Douglas Ek
Member
- Joined
- Feb 8, 2017
- Messages
- 642
I'm going to talk to my doctor but if I add in the iron, should I still continue on with the NDT?
Whats NDT?
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I'm going to talk to my doctor but if I add in the iron, should I still continue on with the NDT?
Whats NDT?
Natural Dessicated Thyroid (like nature throid or armour thyroid), which is a combo of natural T4/T3 to help with hypothyroidism. I just started it this week.
I'm going to talk to my doctor but if I add in the iron, should I still continue on with the NDT?
@Douglas Ek Thanks for sharing your knowledge. So if for example I know that I have 149 g/l hemoglobin, that doesn't necessary reveal my iron levels?
I have the same simptoms like Healthunt123, but I have high hemoglobin 170-180 and erythrocytes 5.5, I have always this value of hemoglobin and erythrocytes
My Iron is very good, but ferritin I dont know, I didnt do this lab...Whats your ferritin?
My Iron is very good, but ferritin I dont know, I didnt do this lab...
Does it nessesary even my Iron is good?
My Iron is very good, but ferritin I dont know, I didnt do this lab...
Does it nessesary even my Iron is good?
Doctors told me that I had dense blood due to hemoglobin and erythrocytes and that I should not take iron as a supplement.Think about the Iron lab test as the iron you have right now in your blood. While ferritin is your body's storage or bank of iron and it will only use that when you're iron in the blood is low. Takin iron supplements will first increase your iron in your blood then you will start making the ferritin protein to store and transport iron to where it's needed.
Can you give us your opinion on a reasonable range for ferritin to shoot for?I believe there's 3 minerals at play here. Zinc, Copper and Iron. Their job is to keep each other working as supposed
Yes it's necessary. S-Iron fluctuate a lot depending on what you have eaten. If you eat a steak high in iron then go test yourself you have higher S-Iron. Vitamin-C also increase S-iron. Lots of factors make it unreliable. Ferritin is a protein that stores iron and doesn't fluctuate except if you have inflammation it gets high
Hi everyone,
I'm a 26 year old male and I've been struggling for the past couple of years with low libido. I would say that is my main mystery health issue, but I struggle with fatigue, brain fog, afternoon crashes, cold hands/sensitivity, trouble losing fat, compromised gut/sensitive stomach, and anxiety. Lately the last two have improved through supplements and lifestyle changes, but I've still been struggling with the other issues.
I conducted various blood tests in March and found that my Testosterone was on the low end (582 ng/dL ref range 250-827), SHBG was high (60 nmol/L ref range: 10-50), Free T 76.9 pg/mL (ref range 35-155) was on low end. Thyroid hormones were leaning towards hypothyroidism - TSH : 2.15, Free T4: 1.3 (ref range 0.8-1.8), Free T3: 2.9 (ref range 2.3-4.2), RT3: 14 ng/dL (ref range 8 - 25). TPO was 1 IU/mL (ref range <9). I also found that my serum iodine was low (49 mcg/L, ref range 52-109). My other hormones, cholesterol, iron, B12 etc levels were all good (ferritin was 43 ng/mL - I think that's considered good?).
Given my low iodine result and the lowish thyroid hormones, I began supplementing with Lugols iodine. Started with 1 drop of 2% a day for about a week, then increased to 2-3 drops and after about a month was taking 5 drops. I then switched to iodoral 12.5mg at that point and continued taking it daily. From the very beginning of incorporating it, I noticed increased energy, better sleep, radiant clear skin (except for a few cystic bumps, perhaps detox?), warmer hands, and I seemed to have leaned out a bit too. Libido wasn't great but it definitely did improve. I was a bit weary of taking relatively high doses given the conflicting information about it, but it definitely did seem to help me.
Given the low T result from before, I decided to retest (about a month after starting iodine). I remember around the time I went to the lab I noticed abnormally high libido, and I received the following notable results - Total testosterone 836 ng/dL (ref range 264 - 916), Free T 26 ng/dl (ref range 5-21), TSH 4.8 uIU/mL (ref range .45-2.5). The only thing I had changed consistently was the iodine. I had taken some boron supplements as I read that helps with high SHBG but I don't recall feeling like that helped much, and I didn't take it consistently. I believe my TSH shot up due to the iodine? I was feeling much better at the time, with most of my symptoms gone.
I continued supplementing with the iodine (still at 12.5 mg a day) and while I was feeling better with more energy, the low libido seemed to return and overall I didn't feel the iodine was "working" as well as it had been when I first started taking it. I got a random urine iodine test (at this point after about a total of 1.5 months of supplementation) with a result of 822 mcg/L (ref range 34 - 523). I had been supplementing with the iodine until a day before (my doctor wanted to see my levels with supplementation). So I'm not sure if that result is actually concerning? I've since stopped taking the iodine and have slowly started feeling worse. I also retested some thyroid hormones and got the following results - Total T4: 5.4 mcg/dL (ref range 4.5-11.7), TSH 3.8mcIU/mL, Free T3 2.6 pg/mL (ref range 2.0 - 4.4). TPO also increased to 15.5 IU/mL (ref range 5-34)
My doctor said my thyroid hormones are sub-optimal and has given me a prescription for Nature-Throid. I also had my 4x cortisol tested and my levels were found to be low, especially evening and night time levels, indicating adrenal fatigue. So my doctor also prescribed some adaptogenic herbs to take with the Nature-Throid.
I'm curious, based on this info: 1. What do you make of the fluctuating testosterone levels? 2. Am I hypothyroid and is that what is most likely causing my symptoms (alongside the adrenal issues)? 3. Should I continue with iodine supplementation, or is there another way to accurately asses if I need to supplement? 4. Is the iodine what might have caused the TPO and TSH to increase and is this concerning? 5. Does Nature-Throid seem like a good approach? Any other comments? Feel free to ask about other specific lab results, I probably got them done but just didn't list there.
I really appreciate any inputs or guidance!
Do you have joint pops and cracking as symptoms? Specially neck, hands and upper back?
I have joint pops and cracking - mostly in the neck and upper back, but what does it have to do with Zinc and Ferritin?
I used to take Zinc 50-70 mg, daily.
If treating low iron, maybe consider eating red meat such a beef liver instead of iron supplements which could be dubious at best.
Once ferritin is sufficiently high, can the supplementation be stopped? Is high ferritin in itself enough to support the metabolic processes that maintain that level (given that no imbalance of other minerals is present)?Before I fixed my ferritin from 50 to 150 I had low thyroid and low-end testosterone. After getting my ferritin to 150 my thyroid went up. My whole body was warm all the time and my testosterone is now in the 900-1000 range. I can prove it all posting blood tests if you like.