After Some Super Advice on This Forum

[MurphysMama]

Firstly, thank you for all your advice on my last thread, needless to say I took it onboard and proceeded to get another blood test with the advised timings and vitamins etc.

So once again I hope I can ask for your advice again, I'll post Januarys and now March's, they look better to me, but as I said, any advice I would be grateful for.

Thank you very much for your help

January

TSH

31 Jan 2024

0.056

mIU/L

0.27 - 4.2 R

FREE T3

31 Jan 2024

7.4

pmol/L

3.1 - 6.8 R

FREE THYROXINE

31 Jan 2024

18.1

pmol/L

12 - 22 R

March

TSH

06 Mar 2024

0.408

mIU/L

0.27 - 4.2 R

FREE T3

06 Mar 2024

5.2

pmol/L

3.1 - 6.8 R

FREE THYROXINE

06 Mar 2024

16.9

pmol/L

12 - 22 R

Vit D

43

nmol/L

50 - 250

B12

103

pmol/L

37.5 - 188 R

Folate I am still waiting for.

Ferritin

204.2 ng/ml

13.0-150 R

[TiggerMe Ambassador]

Yes, looking better but you're deficient in Vit D need to aim for 100-150 grassrootshealth.net/projec...

B12 could be a little higher also

[MurphysMama in reply to TiggerMe]

Thank you, Ill top up alittle 🙂

[SlowDragon Administrator]

So this test was 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)

T3 ….day before test split T3 as 2 or 3 smaller doses spread through the day, with last dose approximately 8-12 hours before test

is this how you did test

What vitamin supplements are you taking

Vitamin D definitely needs improvement as is insufferable

GP should prescribe 1600iu everyday for 6 months

NHS Guidelines on dose vitamin D required

ouh.nhs.uk/osteoporosis/use...

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...

[MurphysMama in reply to SlowDragon]

Hello

Yes I took the test following exactly this as you advised last time.

Many thanks for all the Vit D information 🙂

[MurphysMama in reply to MurphysMama]

To add, would you advise Magnesium, I wasn't sure it interferes with Levo uptake

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to MurphysMama]

Magnesium should be at least 4 hours away from levothyroxine

Best taken afternoon or bedtime as it’s relaxing and often improves sleep

[MurphysMama in reply to SlowDragon]

would you advise increasing Levo to 150 currently on 125?

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to MurphysMama]

reading last post

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

January test done with incorrect timings

But March test done correctly

would you advise increasing Levo to 150 currently on 125?

No I would wait on current dose

Work on improving low vitamin D

Retest thyroid again in another 8 weeks

[MurphysMama in reply to SlowDragon]

Ok - thank you very much

[MurphysMama in reply to SlowDragon]

Good evening - hope your very well 🙂 I took your advice and have retested - would you think that these are ok. I’d be very grateful for your opinion

Results

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to MurphysMama]

You always need to test TSH, Ft4 and Ft3 together, especially when taking T3

[MurphysMama in reply to SlowDragon]

Ah yes, this was a doctors one, not a private one, they won’t test for T3

[FallingInReverse]

Are those old ferritin results? I think you were exactly 204 several months ago also.

[MurphysMama in reply to FallingInReverse]

Yes I had them done by GP twice because so high, however SlowDragon put my mind at rest with them, as they are in line with my age

[Bertwills]

Re your highish ferritin results. I’ve been struggling with high ferritin results for years, over 400 on a test in January, same Medichecks range. It’s always been dismissed as a sign of inflammation & “nothing you can do” but I recently found that my level almost halved within a month after I started eating low carb. I thought this was because I’d lowered inflammation but on researching I’ve discovered that eating green, leafy vegs can do this. I’m eating them frequently as I don’t have much choice.

There is a research paper about the LIFE diet, low inflammation food diet, which gives details. I’ll try to find it again. Also high ferritin is not as benign for some people as GPs etc make out. It can cause damage to organs & increase chances of cataracts, diabetes, liver disease so it probably is worth trying to reduce it. I’ve just been diagnosed with cataracts on both eyes, possible glaucoma or retinopathy & I’m very nearly diabetic despite a strict low carb diet. I think the high ferritin I’ve had for years has caused this damage. I’d suggest a trip to the opticians if you haven’t been recently.

Another thing to do is avoid Vit C supplements & eating red meat. Both increase iron of course. Spinach etc appear to lower ferritin. I discovered all this yesterday! I’ve never seen any research before. It seems to be a fairly new area but certainly one I wish I’d known about years ago.

[Bertwills]

Here is a photo of the research paper I discovered yesterday. Sorry I don’t know how to leave a link! I’m going to change my low carb diet, which doesn’t seem to be stopping the diabetes & try this instead. I think hyperferritinemia might be my main problem.

Research paper re high ferritin blood test results & diet to reduce ferritin

[MurphysMama in reply to Bertwills]

Thank you so much for this, im so sorry you are struggling with health! Thank you for posting this, ill go off and have a look and a read!

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Bertwills]

Here’s the link to article

Very interesting

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