Hi, Can someone please explain the following blood results as my GP doesn't think there is an issue:
Serum iron level
44.6 umol/L 11.6 - 31.3 Abnormal
Se unsat iron binding capacity
19 umol/L 12 – 43 Normal
Total iron binding capacity
63.6 umol/L 45.0 - 72.0 Normal
Percentage iron saturation
70.1 % <45% Abnormal
Serum ferritin
39 ng/mL 15 - 275 Normal
I am not taking iron supplements or vitamin C as my Red Blood Count, Haematocrit and Haemoglobin are above range.
I think you have a problem with an MTHFR mutation, which seriously affects methylation and how the body deals with metals (like iron). This is very, very common, and many people can help themselves by supplementing decent doses of B vitamins (and possibly a few other things) of the right type.
stopthethyroidmadness.com/l...
stopthethyroidmadness.com/m...
drmyhill.co.uk/wiki/CFS_-_T...
Look at the supplements list in the third link, and concentrate on just methylcobalamin and methylfolate to begin with.
Start the suggested (daily) dose of methylcobalamin (1mg = 1000mcg) first, wait a week then add in a supplement of methylfolate (400mcg). Both of these things are easily sourced online on Amazon, Ebay, HealthMonthly, and dozens of other supplement sites. Holland & Barrett and supermarkets in the UK are NOT a good source.
[Folic acid is NOT an acceptable substitute for methylfolate - read this :
chriskresser.com/folate-vs-... ]
Just taking methylcobalamin and methylfolate may be sufficient for the body to start the methylation cycle going again and moving iron into ferritin and out of the bloodstream. But if it isn't, then start adding the other things that Dr Myhill suggests, one at a time, with a couple of weeks gap between each addition.
If you start feeling better, you may want to drop the methylfolate and the methylcobalamin and start taking a good quality B Complex which contains all the B vitamins in decent doses in their activated forms (it is probably cheaper than buying lots of individual B vitamins) :
thorne.com/products/dp/basi...
There are other brands available which are good - you could ask for advice on that to see what other people use.
Please note that taking biotin (often found in supplements) can affect the results of many blood tests. To overcome this problem stop taking any product containing biotin 3 or 4 days before having blood testing done, then restart it after the blood has been taken.
I have previously supplemented with methylcobalamin b12, b complex and methylfolate but this had no impact on blood levels of iron:
Serum vitamin B12
956 ng/L
187 - 883 (before supplementing with B12 it was always in the range 420 - 500)
Serum folate
18.5 ug/L
3.1 - 20.5 (before supplementing with folate it was always in the range 13 - 15)
2 years ago my ferritin level was 524.8 and over the course of 12 months had fallen to 67.3 as I started to give blood in order to manage my Haematocrit and Haemoglobin levels. This has now stabilised in the range of 39 - 42.
Serum iron has always been above range since I first got tested 5 years ago.
Percentage iron saturation has been above range since I first got tested 2 years ago and 12 months ago was 71.5%.
So has your doctor even considered haemochromatosis?
Not until I mentioned it.
He said it couldn’t be Haemochromatosis as my ferritin wasn’t raised.
Does your doctor know that you give blood? It would make a difference to how your ferritin level was viewed.
But presumably your doctor has the records showing your ferritin used to be raised? Or did you have those tests done privately?
It was tested by the NHS but he simply viewed my ferritin level in isolation and said it was likely due to inflammation!
Has he ever tested you for infection? I don't know how this would be done, but I would assume some results from a Full Blood Count might show the effects of infection e.g. raised lymphocytes, WBC, Platelet Count?
labtestsonline.org.uk/tests...
In the above link click on each + sign for more info.
I'm sure there are other important tests that would need to be done, but I don't know what they are.
Lymphocytes, WBC, Platelet Count, etc have always been in range (going back 5 years) so no sign of infection from blood tests.
Can it be Haemochromatosis if ferritin is now in range?
I don't know. I would think that getting blood taken regularly would have a big impact on ferritin levels, but I don't know how often you've been doing it, nor how recently it was done before the test - and I don't think it would help me to know this information anyway, since I'm not a haematologist.
This website has a lot of info about iron and hemochromatosis :
You have to dig rather a lot though, and ignore the adverts!
Just checked and 2 months after my ferritin level was 524.8 it had fallen to 309, two months later it was back up to 490. I then started donating blood 1 week after that and have been donating blood every 12 weeks ever since resulting in a steady decline of ferritin.
I have had a good look through various bits on that site and my results are similar to 'iron avidity' other than there is no mention of high iron serum:
irondisorders.org/Websites/...
On other Haemochromatosis sites I have looked at the main factor for a diagnosis of Haemochromatosis is a high percentage iron saturation level and/or an elevated level of ferritin but these tend to be American sites. The UK sites state that percentage iron saturation and ferritin must be evelated which really confuses things.
I wonder if IP6 would be useful in this situation. I don't know a whole lot about it but it has something to do with iron.
Iron-deficiency anemia: IP-6 binds with iron in the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. This reduces the amount of iron that the body absorbs from food and supplements.
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