Could someone help me with my blood test results please? They were done about two weeks ago, and I have seen the Dr. since to discuss the results. My TSH level had gone from under I to 3.7, I presume because she had cut my Levothyroxine down from 125mg to 100mg. I had been suffering some hot flushes. Now, I am 87 so I doubt it is menopause causing this! I asked if I could go back to the 125mg of Levo and we have compromised on 125mg every other day. Recheck in the New Year. She has also agreed to asking for a T3 test at the same time.
My vitamin B12 was very high but I had been supplementing this so have stopped that for now. My Folate was 20ug/L My ferritin level was 26 ug/l, which I thought was rather low, but she didn’t seem bothered about. Is this in fact low, and if so, what should I take to boost it please?
The Dr mentioned that my cholesterol LDL was slightly raised at 4.3 mmol/L and I countered by saying I had read that a raised TSH and a raised LDL went hand in hand, which she agreed was the case and we agreed to test again in the New Year.
Does all this seem reasonable to you knowledgeable people please? Should I also be taking Vitamin C, or anything else come to that?
I should mention that the Dr had commented that the blood results were “acceptable”, and it was I who worried about the raised TSH.
Thank you very much for your help with this.
Margaret
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Margaretindevon
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I take a Three Arrows Heme Simply Heme iron for my ferritin and it works a treat, it’s stronger than UK products and you buy it from the Three Arrows US website and they post it, arrives quite quickly considering. Alternative is Optifer from Amazon but that doesn’t improve my ferritin very quickly and works out more expensive.
Doesn’t matter if the GP thinks it’s acceptable, if you are symptomatic you are symptomatic. You have done the right thing 👍
I would get back on the B12 though, you just wee out what you don’t need and maintaining a high level is good for us hypos. 🌱
My ferritin level was 26 ug/l, which I thought was rather low, but she didn’t seem bothered about. Is this in fact low, and if so, what should I take to boost it please?
Ferritin below 30 is deficient
Aim to maintain ferritin at least over 70
Request GP do full iron panel
Low ferritin directly linked to reduced dose Levo…..resulting in lower stomach acid and poor nutrient absorption
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
If taking any iron supplements stop 5-7 days before testing
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.
Post discussing just how long it can take to raise low ferritin
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.
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)
On 125mcg and 100mcg on alternate days
Test 24 hours after 100mcg dose ….rather than after 125mcg dose
NHS rarely tests Ft3 these days
Testing options and includes money off codes for private testing
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
Monitor My Health (NHS private test service) offer thyroid and vitamin testing, plus cholesterol and HBA1C for £65
Doctors rarely worry about a raised TSH, only a low one! Did she at least test your FT4?
A word of warning here: high cholesterol is not caused by high TSH. The TSH is nothing to do with cholesterol.
It is low FT3 that causes high cholesterol. Do you have any idea how well you convert? Have you ever had FT4 and FT3 tested at the same time?
Because if you are a poor converter, increasing your levo could make your FT4 rise, which will make your TSH drop, but your FT3 could stay the same, which will mean that your cholesterol will stay the same. And therefore that will give your GP the oppertunity to say, there, you see, nothing to do with your thyroid! You always have to stay one step ahead of them.
No I do not know how well I convert, but when I return to the Dr for a follow up blood test after Christmas, she is going to request a FT3 test as well. Thank you for your help. I tried a private test years back, with the finger prick, and couldn't get enough blood out of myself to send it! So then I paid for a private blood drawing at the local private hospital, and I think the nurse was a harpoonist in another life!! She had difficulty getting blood too, and after she had finished I had a black and blue arm, which put me off trying again.
These are my last blood test results greygoose. Done on October 24th. I have stopped taking the vitamin B 12 supplements. I now take only Cod Liver Oil 1000mg 1 a day, Vit D3 +K2 4000u +100ug one a day, Vitamin B3 250mg one a day, Magasorb from Natures Best 1 a day.
Test results
Full blood count - FBC
Comment: (RPALabReports) - Acceptable - no action
Haemoglobin estimation 146 g/L 120 - 150 g/L
Total white cell count 6.7 10*9/L 4.0 - 10.0 10*9/L
Comment: If advice is required regarding the interpretation of abnormal full blood count results please see pathfinder (haematology/documents) or the haematology NGH intranet page.
