When ordering the blood test kit from Medicheck I entered my details by mistake rather than my sons therefore the results are showing adult ranges
Can adult thyroid test ranges be converted to a... - Thyroid UK
Can adult thyroid test ranges be converted to a 14 year old boy's?
There is no formula for doing such a thing.
You have to get the ranges from the lab that is doing the test.
Do Medichecks support testing 14 year olds?
I thought I saw a member here say that Blue Horizon are the only company offering tests for children (under 18s). But I could be wrong.
So TSH high (might be normal for teenage boy)
Folate low - make sure he eats more greens
Vitamin D low - government recommends everyone supplement vitamin D at least Oct to April. Start him on vitamin D ….Retest twice year
Ferritin is very low. Is he vegetarian or vegan?
More red meat. Liver once week or liver pate etc etc
He needs thyroid antibodies tested and (if not vegetarian/vegan) a coeliac test
That's great thank you for this. the reason for the initial blood test was very thinning hair. Do you think the low readings could be a reason for this?
Yes Ferritin frequently results in hair loss
Doss he eat well and plenty of red meat?
cks.nice.org.uk/topics/anae...
Serum ferritin level is the biochemical test, which most reliably correlates with relative total body iron stores. In all people, a serum ferritin level of less than 30 micrograms/L confirms the diagnosis of iron deficiency.
Never supplement iron without doing full iron panel test for anaemia
It’s possible to have low ferritin but high iron. Iron is extremely toxic in excess
Medichecks iron panel test - test early morning and fasting
medichecks.com/products/iro...
Look at increasing iron rich foods in diet
Eating iron rich foods like liver or liver pate once a week, red meat daily, pumpkin seeds and dark chocolate, plus daily orange juice or other vitamin C rich drink can help improve iron absorption
List of iron rich foods
Links about iron and ferritin
irondisorders.org/too-littl...
davidg170.sg-host.com/wp-co...
Great in-depth article on low ferritin
oatext.com/iron-deficiency-...
drhedberg.com/ferritin-hypo...
This is interesting because I have noticed that many patients with Hashimoto’s disease and hypothyroidism, start to feel worse when their ferritin drops below 80 and usually there is hair loss when it drops below 50.
Thyroid disease is as much about optimising vitamins as thyroid hormones
healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...
restartmed.com/hypothyroidi...
Post discussing just how long it can take to raise low ferritin
healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...
Iron and thyroid link
healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...
Excellent article on iron and thyroid
cambridge.org/core/journals...
Posts discussing why important to do full iron panel test
healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...
Good iron but low ferritin
healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...
healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...
Chicken livers if iron is good, but ferritin low
healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...
Shellfish and Mussels are excellent source of iron
healthline.com/nutrition/he...
Heme iron v non heme
hsph.harvard.edu/nutritions...
This is so helpful. He prefers fish, we probably have red meat 2/3 times a week. Loves mussels and shellfish so I'll definitely up these.
He also suffers from very low mood and anxiety
Low folate and iron make you feel lousy... I would think the Vit D supplement could help improve his mood and anxiety as people that suffer from SAD (seasonal affective disorder) tend to have low Vit D levels 🤗
I've recently started my soon to be son in law on these supplements and he is now much perkier
Thank you will up this too
It's surprising how a few little tweaks can turn them around 😅 and they will all support thyroid function too
That's promising. My son Losing hair at this age is just awful
It's good that you have followed up on the GP blood tests.... honestly they wait until you are deficient before even mentioning that a little supplementation would be a good thing 😡
I'm sure at 14 he will suck up the supplements like a sponge and put them to full teenage use in no time 😬
I'd probably opt for a little folate (not folic) tablet rather than the leafy green battle though life is too short... easier to sneak in leafy greens in the winter months though 🤗my daughter and stbSIL both had a good uptake of heme iron without issues
If going for a B complex the sublingual versions are very effective and easier to administer 😉
So start him on vitamin D
Increase iron rich foods in diet, plus orange juice/vitamin C to help improve iron absorption
Increase folate rich foods ….or in 2 - 3 weeks add a daily vitamin B complex to improve folate
If he won’t eat liver, add it to spaghetti bolognaise or in shepherds pie etc
Retest thyroid and vitamin levels in 6-8 weeks
If he has high thyroid antibodies at private test and/or ferritin not improving ……get coeliac blood test
nice.org.uk/guidance/ng20/c...
will do. thank you
Come back with new post once you get his Blue Horizon test results in 2-3 months
Do you or any close family have any autoimmune immune diseases, especially thyroid?
Will do definitely . No one in the family has any autoimmune conditions. His thyroid only slightly raised but I guess that’s in GP/NHS range .
Is it ok to take all the above supplements before doing the test ?
Vitamin D
Stop supplements day before test
Folate similar
If taking vitamin B complex, or any supplements containing biotin, remember to stop these 7 days before ALL BLOOD TESTS , as biotin can falsely affect test results
endo.confex.com/endo/2016en...
endocrinenews.endocrine.org...
In week before blood test, when stop vitamin B complex, might want to consider taking a separate folate supplement (eg Jarrow methyl folate 400mcg)
Post discussing how biotin can affect test results
healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...
Don’t supplement multivitamins
Always test early morning, ideally just before 9am and only drink water between waking and test …..this gives highest TSH
These frontierpathology.nhs.uk/pu... are the reference ranges for the thyroid tests at Brighton Hospital (Roche-COBAS). There are some differences between adults and teenagers, but not huge.
According to previous posts here, it seems that Medichecks uses the same reference ranges, with the exception of the lower bond for adult FT4, which is a in-house value.