Friends results advice welcome

[Clairewalker751]

Symptoms loss of voice, fatigue, looks to me like she has hashis and vit levels need improving?

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Clairewalker751

Is she diagnosed hypothyroid and on Levo?

If so did she do the test as we advise, i.e. no later than 9am, nothing to eat or drink except water before blood draw, last dose of Levo 24 hours before test?

Raised TPO antibodies suggest Hashi's.

Vit D low, recommended is 100-150nmol/L. Does she supplement?

B12 low, folate low.

Does she have any signs/symptoms of B12 deficiency, check here:

Do you have any signs of B12 deficiency – check here:

b12deficiency.info/signs-an...

b12d.org/submit/document?id=46

If she does then she should list them to discuss with her GP and ask for testing for B12 deficiency and Pernicious Anaemia. She should not take any B12 supplements or folic acid/folate/B Complex supplements before further testing of B12 as this will mask signs of B12 deficiency and skew results.

If no signs of B12 deficiency, come back and I will suggest what she can do about low B12 and folate.

[Clairewalker751 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thank you seaside Susie, no she has no diagnosis and so doesn't take any meds or supplement anything, symptoms are hoarse voice and low energy.

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to Clairewalker751]

So apart from last dose of Levo, did she do the test as we advise? The earlier the blood draw, and no coffee or food, the higher the TSH and that's what's needed for diagnosis.

A normal healthy person would have a TSH of no more than 2, often around 1, with FT4 around mid-range-ish. At the moment her FT4 is 65% through range so not showing any signs of hypothyroidism there. She will need TSH over range along with raised antibodies for a diagnosis of autoimmune thyroid disease (Hashi's). It can take a while for the immune system to do enough damage to the thyroid gland to cause full blown hypothyroidism.

What about B12, get her to check the links for signs/symptoms and is she supplementing for her low Vit D? Low nutrient levels bring their own symptoms and these can overlap with symptoms of hypothyroidism.

[Clairewalker751 in reply to SeasideSusie]

She is not taking Levo, and she has better you Vit D spray and yes blood test was taken at 8.30am fasting, she is not showing any symptoms of B12 defiency

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to Clairewalker751]

She is not taking Levo

Yes I understood that, I was trying to find out about the early morning and fasting.

I've addressed the B12 below (we cross posted )

She needs to increase her dose of D3, ideally she'll be taking 3,500 - 4,000iu daily. Which one of the sprays does she use, how many sprays to give what dose?

Does she also take magnesium - it helps the body convert D3 into it's usable form. Does she also take K2-MK7 - D3 aids uptake of calcium from food and 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.

[Clairewalker751 in reply to SeasideSusie]

She doesn't have any symptoms of B12 defiency?

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to Clairewalker751]

Clairewalker751

OK, so she desperately needs to get her B12 and folate levels up.

For B12 I would suggest she takes a sublingual methylcobalamin supplement along with a good quality, bioavailable B Complex to balance all the B vitamins. The B Complex should contain methylcobalamin and methylfolate, the methylfolate will help raise her folate level. Consider Thorne Basic B or Igennus Super B for the B Complex, maybe look at Cytoplan B12 sublingual which contains 2 active forms of B12

cytoplan.co.uk/vitamin-b12-...

I suggest retesting these in 3-4 months time to see how much improvement has been made. Once B12 has reached 550ng/L (or pg/ml) then stop the B12 and just continue with the B Complex.

When taking B Complex this should be left off for 7 days before any blood test as it contains Biotin and when Biotin is used in the testing procedure (which most labs do) then it can give false results.

[Clairewalker751 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thank you seaside Susie, what about her ferritin is that ok?

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to Clairewalker751]

Yes Ferritin is good (I am envious!). It's recommended to be half way through range which would be 82 with that range. I have seen it said that 100-130 is a good level for females, I'd like mine to be 100. Does she supplement at all? Eating iron rich foods fairly regularly should help maintain her level - liver, liver pate, black pudding, etc.

[Clairewalker751 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Eats lots of spinach but doesn't supplement, I thought I had read over 100 is good, really appreciate your help!

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to Clairewalker751]

Spinach isn't particularly high in iron, about 100g of raw spinach contain 2.7 mg of iron whereas 100g of liver is said to contain up to about 13 mg of iron, with chicken liver having the highest amount of iron.

livestrong.com/article/3946...

However, depending on source of information, amounts vary.

[helvella Administrator in reply to SeasideSusie]

And even then, absorption of the iron that spinach contains is poor. An interesting story-on-top-of-a-story article here:

compoundchem.com/2018/07/17...

[Jazzw in reply to Clairewalker751]

She absolutely does have symptoms of B12 deficiency—you said she’s suffering fatigue? That’s a classic sign of B12 deficiency. There can be quite an overlap of hypothyroid and low B12 symptoms—many symptoms present in exactly the way.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

If she’s not on strictly gluten free diet, get coeliac blood test done BEFORE trialing it .....

Obviously improving vitamin levels too

Retest again in say 3-4 months