Ferritn levels

[Dulcieblake]

RLS has been a problem for years but wosened in recent times so need to walk round house 1-3 x a night.

Can someone tell me the feritin level to aim for with rls please. Off to see GP tomorrow about testing my levels.

[marsha2306]

My GP said over 100.

Mine was 70 and the RLS specialist that I see at John Hopkins sent me for an iron infusion to raise it.

[Madlegs1 in reply to marsha2306]

Yes- anything between 75 and 150 would be desirable.

Don't let the Dr tell you that your figure is " normal "- you need to get the actual number..

[Sweetfa22]

I have hemochromatosis which is increased iron overload. I have my ferratin checked every 6 months and it's supposed to be around 50. These numbers you're mentioning seem quite high. Where did you get these numbers from? I'm very curious. Are you sure it's not your hemoglobin levels that should be that high?

[Hidden in reply to Sweetfa22]

Hi Sweetfa, I have Haemochromatosis too. When I was diagnosed about 10 years ago, the venesection nurses used to keep my ferritin level in the 20s. After a few years I read about the link between low iron levels and RLS so I queried those ferritin levels with my GP. She said that Haemochromatosis treatment in the USA had been revised and that any level up to 100 was now considered OK. So now I aim for 100, though the venesection staff haven't quite caught up and try to keep it in the 70s.

Its a while since I've looked at the Facebook Haemochromatosis page but when I used to read it, there seemed to be no consensus among medics (in the UK anyway) about ideal ferritin levels.

[DicCarlson]

These numbers are a long way from iron overload. From Wikipedia "Serum ferritin: In males and postmenopausal females, a serum ferritin value of over 300 ng/mL (670 pmol/L) indicates iron overload.[17][18][19] In premenopausal females, a serum ferritin value of over 150[17] or 200[18] ng/mL (330 or 440 pmol/L)[19] indicates iron overload." More on Johns Hopkins website Iron and RLS hopkinsmedicine.org/neurolo...