is this a GP test?

The rest of your iron panel doesn't suggest iron deficiency - your serum iron is top of range (recommended for females is around 55%) and your saturation % is good at 33% (recommended for females is around 35%)

As your Ferritin is below range you should speak to your GP, maybe ask for a full blood count to see if you have anaemia.

[london81 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Hi Susie thanks for your reply. jacinta is my sister and she is in australia so will reply when she wakes up but i just wanted to ask you in the meantime ( because you have helped me so much), her ft3 is above range & her ft4 is rather low in range, she’s on 3 grains of armour per day. do you think she should reduce her ndt by half a grain & add 25mcg thyroxin? or are her sky high antibodies to blame?

thank you

SeasideSusie

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to london81]

London81

How far above range is FT3?

Personally I prefer to keep mine in range so I would reduce enough to bring it back into range. If she does that, retest in about 6 weeks and reassess. If she doesn't feel well then maybe add some Levo.

I think this illustrates how the fixed ratio of T4:T3 in NDT isn't always right for everyone. She may be like me, I need both FT4 and FT3 balanced and Levo plus T3 gives me the freedom to do that.

[london81 in reply to SeasideSusie]

thank youher ft4 is 40 percent and ft3 112 percent ( it’s 6.3 with the top of range being 6), the issue she has is she’s in australia so cant see GP or get tested without paying. but we can send her 25mcg thyroxine and she can see how she goes after 6 weeks. along with addressing the vitamins hopefully this will move her along in a positive way!

thanks so much

[jacintaoreilly in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thanks for all the helpful advice