I managed to get my GP to do some tests after I had a very soggy telephone conversation with her.
TSH 1.3 (0.30-4.40)
T4 12.3 (9.0-19.1) also my ferritin was
Serum ferritin 24 (15-300)
Nothing to worry about was the comment passed on to me. I get quite annoyed that just because it was in range it probably wasn’t even checked. As it it easily be a reason for me feeling so miserable and exhausted and the GP could have mentioned this might be one reason. I’ve been taking Spatone without fail and slowly getting to feel better. My T4 remains on the low side but not as low as it’s been. Not sure why this is as I’ve not changed anything. I will say I’m not feeling so poorly at the moment (although not brilliant) which is a pleasant change. It is so important to get printouts of our results and not rely on ‘everything is normal’.
Happy New Year to you all and thanks for all the information, you have been a godsend these past few years.
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Joant24
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Your result is only 3% of the way through the range. With that range you should be aiming for a level of around 160 - 200.
I’ve been taking Spatone without fail and slowly getting to feel better.
But I have to ask... Is your ferritin actually improving? Spatone only has 5mg of pure iron in per sachet - and its expensive. Have you ever tried any supplements with higher levels of iron?
If you struggle to tolerate iron supplements I would suggest trying ferrous gluconate 300mg, the maximum dose is 6 tablets a day. One tablet contains 35mg of pure iron. If that is too much for you, you could try ferrous bisglycinate.
For more info on iron supplements see this reply I wrote to another member :
I’m sure it isn’t really improving but that psychologically doing something constructive helped. I really struggle with iron tablets as I’m already constipated and don’t eat meat so it will be a struggle to get to a sensible level I know. I’ll check out your link and thanks for the info, much appreciated. Oh I nearly forgot, the ferrous glauconate would that affect my tummy?
The only way to find out if it affects your gut in any way is to try it and see.
While taking iron supplements of any kind, if constipation is a problem, take vitamin C 1000 mg (1 gram) of vitamin C per day. If that doesn't work try 2 grams. There is no real upper limit with vitamin C other than your own tolerance (that I'm aware of). Once you get diarrhoea reduce by 1 gram of vitamin C to find the dose you can cope with.
Another thing that can help constipation (although you shouldn't take more than 300mg - 400mg per day - the dose IS limited, unlike the vitamin C) is magnesium citrate which can be bought in powder form or tablet form. The tablets tend to be large. If you take magnesium in any other form you would have to stop or reduce it so that you don't take too much.
I take liposomal vitamin c which is 1000mg but probably equates to much more because of how it is absorbed. And I take a lot of magnesium - citrate and a few of the other types. Haven’t worked out exact dose but maybe I need to if it’s potentially harmful. Btw i did read some research suggesting vitamin c becomes a pro-oxidant at high levels rather than antioxidant. It sort of makes sense
For any supplement I take I try and become familiar with the symptoms of excess and deficiency, and will recheck the info usually before I'm about to order a new bottle :
Taking just Spatone to build up your ferritin is going to take a long, long time.
I was prescribed iron tablets when my ferritin came back at 22 :
They didn't suit me and I wasn't offered an option and I built myself back up with Solgar Gentle Iron, but any iron supplement that is iron bisglycinate will do the trick.
I also took the Spatone liquid iron sachets and ate liver twice a week and it still took me a good year to tip over 70 :
I now find I feel at my best with my ferritin at around 100 and I now manage to maintain this around there with 1 tub a week of Asda frozen chicken livers.
They are very clean and mild and once defrosted and fried in a little olive oil I whizz down into a pate which I keep in the fridge in an old jam jar A daily spoonful helps this medicine go down especially with a dollop of Hellman's.
No thyroid hormone replacement works well until our core strength is strong and solid with ferritin, folate, B12 and vitamin D all maintained at optimal levels.
Your T4 is just around 30% through the range and we generally feel at our best when the T4 is towards the top quadrant of the range as this should in turn convert to a higher, better level of T3 which is the active hormone that the body runs on.
