My Medichecks results - Help me break them down! - Thyroid UK

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My Medichecks results - Help me break them down!

CharlyMae profile image
7 Replies

I know I have Hashimoto’s already as my antibodies were 600 before medication and that was from the thyroxidase test. What is the thyroglobulin test?

Test results 

CRP

Range: 0-5  

Result: 8.4 

Ferritin

Range: 13-150 

Result: 35.5 

Folate serum

Range: >3.89

Result: 5.15

Vitamin B12 Active

Range: 37.5-150

Result: 77.7

Vitamin D

Range: 50-200

Result:  62

 TSH

Range: 0.27 - 4.2

Result:  0.03

 Free T3

Range: 3.1-6.8

Result:  8.53

 Free thyroxine

Range: 12-22

 Result: 29.2

 Thyroglobulin antibodies

Range: <115

 Result: 397

 Thyroid peroxidase antibodies

Range: <34

Result: 304 

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CharlyMae
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7 Replies
Regenallotment profile image
RegenallotmentAmbassador

Hi CharlyMae,

Did you start your medication? What dose are you on?

How do you feel with these readings?

I’m not super experienced but assuming you feel unwell, it looks with those T3/T4 like you are either over medicated or your Hashimoto’s is causing a release of thyroid hormones that is presenting this way the symptoms can be similar. Some people refer to it as a Hashi’s hyper swing. Which if it’s that, will be followed by a return of hypo symptoms. I’ve realised I’ve had these cycles from teenage getting progressively more hypo and only diagnosed at 48. Hope this helps, ask lots of questions, I’ve found this forum to be so supportive. 🦋💚🦋

CharlyMae profile image
CharlyMae in reply toRegenallotment

I have been medicated for 2 years now but after having my son 12 weeks ago, I felt awful! Extremely tired (not just newborn tired), dizziness, blurry vision, vertigo and just feeling really slow like I’m waking in mud…

Thank you x

Regenallotment profile image
RegenallotmentAmbassador in reply toCharlyMae

This is familiar, after my second child I felt dreadful, daily diarrhoea, exhaustion, non restorative sleep, headaches and was told it was transient post partum thyroiditis, I lost all the baby weight rapidly, people thought I looked really well but I was dragging myself around and mental health was rock bottom. Take good care of yourself and rest rest rest. It was 12 months unmedicated before I slowly felt less tired by then I’d given up a good job because I couldn’t think straight and moved the family across the country because I was terrified we’d lose our house. In hindsight what I needed was an endocrinologist, a therapist and this forum. Look after yourselves and advocate for yourself, speak up, list the symptoms and don’t be fobbed off. Wishing you well 🦋💚🦋

SeasideSusie profile image
SeasideSusieRemembering

CharlyMae

What is the thyroglobulin test?

The thyroglobulin antibody test is another thyroid antibody test. Some people can have Hashi's with negative TPO antibodies but positive Tg antibodies. Yours are both positive.

With regard to your other test results:

CRP: 8.4 (<5)

This is an inflammation marker, it is non-specific. It is over range which shows that you have inflammation somewhere but it can't tell you where. Most likely due to your Hashi's.

Ferritin: 35.5 (13-150)

This is very low. If it was <30 then NICE considers it to be iron deficiency. I would ask your GP to 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. You should also have a full blood count which will show if you have anaemia. You can have iron deficiency with or without anaemia.

Don't consider taking an iron supplement unless you do an iron panel, if you already have a decent level of serum iron and a good saturation percentage then taking iron tablets can push your iron level even higher, too much iron is as bad as too little.

If your GP prescribes iron then make sure you have an iron panel every couple of months to check your levels so that they don't get too high.

Folate serum: 5.15 (3.89-19.45)

That is the full range for Medichecks' folate test.

Folate is recommended to be at least half way through range so that would be about 12 plus with that range.

Vitamin B12 Active: 77.7 (37.5-150)

Below 70 would suggest the need to test for B12 deficiency. Yours isn't that bad but we suggest 100 plus for Active B12.

Both folate and B12 could do with improving. Consider taking a sublingual B12 methylcobalamin plus a good, bioavailable B Complex. I think one bottle of B12 should be enough to raise your level to around 100 then just continue with the B Complex which will help maintain your B12 level and improve/maintain your folate level.

Suggestions for B12 supplements which include two forms of bioactive B12 - methylcobalamin and adenosylcobalamin which you might want to check out:

Cytoplan sublingual B12 lozenges

cytoplan.co.uk/vitamin-b12-...

Nature Provides sublingual liquid

amazon.co.uk/Bioactive-METH...

Note that the Nature Provides supplement contains a much higher dose than the Cytoplon one.

For B Complex I have used Thorne Basic B for a long time and always been happy.

If you look at different brands then look for the words "bioavailable" or "bioactive" and ensure they contain methylcobalamin (not cyanocobalamin) and methylfolate (not folic acid). Avoid any that contain Vit C as this stops the body from using the B12. Vit C and B12 need to be taken 2 hours apart.

When taking a B Complex we should leave this off for 3-7 days before any blood test because it contains biotin and this gives false results when biotin is used in the testing procedure (which most labs do).

