Serum Iron and PA

[Justiina]

I don't know how it is elsewhere but over here in Finland you get access to all lab manuals.

So checked instructions for serum Iron and iron panel.

Some lab states serum iron can be high in PA (I assume untreated) and low when on B12 injections.

So if this true is it low because rapid use of iron on B12? I assume ferritin could be normal as you could have good storage and you use to use circulating iron fast.

And high would be pooling iron not absorbed ?

[Gambit62 Administrator]

there are several different measures for iron

low iron can mask PA and vice versa if assessed on the basis of red blood cell size - iron deficiency tends to smaller red blood cells and PA causes a type of anaemia in which red blood cells tend to be larger and rounder.

PA can also affect absorption of iron as well as B12 so increases the likelihood of both iron and B12 deficiency occuring together.

Treatment with B12 does seem to affect the balances of micro-organisms living in the gut so possible that it might affect iron absorption that way - but the research is on-going and I haven't looked at it in any detail.

I don't think any of the processes going on in cells that involve B12 also use iron - except for the one that produces red blood cells in your bone marrow, just because the purpose of red blood cells is to use iron based compounds to bind oxygen and carry that round your body.

[Justiina in reply to Gambit62]

Thanks. I noticed my lab had added causes of high serum iron but as the list was relatively long there was no details so got curious about the correlation.

[Nackapan]

For some reason my ferritin levels dropped from 61 to 29 to46 on iron.

Am on iron supplements still .

Level now 39 . This is over s period of 16 months .

Am on 2 weekly b12 injections.

It was 61 when my b12 was 106ng/l. So the theory of not absorbing it as not absorbing b12 doesnt fit. Was and an absorbing folats from food.

All i can think is when on b12 injections its used in repair work.

Doctors dont know. .

Iron is very complex. I ding think it pools though

[Justiina in reply to Nackapan]

Yeah I was just wondering what it mean as they had just added this information to lab manual but no details.

My ferritin dropped too since starting injections but I was also able to get physically more active and that consumes iron.

[Hidden in reply to Justiina]

Iron needs an acidic environment for its absorption. In PA the parietal cells that make acid in the stomach are attacked and prevented from doing this. This can lead to achlorydria or hypochlorydria both of which reduce iron absorption from food. It also reduces the ability to fight pathogenic bacteria in the gut which is why some of us suffer from dysbiosis and pretty awful stomach issues.