Re: Blood test results - advice needed

[Guest guest]

Hello ,

Just received my blood test results, as follows:-TSH 3.44 (range .35 - 3.3)T4 14Sodium 138 (range 137-144)Potassium 4.3

Interesting TSH range! .... I assume you are in the UK? Just asking because it is rare to find an upper range of 3.3 here.... Your electrolytes (Sodium and Potassium) btw are ok-ish, but you might benefit from using more salt in your diet – preferably Himalayan, Celtic or unrefined sea salt... your sodium is a little on the low side.

I have loads of other test results too, if any one thinks they may be helpful, Ican post them, but do not have all reference ranges, could get them if reallyneeded though.

Depends what they are – really useful to know would be the thyroid antibodies TPO and TgAB. Those would tell you if you suffer from an auto-immune thyroid condition or not. – But by all means, do post the other results. You never know, something might come to light. Please remember not to change the subject heading when you post them, else people won't find the original thread and it all becomes very muddled.

I was originally complaining of fatigue, lack of oomph. dizziness, weight gaineven though exercising regularly, loss of brain function, you know the sort ofthing, so she suggested propranalol for anxiety, (although had told her that Iavoid anxiety at all costs, it makes me too ill), which I said I would look up,and it makes you fatigued, dizzy etc..so definitely not going there.

What is your temperature? Before embarking on thyroid medication it would be an idea to measure your basal temps – first thing in the morning when you open your eyes and last thing at night before you fall asleep. If you measure under your tongue make sure you haven't eaten or drunk anything or brushed your teeth for about 20 minutes prior to measuring and you should be at total rest, not rushing around. Log your basal temps am and pm for a few days. If they are persistently below 36.5C, then low thyroid is likely. It's a simple test, but an effective one.

As I have a problem with adrenaline, nasty reaction to it, also mentioned thisto doc, no reaction at all, methinks 24 hour saliva test maybe called for. Willorder it soon, as had hydro-cortisone cream a couple of weeks ago.

If you order that test make sure you are not taking ANY kind of steroids, ideally for 6 weeks (that includes HRT and HC cream). It would falsify the figures. If your use of HC cream 2 weeks ago was a one-off, then it does not matter. Just don't take any more before the test.

Just realised that the iron (Haemoglobin) levels not in the upper end of therange either, also tests show I am dehydrated (chloride high) So ferritin foriron, yes?

Please don't mix up haemoglobin with iron....haemoglobin is the amount of oxygen carrying protein within the red blood cells. Low Hb can suggest anaemia, but it is not the same as iron and does not give you a true indication of your iron status. You need your ferritin (stored iron) measured and ideally serum iron and transferring saturation% as well. You need a ferritin of 90-100. Do NOT supplement iron unless and until you know your true iron status. Over-supplementation of iron will make you toxic and pretty sick.

She said all tests are OK and that I will not gain anything from them withregards to supplements etc. I have already worked out that I need iron and salt,let alone thyroid supps. Would you, if you were I, go for a thyroid support oran Erfa type approach.

As I said – be very careful with iron. Yes, you need salt in your diet. And it is not true that supplements are useless. In addition to ferritin you need to find out the levels for Folate, Magnesium, Zinc, Copper, Vit B12 and Vit D3 – all of those need to be near the top of their respective ref ranges.

Since you say you have unstable pupillary reflexes, you probably are in need of some adrenal support. Most people here take NAX (Nutri Adrenal Extra) – start with 1 tablet with breakfast and up the dose every 2 -3 weeks if needed. You can take NAX with breakfast and/or lunch, but never after 1pm; else it'll interfere with your sleep and keep you awake at night. The correct dose you will have to find out for yourself – up to 6 tablets per day (divided breakfast and lunch) is safe if you need them, but most people don't need more than 2 or 3.

Furthermore you need:

Vit C – start with 1000 mg per day and slowly work your way up to bowel tolerance.

Selenium 180 iu per day (liquid form is best – try Biocare Nutrisorb – 2 drops per day)

Co- Q10 - at least 100 mg per day.... more if you can afford it (I take 200 mg) – it's expensive in the long run.

Any further supplementation depends on the results of the above minerals and vitamins, but it is safe to assume that you will be low in Vit D3... so I would supplement that anyway . 2000 – 4000 iu per day during the winter, less during summer.

If you want to opt for NDT (natural desiccated thyroid), decide which one you want to try. Armour and Naturethroid you can currently still purchase from the US without a script. Likewise Thyroid S or Thiroyd (generic Armour) from Thailand. For Erfa (Canada) you now need a doctors prescription. I can afford to buy some stuff, just cannot carry on feeling so rubbish.

OK, good.... Armour is the most expensive, Naturethroid and Erfa, then the generic Thyroid S and Thiroyd in descending order.... They are all good. Price is no reflection on their effectiveness. I, for instance, find the cheap Thiroyd from Thailand works beautifully for me, whilst I cannot get on with Erfa, which is very well reviewed by most people here. We are all different.Of course no prescription is available, so what options are best?.

Please see above.

With best wishes,

[Guest guest]

Cristina, thank you so very much for your very comprehensive reply, "Interesting TSH range! .... I assume you are in the UK? Just asking because it is rare to find an upper range of 3.3 here...." Yes I am in the UK - Scotland to be precise "really useful to know would be the thyroid antibodies TPO and TgAB. "Test was supposedly run, all it shows on results is C reactive protein <4 - not sure if that is the correct one though now. "What is your temperature? "Been taking this for more than a month, average is 36.18 mornings, with a range of 35.7 to 36.4 , have not done too many night times, but those I have are a little higher say mostly 36.4 "If you order that test make sure you are not taking ANY kind of steroids, ideally for 6 weeks (that includes HRT and HC cream). It would falsify the figures. If your use of HC cream 2 weeks ago was a one-off, then it does not matter. Just don't take any more before the test.Will hold off on this for a little while, cream use was for about 2 weeks.

