Results - don't know what to make of them - Thyroid UK

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Results - don't know what to make of them

dayoff profile image
12 Replies

I can see Vit D is way too low despite my daily tablet! I've just bought Thorne 25mcg plus K2 200mcg drops so hopefully they are better. I will take them twice a day for the next few weeks then once a day. My Anti thyroid peroxidase antibodies are obviously through the roof but I guess that is because I have Ord's Hashimoto's auto immune disease. Should I just expect this result or is it an issue? Any other comments welcome. These were taken 8.15am before any meds or food etc. Vitamins were all stopped a week before. It was 27 hours since my last dose of levo. I had to swap from night dosing to day dosing over a few days, hence the slightly bigger gap

Thanks in advance

CRP 0.76 Range - <5.0

Ferritin 58.0 Range 13-150

Magnesium 0.89 Range 0.7-1.0

Cortisol 416.0 Range 166-507

TSH 2.66 Range 0.27-4.20

T4 Total 92.6 Range 66-181

Free T4 17.3 Range 12.0-22.0

Free T3 3.96 Range 3.1-6.8

Anti-Thyroidperoxidase abs 190 Range <35

Anti-Thyroglobulin abs 96 Range <115

Vit D (25OH) 43 Range75-200

Vit B12 404 Range 145-569

Serum Folate 13.80 Range 8.83-60.8

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dayoff
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Regenallotment profile image
Regenallotment

Hello fellow Ord’s member 😊

That folate is low, do you take a B Complex? When mine was low I took an extra methyl folate 400ug alongside a daily Thorne Basic B for about 4 months, I’ve recently stopped it as my levels were good and will retest in 6 weeks.

D sounds like you are on the right track it took over 6 months of 4000iu to get mine up over 100. Keep at it, slow and steady.

What thyroid hormone doses are you on? I’d be asking for a trial 8 week increase on those levels.

you only need to stop B complex the 3-5 days before testing, the biotin does something with assays, I won’t pretend to understand 🙄 but my understanding is you can keep taking all the others.

Great work! How do you feel? Hypo? Sore? On top of the world? 🌱

dayoff profile image
dayoff in reply to Regenallotment

Thanks Regenallotment. I'm mostly exhausted due to insomnia. I have major brain fog. Sometimes sore hips/back and exercise feels awful. Which is down to Thyroid, Insomnia or peri menopause - I have no idea! Insomnia is my big issue. I was taking a methyl B complex but recently on here, people said they didn't do well on Methyl B's and some said it effected sleep. I stopped them weeks ago. I've been trying to get most of my B vits through food. I'll need to re think this. With Vit D, How does 25mcg's compare to 4000iu? Im on 100mg of Levo.

Regenallotment profile image
Regenallotment in reply to dayoff

my sleep miraculously improved as I became more optimal. Sorting gut health really helped, can’t remember which book, possibly Supergut mentioned how our gut dysbiosis, caused by unhelpful gut bacteria can keep us awake at night. Might be worth looking at. Like you I’m very probably heading towards peri menopause, currently over medicated (coming down to 100mcg as of last weekend) and having night sweats again which had stopped. b Complex is the one thing I’d keep if I could only have one thing, it’s 100% my best supplement but I don’t get on with them all, tried Igennus which some members like and felt dreadful, woke up with numb arms every morning.

aches and pains, I hear you. I have a mixture of chronic and shorter term ones that come and go, they have improved with the addition of T3 (private prescription) but I read that all vits need to be optimised for you to benefit so don’t rush into that one 🌱

Hope you get some more replies it’s used to compare ideas. 🦋

dayoff profile image
dayoff in reply to Regenallotment

That is very helpful to hear. I am glad I can see some deficiencies. I know that sounds weird but at least I can easily sort that and it may help as you say. I drink Kefir milk every day as I had heard the same re the gut. I have just ordered the Thorne Basic B. Thanks for your help.

Regenallotment profile image
Regenallotment in reply to Regenallotment

I checked an online calculator, 1iu is 0.025mcg so 4000iu = 100mcg not sure if that is helpful or not? So you are taking a quarter of what I was which might explain slow progress. See the links to Vit D Council in other posts regarding loading doses. My maintenance dose is now 2000iu (50mcg a day) 🌱

Jaydee1507 profile image
Jaydee1507Administrator in reply to dayoff

I was taking a methyl B complex but recently on here, people said they didn't do well on Methyl B's and some said it effected sleep. I stopped them weeks ago.

There are a few people that don't do well on methyl B vitamins but if stopping them has made no difference to your symptoms I would restart them.

Free T4 (fT4) 17.3 pmol/L (12 - 22) 53.0%

Free T3 (fT3) 3.96 pmol/L (3.1 - 6.8) 23.2%

Your FT3 is far too low and no wonder you are having sleep issues amongst others no doubt. Push your GP for a dose increase. TSH should be at or just under 1.

Antibodies will fluctuate naturally. Some claim that going gluten free has reduced them. Have you tried that, can help many symptoms? Some also need to eliminate dairy from their diet for symptoms improvement.

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...

Ferritin should be around 90 - 100 for best use of thyroid hormone. Suggest increasing iron rich foods in diet and eating them often. Chicken livers, pate, red meat etc

dayoff profile image
dayoff in reply to Jaydee1507

Thanks for this Jaydee. The calculator worked out i need 3500iu so that is good to know. On the Gluten free front, I am trying to talk myself into a Gluten free diet 😬! I think I'll order the Blue Horizon food Intolerance test next month. I would need written evidence to persuade me a scone is out of the question 😆. I do try to keep it to a minimum anyway because it does pile the weight on. Complete elimination would be tough going but i'm willing to give everything and anything a go.

