Vitamin Deficiencies

[hayley3]

Hi,

I think I may have Celiac disease. I'm supposed to have IBS but now I have been dx'd with a thyroid disorder and I read that Thyroid and Celiac disorders can go hand-in-hand. I also have been dx'd with a vitamin D deficiency, which was a shocker considering that I have been taking multivitamins for 10 yrs and eating healthy to boot.

So has anyone else been dx'd with either thyroid or vitamin deficiencies? I think I am not absorbing the fat soluble vitamins, A, D, E and K. I have found some "dry" forms of vitamins A and E, and sublingual forms of D with K. I know the sublingual will work well, but I'm not sure about the dry A and E. I'm still going to take a small multiple just to get the small stuff.

Susie

[Nyxie63]

I've been dx'd with both. Subclinical hypoT and thyroid nodules, along with iron, vitD, and B5, B12 and folate deficiencies. According to the latest round of blood tests done last month, I'm deficient in all these in spite of taking substantial doses of supplements since June. Probably haven't been absorbing them.

So far, I've tested negative for Hashi's (antibodies are within the negative range). As far as being Celiac, I really have no idea. Had a whopper of a reaction to wheat when I reintroduced it after an elimination diet. Haven't had any testwork done to show if its a wheat intolerance, gluten intolerance, or good ol' Celiac. Will be trying a barley challenge in a couple of weeks to see if the reaction is just to wheat or to all gluten. My doc doesn't want to pursue this anyway through bloodtesting. My documentation of the reactions alone are enough proof for him.

Have you had your TPO and Tg antibodies tested? Its very common for folks who have Hashi's to also have another AI like Celiac, and vice versa.

[hayley3]

I've been taking sublingual b12 and I take a biologically active b complex that doesn't have to be digested, so I'm assuming that's why those levels were okay. I'd really like to know what my Vitamin A levels are because I have some major eye issues.

They did do a TRAB which was "less than .03" and a TPOab of 16 iu/ml but I don't know if they are negative or positive. They did an ultrasound and I have a complex nodule.

I have constipation and so I never even considered a gluten deficiency. I do have another autoimmune disease. What kind of reaction do you have? I have major bloating and pain and the constipation, besides all the health issues, which I assume now are from the vitamin deficiencies.

Susie

I've been dx'd with both. Subclinical hypoT and thyroid nodules, along with iron, vitD, and B5, B12 and folate deficiencies. According to the latest round of blood tests done last month, I'm deficient in all these in spite of taking substantial doses of supplements since June. Probably haven't been absorbing them.

So far, I've tested negative for Hashi's (antibodies are within the negative range). As far as being Celiac, I really have no idea. Had a whopper of a reaction to wheat when I reintroduced it after an elimination diet. Haven't had any testwork done to show if its a wheat intolerance, gluten intolerance, or good ol' Celiac. Will be trying a barley challenge in a couple of weeks to see if the reaction is just to wheat or to all gluten. My doc doesn't want to pursue this anyway through bloodtesting. My documentation of the reactions alone are enough proof for him.

Have you had your TPO and Tg antibodies tested? Its very common for folks who have Hashi's to also have another AI like Celiac, and vice versa.

[jewi0008]

Hi,

I think I may have Celiac disease. I'm supposed to have IBS but now I have been dx'd with a thyroid disorder and I read that Thyroid and Celiac disorders can go hand-in-hand. I also have been dx'd with a vitamin D deficiency, which was a shocker considering that I have been taking multivitamins for 10 yrs and eating healthy to boot.

So has anyone else been dx'd with either thyroid or vitamin deficiencies? I think I am not absorbing the fat soluble vitamins, A, D, E and K. I have found some "dry" forms of vitamins A and E, and sublingual forms of D with K. I know the sublingual will work well, but I'm not sure about the dry A and E. I'm still going to take a small multiple just to get the small stuff.

Susie

Hello Susie! I put up the following post:

Hello!

There have been multiple people on this forum who have various mouth problems, tissue irritations, cracks in the corners of your mouth and canker sores.

I have suffered with this for 3+years. About a month ago I started taking the B Complex in the Vegan form with B12 being methylcobalamin - not cyocobalamin. I am happy to say that 5 of the 7 days in the past week I have been free of mouth problems.

Please see the following links:

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

If anyone else has had a similar experience please let me know!

