Vitamin d

[imogen2010]

I’ve been taking thyroxine for 20 years & have blood tests every year. The doctor put me on very high strength vit d one tablet a week for 6weeks then he said to use over the counter & take one daily I’ve finished the 6 week course & im suffering with extreme bone & muscle ache is this from the vitamin d?

[PurpleNails Administrator]

Do you have your vitamin D results?

What dose were you given?

A retest is a good idea. If GP won’t do there is a direct testing service. Using finger prick sample.

Do you take other supplements?

Often recommended on here to take cofactors K2 and magnesium with vitamin D? Did you do this?

[imogen2010 in reply to PurpleNails]

My vitamin D result was 23.4 doctor put me on fultium 40,000 once a week. Having another test on Tuesday. Thank you🙏

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

imogen2010

im suffering with extreme bone & muscle ache is this from the vitamin d?

Yes, these are typical symptoms of Vit D Deficiency.

You have been given loading doses of Vit D which is for Vit D deficiency so your level will be below 25nmol/L.

This is the NICE Clinical Knowledge Summary for treating Vit D Deficiency:

cks.nice.org.uk/vitamin-d-d...

(click on Management > Scenario:Management)

"Treat for vitamin D deficiency if serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) levels are less than 25 nmol/L.

For the treatment of vitamin D deficiency, the recommended treatment is based on fixed loading doses of vitamin D (up to a total of about 300,000 international units [IU]) given either as weekly or daily split doses, followed by lifelong maintenance treatment of about 800 IU a day. Higher doses of up to 2000 IU a day, occasionally up to 4000 IU a day, may be used for certain groups of people, for example those with malabsorption disorders.

* Several treatment regimens are available, including 50,000 IU once a week for 6 weeks (300,000 IU in total), 20,000 IU twice a week for 7 weeks (280,000 IU in total), or 4000 IU daily for 10 weeks (280,000 IU in total)."

Once you have finished your loading doses it's essential to know your new level as that is what your follow on dose is based on. It doesn't sound as though your GP is going to retest now that you have finished the course so you need to do this yourself. You can do this with a fingerprick blood spot test with an NHS lab which offers it to the general public for £29:

vitamindtest.org.uk/

The Vit D Society and Grassroots Health recommend a level of 100-150nmol/L. Please come back with your new result and I will point you in the right direction for your new dose to help you achieve this.

Once you have 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.

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.

For D3 I have found Doctor's Best oil based softgels extremely effective, they raised my severely deficient Vit D level of 15nmol/L to over 200 in 2.5 months and I now use them for my maintenance dose.

For Vit K2-M7 I like Vitabay or Vegavero brands. 90-100mcg K2-MK7 is sufficient for up to 10,000iu D3.

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.

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

**

imogen2010

Edited to add:

PS - as you have discovered Vit D Deficiency, I would also ask for B12, Folate and Ferritin to be tested. We Hypos need optimal nutrient levels for thyroid hormone to work properly, as you have one deficiency it's not beyond the realms of possibility that other nutrient levels could be low or deficiency.

Do you have autoimmune thyroid disease, aka Hashimoto's, which is where thyroid antibodies are raised?

[imogen2010 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thank you so much 😊👍

[SlowDragon Administrator]

How much levothyroxine are you currently taking

Do you always get same brand levothyroxine at each prescription

Important to retest vitamin D. See where level is now.

GP won’t, you will have to test yourself

NHS easy postal kit vitamin D test £29 via

vitamindtest.org.uk

Aiming to improve vitamin D to at least around 80nmol and around 100nmol maybe better

Also important to test B12, folate and ferritin

These are often low if levothyroxine dose isn’t high enough

Also very common for B12 levels to drop as we get older

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

Do you have Hashimoto’s (high thyroid antibodies)

About 90% of primary hypothyroidism is due to Hashimoto’s

Ask GP to test vitamin levels

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)

Is this how you do your tests?

Private tests are available as NHS currently rarely tests Ft3 or thyroid antibodies or all relevant vitamins

List of private testing options

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

Medichecks Thyroid plus antibodies and vitamins

medichecks.com/products/adv...

Thriva Thyroid plus antibodies and vitamins By DIY fingerpick test

thriva.co/tests/thyroid-test

Thriva also offer just vitamin testing

Blue Horizon Thyroid Premium Gold includes antibodies, cortisol and vitamins by DIY fingerprick test

bluehorizonbloodtests.co.uk...

If you can get GP to test vitamins and antibodies then cheapest option for just TSH, FT4 and FT3

£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/

[imogen2010 in reply to SlowDragon]

My T3 level 4.7 T4 17.9 serum ferritin 83 B12 366 & TSH levels 0.096mIU/L I was taking 125 micro of Levothyroxine & doctor reduced it to 100 6 weeks ago.

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to imogen2010]

Sorry, please add ranges on these results (figures in brackets after each result)

Serum B12 under 500 likely too low

Need folate tested

Was thyroid test done as early as possible in morning before eating or drinking anything other than water and last dose levothyroxine 24 hours before test

Do you always get same brand of levothyroxine

Which brand of levothyroxine

Low vitamins tends to lower TSH

No Ft3 tested

[imogen2010 in reply to SlowDragon]

My T3 level 4.7 pmo l/L folate serum Level 8 ug T417.9 pml/L TSH 0.096 miu/L Have been on the Levothroxine the same brand for twenty years.Had my test taken early morning also it was fasting. Having it checked again on Tuesday .🙏

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to imogen2010]

So you need to retest vitamin D yourself

NHS easy postal kit vitamin D test £29 via

vitamindtest.org.uk

Aiming for vitamin D at least around 80nmol and around 100nmol maybe better

You will need to self supplement ongoing vitamin D and test twice year

To understand blood test results for Ft4 and Ft3 we need the ranges (figures in brackets after each result)

Ft4 range can vary in different labs eg from 8-18 or 10-19 or 12-26 etc etc

[imogen2010]

T4 17.9 range9.00-19 pmol/L

T3 4.7 range 2.60-5.70 “””

Ferritin 83 ug/L range 10.00-204 ug/L

Thank you 👍🙏