New here but would be grateful for help interpreting blood tests and advice on supplements. Been diagnosed autoimmune hypothyroid for over 30 years on 75mcg levothyroxine.. lead healthy active life (two nutty dogs to keep up with). Eat lots of fruit and veg and pulses. Non smoker, very low alcohol consumption. Only supplement I take is Vit D with calcium on prescription by GP because family history of osteoporosis. Stopped in March as MRI showed some build up in heart arteries and GP had seen a study that oral calcium no use for bone strength and could cause build up in arteries. GP feels that my healthy lifestyle and exercise regime is sufficient without supplements. I feel that there are too many borderline results and a few too high or too low which show an overall picture of below optimal when looked at overall. But I am no medic and don’t know if my GP takes too much notice of the laboratory remarks. I specifically asked for T3 to be tested as I’ve noticed that mentioned on this site, but it wasn’t done. That was why I went for the medichecks test when it was on such a good offer. It will add the three tests, Thriva, NHS GP and medichecks, I am having difficulty getting the original NHS GP test results but the nurse did say there were some OK but borderline results and she thought ferritin was a bit low but not needing treatment but they would test every six months to keep an eye on it.
Sorry this is so long but wanted to give as full a picture as possible. Still losing muscle volume but not skinny.
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Weight 53.1 kg Pre March a different brand every month but GP has put me on TEVA as it doesn’t contain lactose which I have had problems with in the past. Symptoms creeping up on TEVA though. Thank you for all this information. Working through it slowly and then I’ll be on to Amazon. Feeling better just to understand what’s going on. So grateful
Noted thank you. Will start with that. Maybe a wee chat with our brilliant pharmacist to see what brands are available. I live over the water in beautiful Argyll but supplies and deliveries can be more of a challenge.
supplementing a good quality daily vitamin B complex, one with folate in (not folic acid) may be beneficial.This can help keep all B vitamins in balance
Thorne Basic B or Jarrow B Right are recommended options that contains folate, but both are large capsules. (You can tip powder out if can’t swallow capsule)
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
sorry if butting in you guys are the bees knees with the help you give and understanding just read all this lucky that i dont have to with this can i ask what are your views on vitamin supplements are these blood tests special to complaint again sos if being a pest
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
In all people, a serum ferritin level of less than 30 micrograms/L confirms the diagnosis of iron deficiency.
Your GP should do an iron panel consisting of Serum Iron, Total Iron Binding Capacity, Transferrin Saturation Percentage plus Ferritin. This will show if you have iron deficiency and if so your GP should treat accordingly and regularly monitor your levels.
Your full blood count does not show anaemia.
You can have iron deficiency with or without anaemia.
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Folate serum 3.37 range >3.89 - I am assuming unit of measurement is ug/L (mcg/L)
This is below range and suggestive of folate deficiency. Again, speak to your GP.
◦Serum folate of less than 7 nanomol/L (3 micrograms/L) is used as a guide to indicate folate deficiency.
◦However, there is an indeterminate zone with folate levels of 7–10 nanomol/L (3–4.5 micrograms/L), so low folate should be interpreted as suggestive of deficiency and not diagnostic.
Your GP may consider prescribing a course of folic acid.
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B12 active 75.2 range 37.5-150
This is above the level where testing for B12 deficiency is suggested (that level being 70) but we always suggest a level of over 100 for Active B12. It's not dire but could be better. A B Complex containing methylcobalamin will help raise your level, consider Thorne Basic B. It also contains methylfolate which will help raise your folate level.
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Vit D 67nmol/L
Only supplement I take is Vit D with calcium on prescription by GP because family history of osteoporosis. Stopped in March as MRI showed some build up in heart arteries and GP had seen a study that oral calcium no use for bone strength and could cause build up in arteries.
It's encouraging that your GP has the sense to realise that calcium is not the answer for osteoporosis and the reason it has built up in your arteries is, I expect, because you were not taking Vit K2-MK7 which is an important cofactor when taking a Vit D supplement. D3 aids absorption of calcium from food and Vit K2-MK7 is needed as this 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 calcification of arteries, kidney stones, etc.
