Please will you share your thoughts and knowledge on my very high ferritin level and what I can do about it? AlsoT3 dosage and blood result.

[SaffronBun]

My ferritin level has been rising since 2011 and was 293 (range 13-150) when tested on 1st April. My GP has half-heartedly established (over many many months) only that my liver function is within 'normal' limits and my haemoglobin is fine.

I was taking one 20mcg T3 on waking and one at bedtime. My blood results were TSH - less than 0.015 (range .35-4.5 ), T4 - less than 0.5 (range 10.5-26) and T3 - 6.7 (range 3.9-6.8). My GP has told me to reduce my T3 to 20mcg a day (half my previous dose) based on these results.

He had spoken to a Biochemist at the hospital (just before I spoke to him on 4April) to ask whether my high ferritin is linked to too much T3. She didn't know she said but was going to look into it. I told my GP that I couldn't see how it was linked as I had not been taking thyroid meds when it first went over the 'normal' range for a woman. I have yet to hear any further about this line of thought.

It was me who asked for my ferritin to be tested after reading about it here on ThyroidUK.

It was also me who put myself on thyroid medication in the first place after my TSH went up over 4 after being 2 in previous thyroid tests. I did this with the help of Dr P and it has been a long, hard road convincing the NHS that it was my thyroid NOT M.E./Fibromyalgia. The symptoms were/are numerous and unmistakable and I come from a family of diagnosed hypothyroid sufferers!

I have reduced my T3 by half a tablet, not 20mcg as the GP told me to, and already after about 3weeks feel pretty awful, achey, ragged and fed up.

I am hoping that someone on Health Unlocked can throw some light on the ferritin issue and share their thoughts on my dosage and blood results.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK]

One possibility is that you have haemochromatosis:

haemochromatosis.org.uk

Rod

[Hidden]

It might be as simple as you being undermedicated. I doubt T3 has anything to do with it--other than you perhaps not being on enough T3. High ferritin is often a sign of inflammation, so chronic thyroiditis for example might be enough to keep ferritin levels high.

This article provides some useful info: webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/fer...

[humanbean]

You and your GP might have a better idea of what was causing your ferritin to be high if your iron levels were tested too. If all your iron levels (and related tests) were normal while your ferritin was high then, as LilyMay says above, the cause could well be inflammation somewhere. Unfortunately, it won't help you find out where the inflammation actually is.

There is a useful chart about half way down this page :

labtestsonline.org.uk/under...

And the whole section on that site about iron testing and the related tests is worth reading :

labtestsonline.org.uk/under...

Your doctor really needs to do some more digging to find out why your ferritin is so high. Just blaming your thyroid medication is a lazy diagnosis for which he appears to have absolutely no evidence.

This page might be worth reading as well :

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemoc...