My Blood Results from Medichecks - received today

[Divine1990]

Hi

Recived my blood results today from my sample taken on 24th May. I followed guidance - stopped Levothyroxine 24 hrs, B complex 8 days, exercised, drank only water and sample taken 08.15hrs.

My current medication and supplements.

Diagnosed with Pernicious Anaemia in June 2020 - supplements added following advice.

Pernicious Anaemia - B12 (Hydroxocobalamin) injection EOD

Daily - Magnesium Gluconate 500mg

Folate (L-Methylfolate) 1000ųg

Vitamin D3 400iu

Floradix liquid iron and vitamin complex - stopped 7 days prior to test

Gluten free diet

Levothyroxine 175mcg - 100/50 mcg (almus) 25 mcg (mercurypharma). Diagnosed with hypothyroidism in 1999. Recent 25mcg increase. Could this be related to weight gain?

My main issues currently are weight gain, leg pain , muscle weakness and fatigue.

I would really appreciate any advice and guidance regarding my blood test.

Thank you so much

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Your ferritin is obviously still very low

Are you vegetarian or vegan

Going to take a while to improve low ferritin

Look at many posts and replies by humanbean on ferritin

Vitamin D might be better at least over 80nmol and around 100nmol maybe better still

400iu is low dose vitamin D for some one with Hashimoto’s

[Divine1990 in reply to SlowDragon]

Thank you so much for your quick reply.

No I didn't know I had Hashimoto's

I was a vegetarian for a few years but started to eat meat recently.

I will increase my vitamin D and read humanbean posts.

Are the results for my Thyroid Hormones ok?

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Divine1990]

How long have you been gluten free

Extremely common with autoimmune thyroid disease (hashimoto’s) to be gluten intolerant

[Divine1990 in reply to SlowDragon]

Hi Gluten free again for approximately 3 weeks.

Prior to that I did have a period of 4 weeks when my symptoms of bloating and discomfort became much less. Gp requested that I eat gluten again for 2 weeks prior to blood test for Coeliac. Result was negative.

Then asked me go back on gluten for a longer period as symptoms returned a few days before bloods taken. I have ignored that and continued gluten free.

[Divine1990 in reply to SlowDragon]

Hi

Sorry I have another question. What dose if Vitamin D would be the recommended dose for someone like me? When should I retest level?

Same question for Ferritin.

Weight loss. Any advice please.

This taking your health into your own hands can be a little of overwhelming. I have just been through this following my diagnosis of PA.

I know I will get there with help and kindness of the people on this forum.

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Divine1990]

GP will often only prescribe to bring vitamin D levels to 50nmol.

Some areas will prescribe to bring levels to 75nmol or even 80nmol

leedsformulary.nhs.uk/docs/...

GP should advise on self supplementing if over 50nmol, but under 75nmol (but they rarely do)

mm.wirral.nhs.uk/document_u...

But with Hashimoto’s, improving to around 80nmol or 100nmol by self supplementing may be better

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/218...

vitamindsociety.org/pdf/Vit...

Once you Improve level, very likely you will need on going maintenance dose to keep it there.

Test twice yearly via NHS

vitamindtest.org.uk

Vitamin D mouth spray by Better You is very effective as it avoids poor gut function. There’s a version made that also contains vitamin K2 Mk7

amazon.co.uk/BetterYou-Dlux...

It’s trial and error what dose we need, with hashimoto’s we frequently need higher dose than average

Calculator for working out dose you may need to bring level to 40ng/ml = 100nmol

grassrootshealth.net/projec...

Government recommends everyone supplement October to April

gov.uk/government/news/phe-...

Taking too much vitamin D is not a good idea

chriskresser.com/vitamin-d-...

Web links about taking important cofactors - magnesium and Vit K2-MK7

Magnesium best taken in the afternoon or evening, but must be four hours away from levothyroxine

betterbones.com/bone-nutrit...

medicalnewstoday.com/articl...

livescience.com/61866-magne...

sciencedaily.com/releases/2...

Vitamin K2 mk7

betterbones.com/bone-nutrit...

healthline.com/nutrition/vi...

2 good videos on magnesium

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Vitamin D and Covid

Notice how much vitamin D many of these medics are taking

vitamind4all.org/letter.pdf

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Divine1990]

Ferritin is trickier

Iron and ferritin are complex

Never supplement iron unless you have had full iron panel test for anaemia and it shows low iron. You can have low ferritin and good iron levels

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...

Post discussing why important to do full iron panel test

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Why low ferritin needs improving

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Iron/ferritin and restless legs

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Ft3 is only 29% through range

Likely to need addition of small doses of T3 prescribed alongside levothyroxine

But first getting vitamins optimal should improve conversion a little

But common with Hashimoto’s and gluten intolerant that we need T3 prescribed too

Email Thyroid UK for list of recommend thyroid specialist endocrinologists who will prescribe T3 ...NHS and Private

[e-mail]

When adequately treated Ft4 is usually in top third of range and Ft3 at least 60% through range (regardless of how low TSH is)

Extremely important to have optimal vitamin levels too as this helps reduce symptoms and improve conversion of levothyroxine into Ft3

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Recent 25mcg increase. Could this be related to weight gain?

How recently was 25mcg dose increase?

Testing 6-8 weeks minimum after dose increase recommended

Might be better to only take one brand

Almus (Accord) don’t make 25mcg tablets

You could cut 50mcg Almus in half

[Divine1990 in reply to SlowDragon]

Hi

25mcg Levothyroxine increase from 150mcg to 175mcg on 30th April 2021.

Thank you again for all your help

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Divine1990]

So tested too early after increase

Retest again in further 6-8 weeks

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Tretchikoff

Folate (L-Methylfolate) 1000ųg

Why such a high dose of methylfolate?

Vit D: 70nmol/L

The Vit D Society and Grassroots Health recommend a level of 100-150nmol/L.

If you want to improve your level you'd be looking at 3,000iu D3 daily, your 400iu is a child's maintenance dose.]

When taking D3 there are important cofactors needed as well. I see you are taking magnesium (which is one of them) but D3 aids the 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.

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.

For D3 I like Doctor's Best D3 softgels, they are an oil based very small softgel which contains just two ingredients - D3 and extra virgin olive oil, a good quality, nice clean supplement which is budget friendly. Some people like BetterYou oral spray but this contains a lot of excipients and works out more expensive.

For Vit K2-MK7 I like Vitabay or Vegavero brands which contain the correct form of K2-MK7 - the "All Trans" form rather than the "Cis" form. The All Trans form is the bioactive form, a bit like methylfolate is the bioactive form of folic acid.

[Divine1990 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Hi

Folate ( L- Methylfolate) 1000ųg recommended by b12deficiencyorg . I was having terrible problems with nausea, when I started b12 injections. Now no longer an issue. I need to self inject every other day

Thank you for the information. I am on the case. X

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to Divine1990]

OK, well it is rather a high dose but maybe see what your folate level comes back at - I assume Medichecks is sending you another test to do this as it wasn't possible with this test?

[Divine1990 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Hi

No medichecks will not send out another test for folate serum if finger prick test. They will only send me a partial refund of £8.00. Apparently it is stated in the terms and conditions 🙄

I will have to arrange to repeat my folate level.