Have you stopped taking D3 altogether?
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.
Take a look at my recent post about supplementing with Vit D:
You will see that to reach 50ng/ml, which is 125nmol/L the recommended daily dose of D3 is 3,700iu. It's not possible to buy D3 in that dose so the closest is 4,000iu.
Retest after 3 months to check your level.
Once you've reached the recommended level then a maintenance dose will be needed to keep it there, which may be 2000iu daily, maybe more or less, maybe less in summer than winter, it's trial and error so it's recommended to retest once or twice a year to keep within the recommended range. This can be done with a private fingerprick blood spot test with an NHS lab which offers this test to the general public:
Doctors don't know, because they're not taught much about nutrients, but there are important cofactors needed when taking D3. You will have to buy these yourself.
As mentioned above 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. 90-100mcg K2-MK7 is enough for up to 10,000iu D3.
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.
Both of these are German brands which sometimes goes out of stock. They are usually found on Amazon or Ebay although can be bought direct. If the 100mcg dose size isn't available it's OK to take the 200mcg dose alternate days.
Another option is Vitamaze K2-MK7 liquid which is available on Amazon, again the All-Trans form, and it's a clean supplement with no excipients.
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.
FREE THYROXINE 15.8 range 12-22 = 38% through range
Close to NHS test in May of 12.6 (9-21) which is 30% through range
Much lower than Thriva in March at 19.5 (75% through range)
Can this be explained by taking Levo before this test and not before the Medichecks test?
Leaving 24 hours between last dose of Levo and test gives a more accurate result, taking Levo before the test gives a false high FT4 level, leaving longer than 24 hours gives a false low FT4 level.
The only other explanation is that Hashi's causes fluctuations in results and you could have had a swing in March which caused the very low TSH and high in range FT4 compared to the much higher TSH and lower FT4 in June.
Your current results suggest that an increase in your dose of Levo is needed to lower your TSH and raise your FT4 which, in turn, should raise your FT3. An increase of 25mcg now, retest in 8 weeks.
Raised antibodies just confirm your Hashi's and Total T4 is not a particularly useful test.
All three tests done before 0900 and 24 hours from Levothyroxine. Not taking any supplements anyway but will certainly start now. Thank you so much for your help. My GP reduced my dose of Levothyroxine from 75 to 50 in March as thought test results then showed over dosing. Hence next test to check. Also put me on Teva as it is lactose free and I’m not great with lactose but my symptoms are creeping back. Apparently Teva are now the go to brand for people who don’t respond well to those with lactose fillers but I don’t think it is working as well for me.
Did your GP reduce dose after seeing the Thriva test results? It's unusual for many doctors to accept private tests.
The Thriva results did not show overmedication, your FT4 was 75% through range and FT3 only around 32% through range. It's over range FT3 that shows overmedication not low TSH.
Teva brand isn't well tolerated by quite a few members here. Instead of lactose they use Mannitol and it appears to be this that causes adverse reaction in some members. Other lactose free brands are Glenmark and Aristo.
Low ferritin causes symptoms similar to symptoms of hypo. No thyroid hormone replacement can work properly with su h a ow ferritin level, it's recommended to be half way through range and some experts say that the optimal ferritin level for thyroid function is 90-110ug /L.
I had an NHS blood test in March as I had lost over a stone in weight in a couple of months with no obvious cause. I was told there were no problems showing from the blood test with only a couple of iffy results but not relevant. I didn’t get to see those results. I had internal camera up and down and MRI scans of chest and abdomen all clear. I got the impression that my Levo dose was reduced in case that had caused the unexplained weight loss? I went for follow up appointment and told all OK. Managed to get a printout of the test result as I left and it didn’t look that optimal to me hence this post. So frustrating when you have symptoms but told everything’s fine. Can’t put it all down to getting old and need to work a bit harder at supporting my functions. Not good at telling doctors their jobs when they are so busy.
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