recent results

[Bobbin5]

these are my recent results so far had tt oct 23 im my parathyroid was affected today feeling rough aching headaches fatigue on 75mg one day and 100mg the next on 1500 calcium daily and 500 vitamin D I don’t think my doc is going to do anything from my results so I feel I need to optimise my health myself any suggestions advice would be much appreciated thanks in my other post shows my parathyroid results

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Just testing TSH is completely inadequate

You need TSH, Ft4 and Ft3 tested together

Recommended that all thyroid blood tests early morning, ideally just before 9am, only drink water between waking and test and last dose levothyroxine 24 hours before test

This gives highest TSH, lowest FT4 and most consistent results. (Patient to patient tip)

All your vitamin levels are too low …..strongly suggesting your dose Levo is inadequate and highly likely Ft3 is low

You will need to test TSH, Ft4 and Ft3 privately yourself. NHS (wrongly ) rarely tests these days

Testing options and includes money off codes for private testing

thyroiduk.org/testing/

what was reason for thyroidectomy

Medichecks Thyroid plus BOTH TPO and TG antibodies and vitamins

medichecks.com/products/adv...

Blue Horizon Thyroid Premium Gold includes BOTH TPO and TG antibodies, cortisol and vitamins

bluehorizonbloodtests.co.uk...

Medichecks and BH also offer just TSH, Ft4 and Ft3

Only do private testing early Monday or Tuesday morning.

Link about thyroid blood tests

thyroiduk.org/testing/thyro...

Link about Hashimoto’s

thyroiduk.org/hypothyroid-b...

Symptoms of hypothyroidism

thyroiduk.org/signs-and-sym...

Tips on how to do DIY finger prick test

support.medichecks.com/hc/e...

Medichecks and BH also offer private blood draw at clinic near you, or private nurse to your own home…..for an extra fee

Just TSH, Ft4 and Ft3 test - £32

monitormyhealth.org.uk/thyr...

10% off code here

thyroiduk.org/testing/priva...

Monitor My Health also now offer thyroid and vitamin testing, plus cholesterol and HBA1C for £65

(Doesn’t include thyroid antibodies)

monitormyhealth.org.uk/full...

10% off code here

thyroiduk.org/testing/priva...

[Bobbin5 in reply to SlowDragon]

I had a large goiter they didn’t want to do anything at first so discharged me it then got bigger and started to impact my swallow had another scan and fine needle had it drained but filled straight back up the results where inconclusive I started to notice something on the other side so after standing my ground and finally them agreeing to surgery had it all removed and it turned out after biopsy there was a small amount of cancer I did have other symptoms but the consultant said normal for a women of your age which is ridiculous but I’m here now and trying to understand it all

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Bobbin5]

So quite likely autoimmune

Strongly recommend you include testing thyroid antibodies if getting private testing done

[Bobbin5 in reply to SlowDragon]

These are my fbc results which seem a bit off to me

Fbc results

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Bobbin5]

high MCHC

health.com/mchc-blood-test-...

healthline.com/health/high-...

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Low vitamin levels are a direct result of being hypothyroid, due to low stomach acid leading to poor nutrient absorption

Low vitamin levels tend to lower TSH ……especially low ferritin

So it becomes a vicious circle.

Essential to improve low vitamin levels and maintain at OPTIMAL levels

Ferritin is deficient

Request/insist GP do full iron panel test for anaemia

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 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

Medichecks iron panel test

medichecks.com/products/iro...

Look at increasing iron rich foods in diet

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

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.

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Posts discussing Three Arrows as very effective supplement

Great replies from @FallingInReverse

re ferritin and Three arrows

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu......

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Iron patches

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

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...

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...

Iron deficiency without anaemia

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Ferritin over 100 to alleviate symptoms

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Great research article discussing similar…..ferritin over 100 often necessary

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articl...

Low Iron implicated in hypothyroidism

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Inflammation affecting ferritin

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Updated reference ranges for top of ferritin range depending upon age

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Thank you for your incredible patience while you have been awaiting the outcome of our ferritin reference range review. We conducted this with Inuvi lab, which has now changed the reference ranges to the following:

Females 18 ≤ age < 40. 30 to 180

Females 40 ≤ age < 50. 30 to 207

Females 50 ≤ age < 60. 30 to 264l

Females Age ≥ 60. 30 to 332

Males 18 ≤ age < 40 30 to 442

Males Age ≥ 40 30 to 518

The lower limits of 30 are by the NICE threshold of <30 for iron deficiency. Our review of Medichecks data has determined the upper limits. This retrospective study used a large dataset of blood test results from 25,425 healthy participants aged 18 to 97 over seven years. This is the most extensive study on ferritin reference ranges, and we hope to achieve journal publication so that these ranges can be applied more widely.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

vitamin D

GP will often only prescribe to bring vitamin D levels to 50nmol.

Some areas will prescribe to bring levels to 75nmol or even 80nmol

leedsformulary.nhs.uk/docs/...

GP should advise on self supplementing if over 50nmol, but under 75nmol (but they rarely do)

mm.wirral.nhs.uk/document_u...

But with Hashimoto’s, improving to around 80nmol or 100nmol by self supplementing may be better

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/218...

vitamindsociety.org/pdf/Vit...

Once you Improve level, very likely you will need on going maintenance dose to keep it there.

Test twice yearly when supplementing

Can test via NHS private testing service

vitamindtest.org.uk

Vitamin D mouth spray by Better You is very effective as it avoids poor gut function.

