Vitamin levels : Hi, it's me again.Just got my... - Thyroid UK

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Vitamin levels

sylus_911 profile image
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Hi, it's me again.Just got my vitamin levels back from Docs.

Serum total 25-OH vit D level-(RAB)-Normal. 79.

Vitamin B12 . 384ng/L

Serum Folate 6.6 ug/l

Serum Ferritin 73 ug/L.

I am currently taking 1000iu of Vitamin D.

500ug of Vitamin B12.

I am not taking any supplements for Folate or Ferritin.

Should I increase VitD and vitamin b12.

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Jaydee1507 profile image
Jaydee1507Administrator

With a level of 73 ferritin you shouldn't supplement. Better to focus on adding more iron rich foods to your diet such as chicken liver, pate, red meat a few times a week. Your aiming for ferritin to be 90-100.

You haven't given reference ranges for any of these tests which are important as they vary from lab to lab.

Was B12 serum B12 or active B12? There's 2 slightly different tests testing different things.

Folate by most reference ranges looks low however, aim for a level of 20. Recommend taking an active/methyl (should say on label) B complex which contains 400mcgs folate (also B12). Occasionally some people require a higher dose of folate, often due to having MTHFR genes in which case buy a separate 400mcgs methylfolate and slowly add to your dose over several weeks. This B complex has all the right vitamins at a not unreasonable cost for 90 days supply. amazon.co.uk/Liposomal-Soft...

Vitamin D should be around 100 - 150. Buy one that includes vit K2 to help it go to your bones. Some are available in oil or you can take it with an oily meal for better absorption. Use this calculator to work out how much to take to get your level to 100-150. wildatlantichealth.com/vita...

sylus_911 profile image
sylus_911 in reply to Jaydee1507

Hi, there was no range for the vit D.Serum B12.Ranges: (145.00 -914.00)

SerumFerritin range (11- 307).

Jaydee1507 profile image
Jaydee1507Administrator in reply to sylus_911

Are you vegan or vegetarian?

Do you have symptoms of B12 deficiency? The reference range for B12 is very wide and cut off point too low. theb12society.com/signs-and...

If you do then you should discuss this with your doctor for further tests for Pernicious Anaemia unless you are vegan/vgetarian.

Otherwise add in the good methylated B complex.

sylus_911 profile image
sylus_911 in reply to Jaydee1507

Hi, No I'm not vegan or vegetarian. I do eat a lot of red meat and fish, Salmon,cod etc...

Regarding vitb12 I do get a lot of neck pain and had a lot of Urinary problems.Im just given antibiotics.

I will speak to my Doctor if he will listen to me.

SeasideSusie profile image
SeasideSusieRemembering

sylus911

I am currently taking 1000iu of Vitamin D.

500ug of Vitamin B12.

Serum total 25-OH vit D level-(RAB)-Normal. 79.

I gave you information about Vit D levels and how to achieve the recommended levels in a reply to a previous post here:

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Your level at the time was 72.2pmol/L and it was suggested that you could supplement with 3,000iu D3 daily. You can check this here on the Vit D Council website for your current level of 79nmol/L which is 31.6ng/ml:

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

If you had taken the suggested amount of 3,000iu daily your level would be much higher now than it is.

Are you also taking the important cofactors mentioned in that reply, ie Vit K2-MK7 and magnesium?

Vitamin B12 . 384ng/L

If you have not symptoms of B12 deficiency then I would suggest your raise your B12 dose to 1,000mcg daily - are you taking methylcobalamin form of B12 and is it sublingual?

As you are taking B12 then you should also be taking a B Complex to keep all the B vitamins balanced.

I have used Thorne Basic B for a long time and always been happy but it is sometimes unobtainable and can be expensive so now I use Vitablossom which is very similar and you get more for your money:

hempoutlet.co.uk/vitablosso...

This was unavailable when I went to purchase last week so I bought this one from Amazon, it is showing as Yipmai but it is actually Vitablossom on the bottle when delivered:

amazon.co.uk/Yipmai-Liposom...?

If you look at different brands then look for the words "bioavailable" or "bioactive" and ensure they contain methylcobalamin (not cyanocobalamin) and methylfolate (not folic acid). Avoid any that contain Vit C as this stops the body from using the B12. Vit C and B12 need to be taken 2 hours apart.

When taking a B Complex we should leave this off for 3-7 days before any blood test because it contains biotin and this gives false results when biotin is used in the testing procedure (which most labs do).

Serum Folate 6.6 ug/l

Folate is recommended to be at least half way through range, we can't give you a number to aim for without a range so just work out what is half way through, ie add together top and bottom numbers of range then divide by two, this would be the minimum to aim for, eg

if range is 4-20 then that is 24 divided by 2 = 12 so that would be the minimum to aim for but you could go higher in range.

So if you tell us the range we can tell you if you need a separate folate supplement as well as B Complex or whether B Complex containing 400mcg methylfolate would be enough.

Serum Ferritin 73 ug/L.

This depends on whether an inflammation marker, eg CRP, was also tested and whether it was low or elevated. Ferritin is raised when there is inflammation so if ferritin alone is tested it's hard to know if it's your normal level.

Some experts say the optimal level for thyroid function is 90-110ug/L (when no inflammation is present).

sylus_911 profile image
sylus_911 in reply to SeasideSusie

Hi the b12 is Methlycobalamin.A capsule.As regarding the Folate all it says is 6.6 ug/l (3 suggests deficiency)I really dont know why I didn't do as I was told when you suggested me raising my vit D to 3000.I,ve still got this on going thing with my hands,that's the only reason the Doctor tested my vitamin levels.Well, thanks again.

SeasideSusie profile image
SeasideSusieRemembering in reply to sylus_911

Folate all it says is 6.6 ug/l (3 suggests deficiency)

In that case their "range" is <3 = deficiency so we tend to say aim for double figures, so anywhere upper teens to about 20 should be fine. If you get a B Complex containing at least 400mcg methylfolate this might do the trick, as well as eating folate rich foods.

If you increase your B12 to 1,000mcg I would suggest retesting in about 3 months, once you've reached 550ng/ml then you could drop the B12 and just continue with the B Complex as that should have at least 400mcg B12 in it.

Don't forget to leave off B Complex for 3-7 days before any blood test (including thyroid) as it contains biotin which can cause false results.

sylus_911 profile image
sylus_911 in reply to SeasideSusie

Thank you.🤗

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