Supplement advice. (You know, since drs are not the greatest).

[Meanbeannyc]

Looking for dosing advice to improve ferritin and Vit D.

Results are as follows:

Vit D: 23.8 (30-80)

Ferr: 25.9 (6.24-137)

Thanks in advance.

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Meanbeannyc

Vit D: 23.8 (30-80)

Presumably unit of measurement is ng/ml. If so the level recommended by the Vit Society and Grassroots Health is 40-60ng/ml.

To reach the recommended level you could supplement with 4000iu D3 and retest in 3 months. When you have reached the recommended level you will need to find your maintenance dose by trial and error, it may be 2,000iu daily, maybe more, maybe less, maybe more in winter than summer. You will need to retest twice a year to ensure that you keep your level within the recommended range.

When taking D3 we also need to take magnesium as this helps the body convert D3 into it's usable form.

Also needed is Vit K2-mk7. D3 aids absorption of calcium from food and K2-mk7 directs the calcium to bones and teeth where it is needed and away from arteries and soft tissue where it can be deposited and cause problems. The amount of K2-mk7needed is 90-100mcg which is enough for up to 10,000iu D3.

D3 and K2 are fat soluble so should be taken with the fattiest meal of the day or some dietary fat.

Check here to see which form of magnesium will be best for you :

naturalnews.com/046401_magn...

D3 and magnesium should be taken 4 hours away from thyroid meds. Magnesium can be calming so often best taken in the evening.

**

Ferr: 25.9 (6.24-137)

You shouldn't supplement with iron tablets unless you have a full blood count to see if you have anaemia and an iron panel to see if you are iron deficient. If you already have a good level of iron then taking iron tablets may take it too high and too much iron is as bad as too little.

If you don't have iron deficiency or anaemia then try iron rich foods to improve Ferritin level, eg liver, liver pate, black pudding, etc:

apjcn.nhri.org.tw/server/in...

[Meanbeannyc in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thank you SeasideSusie for the response. Much appreciated. Is that 4000/day for the Vit D or weekly?

I have a full iron panel. It is as follows:

Iron: 150 ug/dL (37-170)

Iron binding TIBC: 392 ug/dL (265-497)

Iron Sat: 38% (9-55)

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to Meanbeannyc]

4,000iu D3 daily.

Serum iron level is good. TIBC is mid-range which is good. Saturation is optimal at 35-45% with the higher end for men, so again yours is good. Your iron panel doesn't suggest that you need iron tablets.

[Meanbeannyc in reply to SeasideSusie]

thank you for the advice. I appreciate it greatly!

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to Meanbeannyc]

You're welcome 😊

[Meanbeannyc in reply to SeasideSusie]

If only liver and black pudding were appetizing LOL. 😝

[treevee in reply to Meanbeannyc]

I make chicken liver pâté from organic chicken livers and use that it’s delicious and super-easy to make may be worth a try. Basically you just fry them up with some onion and whizz it all up! It’s yummy and I don’t like just plain liver or black pudding either!

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Meanbeannyc]

As only ferritin is low

Look at increasing iron rich foods in diet

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/too-littl...

davidg170.sg-host.com/wp-co...

Great in-depth article on low ferritin

oatext.com/iron-deficiency-...

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.

Thyroid disease is as much about optimising vitamins as thyroid hormones

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

restartmed.com/hypothyroidi...

Post discussing just how long it can take to raise low ferritin

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Never supplement iron without doing full iron panel test for anaemia first

Post discussing why important to do full iron panel test

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Why low ferritin needs improving

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

[Meanbeannyc in reply to SeasideSusie]

SeasideSusie , Dr prescribed 50K iU once a week for 8 weeks. Is this safe? Seems like a lot

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to Meanbeannyc]

Meanbeannyc

Before I can answer that can you please confirm the unit of measurement for your Vit D result, is it nmol/L or ng/ml? In the UK it's usually nmol/L but your range is not the usual range for that, and your profile doesn't show where you live.

[Meanbeannyc in reply to SeasideSusie]

I have new Vit D results.

23 ng/ml (30-80).

So, the latter

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to Meanbeannyc]

Meanbeannyc

In that case the level recommended by the Vit D Society and Grassroots Health is 40-60ng/ml and it would seem an overkill to give you 50,000iu D3 for 8 weeks (total 400,000iu) as that is even higher than the NHS recommendation for loading doses for Vit D Deficiency which is <25nmol/L equivalent to < 10ng/ml.

The dose suggested to raise your current level of 23ng/ml to the recommended level would be 4,000-5,000iu D3 daily, along with it's important cofactors magnesium and Vit K2-MK7. Taking 50,000iu once a week averages 7,142iu daily. It's up to you what you do but please retest after 3 months to check your level because you will need to alter your dose at that time based on your new level.

[Meanbeannyc in reply to SeasideSusie]

Yeah that seemed like A LOT. LOL