First of all I have a history of ME/CFS not hypothyroidism. I feel well and have either recovered from ME/CFS or it is in remission, and wanted to get tests while feeling well. My only symptom is tinnitus. I have no fatigue or neurological complaints otherwise at present although i have had lots of fatigue and complaints when I was ill with ME/CFS. Here are my results (folate test failed). I took the test at 11am with only water.
CRP: 2.91 mg/L ( <3)
Ferritin: 42ug/L (30-400)
B12 active 93.4 pmol/L (37.5-188)
Vit D 82.5 nmol/L (50-250)
TSH: 2.75 miU/L (0.27-4.2)
FT3: 4.9 pmol/L (3.1-6.8)
FT4: 19 pmol/L (12-22)
TGA:13.7 (0-115)
TPA: 11.3 (0-34)
My ferritin is low I can see. My last folate was also below the low range and I have been taking 5mg folic acid. Vit D is also lowish. My diet is not a lot of vegetables and a lot of ready meals. ANy comments?
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MEguy
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Igennus B complex popular option too. Nice small tablets. Most people only find they need one per day. But a few people find it’s not high enough dose
IMPORTANT......If you are 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
In week before blood test, when you stop vitamin B complex, you might want to consider taking a separate folate supplement (eg Jarrow methyl folate 400mcg)
Post discussing how biotin can affect test results
Never supplement iron without doing full iron panel test for anaemia first and retest 3-4 times a year if self supplementing. It’s possible to have low ferritin but high iron
Test early morning, only water to drink between waking and test. Avoid high iron rich dinner night before test
Eating iron rich foods like liver or liver pate once a week plus other red meat, pumpkin seeds and dark chocolate, plus daily orange juice or other vitamin C rich drink can help improve iron absorption
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.
We have received further information the lab about ferritin reference ranges. They confirm that they are sex dependent up to the age of 60, then beyond the age of 60 the reference range is the same for both sexes:
Males 16-60: 30-400 ug/L
Female's: 16-60: 30-150
Both >60: 30-650
The lower limit of 30 ug/L is in accordance with the updated NICE guidance and the upper limits are in accordance with guidance from the Association of Clinical Biochemists. ‘
hi Greygoose, have you got a link to the paper or article which says that the TSH should be around 1.0 for healthy people? I have heard you mention this before.
I took that information from a graph often posted by humanbean . Perhaps she'd be so good as to post it again? But, it is something I knew long before I saw that graph but don't know where I first saw it.
Thanks humanbean. I guess my TSH is normal then for me at 2.75 since I am well. The graph says 1.5% of healthy people have a TSH of 2.75. it has been slightly lower too in the past around 2.2 I think.
Being normal for you doesn't mean there isn't a problem with your thyroid. Question is: how long has it been 'normal for you'? When did you start testing it? Not until your ME/CFS symptoms started to appear, I would imagine. I was told all my life that high blood pressure was 'normal for me'. But, then it turns out I've been hypo since I was about 8 years old. Once I got properly treated for hypo, my blood pressure came down.
i forgot to say that I am on 20mg aripiprazole(an antipsychotic) for bipolar disorder which I told everyone about in another thread. This can affect TSH levels according to google.
It may affect TSH levels, but from what I've read it doesn't affect thyroid function nor conversion of T4 to T3. And if it did affect conversion, it would increase it, nor decrease it due to the elevated TSH. But your FT3 is low. And it's low T3 that causes hypo symptoms. So, it could be that the low T3 is responsible for your bipolar. All these things are connected.
I agree with greygoose . Your TSH is too high for good health.
CRP - this is a measure of inflammation in the body. Unfortunately it gives no information on where that inflammation might be. Optimal is < 1.
Ferritin - Yours is much too low. In your shoes I would want it to be mid-range. But before supplementing I would also want an iron panel done. Just because ferritin is low in range doesn't imply that everything else related to iron is low too. Different patterns of iron panel results can tell you different things about your health.
B12 - Optimal is 100+ and yours is a smidgen below that. Note that an Active B12 test and a Serum B12 test are not the same thing. They have different ranges, different units of measurement, and different optimal levels. Your test is an Active B12 test.
Optimal for vitamin D is 100 - 150.
It is possible, but not guaranteed, that improving nutrient levels could reduce your TSH and/or improve your levels of Free T4 and Free T3.
Cortisol - You have had nutrient and thyroid tests, but another thing common in members of this forum is poor adrenal health. High and low levels of cortisol can cause all sorts of problems.
I would never take that. Lots of people who take high dose folic acid end up with large quantities of unmetabolised folic acid in their blood. This has been found to be associated with a greater risk of cancer and the kind of brain damage associated with dementia.
Folic acid was first developed in 1943 and is almost never found in nature. But it's cheap. So it gets used in various foods for fortification and by doctors for folate deficiency.
I wrote a lot about folate and vitamin B12 in this thread - it isn't very well organised but the links it contains could be useful :
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But, it is something I knew long before I saw that graph but don't know where I first saw it.
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