"You need a ferritin of 90-100. Do NOT supplement iron unless and until you know your true iron status. Over-supplementation of iron will make you toxic and pretty sick." Will have to get that tested, thank you. "In addition to ferritin you need to find out the levels for Folate, Magnesium, Zinc, Copper, Vit B12 and Vit D3 – all of those need to be near the top of their respective ref ranges."Will add this to request "Most people here take NAX (Nutri Adrenal Extra) – start with 1 tablet with breakfast and up the dose every 2 -3 weeks if needed. "Great detailed info- thanks "it is safe to assume that you will be low in Vit D3... so I would supplement that anyway . 2000 – 4000 iu per day during the winter, less during summer."I live in scotland, I may well need it all year round! Great info re availability and pricing

etc. Lastly - Strange question, but not good at the whole tablet thing, so which are the smallest? Thank you so much for taking the time for such a comprehensive and helpful reply, I can assure you I appreciate it very muchBest wishes

[Guest guest]

Hi

"really useful to know would be the thyroid antibodies TPO and TgAB. "

Test was supposedly run, all it shows on results is C reactive protein <4 - not sure if that is the correct one though now.

Nope, sorry – the CRP is a marker for inflammation and it is used for assess inflammation in response to infection.... also it is a useful guide for assessing the risk for heart attack, stroke or cardio-vascular disease. Without the ref range I would not know if <4 is a normal figure.

If your doctor were open to suggestions – it would be really good to have your TPO & TgAB antibodies checked. If either (or both) of them were positive, that alone would be diagnostic for Hashimoto's, regardless of thyroid lab results.

"What is your temperature? "

Been taking this for more than a month, average is 36.18 mornings, with a range of 35.7 to 36.4 , have not done too many night times, but those I have are a little higher say mostly 36.4

Well, this would be suggestive of Hypothyroidism, as there are only 4 conditions other than hypothyroidism that will produce subnormal temperatures – namely: anorexia, liver disease, alcoholism and hypothermia. Don't bother to enlighten your GP about that, he won't believe it.

"If you order that test make sure you are not taking ANY kind of steroids, ideally for 6 weeks (that includes HRT and HC cream). It would falsify the figures. If your use of HC cream 2 weeks ago was a one-off, then it does not matter. Just don't take any more before the test.

Will hold off on this for a little while, cream use was for about 2 weeks.

In that case you don't have to wait too long – the system would not have been saturated - except if you had used vast amounts of HC cream (more than the equivalent of 40 mg per day)

"In addition to ferritin you need to find out the levels for Folate, Magnesium, Zinc, Copper, Vit B12 and Vit D3 â€" all of those need to be near the top of their respective ref ranges."

Will add this to request

Good luck ! you might need it.... most doctors are pretty tight fisted nowadays when it comes to dishing out blood tests. They've been told to reduce their expenditure drastically. It took me 20 minutes recently to persuade a GP to order a full iron status for me.... so be prepared for resistance to your request. If you have to choose only one of the tests, go for iron (ferritin)

"it is safe to assume that you will be low in Vit D3... so I would supplement that anyway . 2000 â€" 4000 iu per day during the winter, less during summer."

I live in scotland, I may well need it all year round!

LOL – yep, I agree. But seriously, it was actually in the news recently that Scotland has the highest figure of Vit D3 deficiency – so yes .... supplement all year round.

Great info re availability and pricing etc.

Lastly - Strange question, but not good at the whole tablet thing, so which are the smallest?

I assume you are talking about natural desiccated thyroid? If so – NDT is usually measured in grains ... 1 grain = 60 mg. (not to be confused with Levothyroxine, which is measured in mcg (micrograms)) If you want to try an NDT like Armour etc, it is best to order the size "1 grain" (that goes for all of them) because it is the most versatile. You can split the tablet and start with ½ grain (30 mg) and likewise go up by ½ grain.

Only when you have established your final dosage would it make sense to buy the established strength – and you can only buy those if you choose Armour or Naturethroid. Thyroid S and Thiroyd only come in 1 grain, so you have no choice.

If, however, you meant `which is the smallest' literally – all 1 grain NDT's are pretty much the same size – small – so no problem to swallow.

Thank you so much for taking the time for such a comprehensive and helpful reply, I can assure you I appreciate it very much

You're very welcome J

Best wishes,

[Guest guest]

My hubby is terrible about tablets, so I make him a bannana milkshake with the

tablets that can be crushed mixed in.

Take the tablets you can use (powdery ones without the slow release coating) and

crush them in a bowl with the end of a rolling pin (or mortar and pestle), if

after rough crushing you rub the rolling pin round and round the bowl you will

end up with a finer powder. I then mash in a half a banana till the banana is a

sloppy mess (a fork works well). Add milk and sugar/sweetener to taste. I find

that mashing the banana and tablet powder together means that the powder sticks

to the banana, which keeps the powder in suspension instead of it all making a

nasty mess at the bottom of the glass.

2

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> Great info re availability and pricing etc. 

> Lastly - Strange question, but not good at the whole tablet thing, so which

are the smallest? 

>

> Thank you so much for taking the time for such a comprehensive and helpful

reply, I can assure you I appreciate it very much

> Best wishes

>  

>

>  

>

[Guest guest]

Great advice, thank you, I will try this out. Kind regards

My hubby is terrible about tablets, so I make him a bannana milkshake with the tablets that can be crushed mixed in.

Take the tablets you can use (powdery ones without the slow release coating) and crush them in a bowl with the end of a rolling pin (or mortar and pestle),

[Ed]