# Ferritin/Thyroid connection?



## 2littlebadgers (Apr 20, 2017)

Hi -

I've been struggling for about 2 years now with fatigue, feeling cold, and thinning hair. Labs one year ago were as follows:

TSH: 1.6 (.35 - 5)

Free T3: 2.3 (2.2 - 4.0)

Free T4: .8 (.8 - 1.5)

Thyroid Peroxidase A: 47 (<60)

RBC: 3.85 (4-5.2)

I just followed up with my primary and overall my numbers improved a bit as follows:

TSH: 1.8 (.35-5)

Free T3: 2.6 (2.2-4)

Free T4: .9 ( .8-1.5)

Throid Peroxidase A: 34 (<60)

RBC: 4.26 (4 - 5.2)

The only thing my doc found even remotely concerning was my ferritin, which was low/normal at 14 (range 8-252 ng.ml). My doctor seemed to think that ferritin less than 50 isn't optimal and that some of my symptoms might be stemming from this. I take a muti-vitamin with 150% of my RDA of iron so she seemed to think I could be having some sort of absorption issue and asked me to try eliminating first gluten and then dairy and rechecking ferritin in 4-5 months. She did NOT mention thyroid, but I've since read that low thyroid can cause sluggish digestion that is often linked to low ferritin. Does anyone have any thoughts/experience with this? I hate to keep beating a dead horse especially when my thyroid numbers have improved and my doc. doesn't seem to think there is an issue there, but then again I don't really have many stomach troubles and don't really have any reason to think that I am gluten sensitive or lactose intolerant. I'm a long distance runner and hate to cut food groups out for no reason when I have had a fueling strategy in place for years that involves a lot of whole grains and dairy. Thanks for any thoughts.


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## joplin1975 (Jul 21, 2011)

Well, you are certainly hypothyroid. Did she not mention your antibodies as well?

Ferritin does help with thyroid issue. Your thyroid produces a hormone call t4. When you body need hormone to do basic metabolic functions, it converts t4 into t3. Ferritin helps with that conversation process.

But the catch is that you barely have enough free t4. You want that number to be about 50-75% of the range. Yours is at the rock bottom. So even if you do get your free t4 number up and if you get your ferritin up to help with the conversion, you don't have enough hormone to convert.

Your doctor should put you on a trial of low dose thyroid medication.


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## Lovlkn (Dec 20, 2009)

If you have a monthly cycle, ferritin levels will be lowest after a cycle. They do tend to build as the month goes on if you are supplementing iron. 150% is how much iron supplement? It may simply be that it is not enough.

Your labs are still fairly hypo and you are in need of thyroid hormone supplements to raise your levels.

Another lab to consider asking for is Vitamin D


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## 2littlebadgers (Apr 20, 2017)

I barely have a monthly cycle since I'm on Yaz...just about 2 days of light spotting and that's it. I know distance runners can suffer from anemia from all the pounding, but I've been running marathons since 2010 and when I last had my ferritin checked in 2014, it was 52...I haven't changed anything else other than adding MORE iron (used to take a multi vitamin with 18mg, now take one with 27 mg).

No, my doctor didn't mention antibodies, I guess because my results were within the normal range? She originally said that my free T3 and T4 were low, hence the retesting, but didn't mention them at all this time around with my June labs.

Oh, and I did have my Vitamin D checked last year - it was 52 (range 30-100) so fine. B12 was good as well at 594 ( range 211-911), and Folate was actually a little high at >24 (range >5). My doctor is very into holistic approaches and likes to suggest things like fish oil, magnesium, etc. for supplementation - she seems very reluctant to offer Rx meds. I love her as she is very thorough when it comes to running the right labs, but I'm starting to wonder if I should move on...


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