Vitamin D: 62nmol/L

You might want to check out a recent post that I wrote about Vit D and supplementing:

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

and you can check out the link to how to work out the dose you need to increase your current level to the recommended level.

Your current level of 62nmol/L = 24.8ng/ml

On the Vit D Council's website

web.archive.org/web/2019070...

you would scroll down to the 3rd table

My level is between20-30 ng/ml

The Vit D Council, the Vit D Society and Grassroots Health all recommend a level of 100-150nmol/L (40-60ng/ml), with a recent blog post on Grassroots Health mentioning a study which recommends over 125nmol/L (50ng/ml).

So now you look at how much is needed to reach 50ng/ml and you'll see that they suggest 3,700iu per day, nearest to buy 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:

vitamindtest.org.uk/

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.

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 my suggestions are Vitabay, Vegavero or Vitamaze brands which all 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.

Vitabay and Vegavero are either tablets or capsules.

Vitabay does do an oil based liquid.

Vitamaze is an oil based liquid.

With the oil based liquids the are xx amount of K2-MK7 per drop so you just take the appropriate amount of drops.

They are all imported German brands, you can find them on Amazon although they do go out of stock from time to time. I get what I can when I need to restock. If the tablet or capsule form is only in 200mcg dose at the time I take those on alternate days.

If looking for a combined D3/K2 supplement, this one has 3,000iu D3 and 50mcg K2-MK7. The K2-MK7 is the All-Trans form

natureprovides.com/products...

It may also be available on Amazon.

One member recently gave excellent feedback on this particular product here:

Here is what she said (also read the following replies):

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Another important cofactor is Magnesium which helps the body convert D3 into it's usable form.

There are many types of magnesium so we have to check to see which one is most suitable for our own needs:

naturalnews.com/046401_magn...

explore.globalhealing.com/t...

and ignore the fact that this is a supplement company, the information is relevant:

swansonvitamins.com/blog/ar...

Magnesium should be taken 4 hours away from thyroid meds and as it tends to be calming it's best taken in the evening. Vit D should also be taken 4 hours away from thyroid meds. Vit K2-MK7 should be taken 2 hours away from thyroid meds. Don't take D3 and K2 at the same time unless both are oil based supplements, they both are fat soluble vitamins which require their own fat to be absorbed otherwise they will compete for the fat.

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.

TSH: 0.03 (0.27-4.20)

Free T3: 8.53 (3.1-6.8)

Free thyroxine (FT4): 29.2 (12-22

When did you take your last dose of Levo before the test? It should be 24 hours, if taking your Levo before the test it gives false high FT4 results.

However, you have Hashi's and this could be a hyper swing, it could also be that your hormones are awry due to giving birth. It's probably a good idea to lower your dose of Levo for now and retest in 8 weeks to see if your FT4 and FT3 have come back down into range. Don't ask your GP to lower your prescription because if your levels go too low you may not be able to get it increased again, I would suggest that at this stage you just lower the dose yourself, say 25mcg now and then see what the next test looks like. You only need to test TSH, FT4 and FT3 next time and Monitor My Health is cheapest for that - NHS lab at Exeter hospital who offer home fingerprick tests to the public for £26.10 with code here: thyroiduk.org/help-and-supp...

CharlyMae profile image
CharlyMae in reply toSeasideSusie

Thank you so much for the detailed response I have re read it a few times!

I didn’t take any meds for 24 hours prior to the test and didn’t eat or drink.

I read up online that high thyroglobulin antibodies is likely to be tumour related? Cancer… I hope that isn’t the only reason it’s high!

My blood test results are a mess and no wonder I feel so rough :(

Will an NHS doctor look at these results?

SeasideSusie profile image
SeasideSusieRemembering in reply toCharlyMae

CharlyMae

I read up online that high thyroglobulin antibodies is likely to be tumour related? Cancer… I hope that isn’t the only reason it’s high!

There are a few reasons that Tg antibodies would be raised. It's often the case with Hashi's that both can be raised so I wouldn't worry. But if you are concerned then discuss with your GP, there are blood tests he could do.

Will an NHS doctor look at these results?

Some do, some don't, no guarantees.

Your nutrient tests are all in range and your GP won't be interested in doing anything about your B12, folate and Vit D - you will have to address these yourself.

You could point out your low ferritin and the information I've given you about how close it is to NICE level for iron deficiency. If he says it's in range, there is no problem, just emphasise the NICE guideline, that you're only 5.5 points above what they would consider to be iron deficiency and would he do an iron panel and full blood count to discount iron deficiency and anaemia.

I wouldn't mention your thyroid results at this stage, it could very well be transient so I'd just lower your dose yourself for the time being and retest in a few weeks.

blogfrog profile image
blogfrog

Your CRP indicates mild inflammation and your levels in all the vitamins are not good. Get all those vits up before you deplete yourself even lower. It may be your other hormones gone out of whack contributing to all this and they interplay and have a knock on effect with the thyroid so if this does not resolve as your body comes back to post natal "normal" (it is still relatively early days) then you may want to get these hormones checked out too.

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