Ferritin Facts please!

[Jooju2004]

Hi all,

I wondered if anyone could please point me in the right direction. After a blood test showing my ferritin level to be 74 whilst on 200mg prescription ferrous sulphate daily a different GP has advised I no longer need to take this (whilst continuing to prescribe B12 injections and folate). I remember reading lots on here that we need ferritin levels to be optimum to help convert T4 - could anyone please give me links to any articles or reports/studies to back this up? I’m happy to buy the supplements if necessary, but I also would like my GP to agree that it IS necessary before I do.

I’d be really grateful for anything I can pass on to my GP practice. Thanks so much.

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Jooju2004

What is the reference range? A ferritin level of 74 would be fine if the range is 13-150 (often seen here), but if the upper limit is, say, 200 or 300 then it's recommended to be half way through range for us Hypos. However, as far as doctors are concerned anywhere within range is fine.

Personally, I wouldn't be unhappy with a level of 74 and I'd just eat liver every couple of weeks which would at least maintain it, maybe even increase it. If you want it higher then eat liver once a week (or liver pate, black pudding and other iron rich foods). Your GP is not obliged to prescribe iron tablets with a level such as yours.

You could also buy it yourself, usually available on ebay and amazon, it's quite cheap.

[Jooju2004 in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thank you for the reply

Yeah I’m happy with my ferritin level - but I don’t seem able to sustain it without supplements, despite my unhealthy love of black pudding and pate! I don’t mind buying a supplement myself, but I just wanted to throw some statistics at my GP about why I feel I need to do so. The only reason my level is where it is is because they prescribe the ferritin. I’m not sure what they expect to happen without it 😔.

My hair went so so thin at the start of this journey, has barely recovered, and I felt so so unwell, that I’m now probably slightly obsessive about getting my levels right and keeping them there.

Thank you again x

[jimh111]

Assuming normal reference intervals a ferritin of 74 is more than enough for perfect deiodinase. There's no evidence low ferritin affects deiodinase other than one study in rats that had very low levels. There is evidence that hypothyrodism can lead to anaemia.

About a quarter of the world's population is anaemic but they are not hypothyroid. Going from memory about half the female population has a ferritin below 40 (can't remember the precise figure but it's thereabouts).

[Jooju2004 in reply to jimh111]

Thanks for the reply - yes I found that study, and I can find so many websites and quotes stating optimal levels of ferritin for thyroid function - but no links to medical authorities showing where those ‘optimal levels’ come from or how they have been proven.

If the many web pages are correct then for the sake of my hair (!) I don’t want my ferritin levels any lower, but it is a bit frustrating that I can’t find any reference for the ‘optimal levels’.

[jimh111 in reply to Jooju2004]

There was a study that claimed an ‘optimal’ ferritin of 70 for hair growth - carried out by a company that sells a shampoo with iron. An alternative doctor then used this to claim optimal ferritin should be 70 or higher for effective deiodinase and this has been passed on and on. Most healthy women have a ferritin well below 70, I can’t find the reference at the moment, I posted it on the forum a year or so ago.

[Jooju2004 in reply to jimh111]

Thank you - I love how folklore becomes fact so easily! Saying that, even if there is no science behind it, until I got my ferritin levels up my hair was scarily thin, so even if it’s unrelated to my thyroid, I need to keep those levels up.

I struggle to keep my ferritin (and B12, folate and D) levels high enough without the supplements so I can’t help but feel it’s all related to my thyroid and therefore should be treated/optimised medically, rather than me guessing what I need and self-medicating.

[PiggySue]

I find it very interesting that there is a different level of ferritin for men and women....How do they decide that a woman is healthy with a ferritin level well below 70?

[Jooju2004 in reply to PiggySue]

Daft isn’t it?!

For me it’s the ‘ranges’ the medical profession use, don’t worry about how people actually feel or anything! At my most ill my B12, folate and iron were all at the bottom of, but still within their ‘range’ - yet i couldn’t function! Never had a day off work in my life but 3 months off because my vitamins were technically in range!

I know GPs have such a difficult job and work within very tight constraints but I do think putting symptoms before ‘ranges’ would help enormously. x