Thanks to all the advice I had I went back to my doctor to request the tsh test. They had requested it but the hospital had missed it off. So I had to do a repeat blood test. The results came through as follows;
TSH 0.84 (normal range 0.38 - 5.3)
I am completely confused now as was expecting my TSH to be high as was concerned the F4 was low.
Is my TSH actually too low? I've been reading about hypopituitarism with both low F4 and TSH. But are my numbers actually OK and should I just accept my symptoms are not thyroid related?
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Loulabelle78
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I queried th B12 with my doctor and was told to just take supplements. My TSH test was done at 9.30am.I have just been told to take supplements for vit D, ferritin and B12. But I eat a normal healthy diet, plenty of red meat etc. So something must be causing my levels to be low?
As far as your thyroid goes I think get your B12 level sorted out first and then after a few months restest thyroid.
At the moment Your vitamins are all so low and you might get a better reading further down the line once you improve vitamins.
Part of the problem is that GPs mainly look at TSH and yours looks great for now. I know your FT4 is terrible though. You could ask for a referral toan Endo but that can be very slow coming through.
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.
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.
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 at decent level
Post discussing how biotin can affect test results
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