My conventional doctor (GP) tends to do the thyroid tests every 6 months.
Yes, I still have some hypo symptoms, but they aren't as severe since I have been drinking the adrenal tea from the ND and taking the liquid iron supplement from the natural health store.
I know your health system is different from ours... can you only get the thyroid blood work once/year or can you get it more often?
If you forget about all the numbers and how do you feel? That's the most important thing. You had some hypo symptoms last year; do you still have them? For me, after this amount of time, they would have to be completely gone, in order to forgo thyroid medication...
The last time I had bloodwork done for my thyroid (TSH, Free T4, and Free T3) was January 16, 2015 through my conventional doctor. This was covered by my health card.
When can you get your thyroid hormone levels tested again?
How are you feeling?
Thanks for your reply. My last two periods started March 15 and April 22. I had the iron panel on April 1. My periods have been fairly regular.
Yes, I continue to take my liquid iron supplement daily.
Your ferritin level is still too low, as are your iron and saturation levels, even though they are in the reference ranges. Are you still supplementing with the full dose of iron? It doesn't seem to be increasing your levels very much.
Hypothyroidism can also cause periods to be late/become erratic, extra heavy, etc. When was your last period in relation to the iron test?
It is important to note that I am still menstruating. My last period started 1 week later than I expected it to. I'll have to see if a pattern develops as I am 46.
Further to my previous post I decided to pay for the iron panel because I disagreed with my GP who thought it was unnecessary because my hemoglobin was OK even though my iron stores were reduced.
Here are the iron panel lab results from the bloodwork ordered by my ND that I received by e-mail ahead of my next appt at my request:
Iron 17
Reference range 6 - 27 umol/L
TIBC 59
Reference range 45 - 77 umol?L
Saturation 0.29
Reference range 0.20 - 0.50 / l
Ferretin 30
Reference range 12 - 125 ug/L
No, not at this time as I had to pay for this testing out of pocket.
Will look forward to the results. Were there any other tests included, such as thyroid, B-12, etc?
FYI I will receive results of iron panel from my ND on April 15.
Today I received a lab requisition from my naturopathic doctor for an iron panel. I hope to get there for the bloodwork before this long weekend.
It's more important to separate calcium and iron supplements from thyroid hormones, which you don't take, than it is to separate them from each other.
My ND will consider orderin an iron panel in April. She said it will cost $45 Canadian. I started 1/2 dose of Floravit (liquid iron with Vitamin C) Nov. 6/14 and full dose Jan. 28. There is nothing on the box or bottle that mentions having to avoid calcium/dairy.
My ND thinks that I shouldn't have to worry too much about whether I consume dairy with my liquid iron supplement. She thinks it's more of a concern with other forms of iron. I'll check with the Vitamins & Supplement forum.
My dental hygienist said that I should avoid eating dairy when I take my iron supplement. I didn't realize this. I know you said you need to do this with conventional thyroid medication.
I think I forgot to mention I'm taking a NutraVege Omega-3 supplement.
Mid 2015 through GP unless I choose to pay for tests out of pocket through the ND sooner.
It's entirely up to you, whether or not you take thyroid hormones or whether you continue trying to coax your thyroid into producing minute amounts of hormones (note that your FT4 went from 13 in July 2014 to 14 in Jan 2015 - both are inadequate and your FT3 went down) on its own, when ultimately, it's probably going to fail anyway.
I wish you the best of luck... When will you be having thyroid blood work again? That's what I'm interested in.
If you have lingering brain fog and insomnia from hypothyroidism, your medication dosage isn't adjusted properly. From the research I've done, Vitamin B5 hasn't been proven to effective for either insomnia or the brain fog. I suggest you talk to your doctor about increasing your thyroid hormone dosage.
Has anyone taken B5 for insomnia and lingering brain fog who is on thyroid medicine? If so, what mg did you find helped you?
I continue to see modest positive change with regards to symptoms such as my scalloped tongue and feeling cold. This gives me hope.
Thanks for your reply. As you noted I have had modest positive change with 3 months of a half dose of liquid iron. I believe it is possible I could see more improvement with a full dose of liquid iron. Why start taking thyroid replacement hormones until I am absolutely certain my body cannot produce what it needs on its own if it is further supported to do so? If the iron supplement hadn't made any difference at all then I'd be considering the conventional medication at this time.