Can taking Vitamin D supplements lower your TSH for hypothyroidism?

[sunshineisbetter]

Can Vitamin D supplements lower your TSH for hypothyroidism?

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

sunshineisbetter

This study says it does

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

[greygoose in reply to SeasideSusie]

That is a very weird study.

Firstly, they chose to do it on hypothyroid patients, but didn't say anything about their thyroid hormone replacement, which could have an effect on their TSH levels. Nor did they say if the patients had Hashi's, which could cause fluctuations in TSH and other levels.

Secondly, they didn't actually say that supplementing vit D lowered TSH, they said: improved serum TSH and calcium concentrations. Well, obviously it was going to improve calcium levels, but what exactly is an 'improved' TSH? For some people, if it were improved, it would be higher. For others it would be lower. But, as it didn't have any effect on the levels of FT4/3, I can't see how any change in TSH could be an improvement.

I may be being thick, and missing something, but for me that study serves no useful purpose.

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to greygoose]

I haven't gone through the study with a fine tooth comb, I get lost when they're so long and wordy, so I'm not passing any comments on it's merits or otherwise, just pointing out to the OP that they say it does lower TSH - if you look at Table 2

The effect of vitamin D supplementation on thyroid function in hypothyroid patients

it shows for the Vit D group

TSH

Baseline: 2.6 (= or - 1.4)

End of trial: 2.2 (= or - 1.4)

so their "improved TSH" means that the TSH lowered from 2.6 to 2.2

[greygoose in reply to SeasideSusie]

Ah, I missed that. lol Even so, I fail to see how that is an improvement.

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to greygoose]

No, I didn't think it was much of an improvement either 😄

[Gingernut44 in reply to greygoose]

I agree. To make it a useful result they should have measured the FT4 and FT3. Another flawed and useless research ☹️

[greygoose in reply to Gingernut44]

Well, they did measure the FT4 and FT3. And, they said the levels hadn't changed. It was just the TSH that was lower. And, I really can't see the point of that, nor why they consider that an improvement! lol Had they said that the FT3 had gone up, that would have been an improvement!

[sunshineisbetter]

I also find it a bit tricky to pick out the necessary info on these studies!

I have started taking vitamin d since my medichecks results as I was the lower end of normal.

I have not yet been diagnosed but was wondering if taking the supplements would raise my TSH on my next blood test in a few weeks preventing further diagnosis. My first GP blood test result was 6.5 for TSH levels.

From what my GP said yesterday about the medichecks results that I emailed her, I don’t think I’ll be offered treatment until my TSH reaches 10 but I’m hoping to fight for it as I’m very symptomatic (as you may have seen on previous posts) with high antibodies showing on my medichecks results. My GP says the antibodies don’t count for anything as they are not an exact science but agreed to add them onto my next blood test.

Currently having my afternoon slump in energy…..the struggle is real!!!! I could fall asleep standing up! Not that my 5 and 2 year old will let that happen! 😂