Diagnosis Dec 2020. Started on 50mcg , after 3 month retest was increased to 75mcg and now been increased to 100mcg. I requested vitamin tests also as am suffering lots of joint pain especially shoulder and neck area but it states no action necessary. I have good and bad days. But am hoping that once my dosage of Levo is right will I not suffer so much. Also noticed my cholesterol is highlighted , will this also sort itself out once my levels are right 🤷♀️
Cant seem to download results .. my TSH is 6.1 vitamin D 43 T4 13.1 my B12 is 389 and ferritin 12 ... all my cholesterol are in the red , my question is would I benefit from any supplements , thank you
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Baileygirl02
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With serum B12 result below 500, (Or active B12 below 70) recommended to be taking a B12 supplement as well as a B Complex (to balance all the B vitamins) initially for first 2-4 months, then once your serum B12 is over 500 (or Active B12 level has reached 70), stop the B12 and just carry on with the B Complex.
Igennus Super B is good quality and cheap vitamin B complex. Contains folate. Full dose is two tablets per day. Many/most people may only need one tablet per day. Certainly only start on one per day (or even half tablet per day for first couple of weeks)
Or Thorne Basic B is another option that contain folate
IMPORTANT......If you are taking vitamin B complex, or any supplements containing biotin, remember to stop these 7 days before ALL BLOOD TESTS , as biotin can falsely affect test results
If you can't download results then ask receptionist for a print out. You need reference ranges for your results.
Presumably dose raised to 100mcg after these results?
TSH is way too high, it must be over range. The aim of a treated hypo patient on Levo only, generally, is for TSH to be 1 or lower with FT4 and FT3 in the upper part of their reference ranges. I expect your FT4 is very low in range. Your TSH alone tells us that you need an increase in your dose of Levo, so assuming you've had an increase retest in 6-8 weeks, further increases look likely.
If Vit D unit of measurement is nmol/L then it is very low. The Vit D Society and Grassroots Health recommend a level of 100-150nmol. Are you supplementing? If not you could use 5,000iu D3 daily along with D3's important cofactors magnesium and Vit K2-mk7. Retest in 3 months.
Ferritin below 30 suggests iron deficiency so your GP should be treating this, get him to check NICE guidelines.
B12 is quite low. Do you have signs of B12 deficiency, check here :
Sorry if I keep downloading results just making sure they are posted. Unfortunately I am never given any advice due to symptoms, they always seem to pass them off as peri menopausal or an injury that I may have done to myself without realizing I've done it ! These tests where only granted as they have basically messed up big time with my husbands diagnosis of cancer that presumably they are trying to keep me sweet 😔 , shocking state of affairs
Presumably this ferritin result is from BEFORE starting on iron supplements
Previous post three months shows your GP is prescribing ferrous fumerate and that iron and ferritin should be retested in 3 months .....so around now
Have you had ferritin retested ?
Aiming for ferritin increase to around 70
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
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
I was pescribed iron supplements at the beginning of the year but haven't been given them on repeat pescription so have not had them for the last couple of months and the only action the Drs have requested is that my Levo is increased to 100mcg
You will need to restart iron supplements. They likely will prescribe 2 or 3 per day. Taking iron supplements with orange juice or vitamin c can help improve iron absorption
All iron supplements must be taken minimum of 4 hours away from levothyroxine
Post discussing just how long it can take to raise low ferritin
I suffer terribly with restless legs syndrome as soon as I sit down for the evening until bedtime , then through the night I'm constantly kicking out ... really getting me down 😔
You may need further increase in levothyroxine in 3-6 months, depending on your weight
Even if we frequently don’t start on full replacement dose, most people need to increase levothyroxine dose slowly upwards in 25mcg steps (retesting 6-8 weeks after each increase) until eventually on, or near full replacement dose
Consider starting levothyroxine at a dosage of 1.6 micrograms per kilogram of body weight per day (rounded to the nearest 25 micrograms) for adults under 65 with primary hypothyroidism and no history of cardiovascular disease.
