The follow-up labs

[Guest guest]

At my two year labs, the bottom suddenly fell out of a whole bunch of counts.

I suddenly turned up low in iron, carnitine, protein, albumin, and serum

calcium. I was high in PTH and Vitamin D. And my TSH (thyroid stimulating

hormone) had gone extremely low, out of the blue. So, we made the following

changes to my regimen and had blood tests done three months later:

Went from 1 protein shake a day to 3

Went from 2000 mg capsules of non-elemental calcium once a day, to 500 mg of

elemental calcium in powdered form, 4 times a day. Actually, two doses are

tablets with D, no D in the powder.

Added an iron supplement

Added a carnitine supplement.

Here are the results:

Protein before: 6.1

Protein after: 6.7

Calcium before: 8.4

Calcium after: 9.1

PTH before: 69

PTH after: 27

Carnitine before: 28

Carnitine after: 35

Vitamin D before: 73

Vitamin D after: 16

Iron, Total before: 65

Iron, Total after: 30 (apparently all the calcium is interfering with iron

absorption!)

Hematocrit before: 31.1

Hematocrit after: 33.7

TSH before: .24

TSH after: .01

So, overall, I am thrilled with the rapid improvement in three months. A bit

concerned that my iron is a problem; really concerned that my Thyroid

Stimulating Hormone has dropped to almost nothing. I think the combination

of the two may explain my increased tiredness and lethargy. So for me, the

bottom line is: increasing the protein shakes had a definite improvement. I

have maintained a protein intake of 120 - 160 grams a day for more than a

year; what changed is the ratio of supplement to food. Proof that my body

absorbs the supplements more readily. And the changes to calcium made quite

a difference - we'll see next year what the result is on my dexa-scan, but

when even the serum levels drop, you KNOW there's a problem. I'm glad to see

them back on track.

Kate