I have written a post about my iron panel healthunlocked.com/thyroidu.... To summarise, all my panel results are well below optimal, except for Ferritin (according to my doctor).
It shows my Ferritin at 101 ug/L with the range being 30 - 500. I live in New Zealand.
I got responses that say that I should be aiming for mid range so 30 + (500 - 30) / 2 = 265 ug/L. My doctor (who is no ordinary GP, but a good functional doctor) says that 100 is about the max that I should push my Ferritin. I've also read in other places like Stop the thyroid madness (stopthethyroidmadness.com/l..., that 100-130 for men is what Ferritin should be (although it doesn't give units or the range).
Can someone with experience (or qualifications?) shine a light on this? Perhaps the NZ range is too broad and all that matters is that Ferritin shouldn't go above 100 ug/L (or perhaps 130)?
I guess it's very strange to have such conflicting advice: 100 (or 130 say) vs 260 ug/L. It's a massive difference and I don't want to screw up my health one way or the other (too much or too little ferritin).
Basically the end game would be, if I have more than enough room to push my Ferritin, then I could supplement to increase my Iron panel across the board with supplementation.
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ak_83
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Can someone with experience (or qualifications?) shine a light on this?
You won't (or shouldn't) find anyone on this forum who claims to have any qualifications. The forum rules say that everyone should be assumed to be entirely unqualified. And if anyone does claim to have any qualifications I would be very dubious about this because they are leaving themselves open to being sued by the people they are advising, and also leaving themselves open to censure and other punishments from any professional or certifying body they belong to. And why would any qualified person do that?
"This is a patient to patient forum and no one, including the Admin team, on this community should be assumed to have medical training of any sort."
"10. People posting and/or answering on the site should not be assumed to be health professionals."
As for people being "experienced", in interpreting iron, nobody should be assumed to have any experience of interpreting iron levels other than their own results.
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I'll give you an example of some of the problems that can arise if people ignore reference ranges. The following are some of my own results from a few years ago :
May 2013 Ferritin = 21
Nov 2013 Ferritin = 67.7
Jul 2014 Ferritin = 41.5
What does that tell you? That my ferritin level improved massively in a short time then dropped back?
It gives a different story if I include the reference ranges and the percentage through the range :
May 2013 21 (13 - 150) 6% of the way through the range
Nov 2013 67.7 (13 - 400) 14% of the way through the range
Jul 2014 41.5 (13 - 150) 21% of the way through the range.
In reality my ferritin was very slowly getting better over the 14 months these tests were done. I was taking 3 x ferrous fumarate 210mg per day the whole time.
You'll often find references online to ferritin in women being ideal when it reaches 70 (no units or reference ranges given). STTM seems to have been the original source of that on many thyroid forums. So, that suggests my Ferritin in Nov 2013 was damn near perfect. But at only 14% of the way through the range I was terribly low in iron and felt absolutely awful. My serum iron and transferrin saturation were no better than my ferritin at the time of these tests.
Ask your functional doctor why 100 is a good optimal level for ferritin, when the reference range for your lab test goes up to 500. And ask him what his response would be if the reference range went up to 400 or 300 or 200. Results can only be interpreted in relation to the reference ranges. If no reference range is given then any opinion on the numbers is simply someone talking random rubbish.
Thanks, yes I see the logic there. Also thank you for alerting me to the fact that basically no actual doctors hang out here.
I just thought perhaps someone from Australia or Mew Zealand might shed some light on local practices?
I do agree with what you are saying. It all makes sense. There might not be any better way for me to find this out other than asking my doctor.
The problem is, I wouldn't want to go against her advice as she often prescribes tests and meds that other GPs would not. So I just wanted some good arguments to put to her other than "according to the Internet...". Basically in this case I am trying to prove to her that supplementing with iron is what I need. If she says no I'm maxed out on my ferritin, then that would be that with her.
Oh, I'm sure some actual doctors do hang out here occasionally. But if they are sensible they won't mention that they are doctors.
We've had a few pompous idiots coming here, implying that they are doctors, and giving us all the benefit of their wisdom. And sadly, I think that at least some of those pompous idiots were real doctors.
The people who come to this forum are often those patients who have been brushed off, and were told by doctors that they were anxious, depressed, needed to eat less and move more, everything is in range, and they are mentally ill.
Even though we aren't doctors the group as a whole can help people to feel better than they did to some degree. And that is the whole point of the forum.
I think your doctor's comments with regard to iron are fairly typical of doctors everywhere. My doctor didn't see any problems with my very low in range ferritin and when I asked for a prescription for iron supplements the prescription was slammed on the table in front of me and she glared at me.
Luckily for me I finally found out that prescription-strength iron tablets are available without a prescription in pharmacies, and I found out that I could pay for private testing without having to pay a doctor too. (I'm in the UK.) So I started treating and testing my own iron.
Are you concerned because you have to rely on this doctor for prescriptions for iron supplements? Are you sure you can't buy them over the internet? Have you investigated the possibility of doing testing with finger-prick blood tests through the post?
If you have no choice but to rely on a doctor to deal with your iron then, if you aren't vegetarian or vegan, you could eat liver once a week, and regularly include other foods in your diet with good levels of iron. If you want to know what they are just google for "foods that contain iron".
Basically, in NZ open minded and knowledgeable doctors with a medical degree (not just naturapaths) are far and few. Yes, I suppose I could try to get around and see if I can do my own testing for this. Wouldn't be surprised if it's not allowed in NZ though. The larger issue is I've self mediated before and got burnt. I would like to keep on good terms with my doctor for the iron as well as the whole hypothyroid journey too.
I’m in Australia and the reference range I have been seeing is 15-180 and I believe this is the range where having your ferritin at 80-100 would make you feel well. 30-500 seems very broad and whoever has been saying you should aim for somewhere in the middle was right.
Yes, it's puzzling as to why the ranges are so different between countries. Are your units the same? If so it must be the lab testing methods that differ and give such different ranges.
Ranges don't just vary between countries but between laboratories.
In the case of ferritin, we see a lot of ranges that go up to around 150, and another lot that go higher (more typically 300 but have seen higher as well) despite using the same units.
However, we also see that people with ferritin in the area of around 150 to 300 (on reference ranges of up to 150) are virtually always told that there is nothing to worry about and there is nothing to be done until the levels go up much higher. (Then blood letting can be used.) At most, they are advised to avoid high iron foods, stop supplements that contain iron, but no active treatment.
I have a suspicion, and that is all it is, that the ranges that go up to 300 or so are simply acknowledging that reality - nothing will be done until much higher - so why not just set top of range higher?
I also struggled in this area and had to have two IVe that eventually sorted me out. Not sure where you currently live and if your insurance would cover but worth a try? I am in Australia and had to pay out of pocket 600 dollars 😕 auch.
Oh sorry to hear that. I think you should discus IV option with your doctor particularly as with coeliac you’ll have absorption issues so IV can be your only option!
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Total confusion about Ferritin (Medichecks) results!
Iron levels -test results
low Ferritin
Thyroid results 
Taking iron supplements but iron level lower and ferritin 100 over upper-range/overloaded, WHY?