If you are not currently taking the B Complex, GO GET IT! I got mine from Whole Foods....about $15.00 for 60 capsules. Dosage is 1 or 2/day. I was taking 1/day; I am now upping to 2/day.

[AnneM]

My first sympton of celiac was fatigue, I mentioned it to my doctor and he did a blood test and found i was very anemic, so he put me on 2 iron pills a day. Not sure how long i was suffering with celiac, i'm sure i was vitamin depleted in all aspects.

[hayley3]

I remember having the cracks in the corners of my mouth and boy is that painful. I did read on the internet about the B vitamins and haven't had it since, and that was several years ago. The thing that bothers me, is I have been taking a multivitamin with vitamin D and yet I still have a deficiency. If you have a problem absorbing vitamins from food, wouldn't you have the same trouble absorbing the vitamins from a capsule.

Susie

Hello Susie! I put up the following post:

Hello!

There have been multiple people on this forum who have various mouth problems, tissue irritations, cracks in the corners of your mouth and canker sores.

I have suffered with this for 3+years. About a month ago I started taking the B Complex in the Vegan form with B12 being methylcobalamin - not cyocobalamin. I am happy to say that 5 of the 7 days in the past week I have been free of mouth problems.

Please see the following links:

Open Original Shared Link

Open Original Shared Link

If anyone else has had a similar experience please let me know!

If you are not currently taking the B Complex, GO GET IT! I got mine from Whole Foods....about $15.00 for 60 capsules. Dosage is 1 or 2/day. I was taking 1/day; I am now upping to 2/day.

[Nyxie63]

Something to keep in mind is that hypoT affects how well we convert vit D and convert beta carotene into vit A. A lot of hypoT folks are also deficient in the Bvits, particularly B12 and folate. It just seems to be the nature of the beast, per se. Its not all related to malasorbtion, although I'm sure that's a factor here.

What kind of eye issues are you having? Both thyroid problems and adrenal fatigue can affect the eyes. I don't know what your other AI is, but that might be causing eye issues as well. I saw they tested your TRAB. Did they suspect Graves? That's a biggie for causing eye problems. They didn't test TgAb? Do you have the ranges for your antibody results?

I was sort of expecting a reaction to wheat, but nothing like what I got.

Within 1/2 hour, my stomach started cramping

Within an hour, my reflux went into full force

Within 2 hours, I got extremely bloated and gassy

Then the fun part started....

Within 3-4 hours, I began to get pain in my shoulders which then radiated down both arms and legs. I then began to lose motor control. I couldn't fully control my hands, my fingers were extremely weak and uncoordinated, and walking was like being sober in a drunk body. Needless to say, I freaked out ever so slightly. Ummmm.. yeah.

If you haven't done so already, get copies of your test results, imaging reports, etc. Its really handy to have those around, especially when referencing test results. Since ranges differ from lab to lab, its really important to post those along with the levels. Btw, its your legal right to have copies of your medical records. Some docs require that you sign a release and that's fine. They can charge for making copies and that's ok too.

Copies of your medical records are also handy to have around to spot things that the docs don't tell us about. Its amazing to see just exactly what docs "don't bother" to tell us or miss completely. There's a huge difference between "normal" and "optimal" levels. Many docs will tell us we're normal, when in fact our levels need to be somewhere else completely in order to feel our best. A good example is ferritin. A lot of docs will see a patient with a ferritin level of 28 as being just fine (the range is usually 10-291), even though the optimal level for an adult female is closer to 70.

[hayley3]

Hey Nyxie63,

I was supposed to received notification when someone replies to the message but I either missed it or it didn't get in my mailbox.

Anyway, I read that Celiac disease and thyroid are pretty common together. I don't know that I have Celiac disease for sure (nor do I want it) but I'm having some major stomach pain when I eat. I have had it before and did a fast for 3 days and got rid of it. I also have sacroiliitis which is supposed to be common with Celiac. Although my symptoms are not typical.

I do have my bloodwork results. My B12 and Folic acid were ok and I think that's because I take sublingual B12 and biologically active B complex. My thyroid is going back and forth between hypo and hyper according to my TSH levels but I'm supposed to have a hot nodule which is hyper. MY TRAB is <.03 and the range is 0 to 1. The other test is a thyroid peroxidase antibody TPOab 16 iu/ml but I don't know what the range is.

