My 25year old son's blood test results

[Mindseye]

Could these results suggest a Thyroid problem? Someone on the forum suggested investigating Pernicious Anaemia also.

Jan'22

Ferritin 78ug/L (22-275)

Folate 9.8 ug/L (3.0-20.0)

Vit B12 472 ng/L (187 - 883)

Sodium 142 (133-146) Potassium 4.2 (3.5-5.3) Chloride 103 (85 - 108) Urea 3.1 (2.5-7.8) Creatinine 82 (40-130) eGFR >59 (<60 - CKD stage 3.4 or 5)

AST 20 (0-45) ALT 14 (0-55) Bilirubin 26 (up to 21) Total Protein 72 (60-80) Albumin 48 (35-58) Alkaline Phosphatase 79 (30-130)

TSH 1.30 (0.35-5.00)

Feb'23

Ferritin 41 ug/L

Folate 6.6ug/L

Vit B12 331 ng/L

Sodium 139 (133-146) Potassium 4.3 (3.5-5.3) Chloride 103 (85 - 108) Urea 3.1 (2.5-7.8) Creatinine 71 (40-130) eGFR >59 (<60 - CKD stage 3.4 or 5)

AST 24 (0-45) ALT 20 (0-55) Bilirubin 18 (up to 21) Total Protein 71 (60-80) Albumin 49(35-58) Alkaline Phosphatase 76 (30-130)

TSH 1.50 (0.35-5.00)

March'23

Testosterone 18.8 nmol/l 10 - 36.0)

Iron 27 (10-30) TIBC 65 (45-72)

transferrin Satn 42% Consider Haemochromatosis if: >50 %male or >40% female

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Mindseye

Could these results suggest a Thyroid problem?

With only TSH being tested it's impossible to say. He needs a full thyroid panel to include

TSH

FT4

FT3

Thyroid antibodies

If GP can't or wont do them all then it's suggested he does it with one of our recommended private companies, eg Medichecks, Blue Horizon or Monitor My Health:

thyroiduk.org/help-and-supp...

None of the other tests relate to thyroid.

Someone on the forum suggested investigating Pernicious Anaemia also.

Vit B12 331 ng/L

This result is quite a bit lower than 12 months ago. It may or may not suggest B12 deficiency but that would need you to check for signs/symptoms

b12deficiency.info/signs-an...

b12d.org/submit/document?id=46

If he has any he would need to list them to discuss with his GP and request testing for B12 deficiency and Pernicious Anaemia.

Folate 6.6 ug/L (3.0-20.0)

Again a fair bit lower than 12 months ago and it's too low. Folate is recommended to be at least half way through range so that would be 11.5 plus with that range. It's not deficient so GP wont prescribe, but could be dealt with by eating more folate rich foods and if no B12 deficiency he could supplement with a good quality bioavailable B Complex. Do not supplement with B Complex if symptoms of B12 deficiency are present, that must be addressed before adding folate supplement.

Ferritin 41 ug/L (22-275)

Again lower than 12 months ago. Ferritin is suggested to be half way through range which would be 148.5 or near.

Iron 27 (10-30) TIBC 65 (45-72) transferrin Satn 42%

This iron panel does not show iron deficiency, in fact his serum iron is very close to the top of the range, therefore he has just low ferritin which he could try to raise through diet 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

bda.uk.com/resource/iron-ri...

everydayhealth.com/pictures...

Iron tablets are not advised as they would raise his serum iron and saturation percentage over range and too much is as bad as too little.

[Charlie-Farley]

Hi Mindseye

It is impossible to tell the health of a thyroid from TSH alone.

I see you have been getting advice on Pernicious Anaemia (that's good) but if you go back to the original post you made here it has a lot of replies with information on that you need to work through. Any response now will just be a repeat of the same. If GP will not/can not get FT3 and FT4 plus antibodies tested it is necessary to get that done privately. Thyroid UK website will have all the links you need and if you read others lived experience on here of getting blood tests done you can plan the next stage. The search tool is brilliant for this and there are pinned posts too.

The key vitamins seem to be heading down from the tests above - good to be mid range not scraping along the bottom. Can't comment on the other test results...

Looking at the above tests they seem to have tested thoroughly pretty much everything but the Thyroid bearing in mind TSH is made in the pituitary. 🙄 A TSH in Range does NOT mean everything is fine unless the thyroid hormones are at least mid range and your son has no symptoms.

Have you looked at the symptoms associated with hypothyroidism? It's a good exercise to first do a tick off of all the symptoms that apply on the NHS list (the ones they actually recognise) then go and find a more expansive list and do the same (thyroid UK website). I never discuss anything 'non NHS' with GPs (unless it is a journal published paper) as they are uncomfortable outside the NHS parameters - leave you to ponder on that one (painting by numbers comes to mind).

Get a full thyroid function test done, get a full list of all symptoms he is experiencing and then bring it back to the forum so we can give some good old lived experience feedback.

[Jaydee1507 Administrator]

To properly assess thyroid function we need whats known as a thyroid panel. That is 3 tests - TSH, FT4 & FT3. Noone can make any informed assessment on just a TSH but we do need to convince the NHS of that!

Suggest you get private tests run at one of these labs. Check for discount code in the link. thyroiduk.org/help-and-supp...

All of his vitamin levels are certainly dropping year on year which would suggest an absorption issue. Has he been checked for coeliac?

Raising ferritin is very slow but focus on an iron rich diet - chicken livers, pate, red meat a few times a week.

If he doesn't have PA then a good B complex would help raise both B12 & folate. This one is good and has 90 days supply. amazon.co.uk/Liposomal-Soft...

No vit D result.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

is he vegetarian or vegan?