Should I take Irin supplements?

[Hashibegone]

Hi

I have had my bloods done for most things thyroid through Monitor my Health. The results I was the most interested in were the iron panel. After Seaside Suzie explained the importance of optimal levels for conversion of t4 to t3 I think I need to be taking a supplement? Could I ask if my results are comprehensive enough to make that decision please?

Hb 144 (126-270)

Ferritin 40 (15-410)

TSAT 27 (15-50)

Active B12 74 (38-210)

Folate 17 (3-25)

Also vit D was surprisingly high at 121 (38-101)

TIA for any help….

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

The results I was the most interested in were the iron panel.

I'm afraid you don't have an iron panel with that test. What you have is the anaemia test which is not the same as the iron panel which would show iron deficiency.

Looking at my reply to your previous post I said

It's not advisable to self supplement with iron before further testing. You need an iron panel to check levels of serum iron, total iron binding capacity, transferrin saturation percentage and ferritin. If you already have good levels of serum iron and saturation then taking iron tablets will take these too high and lead to toxicity.

You only have ferritin and saturation percentage with that test.

Saturation is optimal is 35 to 45% (higher end for men) and yours is 27% so on the lowish side, but you really do need serum iron before deciding if you should supplement with iron tablets. Medichecks do an iron panel that includes the above plus the inflammation marker CRP.

Haemoglobin looks OK.

Folate looks OK, we suggest at least half way through range (which is 14 with that range)

B12 we tend to suggest 100 plus for Active B12.

Also vit D was surprisingly high at 121 (38-101)

Ignore the range. The Vit D Society, Vit D Council and Grassroots Health all recommend a level of 100-125nmol/L with a recent blog post on Grassroots Health recommending at least 125nmol/L. Your level of 121 is good.

[Hashibegone in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thank you SeasideSusie. Oh my word, what am I like?!! Don’t answer that!

Soooo I’ll start again with an Iron panel! Thank you for your reply. I hope you won’t mind if I ask again when I have the proper results from the proper test… it’ll be a month or so but thanks for setting me straight, it’s much appreciated, once again. And yes I was pleased with my vit D as I’ve been re reading some of the links sent by you good people x

[Susieibbo301]

Hashibegone - yes you do need to be able to convert T4 to T3. Selenium may help this. In my case, I have the polymorphism DIO2 which means I cannot convert T4 well. I am therefore now on T3 only and learning about that. Best wishes Susie