I paid for a Blue Horizon blood test and wondered if anyone could help with the following feedback? These were only taken 1 week after my latest GP blood tests.
- Am I right thinking this confirms that I don't have Hashimotos?
- Generally levels look ok with exception of Ferritin which is still on low side, but does I think appear to be up from result the previous week (though I don't really understand the different unit values!)?....
- I had a week of trying my best to up my iron levels by only dietary means (lots of liver, liver pate, beef, spinach, pumpkin seeds, orange juice), but it confirmed that I really can't tolerate red meat at all - I quickly became so bloated I looked pregnant and had to rely on laxatives which is not great!... Although it looks like I don't have Hashis, do you think there is any benefit in trying a gluten-free diet to see if this helps the iron absorption issue? Normally I rely on iron tablets & spatone but levels are always v low. Any tips gratefully received!!
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junebug7
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Ferritin result is the one result that seems to be more unreliable on postal kit testing……numbers seem to increase the longer it takes between blood draw and getting processed at lab
Would suspect ferritin in reality not increased that much between NHS test and this …..but it could have
Negative antibodies doesn’t rule out Hashimoto’s
Ask GP for ultrasound scan of thyroid
20% of Hashimoto's patients never have raised antibodies
That's brilliant, thanks so much for your help again SlowDragon! There's some good reading there, I'll take a good look. You are a fountain of knowledge
If your taking Levothyroxine odds are that's the cause of your iron deficiency, if so you'll definitely need an iron supplement also, the diet won't provide enough on its own...
I've been iron definicient for a number of years (first identified about 13 years ago) but that's an interesting point about levo affecting absorption, I hadn't thought of that, thank you
Hi Roadrunnergreg, I have not previously heard Levothyroxine can cause iron deficiency. I take Synthroid and lab results showed I was severely iron deficient. Would you please share how/why Levothyroxine can cause iron deficiency. Thank you so much, it is greatly appreciated.
do they provide any reference for why /how Levo itself would reduce iron ? in fact, do they provide any references for any of their other statements ,, or is this just a list provides by a company selling vitamins etc with no way for anyone to check their information ?
It's the only place i've seen this about Levo 'depleting' iron.... surely if it was a proven fact, it would be based on some evidence that their customers could check.
If so it would be helpful if they provided a link, otherwise it just looks like sales blurb.
there was one pubmed sheet that the admins posted that triedd to call me out, but the aarticle said that they felt better on less levothyroxine than they were on how it was worded it actually proved my case for me. you also have to realise that the so called medical references people look for from big pharma is going to be scarce or convaluted because big pharma dislikes nutrition, it's their enemy. looking at pubmed and big pharma when it comes to nutrition is not always your best place to get great advice, the worst you can do is try it and see if it helps whats the worst that can happen a few quid on a supplement to try for a week to see if it helps or not, you'll be your own best test subject, and could change ya life for the better...
after all if they'd have checked everybodies vitamin D level and corrected their deficiencies there'd ave been no need for a covid jab at all...
hi there . i don't disagree with where you're coming from .. just not convinced about where you end up yes mainstream medics etc are rubbish at the massive importance/benefits of correcting deficiencies , and rubbish at 'nutrition' in general, and yes there's all sorts of vested interests in keeping it that way.
And yes lots of hypothyroid people do need to check and probably correct their iron levels., and would probably have less symptoms if they did.
But the statement that the act of taking Lexothyroxine in itself is what depleted the iron ? ... i can find no explanation of the mechanism for this .. how does Levothyroxine do this?
If we had examples of e.g:
someone who was hypothyroid but who's iron was OK ...
then they take Levo and their iron is low ....
then they stop taking Levo ( and for the sake of argument replace their low thyroid hormone with T3 only, or perhaps NDT) ... and over time their iron naturally rises again (once not taking Levo any more) .
.... then yes, that scenario could , i suppose, point to Levo as the possible cause of their iron depletion.
But without any examples of that sort of relationship .. it seems much more likely to me that it its the hypothyroidism (not the Levo itself ) that is involved, and is probably why this site references depleted iron levels in relation to Levo .
(I think they use 2+2 to make '22' , a 'misunderstanding' if you ascribe good motives to them, and a 'misrepresentation' if you think they are trying to maximise sales)
Of course if the site you use for reference had provided any more detail about this claim.. even if it was just the proposal of a possible mechanism for Levo to reduce iron.. then it might be possible for people to consider the suggestion more seriously. .. but for some odd reason , despite them having a massive interest and knowledge about vitamin deficiencies /supplements .. they can't come up with anything further to say on the matter .. so i remain 'sceptical' about the statement that Levo itself depletes iron .
one of the main ways that meds deplete nutrients is it speeds up the metabolism of the nutrient or blocks its absorption, even meds can cause hypothyroidism by speeding up the metabolism of FT4 i know because of a ned i was on for decades i was sub clinical hypothyroid med induced. i've not come accross how it does just that it does...
Just to clarify ... 'Meds 'means different things to different people . Do all those 'med' references mean 'Levo '?
i suspect we will have to accept our difference of opinion over this issue , but that's OK, since the only issue is "which came first chicken /egg ".. perhaps i doesn't matter, as long as you still get to eat an egg for your breakfast.
but replacement thyroid hormone ( of any variety Levo /NDT /T3 ) is a VERY different thing to 'most medications in all diseases' .
'medications in most diseases' are not something the human body produces , but the thyroid hormones T4/T3 are.
So generalising your logic by saying 'meds' to mean both 'thyroid hormones' AND 'other medicines' is REALLY going to confuse any point you are trying to convey.
i get ya its just that when you search nutrients depleyed by my med and you correct the nutrient deficiencies it wipes out most of the listed side effects of the medication. i believe it's also why when people start on Levothyroxine and feel good and a few weeks later feel crap again that low iron is the root cause although in some cases the levothyroxine might need increasing to get the dooasage right.
but knowing about the nutrient deficiencies caused by meds can be a game changer, it has been for me... peoples religion in medications alone and not accepting any problems they cause needs to change or hold onto the same old problems of living with lingering issues unresolved
I don't think that Levothyroxine reduces levels of nutrients, iron or otherwise. I think that is is being hypothyroid that reduces levels of nutrients.
It is fairly common for people who have been hypothyroid but untreated for a long time to come here, get the tests that we recommend, and discover that all their nutrient levels are very poor.
that may be the case but medications deplete nutrients or anti-nutrient of that i'm sure. in most cases if you correct the nutrient deficiencies you can reverse the dis-ease, inc hypothyroidsm
Some do, I agree. But I'm not convinced that Levo is one of them. The majority of people taking Levo stay well for many, many years. If their nutrients were being depleted they wouldn't feel well.
and yet they still don't feel that well in most cases with lingering effects, some might be taking a multivitamin in with iron in and unwittingly correcting or preventing the deficiency
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