MCV / Anemia, but normal B12 levels????

[Senorita_Squiffy]

Hi. I've just had some tests done by my GP including a blood profile.

My MCV levels have come out a bit high. Does anyone have any experience of this?

From what I've read Nonmegaloblastic macrocytic anemia can be caused by Hypothyroidism.

My ferritin level is quite low also, no idea if this is in any way related.

B12 has come back as normal.

Mean corpuscular volume (MCV) 95.5 fL 77.00 - 95.00fL

FERRITIN - Serum ferritin 28 ug/L 20.00 - 200.00ug/L

Serum vitamin B12 412 ng/L 180.00 - 1100.00ng/L

Thanks so much guys!

[JanD236]

Did you have folate tested? Folate deficiency can cause high MCV.

[Senorita_Squiffy in reply to JanD236]

Hi, yes:

Serum folate 12.1 ug/L 3.00 - 13.00ug/L

[pinkjess17]

Your b12 is quite low, you need it around 1000. You can take 1000mcg methyl b12 a day to raise levels, Jarrows is a god brand.

[Senorita_Squiffy in reply to pinkjess17]

Oh, ok! thanks. I thought that it was fine as the range given was from 180ng/l.

I'll order a supplement. The Jarrow one looks good, but contains xylitol, so I might go for the drops instead as I'm trying to follow AIP at the moment

[Gambit62]

iron deficiency will cause microcytic anaemia - in which your red blood cells are smaller than normal.

macrocytic anaemia is normally a result of either B12 or folate deficiency.

It would actually be unusual to be deficient at either the B12 or folate levels reported in your post - though that doesn't rule out problems with processing B12 and folate as all serum B12 is doing is measuring what is happening in your blood, rather than what is happening in cells.

Have you been supplementing either recently? Is this a follow on test from one that lead to treatment for either B12 or folate deficiency?

Lot more on B12 deficiency on the PAS forum

healthunlocked.com/pasoc

[Senorita_Squiffy in reply to Gambit62]

Thanks gambit

This is my first test for either deficiency. I've taken a B-complex tablet in the past year, but not for a few months. Is there any way of knowing whether my body isn't processing them properly?

[Gambit62 in reply to Senorita_Squiffy]

supplementing can really screw serum B12 results for a very long time, so quite possible that you do have an absorption problem - if you were using very high dose B12 for instance - the way of confirming that would be to look for drops in B12 levels over time.

The way of looking at whether you have enough B12 available at the cell level is to look at harmful waste products that build up if your cells don't have enough B12 to recycle them into useful building blocks - generally that means looking at homocysteine and MMA levels.

[Senorita_Squiffy in reply to Gambit62]

Thank you. That really helps. Would you then recommend testing those two levels to confirm and hold off on supplementation? If there is an absorption problem do you know if there is any way to remedy this? It's all so confusing and complicated!!

[Gambit62 in reply to Senorita_Squiffy]

unfortunately the supplementation can affect the result of the tests and there is actually some discussion in parts of the literature about how accurate using the tests can be, ie it is confusing and complicated.

I'm not entirely sure that there is a direct link between hypothyroidism and megaloblastic anaemia as I think the relationship may be that there is a high cross over between auto-immune hypothyroidism and auto-immune gastritis (possibly because cells in the thyroid develop from the same embryonic cells as the gut so antibodies that attack one may well become antibodies that attack the other).

Looking for a drop in B12 levels over time whilst not supplementing is likely to be a better indicator of whether you have an absorption problem.