I have just had my medichecks results for my iron levels and wondered if I could kindly have some opinions/recommendations.
I know they aren’t terrible but I am trying to increase my NDT and want to have as little issues as possible when trying to raise. Would you recommend trying to increase via diet or supplementing with tablets? And are these levels bad enough to indicate I may have issues trying to increase?
I am currently already supplementing my folate as I was deficient (methyl folate), vit d is very good, b12 injections.
Thank you in advance ☺️
Written by
Beau55
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The suggested levels on this link are usually the optimal results we use for iron, although I tend to be more specific about ferritin than what is suggested :
CRP - is an inflammation marker so the lower the better. Optimal is under 1, so your level is good.
Iron - Optimal for this is 55% - 70% through the range, higher end of that for men. Your level is substantially below that at 32%, suggesting your iron is low and you need more.
TIBC
• Low in range indicates lack of capacity for additional iron
• High in range indicates body's need for supplemental iron
Your level of 41% through range is not much under mid-range, suggesting that your TIBC is not bad, and you probably have limited capacity for more iron. This is not unusual even if iron is a little bit on the low side.
UIBC - I have no idea what optimal for this is.
Transferrin Saturation - This is a percentage. Your level is 24.2%.
• optimal is 35 to 45%
• higher end for men
• to calculate divide serum iron by TIBC
• minimum saturation of 30% required to successfully treat with T3
• Low, beginning doses of T3 can be started with saturation at 25%
Your result is well below optimal, suggesting you need more iron.
Ferritin - Optimal for this is roughly 50% - 70% of the way through the range. With a range of 13 - 150 this equates to approximately 82 - 110. So your result of 49.1 / 26% through the range is low, suggesting you need more iron.
Summary
CRP - great
Iron - low, suggesting you need more iron
TIBC - not really definitive
Transferrin Saturation - low, suggesting you need more iron
Ferritin - low, suggesting you need more iron
It isn't unusual for people to have results that are a bit contradictory, so I wouldn't worry about the TIBC.
When I was first dealing with my own iron my serum iron was under range, ferritin was low in range and my TIBC was under range. With such low iron and ferritin my TIBC should have been over the range. Since I knew my iron was dreadful, I didn't let my TIBC stop me improving it and I supplemented. My TIBC improved slowly with iron but has never been great.
If you want to know about your options for supplementing iron, I wrote this reply for another member some time ago :
In your shoes I would suggest trying ferrous gluconate 300mg. The maximum dose is 4 - 6 tablets per day in divided doses e.g. two tablets, three times a day. But I would actually suggest you start with 1 tablet and build up your dose (if you can tolerate it) to no more than 4 tablets a day. Your iron levels aren't outrageously bad, and taking the maximum dose is almost certainly overkill.
Since few people know how well they absorb iron, you will have to experiment and find out. You might find that you optimise your iron in 3 months - 12 months, but the only way you'll know is by trying it out. Since iron is poisonous in overdose I would suggest testing after two months then another two months after that. That should give you some idea how quickly you are absorbing it, and some idea how long you might take to optimise your levels. Once you know that you can decide for yourself how often you should test. But I wouldn't leave it longer than 3 - 4 months between tests.
Some iron-related links you should read before you start supplementing:
Please note that iron can block thyroid hormones (and many supplements) from being absorbed, so try to keep iron separate from everything else by about four hours. If you can't fit everything in, you just have to accept that some supplements may be absorbed poorly, but definitely keep thyroid hormones and iron separate.
There is one exception... Take vitamin C with iron tablets - it improves absorption. Also, if you get constipation while taking iron (it's extremely common) the vitamin C helps to "loosen things up". If you get constipated increase your vitamin C.
WOW thanks humanbean, that was an extremly detailed reply, you should really start charging for this info 😜 I will try the ferrous gluconate as I really want to try iron it out ASAP for the sake of my NDT. I’m quite confident that I am low enough to supplement but I will definitely retest regularly while supplementing.
How long did you find it took you to get your levels to optimum and did this have a big impact on how you felt/treatment?
How long did you find it took you to get your levels to optimum
I absorb iron very poorly, as do many of my close relatives, and anaemia is common in the family. It took me 21 months to raise my ferritin to mid-range and I was taking the maximum dose of ferrous fumarate 210mg per day. My iron was still low even after all that time.
did this have a big impact on how you felt/treatment?
Before I started taking iron supplements I was in dreadful shape - very breathless, no energy, very weak, chest pain and tachycardia. Once I got some iron in me it helped a lot but it wasn't a fast improvement. After I got my ferritin to mid-range I spent several years learning to maintain my ferritin at mid-range (obviously taking a lower dose than I had been taking when trying to raise it). Then in 2021, after taking iron since 2013 my ferritin suddenly shot up so I stopped taking it altogether.
