Is it as simple as us thyroid peeps being poor absorbers?
I’ve been very lax at supplementing for about the last 6-8 weeks because we’re having work done in the house, so things aren’t to hand and therefore out of sight, out of mind, but until then I had been supplementing every day with b complex.
My levels have actually dropped since last spring, over which time I thought I had been pretty disciplined on the supplements.
I get bad flushing now so I thought maybe I was low but I’m surprised how low it is, hence the question.
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Murphysmum
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I'm curious because I had a coeliac dx 18 months ago. I've been supplementing with a B Complex since, but was kinda hoping that I'd be able to stop when my gut is fully healed (if it ever is).
Interesting though. As I said I’d been regularly taking a b complex and an additional b12. My b12 still isn’t amazing but it’s not really dropped despite not supplementing. The folate on the other hand….
Have you had a test in to exclude that you do not have pernicious anaemia? This is an excerpt and nowadays we can get regular injections of B12:-
"Pernicious anemia is a rare condition. It occurs in 0.1 percent of the general population and 1.9 percent in people who are older than 60 years, according to a 2012 studyTrusted Source in the Journal of Blood Medicine.
However, up to 50 percent of anemia from vitamin B12 deficiency in adults is caused by pernicious anemia, study authors note.
This type of anemia is called “pernicious” because it was once considered a deadly disease. This was due to the lack of available treatment".
I did ask a few years back, pre T3 times, and the gp just about laughed at me. My levels are way too normal to need tested apparently.Saying that, I can supplement like mad with b12 and it never budges.
I would try to confirm whether or not you have pernicious anaemia as my mother also had this condition. She died prematurely due to her GP telling her that her bloods were now fine and she needed no more B12 injections.
Both my sister and I thought that was 'good'. Little did we know what was ahead as mother developed stomach cancer.
I also have this condition and I now have monthly instead of quarterly B12 injects as GP said I could have as many as I wish.
How sad. I must admit I find myself questioning most of what I’m told by my GPs nowadays. Maybe unjustly, but I’ve lost faith in them.
I will ask again, but I’m not sure what tack to take to be most effective. Last time I asked I was really quite unwell. Now I am mostly very well, and it’s just the health monitoring I need to worry about.
You could ask GP if you can have B12 tested . He may agree or if he asks why say that you want to make sure all your vitamins and minerals are at optimal and that you don't have any deficiencies.
I've never been able to confirm this, but I think the folate test measures the total of folic acid and folate levels.
People who take folic acid end up with high levels of folate. In order to create folate out of folic acid the body has to send folic acid through 2 or 3 conversions before you end up with folate.
People who have thyroid disease often end up being very slow at converting folic acid.I have always assumed that people with high folate have high levels of unconverted folic acid in the blood.
But, if you take methylfolate in preference to folic acid it is already in the form that the body can make use of immediately. Therefore people just don't end up with high folate levels because they are using what they have been taking without any delay.
Note that the body needs folate in order to make use of vitamin B12. So if you have low folate it is possible you could have symptoms of low B12 as well because the body can't make use of the B12.
My folate is truly woeful, 3.4 on my recent NHS test, range 3-20. It's got worse since I started supplementing with methylfolate. In October it was 4.5, not great but I don't understand why it's gotten so bad. I take 400mg of methylfolate a day.
You could double that if you aren't absorbing it. Or there are 1000mcg products available too.
I can't hang on to folate either. I take a daily B Complex (Thorne Research Basic B which contains 667mcg Folate) and I also take 1000mcg methylfolate four days a week. But obviously you could take one every day of the week if necessary.
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