New Lab results - please help - thank you!

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Hi there,

Please excuse the long post, but I am really, really desperate for some help and

this is all so new to me! I have tried to include as much background as possible

to help. I am a 26 yr old female.

After supplementing with NOW foods bisglycinate iron for the past 6 weeks (200mg

a day - split into 3 doses, 2 hrs apart, with food, and one 1000mg vit C capsule

per dose, taking each dose at least 4 hours after any dairy products), as well

as eating a tiny bit of red meat every night, I finally had another iron panel

done (after stopping my iron supp and trying to avoid too much iron-rich food

for 6 days before the test)...and... my ferritin has come up from 15.5 to 53.4!

YAY! This was after fasting for 12 hours before the test, which was done in the

morning.

BUT, here are my other lab results:

Iron 145 (47-188)

TIBC 300 (256-426)

UIBC 154 (No range given)

Transferrin saturation 48%(no range given, but I looked on the net and it says

50%is usually the upper limit)

Are these all ok? I am worried about the transferrin saturation being so high

even after being off iron for 6 days. I am going to start taking my iron (200mg

a day again) for another 6 weeks to try and get my ferritin to 80 so I can start

T3 to clear my supposed high RT3 - would this be ok? Or should I lower my iron

dose a bit and just take it for longer? I am worried that I am going to push

that 48% over-range!

Here are my OLD iron labs from 7 weeks or so ago:

Iron 111 (55-180 ug/dL)

TIBC 398 (260 - 420 ug/dL)

Transferrin saturation 27.9%

Also, for some reason the doc also tested Free T4 without me even asking - and

it's now gone up to 1.77 ng/dL (0.932-1.71) FROM 1.6ng/dl (0.7-2.5ng/dl). What

does this mean? I don't have a free T3 reading to go with it unfortunately.

Does this mean I am building up even MORE RT3?? How could this be?! I thought

getting ferritin up would help with RT3? I have never tested RT3, but was told

on this group that a value higher than 1.4 usually means high rt3. I can't test

RT3 in my country.

My thyroid labs 6 months ago done by a different lab:

Free T3 3.3pg/ml (2.5-6.5 pg/ml)

Free T4 1.6ng/dl (0.7-2.5ng/dl)

TSH 1uU/ml (0.5-3.0 uU/ml)

TPO 26 IU/ml (0-150 IU/ml)

Antibodies retested 3 months ago:

TPO zero

TG 17

I am not on any meds, never have been. Now I'm just on isocort (for the past 4

months, now on 5-3-2-1 dose) and vitamins.

My temps have stabilised before, for 6 days, then every now and again they will

stabilise for 2 days or so. But they have been stable for the past 4 days

(around 36.9 to 37 - PRE-ovulation). This is 7 days after increasing my isocort

from 4-3-2-1 to 5-3-2-1. Holding thumbs they stay stable!! Interesting though

that last month around this time, my average daily temps were swinging between

36.8 and 36.95, so I guess the extra cortisol and ferritin increase may finally

be allowing a little more thyroid hormone to get to my cells? My basal temps are

around 36.3 to 36.5 pre-ovulation.

Anyway, the other thing I found odd on my lab test was my calcium value:

Calcium 9 mg/dl (8.6 -10.2)

BUT I looked on the net and I saw that CORRECTED calcium is more important.

My albumin is 4.5, thus my CORRECTED CALCIUM is 8.6 and it should be above 8.8!

Is this something to worry about?

My feet have started burning worse than ever these days and I seem to get pins

and needles MUCH more easily - I'm thinking this could be my low calcium when

here I was thinking it was low cortisol! My B12 levels are good, and I take

Jarrow B12 sublinguals, 1000ug a day just to be safe, so I know thats not it!

Also, my fasting glucose is 88 mg/dL (55-115), so I'm guessing it's not

hypoglycaemia causing the burning feet. Or maybe it is? Is this glucose ok? Not

too low? I always try follow a lowish carb diet as best I can.

My vit D levels were very low a few months ago. I supplemented 5000 IUS of D3

with olive oil for 2 months, got my levels to 40, then 10000IUs a day for

another 2 months and got my levels to 93. I then dropped my dose to 4000IUs a

day as maintenance for the last 2 months. So how can I have good vit D levels

and low calcium levels?? I thought vit D was supposed to increase calcium in the

blood? Anyone know anything about this?

I read that dehydration can cause high albumin levels, and I know don't drink

nearly enough water. Just never seem to be very thirsty, was hospitalised when I

was 4 for dehydration. Could this be the problem? I am SO worried as I know

calcium is so important! I eat more than enough calcium in my diet - milk,

yogurt, cheese etc everyday.

I also read that high magnesium can cause decreased calcium. I take 500mg

magnesium citrate a day - should I stop this?! I supp around 300mg di-calcium

malate a day.

Could the cortisol in my isocort be causing low calcium? Is this possible?

Which brings me to my other electrolytes:

Sodium 141 (136-151)

Potassium 4.2 (3.5-5.1)

Aldosterone 69.53 ng/dl (No range given, but on internet I saw 5-30 is normal?)

No other electrolytes were tested.

I do not have any prior readings for any of these lab tests, as this is the

first time I have ever tested for them.

My BP was 130/80 at the time of testing. It is always 120/80 to 130/80 the

couple times I've had it tested at the doctors rooms.

My Potassium looks ok? But Sodium a little low? Now, what on earth is going on

with the aldosterone??!!

I followed all the guidelines for aldosterone testing - sitting when blood was

drawn, doing the test 2 hours after I woke up. BUT I did take my usual 5 isocort

as soon as I woke up that morning - would this have falsely elevated my

aldosterone? Also, I stress... A LOT! I mean, I get stressed over the tiniest of

things, like even just an unexpected sound like a phone ringing. I am starting

to handle stress MUCH better these days, but I still stress. Could my stress

over having the blood drawn have elevated my levels? if not, what could be

causing those high levels?!

These results were fasting, also salt-fasting for 36 hrs before, except for

about a small teaspoon of chilli sauce I had on my dinner by mistake the night

before...ooops!

I don't take sea salt, as I can't stand the taste. Tried it for around 2 weeks a

couple months ago, but it didn't make me feel better or worse. I know I should

take it though. So I will start taking it if I have to. How much should I take?

I do like salt on my food though sometimes. I usually use a mineral balance

salt, as I cant get unrefined seasalt where i live. I read I should take sodium

with potassium as taking sodium dumps potassium? How much?

Once again, I am SO sorry about the long post, but I am so desperate for some

guidance! Nobody around me is very supportive - I am basically going through

this totally alone. My boyfriend tries to understand and suport me, but its hard

for him when the doc says I'm perfectly fine. Also, I am living in Korea right

now, so everything is much more of a mission - particularly lab tests. My doc

thankfully can speak a bit of English and he is very understanding (much more

than any of the other 6 doctors in Korea that I have tried!!), but he didn't

even know what a CMP test was!! And he keeps telling me that my low ferritin is

FINE and I MUST stop worrying about it...arghhh! So I would really appreciate

any advice you could give me! Thank you so much!

Hayley