Traditionally we have tended to start patients on a low dose of levothyroxine and titrate it up over a period of months. RCT evidence suggests that for the majority of patients this is not necessary and may waste resources.
For patients aged >60y or with ischaemic heart disease, start levothyroxine at 25–50μg daily and titrate up every 3 to 6 weeks as tolerated.
For ALL other patients start at full replacement dose. For most this will equate to 1.6 μg/kg/day (approximately 100μg for a 60kg woman and 125μg for a 75kg man).
If you are starting treatment for subclinical hypothyroidism, this article advises starting at a dose close to the full treatment dose on the basis that it is difficult to assess symptom response unless a therapeutic dose has been trialled.
My GP has requested retest s every 12 weeks. My weight seems to be creeping up daily , I'm just shy of 15stone and 53yrs old .. have a severely swollen sprained ankle that I injured about a month ago that is still so painful so have now limited walking ability . Just feel so down and now with husbands diagnosis just dont feel I can trust the GPs to get it right , even if I requested help with my low vitamins, so will try amd source the supplements on my own
Okay I will contact my GP . Can you recommend which strength Vit D I can take daily over the counter ( I do have 1000 in the cupboard) are these save for me to take daily. And also for Vit B arenthey usually a standard dose recommend daily over the counter . Will these be beneficial to me . I have a local Holland and barratt so could go today and buy some
Can you recommend which strength Vit D I can take daily over the counter ( I do have 1000 in the cupboard) are these save for me to take daily.
I gave you the dose you need in my reply above. Please re-read it, there is information about the important cofactors needed when taking D3.
D3 aids absorption of calcium from food and Vit K2-MK7 directs the calcium to bones and teeth where it is needed and away from soft tissues and arteries where it can be deposited and cause problems like calcification of arterties, 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.
Magnesium helps D3 to work. We need Magnesium so that the body utilises D3, it's required to convert Vit D into it's active form. So it's important we ensure we take magnesium when supplementing with D3.
Magnesium comes in different forms, check to see which would suit you best and as it's calming it's best taken in the evening, four hours away from thyroid meds if taking magnesium as tablets/capsules, no necessity if using topical forms of magnesium.
And also for Vit B arenthey usually a standard dose recommend daily over the counter . Will these be beneficial to me . I have a local Holland and barratt so could go today and buy some
I asked you above if you had any signs and symptoms of B12 deficiency and gave you links to check. If you do you must ask your GP to test for B12 deficiency and pernicious anaemia. They are required to go by symptons not numbers where B12 deficiency is concerned. Do 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 you don't have any symptons then you can self supplement with B12.
I can't read your results, they are too small to read on my large PC monitor (you need to zoom into the results only and leave out all the blank space) so I don't know what the unit of measurement is for your B12. If it is pg/ml or ng/L then according to to an extract from the book, "Could it be B12?" by Sally M. Pacholok:
"We believe that the 'normal' serum B12 threshold needs to be raised from 200 pg/ml to at least 450 pg/ml because deficiencies begin to appear in the cerebrospinal fluid below 550".
"For brain and nervous system health and prevention of disease in older adults, serum B12 levels should be maintained near or above 1000 pg/ml."
So you need to supplement with sublingual B12 lozenges, 1000mcg, for, say, 3 months , along with B Complex, then retest to see how your level has improved. Once you reach 550pg/ml or ng/L you can stop the B12 and just continue with a good quality B Complex. Recommended here are Thorne Basic B and Igennus Super B. Be aware that the Igennus Super B contains Vit C and this keeps the body from using B12, my choice would be Thorne Basic B as it only contains B vitamins.
Leave off B Complex before any blood test as it contains Biotin and this gives false results.
Avoid Holland and Barrett own brand supplements, also any high street or supermarket supplements, they are poor quality and tend to contain cheap ingredients that are the wrong form. Go for brands recommended here which are generally available off the internet rather than the high street.
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