Can adult thyroid test ranges be converted to a 14 year old boy's?

[Purley50]

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

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK]

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?

[Purley50 in reply to helvella]

Thank yo u, confirmed I called Medichecks today and you have to be over 18

[Sneedle]

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.

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Sneedle]

That’s correct.

[Purley50 in reply to SlowDragon]

That' s great thank you I'll look into this

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Purley50]

Did you test vitamin levels as well as thyroid and thyroid antibodies?

[Purley50 in reply to SlowDragon]

This is what was tested at the Gp promoting me to do a private test . Not realising about medichecks and age !

Black text on white paper

[Purley50 in reply to Purley50]

sending sheet 2

Black text on white paper

[SlowDragon Administrator]

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

[Purley50 in reply to SlowDragon]

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?

[Purley50 in reply to Purley50]

He is not a vegan or vegetarian

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Purley50]

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

dailyiron.net

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...

[Purley50 in reply to SlowDragon]

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

[TiggerMe in reply to Purley50]

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

[Purley50 in reply to TiggerMe]

Thank you will up this too

[TiggerMe in reply to Purley50]

It's surprising how a few little tweaks can turn them around 😅 and they will all support thyroid function too

[Purley50 in reply to TiggerMe]

That's promising. My son Losing hair at this age is just awful

[TiggerMe in reply to Purley50]

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

[TiggerMe in reply to TiggerMe]

If going for a B complex the sublingual versions are very effective and easier to administer 😉

[Purley50 in reply to TiggerMe]

Thankfully he loves spinich, broccoli, green beans and peas. Loves veg but will still supplement

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Purley50]

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...

[Purley50 in reply to SlowDragon]

will do. thank you

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Purley50]

Come back with new post once you get Blue Horizon test results in 2-3 months

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Purley50]

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?

[Purley50 in reply to SlowDragon]

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 ?

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Purley50]

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

[Purley50 in reply to SlowDragon]

this is very helpful thank you

[annabianca]

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.