Vit D= 58. (30-120) they state this is adequate range on the report
B12 = 768. (197-771)
Folate = >20. (Report states folate under 3 suggests deficiency)
Ferritin = 24. (13- 150)
So I need to get the TSH down and t3 and t4 up?
I started 50mcg eltroxin today. Also going to start selenium today. I take vit d sporadically but gonna up my dose to get it a bit higher in taht range.
Oh and I had a biopsy and not coeliac. But started gluten free yesterday to see if it wld help.
Any other thoughts/suggestions?
Don’t have antibodies bck yet.
Thanks
Written by
Compostella1
To view profiles and participate in discussions please or .
Would help to have the reference intervals (numbers in brackets) for these results. The thyroid results indicate primary hypothyroidism (failing thyroid gland). It will take some levothyroxine dose increases and several months before you feel better. Other tests fine although ferritin is marginal, suggest you eat some iron rich food or take a mild iron supplementation. Ferritin tends not to recover until hypothyroidism is sorted.
Thanks- I included what ref range they had included in brackets- they didn’t have one for ferritin.
TSH ref range (0.27-4.2)
FT4 = (12-22)
FT3=( 3.1-6.8)
Sorry thought those ones were standard!
Last September I was TSH 41 and came down to TSH 8 within 5 weeks on 25mcg - they were actually really shocked and took me off as thought perhaps was a thyroiditis they had misdiagnosed. I took bloods 5 weeks after being off meds and it was something like 1.16 TSH.. down again! ... but then I felt more and more symptoms since January and got it check the other day.
Someone on here told me the 25mcgs can sometimes mess everything up as underdosing. I had very bad symptoms on the levo - insomnia, anxiety and buzzing in hands.. when I came off these all subsided
Very strange!
Just to say I’m 50kg approx- so I think dosage wld be 1.6kg- 75?
Or because my TSH so high it may need higher dose?? Just with how quick it came down last year I’m not sure what way it will go
I jst want my sleep back and the anxiety to go aaway!! 😫😫
I would definitely raise vitamin D as it's still deficient (most people only feel well above 70) and ferritin. I think 50 or so is considered an optimal level for ferritin.
I would also suggest you ask to check iron, folate and cortisol, as the latter kept me up at night and under so much stress.
What time did you do the test? It has to be taken on a fasting stomach before 9am and you need to have taken your medication 24 hours before the test.
They did my folate but jst said result was over 20??
My iron is is 23 (re range 5.8 -34.5)
I was not meds when I took the test. I had test at 10.20 and had one cup of tea that morn.
My story is TSH was found by cnavce when I had symptoms of anaemia and they found I was anaemic and hypo. They started me on levo that day- 25 and immediately I had terrible sleep, anxiety and a buzzing feeling a couple of weeks into meds. Before that the only symptoms I wld have said I had was constipation and that was not a big issue. I was craving ice which I knew was a sign fo anaemia.
For the duration of the meds (approx 6 weeks) I had worsening insomnia, anxiety and buzzingwhich I tolerated thinking it’ll settle.. but gp said come off when they saw my TSH come down so quick and felt it may have been a thyroiditis. When I stopped levo buzzing stopped.. anxiety decreased a bit and insomnia improved by abt 40-50%.. checked bloods again.. TSH down tk around 1at Christmas. .. but then from January onward I Hv insomnia, anxiety and the carpel tunnel/buzzing in forearms/hands.
The anxiety is the worst.. when it hits (every couple of weeks) I am in bits for a few days!
I found it so strange that these symptoms only appeared the second o started on the meds.
I was anaemic at 7 Hb and I had infusion and oral and all fine now.
What Levo brand did you use? Sometimes not all brands work for everyone (some also include lactose as fillers). One of the admins helvella put together this list of brands available in the UK on dropbox:dropbox.com/s/6h3h0qi4eqwi6...
Did you also avoid eating and drinking caffeinated drinks 30-60 min after taking levo? No supplements until 4 hours after taking levo as supplements can obstruct the absorption of levo.
It's not unusual to be anaemic and hypo at the same time, since the thyroid uses up a lot of iron for the production of hormones and presumably we need more of it than the average healthy person. Constipation is also really common hypo symptom.
Good you are cutting gluten for now, since it can get in the way of absorption of nutrients. Have you checked thyroid anti-bodies?
Maybe SlowDragon can help you in reading the figures. For now I would see what 50mcg does to your symptoms, overall health and forthcoming test results.
It takes 6-8 weeks to feel a difference. When I started on 50mcg, I felt half-good and half-ill the first month and I wasn't sure it was making a difference until I went up to 75mcg. But I've had to raise my vitamin levels as I was deficient in D and iron, and low in ferritin, so only felt a proper difference then.
