I’m looking for some advice please prior to a GP appt. I’ve had a phone call with the GP and said how tired I’m feeling but I also had raised cholesterol (no numbers GP test). I said this could be due to under medication take Levo 75mg. Was then told I need to pass a risk test for statins. Had more blood tests with GP ‘to rule out anything else’. Since my Oct results I’ve supplemented some iron and Vit D
Any thoughts please on my ft3 level. GP says my TSH is ‘normal’, I have said this could be lower.
What time were these tests taken and did you stop biotin supplements for 5-7 days before and levo for 24hrs before?
Your folate was deficient in October. Did you get 5mg folic acid prescribed? It's not been retested? No result in February for folate.
Vit D has gone down. What and how much are you taking. You need D3 with K2 to help it go to the bones and enough of it. Use this calculator to work out how much to get it to 100. grassrootshealth.net/projec...
Ferritin has gone up, well done, long way to go but it can be very slow. Keep eating chicken livers etc
Thyroid wise you have plenty of scope for a 25mcg dose increase. Your free's are pretty low and multiple low vitamin levels likely keeping your TSH low too. Raising vit levels will help your TSH.
Working on all these + a dose increase will help your cholesterol.
Thank you, all tests early am no Levo for 24hrs and no vit supplements for a few days. The Vit D maybe isn’t high enough dose 400iu. No prescribed iron or vits as didn’t go to GP in Oct. Another topic for the GP can’t add K vits as take Warfarin.
I’m aiming for a dose increase rather than adding yet another drug.
I think you are misunderstanding the role of vitamins in hypothyroidism and what they are. They help your body make red blood cells to stop you being anaemic for one, amongst a host of other functions. If we have low vitamins then our thyroid hormone cannot work properly. So that it is why they are important to raise to OPTIMAL levels so Levo can do its thing well. They are not drugs. They just replace what your body is missing like Levo does.
400iu of vit D is not enough to do anything, not even minimum government recommended dose. Use the calculator to work out accorording to your weight how much you need. This range works well for many people.
Thanks again, I wasn’t suggesting vitamins were drugs and I do understand their role. It was the addition of statins to reduce cholesterol if metabolism isn’t at an optimal level which would be adding another drug. I’ll use the calculator to check the suggested Vit D supplement. Thanks again
Your vit D is very low given those ranges. Re your cholesterol I have high 8.7 and have just been referred to the lipids clinic. Apparently if you are over 8 you should be referred to a specialist according to my GP.
75mcg levothyroxine is only one step up from starter dose levothyroxine
Your vitamin levels are terrible because you are highly likely not on high enough dose levothyroxine
Low vitamin levels tend to lower TSH
Approx how much do you weigh in kilo
Unless extremely petite, most people when adequately treated will be on at least 100mcg levothyroxine
Even if we frequently don’t start on full replacement dose, most people need to increase levothyroxine dose slowly upwards in 25mcg steps (retesting 6-8 weeks after each increase) until eventually on, or near full replacement dose
Consider starting levothyroxine at a dosage of 1.6 micrograms per kilogram of body weight per day (rounded to the nearest 25 micrograms) for adults under 65 with primary hypothyroidism and no history of cardiovascular disease.
In the majority of patients 50-100 μg thyroxine can be used as the starting dose. Alterations in dose are achieved by using 25-50 μg increments and adequacy of the new dose can be confirmed by repeat measurement of TSH after 2-3 months.
The majority of patients will be clinically euthyroid with a ‘normal’ TSH and having thyroxine replacement in the range 75-150 μg/day (1.6ug/Kg on average).
The recommended approach is to titrate thyroxine therapy against the TSH concentration whilst assessing clinical well-being. The target is a serum TSH within the reference range.
……The primary target of thyroxine replacement therapy is to make the patient feel well and to achieve a serum TSH that is within the reference range. The corresponding FT4 will be within or slightly above its reference range.
The minimum period to achieve stable concentrations after a change in dose of thyroxine is two months and thyroid function tests should not normally be requested before this period has elapsed.
If you have an underactive thyroid (hypothyroidism), treatment may be delayed until this problem is treated. This is because having an underactive thyroid can lead to an increased cholesterol level, and treating hypothyroidism may cause your cholesterol level to decrease, without the need for statins. Statins are also more likely to cause muscle damage in people with an underactive thyroid.
In actual fact 75mcg is a sufficient dosage for many people, particularly if they are of slight build. Even the guidelines have this figure in their suggested ranges. One of my daughters is hypothyroid and maintains optimal TSH, FT4 and FT3 levels with 75mcg levo. The dosage according to weight guidance is for use only when initiating treatment to try to minimise the time needed to achieve the optimal dosage, but from what I have seen this has resulted in a large number of people being overmedicated at the start, resulting in additional problems. Some people need to reduce dosage after losing weight, some do not, so the weight/dosage ratio is rather arbitrary. Being so dogmatic about describing 75mcg as low/only a step up from a starter dose can have a negative impact on those seeking advice, perhaps making them think that dosage is the cause of all their problems, when it so often isn't.
Serum ferritin level is the biochemical test, which most reliably correlates with relative total body iron stores. In all people, a serum ferritin level of less than 30 micrograms/L confirms the diagnosis of iron deficiency.
Look at increasing iron rich foods in diet
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
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
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.
We have received further information the lab about ferritin reference ranges. They confirm that they are sex dependent up to the age of 60, then beyond the age of 60 the reference range is the same for both sexes:
Males 16-60: 30-400 ug/L
Female's: 16-60: 30-150
Both >60: 30-650
The lower limit of 30 ug/L is in accordance with the updated NICE guidance and the upper limits are in accordance with guidance from the Association of Clinical Biochemists. ‘
I’m not vegetarian or vegan, nor could I be called petite. 🤣 Losing weight is impossible!
I do take antacids which can affect absorption of vits and minerals.
Feb - Serum Folate 6.03 ug/L (≥ 3.89)
I’ve only spoken to GP who wanted to retest everything, so not actually seeing her until next week.
The GP surgery don’t have any old medical records for me because I moved from England to Scotland 12 months ago. This seems to be standard by what the surgery are telling me.
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)
Thorne currently difficult to find at reasonable price, should be around £20-£25. iherb.com often have in stock.
If you want to try a different brand, one with virtually identical doses of the ingredients, and bioavailable too, then take a look at Vitablossom Liposomal B Complex. Amazon sometimes has it branded Vitablossom but it's also available there branded as Yipmai, it's the same supplement
IMPORTANT......If you 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
I have a similar situation where my TSH increased over the last 24 months and my cholesterol, weight and BP have also gone up. I went to the doctors fully expecting to be given a statin prescription (which I am keen to avoid) but instead had a good discussion about sorting out my levels and vitamins as well as increasing my levo. I am now awaiting my next set of bloods in a couple of weeks to see how things are progressing.
I just had my cholesterol checked and my doctor phone which I was surprised but Im still (waiting for final results) she said Im still making butter “just kidding” not really Im a freaking butter factory and I can’t take statins they just about killed me anyway I have for the past month prior to the cholesterol test decided to clean up my diet by removing junk and adding ground flaxseed and spinach back to my morning smoothie and taking (without my Endo’s knowledge) more T4 and T3 not a lot just nibbling a little off each pill when I take my regular script…. Anyway my LDL has dropped 12 points.
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