Did they test you for wheat by giving you wheat? Your reaction sounded horrible. I'd really like to hear more about what happened.

Susie

Something to keep in mind is that hypoT affects how well we convert vit D and convert beta carotene into vit A. A lot of hypoT folks are also deficient in the Bvits, particularly B12 and folate. It just seems to be the nature of the beast, per se. Its not all related to malasorbtion, although I'm sure that's a factor here.

What kind of eye issues are you having? Both thyroid problems and adrenal fatigue can affect the eyes. I don't know what your other AI is, but that might be causing eye issues as well. I saw they tested your TRAB. Did they suspect Graves? That's a biggie for causing eye problems. They didn't test TgAb? Do you have the ranges for your antibody results?

I was sort of expecting a reaction to wheat, but nothing like what I got.

Within 1/2 hour, my stomach started cramping

Within an hour, my reflux went into full force

Within 2 hours, I got extremely bloated and gassy

Then the fun part started....

Within 3-4 hours, I began to get pain in my shoulders which then radiated down both arms and legs. I then began to lose motor control. I couldn't fully control my hands, my fingers were extremely weak and uncoordinated, and walking was like being sober in a drunk body. Needless to say, I freaked out ever so slightly. Ummmm.. yeah.

If you haven't done so already, get copies of your test results, imaging reports, etc. Its really handy to have those around, especially when referencing test results. Since ranges differ from lab to lab, its really important to post those along with the levels. Btw, its your legal right to have copies of your medical records. Some docs require that you sign a release and that's fine. They can charge for making copies and that's ok too.

Copies of your medical records are also handy to have around to spot things that the docs don't tell us about. Its amazing to see just exactly what docs "don't bother" to tell us or miss completely. There's a huge difference between "normal" and "optimal" levels. Many docs will tell us we're normal, when in fact our levels need to be somewhere else completely in order to feel our best. A good example is ferritin. A lot of docs will see a patient with a ferritin level of 28 as being just fine (the range is usually 10-291), even though the optimal level for an adult female is closer to 70.

[Nyxie63]

Hey Nyxie63,

I was supposed to received notification when someone replies to the message but I either missed it or it didn't get in my mailbox.

Anyway, I read that Celiac disease and thyroid are pretty common together. I don't know that I have Celiac disease for sure (nor do I want it) but I'm having some major stomach pain when I eat. I have had it before and did a fast for 3 days and got rid of it. I also have sacroiliitis which is supposed to be common with Celiac. Although my symptoms are not typical.

I do have my bloodwork results. My B12 and Folic acid were ok and I think that's because I take sublingual B12 and biologically active B complex. My thyroid is going back and forth between hypo and hyper according to my TSH levels but I'm supposed to have a hot nodule which is hyper. MY TRAB is <.03 and the range is 0 to 1. The other test is a thyroid peroxidase antibody TPOab 16 iu/ml but I don't know what the range is.

Did they test you for wheat by giving you wheat? Your reaction sounded horrible. I'd really like to hear more about what happened.

Susie

Hi Susie!

I'd say getting better after the fast would be proof enough that you're having problems with something you've been eating. Was it a complete fast? Have you started eating normally, with the exception of gluten, with no further problems?

It looks like an antibody test is missing. They usually run TPOAb and TgAb, and then run TRAb if they suspect Grave's. Honestly, you sound like you might have Hashi's, but need to get the TgAb done to find out for sure. Hashi's can cause swings between hypo and hyper. What are they planning on doing about your hot nodule? And you should probably get your ferritin tested, if you haven't already. Also, the optimal level for B12 is around 1000, in spite of what the range is. Most countries have ranges that are too low.

Other than the GERD and chronic C (which can both be caused by hypoT), I'm not really sure I had any "typical" symptoms of GI either. All of the symptoms I've had can be attributed to the nutritional deficiencies, hypoT, AF, seasonal allergies, and elevated mercury. Its really hard to tell where one ends and another begins.

The reaction to wheat came from eating 3 tablespoons of cream of wheat. It was part of the challenge after doing an elimination diet. I cut out gluten, diary, corn, eggs, chocolate, peanuts, peas, refined sugar, and food preservatives/flavorings/colors for 3 weeks. I then started reintroducing them one at a time to check for any reactions. Wheat was my first challenge. Btw, I decided to do this on my own, largely out of idle curiosity. The GI doc lost interest after my biopsy came back negative (although he was the first one to mention Celiac) and the Holistic MD had a rather off-hand attitude towards the whole thing. His reply was a casual "that might be a good idea" and then went on to talk about something else.

