Vitamin D & tolerating thyroid medication - Thyroid UK

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Vitamin D & tolerating thyroid medication

10 Replies

Hello,

Thanks so much for your time in reading my post, I would really appreciate any/all opinions on this.

I am currently investigating why, ever since I crashed from 2 years of Keto, I can't tolerate thyroid medication. I have discovered I have extremely low adrenal function and am now treating that with adrenal cortex extract.

My Vitamin D levels are: 44. Would low Vitamin D make it hard for me to tolerate NDT?

Thanks so much in advance x

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10 Replies
SlowDragon profile image
SlowDragonAdministrator

To tolerate any replacement thyroid hormones we need optimal vitamin levels

What’s the units on vitamin D ….nmol or ng/ml

Also need to test folate, ferritin and B12

(Please add country you add based in on your profile ….helpful when interpreting test results)

in reply toSlowDragon

Hello, thank you so much for your reply. The vitamin D is 44nmol

I sent off a sample of blood to Medi checks on Monday and I’m waiting for the results for the other values that you mention. I am in the UK.

SlowDragon profile image
SlowDragonAdministrator in reply to

So your aiming to improve vitamin D to at least around 80nmol minimum

in reply toSlowDragon

Thank you. Do you recommend supplementing Vit D alone? I’ve read some things about K2 and Ca being affected.

SlowDragon profile image
SlowDragonAdministrator in reply to

GP should prescribe 1600iu everyday for 6 months, but you’re likely better to self supplement a good quality vitamin D with K2

NHS Guidelines on dose vitamin D required

ouh.nhs.uk/osteoporosis/use...

GP will often only prescribe to bring vitamin D levels to 50nmol.

Some areas will prescribe to bring levels to 75nmol or even 80nmol

leedsformulary.nhs.uk/docs/...

GP should advise on self supplementing if over 50nmol, but under 75nmol (but they rarely do)

mm.wirral.nhs.uk/document_u...

But with Hashimoto’s, improving to around 80nmol or 100nmol by self supplementing may be better

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/218...

vitamindsociety.org/pdf/Vit...

Once you Improve level, very likely you will need on going maintenance dose to keep it there.

Test twice yearly via NHS private testing service when supplementing 

vitamindtest.org.uk

Vitamin D mouth spray by Better You is very effective as it avoids poor gut function.

There’s a version made that also contains vitamin K2 Mk7. 

One spray = 1000iu

amazon.co.uk/BetterYou-Dlux...

Another member recommended this one recently

Vitamin D with k2

amazon.co.uk/Strength-Subli...

It’s trial and error what dose we need, with thyroid issues we frequently need higher dose than average

Vitamin D and thyroid disease 

grassrootshealth.net/blog/t...

Vitamin D may prevent Autoimmune disease 

newscientist.com/article/23...

Web links about taking important cofactors - magnesium and Vit K2-MK7

Magnesium best taken in the afternoon or evening, but must be four hours away from levothyroxine

betterbones.com/bone-nutrit...

medicalnewstoday.com/articl...

livescience.com/61866-magne...

sciencedaily.com/releases/2...

Vitamin K2 mk7

betterbones.com/bone-nutrit...

healthline.com/nutrition/vi...

in reply toSlowDragon

thank you thank you thank you!

Jaydee1507 profile image
Jaydee1507Administrator

As SlowDragon says, you need to checkyour other vitamin levels too. Low vit levels will cause NDT/T3 intolerance.

in reply toJaydee1507

Thank you so much, I have sent off a sample of blood to Medi checks for them to assess the values that you both mention. Thank you for the insight that’s very helpful for me to know.

jacrjacr profile image
jacrjacr

from what i have read you need certain nutrients or vitamins in your body for your body to process thyroid hormone naturally or from a pill to convert the t4 to t3 hence you can easily google all the nutrients which is why taking a thyroid support supplement w all of them may help....for me too little thyroid makes me very exhausted and too much give me pain behind the eyes and headaches that wrap around my head to the back and hot feeling more so in body...i crashed on keto but it was from potassium being low normal so i started drinking low sodium v8, coconut water, eating lima beans , sweet potatoes etc and got it back up...a simple electroltye test that is cheap can identify this.....it took 4 dr to finally order that simple test around 40.00...w food and drinks i went from 3.1 to 4.1 in potassium and all symptoms vanished

radd profile image
radd

Relentlesssearch,

Yes, Vit D is not only an immune modulater (great for us Hashi sufferers in reducing antibodies, inflammation and aches & pains) but actually changes deiodinase behaviours improving action of D2 (thyroid hormone conversion enzyme) and together with calcium & T3 plays a large role in bone and mineral metabolism.

Most chose keto to lose weight which does make everything work better: leptin, insulin, thyroid hormones, etc and some forum members have loved keto and said they did well on it but I’ve never understood how it worked, knowing the importance of insulin in the livers conversion of T4 - T3. 

Ketosis also increases inflammation through the additional created acidity and us Hashi sufferers are already battling a level of unwanted inflammation by just having thyroid antibodies. 

Unless we can exercise well the naturally accumulated stress hormones (cortisol, adrenaline, especially glucagon in keto) created by trying to put the body into ketosis, are inhibitory factors in achieving the state of ketosis and actually prevent thyroid hormones from working as they should.  

Maybe these members who benefited from keto took higher doses of T3 or didn't have Hashi? I can’t remember. It always feels to me you have to in top health to benefit from keto but then you wouldn’t need to practice it anyway 🤷‍♀️.

I would concentrate on reversing keto's negative effects before introducing NDT which can be more fussy than Levo. Particularly with poor adrenal reserve and high levels of inflammation. Maybe medicate Levo + T3 before switching because this allows you more control of the ratios and a slower build up, whilst you improve insufficient nutrient levels.

The benefits of supplementing Vit D with a little K2 are well known but also adding a little Vit E increases the anti inflammatory effects (especially IL-6 production which is prevalent in Hashi). Remember unwanted autoimmune inflammation stops much from working well and increases weight gain/obesity. The better brands often offer a combination of Vit D, Vit K2 and Vit E.

All done on rats ....

Vit D & Vit E reduce damaging inflammation ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

Vit D improves deiodinase D2 action (thyroid hormone conversion enzyme) pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/265...

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