Thanks for that. I can’t manage iron tablets due to constipation already being an issue. I will definitely try the solgar suggestion but I’m a pescatarian so liver is off the menu. I have been eating lots of spinach and cashew nuts though 😂
Ok then : heme iron found in animal meat, poultry, and seafood is more easily utilised and absorbed in the body than non heme iron which is derived from plant based foods.
When hypothyroid your metabolism is slow and it's harder for your body to break down non heme iron as plant based foods are known to be harder to digest .
Do you know if you have low stomach acid - another common issue when hypothyroid ?
There is a bicarb of soda test in which you drink down a little mixture of same in water and wait for a burp and the longer it takes you to burp the less stomach acid you have - I didn't burp at all - and now take a teaspoonful of Apple Cider vinegar diluted in warm water before my main meal to give me the acid to start the internal process of digestion ready to receive my main meal of the day.
Obviously constipation is also a common symptom of hypothyroidism and hopefully once optimally medicated this issue may improve but I'm optimally medicated and still need a little help from vitamin C despite eating a s good number of fruit and vegetables daily.
I read of other people talking of magnesium citrate being a help but have never tried it.
P.S. Once I managed to raise my ferritin over 45 a lot of symptoms improved including my including stamina and I was less breathless when walking as an exercise.
I often get breathless when I walk up hill especially when talking and only yesterday read it’s a symptom of low iron. That or I’m very unfit, probably a bit of both 😄
Oh, yes, you can walk uphill, and talk, but not together as this depends upon the speed at which you walk and the steepness of the hill. !!
Have to confess I sometimes still can't do both, but my hills are cliffs, and my ferritin sits at around 100 :
It will get easier, as your levels improve - but don't challenge yourself too much as it's self depreciating and we don't need any more things to worry and carry around.
I shall try the bicarbonate test tomorrow, thanks for that. I live by the coast in Wales and we have a goodly selection of hills I can work up to slowly. I’m just glad I have a reason for feeling so exhausted and I can see it’s a bit of a chicken/egg situation whereby iron is low and brings the thyroid down and the thyroid is low and affects the iron! I shall try looking at things holistically and after asking the GP for more tests will start to raise my iron levels with the Solgar gentle iron and Vit C as recommended.
I did a coeliac test and it was negative. I am surrounded by gluten at the moment as we have lots of Christmas stuff left and our daughter moved back for a month before going abroad and brought the contents of her kitchen! I am contemplating a gluten free diet just to see if it makes a difference but will hold off til this glut has eased.
Always worth trying strictly gluten free diet …once the gluten cupboard is bare
According to Izabella Wentz the Thyroid Pharmacist approx 5% with Hashimoto's are coeliac, but a further 80% find gluten free diet helps, sometimes significantly. Either due to direct gluten intolerance (no test available) or due to leaky gut and gluten causing molecular mimicry (see Amy Myers link)
Changing to a strictly gluten free diet may help reduce symptoms, help gut heal
trialing strictly gluten free diet for 3-6 months. Likely to see benefits. Can take many months for brain fog to lift.
If no obvious improvement, reintroduce gluten see if symptoms get worse.
The predominance of Hashimoto thyroiditis represents an interesting finding, since it has been indirectly confirmed by an Italian study, showing that autoimmune thyroid disease is a risk factor for the evolution towards NCGS in a group of patients with minimal duodenal inflammation. On these bases, an autoimmune stigma in NCGS is strongly supported
In summary, whereas it is not yet clear whether a gluten free diet can prevent autoimmune diseases, it is worth mentioning that HT patients with or without CD benefit from a diet low in gluten as far as the progression and the potential disease complications are concerned
Despite the fact that 5-10% of patients have Celiac disease, in my experience and in the experience of many other physicians, at least 80% + of patients with Hashimoto's who go gluten-free notice a reduction in their symptoms almost immediately.
In all people, a serum ferritin level of less than 30 micrograms/L confirms the diagnosis of iron deficiency
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
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Desperate to feel well !!
well that was a waste of time
Is Metavive working too well?