There’s a version made that also contains vitamin K2 Mk7.

One spray = 1000iu

amazon.co.uk/BetterYou-Dlux...

It’s trial and error what dose we need, with thyroid issues we frequently need higher dose than average

Vitamin D and thyroid disease

grassrootshealth.net/blog/t...

Vitamin D may prevent Autoimmune disease

newscientist.com/article/23...

Web links about taking important cofactors - magnesium and Vit K2-MK7

Magnesium best taken in the afternoon or evening, but must be four hours away from levothyroxine

betterbones.com/bone-nutrit...

medicalnewstoday.com/articl...

livescience.com/61866-magne...

sciencedaily.com/releases/2...

Interesting article by Dr Malcolm Kendrick on magnesium

drmalcolmkendrick.org/categ...

Vitamin K2 mk7

betterbones.com/bone-nutrit...

healthline.com/nutrition/vi...

only add one supplement at a time …then wait 2 weeks to assess before adding another. Start with increasing vitamin D and then add magnesium

[Bobbin5 in reply to SlowDragon]

Thankyou for your time for replying I will speak to doc about my ferritin as a couple of years ago my levels had dropped below 5 so put me on iron tablets which over 6 months raised to 32 which I felt good at

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Bobbin5]

On just levothyroxine many thyroid patients find ferritin will need to be near 100 for good conversion of Ft4 (levothyroxine) to Ft3 (active hormone)

Your own thyroid use to make roughly 80% Ft4, but also (essentially) 20% Ft3

It’s difficult to manage on just levothyroxine. To enable GOOD conversion rate all four vitamins need to be OPTIMAL

3-6 months after improving and maintaining optimal vitamin levels, if Ft3 is low in comparison to Ft4…..then you may need small doses of T3 prescribed alongside levothyroxine

This is difficult, but not impossible to get on NHS

You may need to go private initially as referral to NHS endocrinologist is well over years wait, and vast majority are Diabetes specialists

[Bobbin5 in reply to SlowDragon]

Phoned my endo secretary as he wanted to see me face to face in 3 months which will be March she said I’m on the waiting list and it should be April I will write things down to ask him as I don’t think I will get anywhere with the doc but I can try

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Bobbin5]

if GP won’t test full iron panel you will need to do so via Medichecks

Ferritin is currently deficient

Meanwhile significantly increase iron rich foods in your diet

Retest FULL thyroid and vitamin levels privately just before consultation with endocrinologist and take results along

Suggest you post results on here FIRST for advice from members (write a new post)

Be prepared for your symptoms to be ignored/dismissed by endocrinologist as long as TSH is “within range “

You might be pleasantly surprised ….there are some enlightened ones …..but forewarned is fore armed

[Bobbin5 in reply to SlowDragon]

Thankyou for your help 😊

[SlowDragon Administrator]

2 weeks after adding magnesium…..look at improving low B12

Low B12 symptoms

b12deficiency.info/signs-an...

methyl-life.com/blogs/defic...

With serum B12 result below 500, (Or active B12 below 70) recommended to be taking a separate B12 supplement

A week later add a separate vitamin B Complex 

Then once your serum B12 is over 500 (or Active B12 level has reached 70), you may be able to reduce then stop the B12 and just carry on with the B Complex.

If Vegetarian or vegan likely to need ongoing separate B12 few times a week

Highly effective B12 drops

natureprovides.com/products...

Or

B12 sublingual lozenges

uk.iherb.com/pr/jarrow-form...

cytoplan.co.uk/shop-by-prod...

B12 range in U.K. is too wide

Interesting that in this research B12 below 400 is considered inadequate

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Low folate

supplementing a good quality daily vitamin B complex, one with folate in (not folic acid)

This can help keep all B vitamins in balance and will help improve B12 levels too

Difference between folate and folic acid

healthline.com/nutrition/fo...

B vitamins best taken after breakfast

Igennus B complex popular option. Nice small tablets. Most people only find they need one per day. But a few people find it’s not high enough dose

Thorne Basic B recommended vitamin B complex that contains folate, but they are large capsules. (You can tip powder out if can’t swallow capsule)

Thorne currently difficult to find at reasonable price, should be around £20-£25. iherb.com often have in stock. Or try ebay

Post discussing different B complex

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

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

endo.confex.com/endo/2016en...

endocrinenews.endocrine.org...

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) and continue separate B12

Post discussing how biotin can affect test results

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

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

[Batty1]

Your Neutrophils is low …. This might be of interest to you. verywellhealth.com/what-are...

[Persevere99]

What are your calcium levels please?

I take 1 g calcium a day as vegan diets are very low in calcium.

All the best

Persevere

[Bobbin5 in reply to Persevere99]

this is my only result about my calcium.

Result

[Bobbin5 in reply to Persevere99]

Hi Persevere these are some results I had 31st Jan do they seem normal🤔

Calcium results

[Persevere99 in reply to Bobbin5]

Adjusted calcium is a bit low bobbin

Maybe up your intake a little bit?

Persevere

[Bobbin5 in reply to Persevere99]

Thanks I thought that 😊

[Persevere99]

Hi Bobbin

That’s your parathyroid numbers, what’s your calcium please?

Persevere

[Bobbin5 in reply to Persevere99]

Doc didn’t do it one for it which is a bit strange as my parathyroid was affected and this controls your calcium I’m on calcium supplements 1500mg daily and a vitamin d I’m going to increase my calcium and vitamin d for a while to see if it helps with symptoms