Why is ferritin level raised?

[Jg2203]

Raised ferritin level of 172 but not taking iron supplements - any ideas why please?

[Heloise]

It seems inflammation will cause that for some reason and inflammation comes about when the body is upset about something. Chronic illness usually has underlying inflammation.

[ShootingStars]

Hi Jg2203. Raised ferritin can be a serious problem and can damage organs if the cause is a condition called hemochromatosis. What symptoms do you have? Also, what is the reference range for your ferritin test?

High ferritin warrants a complete iron panel to look at all of your iron values.

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Jg2203

What is the top of the range? Some ranges are 13-150, others go up to 300. It the top of the range is 150, then you are slightly elevated and this could be inflammation or infection. Do you have hypothyroidism? If so, is it autoimmune - Hashimoto's? Hashi's can cause inflammation and that may be a reason.

Did you have an iron panel or just ferritin? If an iron panel, what were the other results?

[janey1234]

My latest Medichecks tests came back with elevated Ferritin and I've always been mid range and couldn't figure out why. Comments on the report were to not be concerned and to retest in 3 months.

I did however try to retrace my diet / medication steps and read somewhere that the cold remedy medication and high Vitamin C intake that I had been taking a couple of days beforehand could have been the reason for the levels going over the top of the range.

Had you been unwell at all just prior to your test? Hopefully it's just a blip.

I wish you well ☺

[thyr01d in reply to janey1234]

Hi Janey

Please, would you tell me what was in your cold remedy that raised your ferritin because I have long-term low ferritin that does not even come up much after years of prescribed ferrous fumarate. Perhaps I could drink the cold remedy!

[janey1234 in reply to thyr01d]

That's not the way to raise your ferritin levels!

[thyr01d in reply to janey1234]

I totally agree with you that it's not a good way, but I hope you will be kind and not withhold the information and deny me choice about what to try with my own body. I am in a very poor state and if I could get the ferritin level up, even using an ill-advised method very briefly, I might then be able to maintain it.

[Cooper27 in reply to thyr01d]

Do you take vitamin C? It helps absorption!

[thyr01d in reply to Cooper27]

Yes, as much as I can, and as a vegan I eat a lot of foods rich in vitamin C as well ... all to no avail! Thanks for the suggestion

[Hashi-Monster]

I had high ferritin about 6 months ago ... I looked at my diet and removed a few things high in heme iron (mainly prawns) and high in Vit C (tomato juice) 3 months later it was back in range

[Cooper27]

Do you take any supplements? I think my iron was thrown over by a high daily dose of vitamin C, so it could be something like that.

The advice is to retest in 3 months, and if still elevated, you need to look at what's causing it.

Mine was 174, then 3 months later it was 152 (top of scale was 150) so it's coming down now I've changed vitamin C supplement. I'm tempted to go donate blood (which is basically what they'd do to bring down ferritin at the GPs), but I'd want to wait for the 3 month retest before trying anything like that.