I am so fed up its unbelievable!! For 2.5 years I've been having symptoms, Ibs, hair loss, fatigue, irregular periods, easy bruising but doctors tell me I'm normal!!!
Beginning of Last year my ferritin was 29 (13-150 range) today I got my results and its 30!!! They said my blood results are normal! My mean cell haemaglobin is 28.6 (27.0-32.0) range.
Mean cell haemaglobin concentration 318 (310-360 range) please someone shed some light. I'm pretty much being called a hypochondriac!!
1) Do you take iron supplements?
2) If yes, what kind and how much?
3) Also, if yes do you stop taking iron for a few days before testing?
4) Do you fast and have an early morning blood draw?
5) Do you eat gluten?
Hi
I have been taking spatone as that is all I can tolerate and it's only gone from 29 to 30 in a year! I did not stop taking them before the bloods. Bloods were done in the afternoon not fasting and no can't tolerate some kinds of gluten mainly in pasta and bread but I have not cut it out of my diet as I have tested negative to celiac disease.
As far as I am aware my other levels are all normal.
Regarding the timing of iron blood tests :
Source : nhs.uk/chq/Pages/1018.aspx?...
Iron blood test
Iron blood tests are usually taken in the morning before you eat anything. You should also avoid taking iron pills or tablets for 24 hours before your test. Your body absorbs iron very quickly from food or pills, so this can raise your iron levels and affect the test results.
Source : stopthethyroidmadness.com/l...
NOTE: for most of the below, we learned from our more progressive doctors that you’ll need to be off what you are testing for a minimum of 12 hours, i.e. take nothing the morning of the test. For iron, we learned to be off for 5 days based on information from the Iron Institute, i.e. to see what we are “holding onto”.
Regarding gluten :
I was tested for coeliac disease and it came back negative. Last year, several years after the negative results, I went 100% gluten-free, no cheating (although I did make some mistakes). I had struggled for nearly two years to get my ferritin up to mid-range and it increased agonisingly slowly, despite me taking 3 x 210mg ferrous fumarate every day. Within about 3 or 4 months of giving up gluten my ferritin shot up suddenly and quite dramatically to well over mid-range. I don't need to supplement any more and I don't get breathless. Could you try going strictly gluten-free for at least three months to see if it helps? You can always go back to gluten if it doesn't.
Regarding the supplements you take :
I've seen lots of people saying good things about ferrous (or iron) bisglycinate. (I've never tried it myself.) It might be worth a trial? It has more iron in than spatone.
amazon.co.uk/Solgar-Gentle-...
There are other kinds of iron supplement. It is possible to take ferritin directly and also haem/heme. Helvella wrote about them here :
healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...
dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u...
Since you have so many problems with iron you might do better with ferritin and/or haem/heme supplements. I think it would be worth the experiment.
Also remember to take vitamin c with Iron to increase absorption. This one is not acid so shouldn't upset your tummy:
Here's a link which tells about low ferritin and hair loss....
healthguidance.org/entry/42...
Never mind what your doc says about being normal. You patently are not or you wouldnt feel so crap.....
What have you been taking to help the low ferritin? Its obviously not worked.....
G x
How are your other levels of B12 - Folate - VitD - ?? They all need to be optimal for you to feel well.
when i took vit c with the iron glyn form...it raised the iron quickly....
Ferritin
Ferritin
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