A quick way you can check for yourself is to divide your T4 reading by your T3 reading :
When on T4 - Levothyroxine only we generally feel at our best when the T4 is in the top quadrant of its range as this should in turn convert to good level of T3 in around the mid 5's.
The accepted conversion ratio when on T4 only is said to be 1 / 3.50 - 4.50 - T3/ T4 with most people feeling at their best when they come in this ratio at 4 or under.
So if we divide your T4 by your T3 I'm getting your conversion of T4 into T3 at around 4.47 :
So a little out and showing you struggling:
Your inflammation ( CRP ) looks a little high showing your body under some upset :
Your ferritin needs to be a least 70 and I aim for 100:
Vitamin D aim for 100:
Folate around 20 and serum B12 aim for 500 + ( active B12 75 ++ )
You will feel better in time once the gluten free diet ' kicks in ' :
You have Hashimoto's so are liable to erratic own thyroid hormone production, and ' swings ' in symptoms as this auto immune disease systematically destroys your thyroid and you will, longer term, be needing more thyroid hormone support as the gland becomes fully disabled.
Have you been checked for celiac disease - this often runs in tandem with Hashimoto's ?
You might like to read around Hashimoto's and if you haven't heard of Dr Izabella Wentz she has this AI disease and shares her research and suggestions on thyroidpharmacist.com
Do my T4 and T3 results look ok, am I converting well?
There are a couple of ways of looking at conversion. Firstly, look at the actual results and work out percentage through range of FT4 and FT3 - are they quite well balanced or is FT4 high with a low FT3?
So we have a highish in range FT4 and lowish in range FT3, percentages confirm this. Shows poor conversion.
Another way to look at is to divide FT4 level by FT3 level (units of measurement must be the same) so
19.9 divided by 4.45 = 4.47
Good conversion takes place when this figure is 4 or below, over 4 and it shows poor conversion.
Can someone remind me of a good Vit D supplement? The link to the Vit D calculator suggests I need 4000
My suggestion is Doctor's Best oil based softgel, it is a clean supplement with just D3 and extra virgin olive oil, a nice small softgel easy to swallow and it's budget friendly. Cheapest way is to buy 5,000 and take 6 days a week rather than 7. Best prices are usually from Dolphin Fitness and Big Vits, I've used both and find them very good.
Don't forget you'll need D3's important cofactors - Vit K2-MK7 and magnesium. D3 aids absorption of calcium from food and Vit K2-MK7 directs calcium to bones and teeth where it's needed and away from arteries and soft tissues where it can be deposited and cause problems like calcification of arteries, kidney stones, etc.
Magnesium helps the body convert D3 into it's usable form.
Started taking Vitamin B complex (Liposomal) earlier this month
Remember to leave this off for a few days before any blood test as it contains biotin and this can cause false results. 3 days should be enough for the amount in a B Complex.
Currently on 100mg of levothyroxine
Did you follow our testing protocol and take last dose 24 hours before test, do test no later than 9am and have nothing to eat or drink except water before test? If so this dose is giving you a good FT4 level but you're not converting to T3 very well.
Is there anything on the results I should be mindful of?
Yes.
CRP is an inflammation marker so is best as low as possible. Yours is quite high in range suggesting there is some inflammation somewhere. It's a non specific marker so can't tell you where the inflammation is. However, you have raised TPO antibodies confirming that you have autoimmune thyroid disease (Hashimoto's) and this can cause inflammation and may be the reason for the elevated CRP.
Ferritin is low but ferritin rises with inflammation so your result may be showing higher than normal as your CRP is suggesting inflammation. This means that your ferritin level is very poor.
In all people, a serum ferritin level of less than 30 micrograms/L confirms the diagnosis of iron deficiency.
You need a full iron panel to include serum iron, total iron binding capacity, saturation percentage plus ferritin, this will show if you have iron deficiency. You also need a full blood count to see if you have anaemia. You can have iron deficiency with or without anaemia. You can have low ferritin without iron deficiency.
Ask GP for these tests. If he wont do a full iron panel then Medichecks do an Iron Test for £49 which is the full iron panel.
Don't consider taking an iron supplement unless you do an iron panel, if you already have a decent level of serum iron and a good saturation percentage then taking iron tablets can push your iron level even higher, too much iron is as bad as too little.
Magnesium testing 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 is high. You could ask your GP to look into this. Alternatively you could do a 24 hour saliva cortisol plus DHEA test with Regenerus and see what that shows. My serum cortisol test with BH is always high yet the 24 hour test contradicts this.
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."
Folate: 9.05 (8.83-60.8)
This is dire. Folate is recommended to be at least half way through range so that would be 35 plus with that range.
A good quality, bioavailable B Complex containing melthylfolate and methylcobalamin should improve both folate and B12 levels. However, it might be worth taking an addition separate folate supplement for a while to give an initial boost to your poor folate level. It's not folate deficiency so your GP wont prescribe folic acid.
If you are taking the Vitablossom liposomal B Complex that is a good one (in my opinion) and if you want to add a folate supplement this is one I used and was happy with (it says folic acid but it's definitely methylfolate)
thanks so much Pennyannie and Seaside Susie! I’ve ordered some additional supplements and hope that getting these right will help improve my conversion to T3. I’ll give these some time to work and see if my conversion rate improves 🤞
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I take 50,000 mg a month of Vitamin D prescribed by my French doctor. I also take B12 and Magnesium daily. Ask your doctor for a prescription if you can.
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