Help with MediChecks results before Drs Appt ne... - Thyroid UK

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Help with MediChecks results before Drs Appt next week

ssjg profile image
ssjg
6 Replies

Hi all

Thank you so much for your support on here. After my ‘blip’ with my medication and illness over Xmas, I’ve done my medichecks test!

At last things seem to be much better and my tests are mainly showing within range now for my TSH, FT4 and FT3. The Medicheck Dr has suggested that my Levo is correct at 100mcg.

I feel more human, but still have some symptoms, lack of energy, achy, brain fog etc.

I can see I need to up my Vit D, and I’ve used the Better You oral spray before, so look like I need this.

Any thoughts and advice on my results would be appreciated ahead of my GP review next week.

Posting my report and previous results as photos, please let me know if I need to add anything else?

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ssjg

Last October

SeasideSusie profile image
SeasideSusieRemembering

ssjg

The Medicheck Dr has suggested that my Levo is correct at 100mcg.

It's not worth having their comments, they're rarely of any use.

At last things seem to be much better and my tests are mainly showing within range now for my TSH, FT4 and FT3.

I feel more human, but still have some symptoms, lack of energy, achy, brain fog etc.

You're on your way but nowhere near optimal yet.

The aim of a treated hypo patient on Levo only, generally, is for TSH to be 1 or below with FT4/FT3 in the upper part of their reference ranges, if that is where you feel well.

Your TSH is far too high and still has a long way to go. Your FT4 is 36% through range ad FT3 is 27.03% through range, it's likely that you will need these somewhere above 50% in range.

Calculator here: thyroid.dopiaza.org/

You need an increase in your Levo - 25mcg now and retest in 6-8 weeks.

CRP is high which indicates inflammation. It's a non-specific inflammation marker so can't tell you where the inflammation is, but as you have raised antibodies confirming autoimmune thyroid disease (Hashimoto's) this could possibly be the cause.

Because of your high CRP then your Ferritin result is unreliable. Ferritin rises with inflammation so the result you have here wont be your true ferritin level.

Folate is just about approaching OK, it's recommended to be at least half way through range which is around 35 plus with that range.

Your Active B12 is very low. It's said that Active B12 below 70 suggests testing for B12 deficiency and pernicious anaemia:

viapath.co.uk/our-tests/act...

Reference range:>70. *Between 25-70 referred for MMA

There is a link at the bottom of the page to print off the pdf to show your GP.

Do you have any signs of B12 deficiency – check here:

b12deficiency.info/signs-an...

b12d.org/submit/document?id=46

If you do then list them to discuss with your GP and ask for testing for B12 deficiency and Pernicious Anaemia. Do not take any B12 supplements or folic acid/folate/B Complex supplements before further testing of B12 as this will mask signs of B12 deficiency and skew results and if you have B12 deficiency and it is not detected and treated then this could affect your nervous system. B12 deficiency should be treated before starting folic acid because folic acid can sometimes improve your symptoms so much that is masks B12 deficiency.

Vit D is very low.

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 52nmol/L = 13.6ng/ml

On the Vit D Council's website

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

you would scroll down to the 2nd table

My level is between 10-20 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 4,900iu per day.

Retest after 3 months.

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/

Continued below due to character restriction.

SeasideSusie profile image
SeasideSusieRemembering in reply toSeasideSusie

Continued.......

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.

As for the cause of your hypothyroid being autoimmune (Hashi's), some people find a gluten free diet can help although there is no guarantee. Hashi's causes gut/absorption problems and will undoubtedly be the cause of your poor nutrient levels.

ssjg profile image
ssjg

SeasideSusie thank you very much for you reply. I was so busy at work I didn’t have time to read this until now. There’s a lot to absorb there, but picked up the need for an increase when my in my GP call next week and asking for further tests on B12. Is that the test for perineous Anemia?

Thank you for all the information on Vit D, I got a little lost in the 2nd half of the message. I have had Vit D deficiency before and my dentist told me that my teeth were deteriorating as the calcium was being called for ‘elsewhere’. I need to look into your links on Vit D/K and try to understand this better.

You mention not to try everything at once, where should I benefit the most from trying first please, the B12 / anemia tests?

Also, is there a way to save posts please? I got to this via my alerts but saw a response from Slow Dragon on Iron/Ferritin on another users message (Kayakingkim)? I would like you save a read though later for both myself and my daughter.

Thank you

SeasideSusie profile image
SeasideSusieRemembering in reply tossjg

ssjg

and asking for further tests on B12. Is that the test for perineous Anemia?

Pernicious anaemia is one cause of B12 deficiency, so testing is for B12 deficiency and an additional test for pernicious anaemia. To test for B12 deficiency it might just be serum Total B12 which is a different test from the Active B12 Medichecks does, NHS tends to normally do Total B12 and that tests the total amount of B12, bound and unbound (active) but doesn't differentiate between them. Pernicious Anaemia test should hopefully include Intrinsic Factor, MMA and homocysteine I think (not 100% sure, others may know or you can ask on the PA forum here on HealthUnlocked - healthunlocked.com/pasoc ). Some of these tests can, I understand, give false negatives which is why it's very important to discuss symptoms with your GP, they should take more notice of symptoms than test results.

I have had Vit D deficiency before and my dentist told me that my teeth were deteriorating as the calcium was being called for ‘elsewhere’.

This suggests that calcium was not being directed to bones and teeth. This is the job of Vit K2-MK7, it directs calcium away from soft tissues and arteries and towards bones and teeth.

You mention not to try everything at once, where should I benefit the most from trying first please, the B12 / anemia tests?

The advice is not to start all supplements at once, to just add them one at a time with 1-2 weeks in between to see if you have any adverse reaction to any of them.

Also, is there a way to save posts please?

Yes, go to the first post in the thread and there is a SAVE POST button next to the LIKE button. When you save a post you get notifications when there are any replies added.

When you want to find your saved posts click on MY FEED at the top of the forum page, there will be a drop down menu and you will see SAVED POSTS then click on that to see all your saved posts.

ssjg profile image
ssjg

Morning All

So the GP has called, and my thyroid ‘was in the normal range’ so she skipped over that and went straight to my cholesterol….

So I let her say her pieces, what have we done about it and have you been assessed for statins etc! And am I reviewing my diet etc? She looked at my key risk for a heart attack and apparently it’s low?

Now this is where I’m so grateful for the support in this community! I advised that as this is the first time that my thyroid has shown “in range” it’s not been needed as it needs to be under control…but my “diet” is sometimes I’d like to discuss in the call!

Then I mentioned this forum and that it’s advised that if you are medicated my TSH level should be in the lower range, certainly under 2 (some post said 1 some 2). I asked whether my Levo should be increased and managed to get her to agree to raise from 100mcg to 125mcg for 3 months and then a retest!

I mentioned I’d done a private blood test and came back at autoimmune (tumbleweed moment) and I’d like to really optimise my diet and support with the correct supplements, as it’s likely that I’m not digesting all the vitamins I need too.

She’s doing a Vit B12, Folate, Ferritin test and recorded my Vit D level (34 [50-250]). I mentioned P. anemia but she wanted to do these tests first.

I mentioned that my wrists/ankles are inflamed when I wake, and she’s running another test but didn’t say what that was….

So a few positive steps forward with some bloods being run.

Thank you for the help and advice as she would have just said alls okay, and possibly here’s some statins (which I’ve read the information on here).

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