I would suspect that once you get the right dose of levo, the TSH will fall and T4 and T3 rise. Also make sure you maintain optimal vitamin levels.
When you do your next test, ask to do it before 9am and avoid caffeinated drinks and food until after the test. Water is fine.
Yes- will do the fasting for def.. and I’ll hold off on my tea for an hour each morning and not the usual half hour.. Altho kills me!
Yes antibodies were 300 last year- awaiting current level results.
I’m on eltroxin and that is what I used before.
When they diagnosed last year I had the anaemia and I think that was kind of confusing things- I think it will be a bit more clear to see how I feel on the medicine now.
Were u very hypo?? My number seems very high.
It wld be great to feel some sort of progress over the next month.. I’m hanging!!
Re tea needs in the morn.I've found taking Levothyroxine when I get up at night for a wee/ insomnia, means I get the water I am craving at that time, and I've no problem with having to wait four hours take other meds. Guess it only works if you have insomnia reliably every night, or a cat that needs letting out at 3am, like I do😉.I like to drink ashwaganda and hot milk before bed, and a hot drink when I wake so Levothyroxine at those times doesn't work for me. Good luck with it all!
Regardless of what the lab says (and some NHS labs say that >75 is "adequate"), the Vit D Society and Grassroots Health both recommend a level of 100-150nmol/L (or 40-60ng/ml). NHS labs tend to be very conservative when it comes to recommendations of levels and dose of Vit D supplementation.
At 58nmol/L your level is classed as low and if you want to improve it and reach the recommended level you'd be looking at supplementing with 4,000iu D3 daily along with D3's important cofactors - magnesium (which helps the body convert D3 into it's usable form) and Vit K2-MK7 (which directs the extra uptake of calcium from food [which is aided by taking D3] to bones and teeth where it is needed and away from arteries and soft tissues where it can be deposited and cause problems like calcification of arteries and kidney stones, etc. Once the recommended level is reached then a maintenance level needs to be found by trial and error.
Doctor’s in the main do not understand vitamins or ranges 😂. I am on the journey to trying to get my meds on a level. Last blood test showed that I had a vitamin D deficiency so my doctor told me I had to get up to 50 nmol/l - bearing in mind that 50 was the bottom end of the range it is somewhat like saying to someone with an iron deficiency you need to be borderline anaemic! 🤣🤪I trust the people on this forum to know far better than the NHS (sadly) I put my improvements thus far more down to the help I have received here.
The latest results show you are very hypo. It’s possible you have autoimmune hypothyroidism which can sometimes cause erratic release of thyroid hormone. It’s also possible that there was a coincidental burst of hormone release around the time you took 25 mcg levothyroxine. Certainly 25 mcg would have only a small effect.
Antibody results are important as they can show autoimmune thyroiditis and might explain what appears to be rapid switches from hypo to hyper. If this continues your doctor could consider‘block and replace’ which is where they give you a drug (e.g. Carbimazole) to block hormone production and a full dose of levothyroxine to replace. This gives stable hormone levels.
My view it is top priority to find out what is happening to your thyroid levels and stabilise them. Attempting to ‘optimise’ hypothetical vitamin / nutrient levels is a distraction which doesn’t help your current problem. By all means supplement iron, vid D but don’t get hung up on it or expect it to help much. The important thing is to find out how your thyroid is responding and achieve stable hormone levels. Taking selenium is good, it can sometimes reduce autoimmunity although I suspect you have a degree of autoimmunity that will take a long time to settle down.
Thanks- yes I had my antibodies done in sept and they were 300. I cannot recall if I had them done again or remember the results.
Yes I was conscious not to start lots of supplements and then not know which was beneficial. I will take the selenium , vit D and the floritin I have been taking.
Hopefully there will be some relief from the symptoms soon!
Sounds fine. You might need your thyroid levels checked every month or two for a little while to see if they are jumping around. I would keep a little diary of how you are each day along with monitoring your pulse. Nothing excessive just a brief log. Just to see if you are stable or not.
Hashimoto's affects the gut and leads to low stomach acid and then low vitamin levels
Low vitamin levels affect Thyroid hormone working
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
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
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
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.
Extraordinarily strictly gluten free diet can often lower anxiety levels significantly
Content on HealthUnlocked does not replace the relationship between you and doctors or other healthcare professionals nor the advice you receive from them.
Never delay seeking advice or dialling emergency services because of something that you have read on HealthUnlocked.
Blood test results received
Blood Test Result Help
Lates blood results for Oct’19
Latest blood test results
Advise please on latest blood test.
