Have not posted on behalf of my daughter for a while as she has gone through a very low period when she just given up trying to feel half alive. She has had to suspend University due to terrible brain fog, inability to retain information and inability to even construct a paragraph, so anxiety set in. Frustrating for a once academic child and hard for me to see.
These are her latest bloods. Would be grateful for any kind of feedback or thoughts on how to help her. She has always struggled to get her folate levels up despite supplements. I know her GP will just look at her low TSH but her FT3 and 4 are not in a great position within the range. I have also thought she struggles to convert T3.
Thank you.
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KIRM
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I don't think conversion is a problem at this point. But, it may be just that her failing thyroid is producing more T3 than T4. Failing thyroids often do that.
The main point is that she has high antibodies, meaning that she has Autoimmune Thyroiditis - aka Hashi's. And, by the look of it, she's coming down from a Hashi's 'hyper' swing (low TSH and high antibodies, euthyroid Frees). It will take a while for the TSH to catch up with the other levels, so perhaps not the best set of results to set before a doctor. Perhaps if you could wait a few months - which I know will be difficult, but she won't get any sort of diagnosis with those results - and see what things look like when they've settled down.
Her ferritin is very low, and she should have a full iron panel done. So, maybe see her doctor about that? It will be causing her a lot of symptoms.
As Greygoose says, the ferritin result is very low.
Less than 30 indicates iron decifency. Less than 15 indicates total depletion of iron.
Would recommend trying to get her a full iron panel and full blood count. (You'll need them if you want to go private.)
I had an iron transfusion and it improved my health dramatically. I was slow to notice the difference at first but I put that down to my body being slow to recognise what it had been given since it had been deplete for so long. 😂
I'm just echoing what others have said regarding your daughter's low ferritin levels. Also I experienced lots of symptoms when mine was low in range, dizziness, tiredness, breathlessness and hair loss. Also just feeling worn out and drained. Does your daughter include much meat in her diet? Is your daughter a vegetarian?
Is your daughter still seeing an endocrinologist? I was just reading through some of your earlier posts. Is she still taking thyroid hormones? Apologies for lots of questions!
She is on 125mcg/ day of Levo. She is not a vegetarian but we don’t eat a lot of meat particularly red meat. She was gluten free but gave up 2 years ago when she went to Uni. And she has not been great at remembering her Vitamins! She has just seen yet another Endo who requested a Full blood panel so these results are from Blue Horizon and she awaits the full NHS ones. I went for a copy yesterday and was told I had to wait as the GP would not release them before he spoke to my daughter. Hope he concentrates on the low Iron and Cortisol and not the low TSH. Not holding my breath over the latest private Endo either.
Forgot to mention that I accidentally found out she has put herself on the anti depressant Serteraline, which I am not happy about but slowly getting her to understand her feelings of anxiety and low mood is the result of her Thyroid and not depression.
Make sure the endo is aware of your daughter's above range cortisol; they can then indicate other blood tests that may be necessary for your daughter to undergo.
Thorne Basic B recommended vitamin B complex that contains folate, but they are large capsules. (You can tip powder out if can’t swallow capsule)
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IMPORTANT......If 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
In week before blood test, when you stop vitamin B complex, you might want to consider taking a separate methyl folate supplement and continue separate B12
With serum B12 result below 500, (Or active B12 below 70) recommended to be taking a B12 supplement as well as a B Complex (to balance all the B vitamins) initially for first 2-4 months.
once your serum B12 is over 500 (or Active B12 level has reached 70), stop the B12 and just carry on with the B Complex.
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
Never supplement iron without doing full iron panel test for anaemia first and retest 3-4 times a year if self supplementing. It’s possible to have low ferritin but high iron
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