My daughter has just received her ferritin results back from her GP.
She hasn’t been issued with any iron tablets the graph shows she’s within the normal range but it is down at the bottom end when it needs to be at an optimal level, so I've read, My question is, can anyone recommend a good Iron vitamin so that I can help her get the number up to optimal?
PS
Vitamin D. Is 44.4nmol|L. Range 50.0-125.0
The Vitamin D level is below the range, Dr told to take Vitamin D tablets of 1000iu
I can get her the 20.000 which I feel she needs, compared with the 1.000iu.
My daughter is always washed out and has a bad temper. She has a 9-month-old and is due back at work in March
Thank you in advance!!
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jupiterconjunct
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In all people, a serum ferritin level of less than 30 micrograms/L confirms the diagnosis of iron deficiency.
GP should do a full iron panel to include
Serum iron
Transferrin saturation percentage
Total Iron Binding Capacity
Ferritin
to confirm if she has iron deficiency.
Also a full blood count to see if she has anaemia.
GP should then prescribe iron tablets and regularly monitor levels.
If serum iron and saturation percentage are good then she doesn't have iron deficiency just low ferritin and taking iron tablets would push her serum iron and saturation too high and possibly lead to toxicity.
If just low ferritin it may be possible to help raise her level by eating liver regularly, maximum 200g per week due to it's high Vit A content, also liver pate, black pudding, and including lots of iron rich foods in your diet
The Vitamin D level is below the range, Dr told to take Vitamin D tablets of 1000iu
Nowhere near enough but GP is probably looking at the fact that this is not Vit D deficiency (that would be <30nmol/) but that it is "inadequate" and thinks that 1,000iu wil help raise her level.
You might want to check out a recent post that I wrote about Vit D and supplementing:
you will see that for a level of 17.76ng/ml, to achieve the recommended level of 40-60ng/ml (100-150nmol/L) then a daily dose of 4,900iu is suggested, the nearest to buy would be 5,000iu.
I would suggest that she takes that amount (5,000iu) for 3 months then retests. When she has reached the recommended level (perhaps aim for 125nmol/L (50ng/ml) then she'll need a maintenance dose 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:
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
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.
Gallstones with sludge, and at some point, she is going for an operation to have them removed
I don't know if your suggestions still apply regardless of the above.
I don't know either, I have no experience of gallstones, maybe you could do some research, but if her GP has suggested she takes Vit D then I imagine that should be OK, or speak to pharmacist.
“She also needs B12 and folate testedall thyroid blood tests early morning, ideally just before 9am This gives highest TSH, lowest FT4 and most consistent results. (Patient to patient tip)”.
The daughter is to going to ask for a full Iron panel.
After that, it will be Medichecks of which I’m a good customer. I trust them:))
I had an extremely bad temper when I had low iron and low ferritin. I ended up testing and treating myself for low levels of iron / ferritin. Every time I got GPs involved they thought any ferritin result within range was fine, and the bottom of the range was usually only 13 whereas now NICE says anything under 30 is evidence of deficiency, they never tested serum iron, and if I got iron prescribed the prescription was stopped after 2 or 3 months.
Iron is not easy to absorb and lots of people take months to raise their levels, sometimes years. So being permanently low in ferritin and/or serum iron is very common.
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