Help needed with blood work

[sele]

I am attaching a copy of my recent blood report. Any advice, comment or suggestion will help me solve many of my own health mysteries. Thanks to all.

 

[Ella]

Have had a recent bacterial or viral infection? Low fT4 and low RT3. Have you had thyroid antibodies tested? Are you post-menopausal?

 

[sele]

I didn't have any infections. I had thyroid antibodies checked a few times last year and they were very high. I am not post-menopausal.

 

[sweetpeat]

Are you taking any thyroid supplements? Seems like you should have a higher TSH in the presence of such low t4 and mid-range t3.

Prolactin is a bit high. Peat says lower than 12 is best for females (less than 7 for males). I think this suggests high estrogen.

High serotonin will be causing some issues as well, I should think.

 

[sele]

I forgot to mention that I'm taking 1.25 grain of ERFA thyroid. I am a 34 year old female who is suffering from various health issues since the age of 19.
I guess serotonin is to blame for the majority of my ailments but I've not been able to lower it even after trying several methods. I have even tried breathing CO2 from a canister for 20 minutes a day for 3 months. Serotonin level did not change much.
One year ago I found my PTH was high. I increased my calcium carbonate and dairy intake. To my surprise my PTH is even higher than before.
Last 2 months I've been taking progesterone in very high doses in an attempt to counter estrogen. Didn't get a very positive result yet.
I am taking Energin and Estroban on a regular basis.
As you will be able to see from my blood work, my lymphocytes are very high. Increase in TSH lowers the lymphocytes. Very strange.
I'm 5 feet and 110 lbs. Before peating I was 96 lbs.

 

[sele]

I am suffering from chronic insomnia for past 10 years. At night I feel very sleepy but I can't fall asleep. If I manage to sleep, I wake up in half an hour. In 10 years the most sleep I was able to have in a night was about 1.5 hours. I have tried talking high sugar before bed and after I wake up in the middle but it hasn't made a difference.
I've been peating for the past two years. I feel my overall health is better. I don't see much change in my sleep and lab results.
Again, everyone's help is greatly appreciated.

 

[sweetpeat]

Yeah, the more details you can provide, the better. Context is really important. I would think the serotonin is a big factor in your insomnia. What things have you tried to reduce it?

Your vitamin D is a bit low. Are you going into spring/summer where you live so you can get more sun?

Does your doctor have any insight about the elevated lymphocytes?

 

[sele]

It seems in the northeast part of USA there are only two seasons: fall and winter
I wish I could get more sunshine. I take 4000iu vitamin D everyday. It seems it's difficult for me to raise vit D level.
To reduce serotonin I have tried cyproheptadine, tineptine and CO2 breathing.
My doctor has run tests to see if there are any infections. They all came back negtive. He's clueless now.

Sweetpeat, do you think I will be able to sleep if my serotonin goes down?

 

[sweetpeat]

LOL!! Ain’t it the truth?! I’m in the northeast U.S. too so I know exactly what you mean about the weather.

Wow, you’ve tried a lot of things. I assume you’ve tried fiddling with your diet too? Some people swear by the carrot or by eliminating starch. I don’t have a lot of experience with serotonin personally, just what I’ve read from Peat and on the forum. Hopefully, someone else will respond. Or you could try starting another thread about just your serotonin issue.

How is your overall metabolism, like temps and pulse? Do you still feel hypo in spite of the Erfa or are things good there?

 

[answersfound]

Yes. Definitely do the carrot and keep up the cyproheptadine. The combination of these two should help a lot.

 

[tara]

Hi sele,
I'm not expert on reading lab results or thyroid supplementation or sleep.
It looks as though you have tried a few things already, and that kind of sleep deprivation must be very hard on you.
My thoughts, which may or may not be relevant -
Do you want to post what and how much you are eating, eg as a cronometer sceenshot, and listin all supplements?
If you are short on sunlight, have you experimented with supplemental red light - eg strong incandescents, for at least a few minutes a few time a day?
Have you been monitoring temps and pulse for more data about metabolism?
I don't suppose you got a reverse T3 test? I don't know the numbers, but I wonder if you have gotten into a situation with more thyroid supp than you can use, and your body has responded with more rT3 to slow it down?
I think you have tried to reduce thyroid supp before, without much joy? I think I have read that this can be difficult if rT3 is high. Have you experimented with a higher ratio of T3 to T4?

You don't have to make the effort to post more info if you don't want to, but someone might spot something with more info.

For me, I have noticed at various times that sleep seems to be aided by enough food, warm feet and generally warm but not massively over heated, progest-e, cyproheptadine, sheet over my head, tape on my mouth, relaxed human closeness. My worst period of sleeplessness was associated with severe life stress, including relationship stress. I think hunger was part of it too, but I rather doubt I would have been able to sleep in that situation even if I'd eaten enough and used progest-e and taped my mouth etc.

I hope you get some relief soon.

 

[EnoreeG]

I forgot to mention that I'm taking 1.25 grain of ERFA thyroid. I am a 34 year old female who is suffering from various health issues since the age of 19.
I guess serotonin is to blame for the majority of my ailments but I've not been able to lower it even after trying several methods. I have even tried breathing CO2 from a canister for 20 minutes a day for 3 months. Serotonin level did not change much.
One year ago I found my PTH was high. I increased my calcium carbonate and dairy intake. To my surprise my PTH is even higher than before.
Last 2 months I've been taking progesterone in very high doses in an attempt to counter estrogen. Didn't get a very positive result yet.
I am taking Energin and Estroban on a regular basis.
As you will be able to see from my blood work, my lymphocytes are very high. Increase in TSH lowers the lymphocytes. Very strange.
I'm 5 feet and 110 lbs. Before peating I was 96 lbs.

Lymphocytes high, calcium increase not helping - are you getting plenty of magnesium? Most people are low. Extra calcium just aggravates the situation. Your trig/HDL at 3.42 is quite high. Should be closer to 2.0. You can lower triglycerides easily by reducing the extra glucose, and especially fructose intake which gets converted to triglycerides to transport to fat cells.

But if it were me, I'd find a fix for the sleep first, the lymphocytes a close 2nd. It may not be anything related to thyroid/serotonin, but instead a mineral imbalance. You may also be short on iodine and/or selenium. Most people now have Hashimoto's if they have low thyroid. This results from a leaky gut, and is an autoimmune condition.

Do you have muscle cramps? Heart irregularity?