I attended a local clinic with my Medichecks kit on Monday and today got the results on my account page after emailing them earlier to say please just submit results with no Dr comments (as kindly advised on here this delays it). My appointment was at 10am and I actually had the blood taken 11am as they could not get any from my arms so ended up with an advanced practitioner taking from my hand (left a lovely bruise too). I stopped my meds 24 hours beforehand.
So I am currently taking 100mcg Levothyroxine (Mercury Pharma brand) and 20mcg Thybon Henning. I used to have the Teva brand but changed about 2 months ago due to side effects (IBS etc.) I have been on the Thybon Henning about 2 months also with a private prescription. My GP was sent a letter about the dose and I recently got 5mcg of Liothyronine from my pharmacy without a request with GP along with my usual Levothyroxine - which is strange. I have not taken these yet as wanted to speak to someone first about the difference between these and the Thybon Henning.
The reason I started taking the T3 is because I had been putting on weight ever since I started the Levothyroxine in January 2020. I put on 5 stone and put more weight on each time my dose was raised from 25 to 50 to 75 and then to 100mcg. I stopped taking the meds for a month and lost weight so then decided to see the private prescriber and prescribed Thybon Henning 5mcg once a day which was then raised to twice a day and finally 10mcg twice a day. In the last 3 months I have lost 2.5 stone with removing gluten as much as possible and dairy but no exercise.
My medicheck results are:
CRP HS 2.3 mg/L (Range 0 - 5)
Ferritin 247.00 ug/L (Range 13 - 150) OUT OF RANGE
Folate - Serum 6.38 ug/L (Range > 3.89)
Vitamin B12 Active 69.200 pmol/L (Range 37.5 - 188)
Vitamin D 108.00 nmol/L > 75 - 200 Optimal
TSH 0.01 mU/L (Range 0.27 - 4.2) OUT OF RANGE
Free T3 7.61 pmol/L (Range 3.1 - 6.8) OUT OF RANGE
The test was booked for 10am but done at 11am with nothing to eat that morning and last Levothyroxine 24hrs previously and the last T3 was also 24 hours before the test.
I take various gut probiotic vitamins plus Vitamin D and E as previous test indicated low vitamin E.
I split the T3 into two doses of 10mcg 8AM then 2PM
I am 90kg currently - down from 106kg 3 months ago.
I do feel quite tired, low in energy and a little bit depressed with night sweats.
My appointment was at 10am and I actually had the blood taken 11am
The later blood draw will only affect the TSH result, it may be lower than if you'd had a 9am blood draw (which is what we normally recommend). However, when on T3 this tends to lower, even suppress, TSH and whoever is prescribing T3 should be aware of this and not take any notice of the TSH result, just concentrate on FT4 and FT3 (FT3 being the most important).
I stopped my meds 24 hours beforehand.
This is correct for Levo but for T3 the last dose is 8-12 hours before the blood draw, splitting the dose into 2 or 3 and adjusting time the day before if necessary. So if you took our last dose of T3 24 hours before the test then you have a false low FT3 result.
CRP HS 2.3 mg/L (Range 0 - 5)
This is an inflammation marker so the lower the better. It is less than half way through range but even lower would be better. It's not bad enough to worry about, if it was over 5 you'd be looking at inflammation or infection somewhere.
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Ferritin 247.00 ug/L (Range 13 - 150) OUT OF RANGE
Do you supplement?
A high ferritin level can be an inflammation marker. I would have expected to see CRP a lot higher if your ferritin is indicating inflammation. Have you had ferritin tested before? If so how does this result compare?
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Folate - Serum 6.38 ug/L (Range > 3.89)
Their range is 3.89 - 19.45 and folate is recommended to be at least half way through it's range. Your folate is rather low but it isn't folate deficiency. Eating folate rich foods and supplementing with a good quality, bioavailable B Complex should help. My preference is Thorne Basic B and 1 x capsule daily should be enough. If you look at different brands, look for the words "bioavailable" or "bioactive" and be aware that if it contains Vit C this can keep the body from using the B12 that is included in the supplement. Vit C and B12 should be taken 2 hours apart.
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Vitamin B12 Active 69.200 pmol/L (Range 37.5 - 188)
This is low. Active B12 lower than 70 can suggest testing for B12 deficiency; however, as yours is so close I would think that just supplementing with a sublingual B12 will be enough to raise your level, along with a good quality B Complex to balance all the B vitamins.
I would suggest just using 1 bottle of B12 (plus the B Complex) then retest. Aim to get your Active B12 up to 100+ then just carry on with the B Complex alone.
When I used B12 I liked this one from Cytoplan, it contains two forms of the active B12 - methylcobalamin and adenosylcobalamin:
The Vit D Society and Grassroots Health recommend a level of 100-150nmol/L, with a recent blog post on Grassroots Health mentioning a study which recommends over 125nmol/L.
