Posted last month about taking a private blood test and shared my results with the doctor. They asked to retest everything and here are my new results:
TSH - 2.99 mu/L (0.30-4.20)
Thyroid Peroxidase Antibodies - 307 iu/mL (0-34)
Ferritin- 62 ug/L (28-200)
Follate - 5.2 ug/L (3.0-20.0)
Vitamin B12 - 396 ng/L (180-640)
Vitamin D - 87.8 nmol/L (>50.00)
These results are pretty different to my private blood test. I’m not sure if being completely gluten free for three weeks could have helped dropped my TSH from 6 down to 3?
I followed all your advice and had the test done at 9am, took my last thyroid dose 24 hours beforehand and was hydrated.
I know my TSH is still too high, as you’ve all said the correct range is below 1. So I will ask for my dosage of 100mg of levothyroxine to be upped to 125mg. Do you have any other suggestions on what I need to do?
I do feel better going gluten free, and even over three weeks I’ve noticed a difference. But I’m still not feeling well, and I’m wondering if the TSH alone will sort it.
All advice welcome!
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KiwiBird218
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Yep increased needed, if they are resistant ask for a 'trial'
If you could add the ranges for these results as they vary...
Ferritin- 62 ug/L
Follate - 5.2 ug/L
Vitamin B12 - 396 ng/L
Vitamin D - 87.8 nmol/L
But all look to be on the low end so a good B complex needed along with Vit D & K2 and some more iron rich foods in your diet, a full iron panel would be needed before considering supplementing 🤗
Yes I’ll try the trial approach if they won’t say yes straight away. Annoyingly it'll take about 3 weeks to get a phone appointment with my GP to discuss so want to go in guns blazing!
Can definitely look at some supplements, can I ask what K2 is?
If you have enough you could just up your dose and then discuss it with them, you might be feeling a whole lot better in 3 weeks and put up a better fight 😅you've a life to be getting on with and waiting for them just adds to the list of undermedicated symptoms... your fT3 was only 3.8 on your last results which horribly low if range is 3.1-6.8 what's the range for these results?
Free T3 - 3.8 pmol/L
Free Thyroxine - 13.8 pmol/L
So your B12 isn't as bad as I thought as upper range is commonly 1000 but still adding a good B complex will nudge this up and your folate up into double figures will feel a whole lot better
Annoyingly I can’t split my 100mg tablets into quarters, otherwise I would up my dose by 25mg! Honestly I do feel that way, feels like I’ve been living life on 50% because my medication has never been quite right.
Annoyingly my doctor wont test T3 or free thyroid. So I’ll never get those results unless I go private like I did last month.
I know T3 is related to hair and I have major hair issues, I wish I could get this addressed so it would help with my hair loss (it’s very distressing).
Once on T4 thyroid hormone replacement the TSH needs to be kept under 2 :
Hypo symptoms creep in once TSH is over 2 and years ago treatment was started when the TSH went over 3:
You have positive TPO antibodies and with Hashimoto's Auto Immune disease and you will likely feel better with a TSH under 1 and towards the bottom of the range :
Your TSH will lower as you increase your T4 Levothyroxine dose - and increases are by 25mcg a day - and then you retest after 6 - 8 weeks again to see what's happening :
Sadly you haven't any T3 and T4 readings on this particular blood test - so we have no bench mark readings to track on - from these results.
I now aim to maintain my ferritin at around 100 - folate 20 - active B12 125 - ( serum B12 500++ ) and vitamin D at around 125 -
with this particular Auto Immune thyroid health issue - as you have already found - food intolerance and gut issues seem common issues and healig the gut paramount to enable good conversion of T4 into T3 which is the active hormone that runs all your bodily functions.
You might like to read around on the research and suggestions of Dr Izabella Wentz who has this same health issue and writes as thyroidpharmacist.com
Going to get my levothyroxine sorted one way or another! I’m planning to try 125mg for 8 weeks and get a re-test done. Hopefully as well I’ll be taking some vitamin supplements so my other levels should be up to normal too.
My doctor won’t test T3 or free thyroid, so until I pay for another private blood test I won’t be able to see how they’re doing.
That’s good to have a rough guide on what to be aiming for level wise, I know it differs for everyone but having somewhere to start is really useful. And thank you for sharing the research, I’ll take a look!
You might consider initially increasing to 112.5mcg (100mcg one day and 125mcg the next day) waiting 4-6 weeks, before increasing to 125mcg daily
Folate and B12 are too low
What vitamin supplements are you taking
Ferritin on low side
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
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.
Have you started supplementing between that test and this one?
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
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 can be difficult to find at reasonable price, should be around £20-£25. iherb.com often have in stock. Or try ebay
IMPORTANT......If you are taking vitamin B complex, or any supplements containing biotin, remember to stop these 5-7 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) and continue separate B12 until reached good levels
Post discussing how biotin can affect test results
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