low iron and folate

[mstp]

My hypo daughter is clearly feeling tired. She leads a very busy life but from own hypo past experience I can see she is going downhill. Here are some of the results she received back in August when she was advised to take Spatone. At that time she had been taking iron tablets but had stopped because she was "fed up with taking them". Not sure how to advise her. Any ideas? Her GP seems to be one of those who relies on TSH and T4 as no T3 results were given.

IRON BINDING STUDIES - (LL) - low

! Serum iron level 8 umol/L 14.00 - 30.00umol/L

Serum transferrin 2.88 g/L 2.00 - 3.60g/L

! Transferrin Saturation 11 % 15.00 - 50.00%

Serum ferritin 16 ug/L 13.00 - 150.00ug/L Low iron stores

Total iron binding capacity 72 umol/L 50.00 - 85.00umol/L

Serum folate - (LL) - normal no action

Serum folate 6.3 ug/L 3.89 - 26.80ug/L

Serum 25-HO vit D3 level - (LL) - normal no action 69 nmol/L 50.00 - 174.00nmol/L

Serum TSH level - (LL) - normal no action

Serum TSH level 2.41 mIU/L 0.27 - 4.20mIU/L

FREE T4 - (LL) - normal no action

Serum free T4 level 19.5 pmol/L 10.80 - 25.50pmol/L

[SlowDragon Administrator]

How much Levothyroxine is she taking

Was test done early morning, ideally before 9am, only water to drink between waking and test and last dose Levothyroxine 24 hours before test

TSH is too high

She likely has low FT3

Vitamin levels terrible as direct result

She needs to retest including FT3 and Vitamin levels

[mstp in reply to SlowDragon]

She is taking 75 mcg Levothyroxine at night so she probably took it about 10 hours before the blood test.

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to mstp]

FREE T4 - (LL) - normal no action

Serum free T4 level 19.5 pmol/L 10.80 - 25.50pmol/L

FT4: 19.5 pmol/l (Range 10.8 - 25.5)

Ft4 only 59.18% through range

So if had tested correctly 24 hours after last dose Ft4 more likely around 15-16 …..ie plenty of room to increase dose levothyroxine

FT4: 16 pmol/l (Range 10.8 - 25.5)

Ft4 only approx 35.37% through range

If you normally take levothyroxine at bedtime/in night ...adjust timings as follows prior to blood test

If testing Monday morning, delay Saturday evening dose levothyroxine until Sunday morning. Delay Sunday evening dose levothyroxine until after blood test on Monday morning. Take Monday evening dose levothyroxine as per normal

[mstp in reply to SlowDragon]

Thanks Slow Dragon. I will pass that on.

[FallingInReverse]

At that time she had been taking iron tablets but had stopped because she was "fed up with taking them".

search this forum for Three Arrows. It looks like a low quality website, but those on the forum (including me, on behalf of my own daughter) will swear by it.

Her iron and ferritin are low enough to present symptoms. (My daughter has similar).

Three Arrows heme iron has zero stomach/bowel upset, can be taken with food, and (in my and other experience) actually works in a way where results can appear faster than synthetic supplements.

My daughter was told to take iron supplements for 3 months and retest. I gave her three arrows, and made the doctor test her in a month as I wanted to calibrate dosing. Good thing I did because in one month her iron is up into range and her ferritin went from about 5 to 15.

She’s now switching to an iron rich diet and doesn’t need the supplements anymore.

[Charlie-Farley in reply to FallingInReverse]

So glad I read this - Very useful information!

[mstp in reply to FallingInReverse]

Not heard of Three Arrows. I will look it up. Thanks for the heads up.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to mstp]

Link and other information here:

helvella - Iron Document

This is a summary of what I have read up and found out about iron supplements over the past few years. I am not in any way medically trained. You are strongly encouraged to check every detail before making any decisions for yourself.

helvella.blogspot.com/p/hel...