Imaaan profile image
Imaaan

Hopefully the thorne will be great if not I found the NOW D3 at 5,000 per gel cap beyond amazing. I take 2 gelcaps with a k2 mk7 from Canprev. Previously I was taking a prescription of D3 10,000IU a day 5 days a week from my doctor. The NOW D3 works just as well as the prescription for keeping my levels up

SeasideSusie profile image
SeasideSusieRemembering

dayoff

Vit D (25OH) 43 Range75-200

I've just bought Thorne 25mcg plus K2 200mcg drops so hopefully they are better. I will take them twice a day for the next few weeks then once a day.

25mcg D3 = 1,000iu

Even at twice a day you are going to need much more than that.

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. 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).

Your current level of 43nmol/L = 17.2ng/ml

On the Vit D Council's website

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

you wll see that they recommend 4,900iu D3 daily to reach the recommended level (nearest to buy is 5,000iu).

The drawback with increasing the number of drops is that supplement has a high amount of K2 for the amount of D3, ie 200mcg K2 for 1000iu D3. The recommended amount of K2 is 90-100mcg for up to 10,000iu D3.

You might want to rethink your D3/K2 supplement and at the moment use a 5,000iu D3 with 100mcg K2-MK7.

Retest Vit D in 3 months then you can work out what you need to continue with when you have your new result.

Don't forget that magnesium is an important cofactor of D3, it helps the body convert D3 into it's usable form.

Ferritin 58.0 Range 13-150

This is rather low, ferritin is generally recommended to be half way through it's range although I have seen it said that the optimal level for thyroid function is 90-110ug/L.

Magnesium 0.89 Range 0.7-1.0

Testing magnesium is unreliable. About 99% of magnesium is stored in bone, muscles and soft tissues, leaving about 1% in the blood. So testing what's in the blood isn't giving an accurate picture of our magnesium status.

A red cell magnesium test is the better indicator of magnesium status, not the standard serum magnesium test. The red cell test is expensive and requires phlebotomy which is why it's not included in these bundles.

Cortisol 416.0 Range 166-507

I'm not good with serum cortisol tests, all I can say is that it's within range and not borderline.

Vit B12 404 Range 145-569pmol/L = 547.42pg/ml

According to an extract from the book, "Could it be B12?" by Sally M. Pacholok:

"We believe that the 'normal' serum B12 threshold needs to be raised from 200 pg/ml to at least 450 pg/ml because deficiencies begin to appear in the cerebrospinal fluid below 550".

"For brain and nervous system health and prevention of disease in older adults, serum B12 levels should be maintained near or above 1000 pg/ml."

A good bioavailable B Complex should help improve your B12.

Serum Folate 13.80 Range 8.83-60.8

This is very poor, folate is recommended to be at least half way through it's range so you're looking at 35 plus with that range.

Again a good quality B Complex will help but it wouldn't hurt to take extra methylfolate as well for a while to boost your folate level but you'll still need the B Complex for the B12 and to keep all B vitamins balanced.

Suggested brands for B Complex are Thorne Basic B and if that's hard to find or too expensive then a good alternative at a more reasonable cost is this one from Amazon

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

Remember to stop B Complex 3-7 days before any blood tests (including thyroid), other supplements you can continue but take after the test on the day.

Suggested methylfolate is Vegavero, it says folic acid on the label but it's definitely methylfolate (I've been using this one with good results recently):

amazon.co.uk/Vegavero%C2%AE...?

TSH 2.66 Range 0.27-4.20

T4 Total 92.6 Range 66-181

Free T4 17.3 Range 12.0-22.0 = 53% through range

Free T3 3.96 Range 3.1-6.8 = 23.24% through range

Thyroid results suggest that you need an increase in your dose of Levo, 25mcg now and retest in 6-8 weeks. Most hypo patients on Levo only feel best when TSH is 1 or below with FT4 and FT3 in the upper part of their reference ranges.

Once you have TSH 1 or below and optimised your vitamins you might find that your conversion of T4 to T3 improves.

dayoff profile image
dayoff in reply to SeasideSusie

Thanks for all the info Seaside Susie. I was too tired to read it properly last night but i've taken notes today. Have phoned the doctor for an appointment to increase Levo. Ordered the Thorne Basic B. Will now order 5000iu D3 and 100mcg K2.

On the Magnesium you said...

'Testing magnesium is unreliable. About 99% of magnesium is stored in bone, muscles and soft tissues, leaving about 1% in the blood. So testing what's in the blood isn't giving an accurate picture of our magnesium status.'

I wasn't sure if this meant i'm probably low in it anyway because it's unreliable - or that given my good result, that's only 1% of the amount I could be storing therefore it could be a lot higher? I am wary about taking supplements if I don't need it.

Thanks

SeasideSusie profile image
SeasideSusieRemembering in reply to dayoff

I really don't know what you can take from a serum magnesium test. It's said that most Hypos are low in magnesium. A serum test is said not to be reliable and can't tell you what's available to the cells. I suppose if you really want to know then you could try and arrange a red cell magnesium test but I don't know where you can get one or whether there are any special conditions it needs.

dayoff profile image
dayoff in reply to SeasideSusie

I think i will carry on taking relatively low doses of magnesium then. It stands to reason i'll be low in that too. I actually have a list on my kitchen wall of all the foods that contain all the essential vits and minerals hypo people need and look at my results! Thanks again for all the help. I have another order in for 5000iu of the soft gels Imaaan recommended along with 100mcg of recommended K2, vit C 500mg, Methyl folate and ordered Thorne Basic B last night. Feeling positive thank you 🙏

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