Comment: (CN) - Stable. discuss at planned review Providing none of the exclusion criteria are met, HbA1c of 48mmol/mol or greater can be diagnostic of diabetes. Values <48 mmol/mol do not exclude diabetes. Misleading results may be obtained in any situation where red blood cell lifespan is affected, this includes anaemia and certain medications. Please refer to the Diabetes UK website below for more information. diabetes.org.uk/Professiona... reports/Diagnosis-ongoing-management-monitoring/New_ diagnostic_criteria_for_diabetes/
Blood haematinic levels
Comment: (CN) - rasied B12 ? on supplements, discuss at planned review
Serum vitamin B12 1319 ng/L 197 - 771 ng/L
Serum folate 20 ug/L 3.0 - 20.0 ug/L
Serum ferritin 26 ug/L 13 - 150 ug/L
Comment: Treatment with iron should be initiated in pregnancy for patients with a Ferritin level <30 ug/L
UrinalysisMore information icon
Comment: (CN) - Normal
Urine creatinine 5.1 mmol/L - mmol/L
Urine microalbumin 3 mg/L - mg/L
Urine albumin:creatinine ratio
Comment: See comments. Urinary microalbumin undetectable.Unable to accurately calculate albumin/ creatinine ratio. Ratio within normal reference limits.
Chemistry Tests
Comment: (CN) - Discuss at planned review
Serum sodium 135 mmol/L 133 - 146 mmol/L
Serum potassium 4.3 mmol/L 3.5 - 5.3 mmol/L
Serum creatinine 69 umol/L 45 - 84 umol/L
eGFRcreat (CKD-EPI)/1.73 m*2 68 mL/min - mL/min
Serum total protein 68 g/L 60 - 80 g/L
Serum albumin 44 g/L 35 - 50 g/L
Serum alkaline phosphatase 114 iu/L 30 - 130 iu/L
Serum bilirubin level 7 umol/L - 21 umol/L
Serum ALT level 13 iu/L 5 - 33 iu/L
Serum cholesterol 6.5 mmol/L 0.0 - 5.2 mmol/L
Serum triglycerides 1.6 mmol/L 0.0 - 2.3 mmol/L
Comment: Non-fasting samples for lipid evaluation may have falsely elevated triglyceride levels which will invalidate LDL Cholesterol estimations. Please fast patients if triglyceride measurement and/or LDL Cholesterol estimations are required.
Oh, so many tests! And hardly any of them useful. Except that your cholesterol is high, so one can assume that your FT3 is low. But no point in testing FT3 without FT4 - and that hasn't been done! However, the lab will probably refuse to do the FT3, anyway.
But there's nothing about a TSH level of 3.7! That is hypo. It may be within the so-called 'normal' range, but it's the range that is wrong. 'Normal' (euthyroid) is around 1. Yours is saying you're still hypo. And don't fall for that old bologne of 'older people need higher TSH'. Because no, they don't. Older people with healthy thyroids might naturally have a TSH of 0.1 or 0.2 higher, but that will be because their natural output of thyroid hormone has dropped a little and the TSH is compensating. It has nothing to do with older hypos on thyroid hormone replacement. But that is their latest excuse for under-replacing a certain percentage of the population.
That was the question I originally asked of the Forum. The Dr said not to worry about it, but I knew a result of 26 was low. She was reluctant to up my Levo from 100mg to 125, so we compromised at 125 every other day. My Folate level seems good at 20ug/l and when I looked at the iron tablets that I usually take they include 300 ug/l of vitamin B12 which I don't want to take as my result for that was very high at 1319 ng/l.
We do not eat a lot of red meat, and nothing would induce me to eat chicken livers, so I am at a loss as to how to proceed. What with the Dr saying one thing and the Forum saying something else, and the internet agreeing with the forum (mostly) I am beginning to lose the will to live!!
Is there a supplement you can take for Ferritin only please?
First thing you should know is that doctors know absolutely nothing about nutrition.
Second thing is they know nothing about interpreting blood test results.
Put those two together and it gets harder and harder to believe anything a doctor says!
Trust the hive mind of the forum.
I wouldn't eat chicken livers, either. But it's not just liver and red meat that contain iron. There are plenty of iron-rich foods if you google them. But, I wouldn't start taking iron tablets without doing an iron panel first. Because your ferritin might be low but your serum iron could be high. So, iron tablets would be contra-indicated. But, whatever way you get your iron, you do need to have a good source of vit C with it, to aid absorption.
Why has nobody told me I need Vitamin C before this?! I will get some. I am allergic to oranges, have been ever since a baby. I come out in huge red weals all over, that itch like crazy and then have a migraine. Could you tell me which blood tests I should ask for if I go the private route again, and what the best company to have them done with is please?
Presumable because the people you've been talking to didn't know. If you mean doctors, they wouldn't have a clue about that.
Plenty of other sources of vit C than oranges. You'll find plenty of info if you google it.
For complete thyroid testing you need:
TSH
FT4
FT3
TPO antibodies
Tg antbodies
vit D
vit B12
folate
ferritin
I can tell you which company is the best because I don't live in the UK and haven't tried any of them. But here is a list of private blood testing companies:
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