Advice needed on serum ferritin level

[Raventhorpe]

Hi all I am a bit worried about my ferritin level as was high when last tested

197.4 (13.0 -150.0) Date done 27/10 /16

After getting print out of blood test done in last year from dr I have seen it was also high in may 20/16

198.5 (13.0 -150.0)

I have not been taking any iron supplements so not sure how it can be this high any advice on what I should do 1

[Clutter]

Raventhorpe,

If you aren't supplementing iron the likely reason for ferritin being high is inflammation somewhere in the body. Has CRP been tested? It's usually done as part of a full blood count?

[Raventhorpe in reply to Clutter]

Hi clutter thanks for getting back to me,can't find CRPTest there's a ESR result 10 mm/hr 1-10 done in nov20/16 is this the same thing?

[Clutter in reply to Raventhorpe]

Raventhorpe,

ESR is an inflammation marker too.

labtestsonline.org.uk/under...

labtestsonline.org/understa...

[Raventhorpe in reply to Clutter]

Thanks clutter I'M guessing they did that test as I was complaining of joint pain at time ,they also done a bone profile at same time that came back ok, I'm sure it was because they had dropped my dose of levo at the time,docs are always looking for other things to blame symptoms on. Will ask doc about ferritin level after next blood test which is due in a couple of weeks. Thanks for your help

[Clutter in reply to Raventhorpe]

Raventhorpe,

If you've still got joint pain ask for vitD to be tested.

[Raventhorpe in reply to Clutter]

Thanks will do

[humanbean]

High ferritin can occur for lots of different reasons :

irondisorders.org/Websites/...

Sorting out which reasons apply to you can be a bit of a minefield!

[Raventhorpe in reply to humanbean]

Hi human bean yes I can see it's going to be difficult to find reason for it so I guess it's back to docs again for more blood tests that's if they will do them

[humanbean in reply to Raventhorpe]

You might want to print out that link I gave you and take it with you. It is only one page. Of course, I don't know how sensitive your doctor is to being shown such things...

[Raventhorpe in reply to humanbean]

My docs are pretty naff,lucky if you get to see same dr twice in a row but it's worth a try

[LynneG]

Hi Raventhorpe. I have what I consider high ferritin at 140. Most functional docs (find the root cause) that I have read or listened to feel shouldn't be over 100. Ideal 75 (bearing in mind Thyroid function)

My ferritin crept up following menopause. Women do not have as great a risk of Heart disease etc as men because they have periods and lose blood monthly. Once periods have stopped or infrequent the risk becomes equal in men and women. Once through menopause? your ferritin will climb. Also any infection will mean your body releases the hormone Hepcidin which makes your body retain iron in storage (ferritin) and so not allowing in a useable form in cells/serum to protect the body. Organisms/bacteria/parasites feed on iron. If you have suddenly developed an infection and perhaps through menopause, this could be a reason for such high iron stores and may only be temporary if the infection is temporary. However if it is a chronic inflammatory state (I have Rheumatoid and try through diet and supplements to get my inflammation levels down as low as possible) Checking with regular CRP marker blood tests. But my stored iron is still too high - it is known as anaemia of inflammation.

To check if this is the case - you should ask your GP for more indepth iron level tests. I have just had mine tested Serum iron, Serum TIBC, and Transferrin Saturation Index %. Mine have al come back low and my Saturation percentage is shockingly low at 18% (altho just normal - Ha! So Gp could say all your tests are normal! Even tho an irish study announced results 3/12/16 if have saturation% below 20 you are at 200% higher risk of heart attack) I just googled transferrin saturation and it was the first article to come up. not a lot of searching required. So basically I am borderline anaemic even tho high iron stores. I am still trying to find out what I should do about this.

But you should def ask for further indepth serum iron tests.

If you have high ferritin and you don't have low functional iron (maybe if you do, not found an answer to that yet) the best way to reduce your harmful ferritin stores is to donate blood regularly which bring your stores way back down. Don't do it tho until you have your further iron tests. Hope this helps.

[Raventhorpe]

Hi Lynne G I can't think of any illness I've had recently thou went through menopause years ago am definitely going to get doc to do checks for iron levels. Thanks for info.