High ferritin levels on medichecks . Please can you advise how to bring levels down

[JoeyP]

Hi please can anyone help me ? Please be gentle as I do suffer with massive anxiety when it come to my health problems. I am 53 years old and post menopausal. I have been hypothyroid for 20 years and take Levothyroxine 100mg. Over the last couple of years I during the menopause I noticed that I was becoming more symptomatic with anxiety and depression, fatigue, joint and muscle pains, insomnia, brain fog and difficulties losing weight despite being a regular member of SlimmingWorld. My GP referred me to a rheumatologist but he diagnosed osteoarthritis and post menopausal flare of pain (climacteric arthritis) and tennis elbow in both elbows. He wants to refer me to aphysiotherapist . I took the medichecks blood test as advised here on this site and the results are back TPA 107 (0.0- 34.0) and ferritin 179 ( 13-150.0) so now I am really anxious and need your sensible advice. I do have another GP check this week so will take these results with me and hope I get somewhere 😊

[fibrolinda]

It could be as simple as inflammation making ferritin high. I assume you're not supplementing iron? Or eating lots of liver? Best thing is to get a full iron panel / iron status check which hopefully your GP will do... Should do 🙂 But please try not to worry, easier said than done I know 🙄 Your folate is too low, best mid range as is your vitamin d, best 100-150.

[JoeyP in reply to fibrolinda]

Thanks for replying so quickly. No not supplementing with anything. Just take Levo 100 every morning. Don’t like liver !

Will ask GP for full iron panel status xx

[m7-cola]

First I don’t think your ferritin is very over range. When mine was a similarly slightly over range I stopped eating red meat (pork, turkey and chicken are all ok). If you google you’ll see what else is recommended.

In two months eating carefully I brought down my ferritin well within range.

[JoeyP in reply to m7-cola]

Thankyou I will definitely cut back on red meat. So do you not think my levels are too high ? I was really scared and my anxiety really kicks in so was the reason I posted . I really appreciate your support 😊

[Rosepetal60 in reply to JoeyP]

I wish my ferritin level was similar to yours, mine is 600 +& I only eat red meat very rarely. About 2 or 3 times a year at the very most.

Many years ago, In one of the Arthritis booklets I think I remember reading, it advises to try and avoid red meat. So I did.

[G2G2]

Your ferritin is probably high because of your CRP. This indicates inflammation. My ferritin's high due to high CRP. I cut back on red meat, retired the cast iron skillet & stopped taking Vit C with meals since Vit C gets iron into cells. I won't know if this has helped until my next labs.

[JoeyP in reply to G2G2]

Thankyou I will cut back on red meat as I do eat it regularly. I had also been drinking lots of water with lemon juice and eating lots of oranges daily thinking this was good for my health. Will see how this helps. 😊

[G2G2 in reply to JoeyP]

Water with lemon juice is good. Just don't drink it with foods high in iron.

[Fruitandnutcase]

My ferritin is similar to yours. Rightly or wrongly I haven’t followed it up with my GP because I have several autoimmune conditions and I know that inflammation can be a cause of raised ferritin which is most like.t in my case however it can also be caused by haemochromatosis which is quite serious.

I agree with fibrolinda that your Vit D and folate are too low.

I’ve read that you can lower your ferritin by giving blood. I thought of doing that that although I’m at the upper end of the age limit but I haven’t been donating regularly recently however I’m taking hydroxychloroquine for my inflammatory arthritis which rules me out for donating.

I did massively reduce my thyroid antibodies by going totally gluten free about three years ago. I started to see what happened and it made such a difference I haven’t gone back. It has also helped with my IBS. If you decide to try gluten free joine CoeliacUK - they have a great website which offers loads of help, recipes and advice plus an amazing food dictionary that lists all gluten free foods. Well worth the subscription especially when you are starting off.

Best see what your GP says about all your test results though. .

[JoeyP in reply to Fruitandnutcase]

Thanks for your support. Yes I will look at going gluten free and joining celiac uk as I understand it can help lower inflammation. Will try anything to be honest. Autoimmune issues can be quite a problem 😊

[Fruitandnutcase in reply to JoeyP]

Do you have other autoimmune conditions that could cause inflammation that would cause raised ferritin? I’ve just looked through my ferritin results and the highest mine got to was 295(13-150) ! It’s come down to 175 (13-150) which is good.

I’ve just looked back at my blood test results and notice that in the years that I’ve been GF my CRP has come right down as well as my thyroid antibodies.

If you want your GP to test you for gluten allergies or intolerances then don’t cut out gluten until you’ve done that, the test won’t work if you do that.

[JoeyP in reply to Fruitandnutcase]

Thankyou. As far as I know only Hashimotos . I will discuss going gluten free with my GP tomorrow . How are you feeling? Do you have any symptoms with high ferritin levels ? I am currently detoxing by cutting out caffeine and red meat . Going gluten free is my next step after my consultation and another blood draw . Will let you know how it goes 😊 thanks again for your support. Means a lot xx

[Fruitandnutcase in reply to JoeyP]

Hashimotos is an autoimmune condition which could account for your ferritin being on the high side. I’m not aware of any symptoms, I get aches and pains but I think it’s most likely to be the inflammatory arthritis that causes them, I get tired by night time but I’m a very active 70 year old so I think that’s probably normal. I found this a few minutes ago on iron rich foods. It’s for people with haemochromatosis but it shows where the iron in our food comes from so it’s interesting in that respect. Having read it I’m definitely going to stop supplementing Vitamin C! That could be the cause of my over the range ferritin.

Good luck with your doctor. Definitely keep in touch and let me know what he / she says about it 🙂