When I first started to take Levo (in 2013, shortly after I started taking iron) I discovered very quickly that I couldn't tolerate T4. I also tried NDT but couldn't tolerate that either. I ended up spending several years on T3-only. Every so often I experimented with Levo and NDT but things didn't improve until 2020 when I discovered I could tolerate Levo for the first time. I am now taking Levo + T3 and am doing better on the combination now than I did on either of them alone.
I was just reading your reply and some of your journey sounds similar to mine. I’m in a good place at the moment (I’m touching wood so as not to jinx it😅)
I’ve been hypothyroid for 13 yrs and had several useless doctors so pretty much control my own medication/blood tests etc and like so many on here, educated myself/experimented etc etc. I always try and understand why something didn’t work or did work etc for future reference so if I should fall low in a certain area again, I know how to recognise it/raise levels up again. One thing that always baffles me is ferritin. I like you couldn’t get my level to stay in range for a long time, when I did get it into range, it dropped very quickly when I lowered my ferrous sulphate dose. Then all of a sudden, my levels shot up, I stopped supplementation and my levels held at a good range and I no longer need any supplementation. I’ve never understood why this is the case. I note you are the same. Any ideas why?
Sorry to butt in by the way. Your reply to Sarah triggered a thought in me!!
When I got my ferritin to mid-range I wanted to keep it there and I did this by taking a maintenance dose. It took a lot of trial and error to find out what that was. My serum iron was still way below the optimal suggested in that link I gave earlier (55% - 70%). One day I decided to try and increase my iron until I got my level much closer to optimal. I managed to get my iron up to 46% of the way through the range (highest it has ever been) but in doing so I ended up with ferritin slightly over the range - it was about 170 when top of range was 150. (I did expect this to happen.) I didn't feel this was safe in the long-term - I don't want high iron/ferritin - so I stopped taking iron for 4 months.
I was quite shocked to realise it took just four months for my ferritin to drop from 170 to about 80 when I didn't supplement. So I started taking iron supplements again to try and maintain ferritin mid-range, and didn't worry about my iron staying low any more. It was a useful experiment in one way - I found out how fast my ferritin levels dropped without supplements.
I think the reason that my ferritin shot up the way it did, while iron stayed relatively low is because I think I have Anaemia of Chronic Disease.
As for why my ferritin suddenly shot up after a few years of keeping it at mid-range, I do have a theory, but no way of proving whether it is true or 100% nonsense.
Healthy women who have had healthy levels of iron throughout life will usually find their iron rising after menopause - but mine stayed low. (I'm way past menopause.) I was never healthy and never had good levels of iron. I think my tissues were starved of iron all my life until I started testing, treating, and maintaining my own levels in my 50s. Once the deficiencies of a lifetime had been fixed for long enough, and my body had repaired whatever damage needed iron to repair (and could still be repaired) I think my supplemental iron started building up. And now my body is handling iron in the way it would for someone who hadn't been short of iron all their lives, although my current test results are not great at least they aren't constantly dropping. I still do an iron panel roughly twice a year.
it’s weird because my mind was thinking along the same lines. When I was pregnant with both my children I craved ice. I didn’t have the internet then so never researched this. 20 yrs on, I happened to ask Google why I craved ice when pregnant and it said lack of iron!!! So from that moment I realised I had probably been deficient all my life. I’m past menopause too now (I’m 53) and so no longer have periods and my ferritin stays around 100-120 which is perfect for me I feel so yes, my thoughts are very similar to yours!!
hi humanbean thanks again for your detailed response. I’ve been on to the link you posted about Anaemia of Chronic Disease. healthunlocked.com/redirect...
I have never heard of it before. It might explain some of my very weird iron panels I have had over the years, although I really don’t want another condition to add to my others!!! 😊
But it’s interesting it says that this condition can arise because of an underlying infection like h pylori which I had and many other people with thyroid disease have because of low acid. It might also explain why having taken iron supplements last year I didn’t feel good and had to stop.
I’m going to get another panel done and with all this information try and understand more what might be going on.
On that link there’s some helpful forms free to download such as symptom forms and blood results to keep a track. That might be something this forum could have available too if they aren’t already?
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This is such a great story, thank you for sharing. It’s only been recently that I’ve discovered how much of an impact iron has on the toleration of thyroid hormones. I’m glad you finally found what worked for you and how amazing that you now have no issues tolerating Levo and T3! I am guessing you have built up all that knowledge trying to get yourself well and now hopefully it will help me too 😃 I’m wondering if many people are struggling along with borderline levels not realising it’s causing any issues.
My last NDT stopped working for me and now I’m struggling with increasing my armour so I’m hoping some iron will help me along. I also suffer from POTS, tachycardia etc and have always struggled with low ferritin over the years but not paid it much attention until now. It could be the missing piece to my puzzle.
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