Both fresh and processed corn products give me palps, rapid heartbeat, and D, although I seem to be ok with corn starch so far. I avoid soy because its a goitrogen (suppressed thyroid function). Commercial diary gives me stomach cramps and bloating, although raw dairy doesn't seem to do this. Sugar gives me joint pain (go figure).

I also don't know if I have Celiac or not. Right now, I'm going with the mindset that I'm gluten-intolerant, until proven otherwise. The Holistic MD is taking my word about the reaction and isn't interested in pursuing any further testing, which is ok by me. Haven't talked to the GI doc about it yet. Since reactions seem to get stronger the longer we're off the offending food, the Holistic MD actually rx'd an epi pen. Hope I never have to use it. Next week, I've decided to challenge myself with barley to find out if its gluten or just wheat that I react to.

I found all this stuff out 3 weeks ago. Its still quite the adventure of discovery. Hopefully, now that you have an idea of what the problem is, you can work towards getting well again.

[hayley3]

Hi Nyxie63,

You sure know a lot about this stuff. How did you learn so much about the thyroid?

I did a fast last January, and I am just now having problems again. I did a 3 day "carrot/apple/ginger juice mix" fast. It was a long 3 days but it was worth it. (Now I'm starting to wonder if it helped to heal my stomach, hmmmm?) Ginger is good for inflammation.

I recently started making sourdough breads (Oct 15th) and so I was eating the bread everyday and now I'm here. But I bought some gingersnaps and that was the straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak.

I normally only eat unprocessed foods, and only eat what I make from scratch at home, so I was really not eating a lot of gluten until the sourdough adventure.

I don't know why my endocrinologist is not running more bloodwork. She seems to do it in pieces. I think she said she is going to cut out the hot nodule because I nixed the idea of radioactive iodine.

My B12 level was 567 so I thought it was pretty good. I am taking sublingual B12 and D3. I also take a bioactive B complex. I was taking a dry form of Vit A and E but don't know if they help or not. Haven't had a chance to research those and I can't remember why exactly I bought them. I'm hoping the vit D will help my memory.

I looked at your list of symptoms and we are almost identical. I bought a Neti Pot and it really helped me and my daughter's sinuses. I finally decided my migraines were sinus related even though they lasted 3 days. I have GERD and I hate it. Ugh.

I never considered Celiac disease because I have constipation not diarrhea. I may not have it. I just thought it could be because of the Vitamin D deficiency. I still could have IBS. Who knows.

Susie

[Nyxie63]

Hi Susie!

Whenever I find out about having a new health problem my reaction is usually 1. Panic; and 2. Research the heck outta it. I've read tons of clinical studies, physicians websites, etc. Honestly tho, I've found most of the useful information on peer-to-peer message boards. Been picking people's brains about thyroid stuff for close to 10 months. Then it was nutritional deficiencies. Now I'm doing the same thing with food intolerances.

My Holistic MD has been the same about testing. A little here, a little there. And then go back and retest, this time including things that should have been tested the first time. Its been a slow, painful course in learning patience. What's really funky is that everything I've asked to have tested has turned out to be abnormal. One of these days, drs are going to have to learn to trust their patients' instincts. My dr's retiring at the end of the year and he's referred me to another dr in his practice who specializes more in hormone-y stuff. I'm hoping she's more aggressive (and on the ball) when it comes to testing.

Yeah, apparently C can be caused by gluten-intolerance. Like you, I thought D was the primary symptom. I first heard of Celiac from a gal I used to work for. She had Celiac and, having a very active social life and eating out often, would get glutened on a regular basis. I never asked her in-depth questions about it - just knew that gluten = sick for her.

Migraines can be caused by a bunch of things, including nutritional deficiencies and/or imbalances. I found, since supplementing with iron, I no longer get as many of the bad headaches as I used to. This includes tension as well as migraines. My manganese level was also extremely high and that can also cause migraines.

A lot of folks on this board consider IBS to be a symptom of something else going on, not a diagnosis in its own right. After doing a lot of reading on here and elsewhere, I tend to agree. I also feel the same way about GERD.

Maybe try going completely gluten-free and dairy-free for a couple of weeks. If you feel better, there's your answer.