You are within that range but if you wanted to improve your level then you could consider maybe 2,000iu D3 daily, especially during the winter months as we can't make Vit D from the sun from October onwards.
There are 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 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.
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, and large doses of D3 can induce depletion of magnesium. 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.
Don't start all supplements at once. Start with one, give it a week or two and if no adverse reaction then add the next one. Again, wait a week or two and if no adverse reaction add the next one. Continue like this. If you do have any adverse reaction then you will know what caused it.
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TSH 0.01 mU/L (Range 0.27 - 4.2) OUT OF RANGE
Free T3 7.61 pmol/L (Range 3.1 - 6.8) OUT OF RANGE
Free Thyroxine 17.300 pmol/L (Range 12 - 22)
TSH is where we expect to see it as you're taking T3.
FT3 is 53% through range, which may be fine for you, we all have our own level where we need our individual hormone levels to be.
If you left 24 hours between last dose of T3 and the test then you appear to be taking too much T3. With such a gap you'd expect to see your FT3 low in range even if you were taking the correct amount which would normally put your FT3 level in the upper part of the range, possibly about 60-70%. With it being over range and it being a false low result (if 24 hours since last dose) then it does point to you being over medicated with T3.
Thyroid Peroxidase Antibodies 137.00 IU/L (Range <34) Previous result was 105 although GP never said this is Hashimotos.
So your TPO antibody results confirms Hashi's. Doctors don't call it this, they call it autoimmune thyroiditis, but many either are ignorant of this or don't think antibodies are important. Hashi's is the most common cause of hypothyroidism and the treatment is the same so they think it's not important.
Some members have found that adopting a strict gluten free diet can help, although there is no guarantee.
Gluten contains gliadin (a protein) which is thought to trigger autoimmune attacks so eliminating gluten can help reduce these attacks.
You don't need to be gluten sensitive or have Coeliac disease for a gluten free diet to help.
Supplementing with selenium l-selenomethionine 200mcg daily is said to help reduce the antibodies, as can keeping TSH suppressed.
As Hashi's causes inflammation, there's a possibility that this could be the cause of your raised ferritin level although I would have thought your CRP would also be higher if that were the case.
Ferritin 247.00 ug/L (Range 13 - 150) OUT OF RANGE
Do you supplement?
A high ferritin level can be an inflammation marker. I would have expected to see CRP a lot higher if your ferritin is indicating inflammation. Have you had ferritin tested before? If so how does this result compare?
I do not use Ferritin supplements and my last Ferritin test was in February 2021 and the result was 150.5 ug/L [range 20.0 - 260.0] My Folate was 8.3 ug/L [range 2.0 - 18.7] both with GP Labs - Blood Sciences..
Some years ago I had B12 injections but I think it is unlikely my GP will do that now as I am not technically deficient.
I have been following a mainly gluten free diet - except when I go to a friends house or away when it becomes an impossible nightmare.
Thank you for the advice on the supplements - I will get onto this and retest in 8 weeks.
I do feel quite tired, low in energy and a little bit depressed with night sweats.
I think I will reduce back down to 5mcg T3 twice a day and see if that improves my symptoms.
Any chance you have haemochromatosis? That usually doesn't feel too good. You need a full iron panel.Have you ever had your haemoglobin checked?
Mine is always 160+ . I had 8 blood donations which got ferritin down to 33. It's been creeping up but not high yet. And my haemoglobin was 137 briefly. It shot back up after six months to 150 and I don't know what it is now but probably back up to 160.
Hi gabkad Thanks - I had my Haemoglobin checked 16 August and it was 130 g/L [range 117 - 149] I had a full blood count which included white blood count etc and all within range. My Haemoglobin A1c was 40 mmol/mol [range 20.0 - 41.0] so almost out of range but marked as satisfactory no further action.
I will send in my results to my GP Online system when it opens on Monday again (only way we can access now 08:00 - 08:15) and see if they will accept the medicheck result.
You still need to find out why ferritin is over range. If you have a fatty liver andyour liver enzymes are elevated, that may also account for it.
You HbA1c is just shy of being type 2 diabetic. It is top of range. Metabolic syndrome and fatty liver and fatty pancreas all happen at the same time. That's something you need to check out.
Thank you - I sent my results in to GP and was seen the same day. He talked about the various things it could be and said they will do a full iron blood panel. Test is in 1 month as blood tubes in short supply.
Full iron panel ordered as saw GP same day I sent in my results - they had no problem with the medicheck result. He never said a word about my raised T3 though. Got to wait 1 month for blood test due to blood tube shortage but its booked.
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