Low ferritin

[gaellea]

Good afternoon,

I posted a week ago about my blood result and the fact that I am feeling constantly anxious and tired. I now have the results for vitamin D3,iron and ferritin. Which action would you take?I have just increased my thyroxin from 100 to 125. Thank you!

D3 111 nmol/L

Serrum transferrin 2.1 (2.00-3.60)

Serum iron 25.7 (5.80-34.5)

Serum ferritin 37 ugl (13-150)

TSH 1.3 (0.27 - 4.20)

T4 15.5 (12-22.00)

T3 3.5 (3.1 - 6.80)

B12 850 High (145 - 569)

Folate 32.6 (8.6-60.80)

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

gaellea

I have just increased my thyroxin from 100 to 125

Did you increase before this test?

If so how long between increase and this test? We should wait 6-8 weeks after dose change to allow thyroid levels to settle before testing.

Did you stop your multivitamin?

D3 111 nmol/L

This is a good level. The Vit D Society and Grassroots Health both recommend a level of 100-150nmol/L with a recent blog post on Grassroots Health recommending at least 125nmol/L. As we're now coming up to summer and you may be able to make Vit D from the sun, I would retest again around October time to see if you need to supplement during the winter.

Serrum transferrin 2.1 (2.00-3.60)

Serum iron 25.7 (5.80-34.5)

Serum ferritin 37 ugl (13-150)

Serum iron and transferrin don't suggest that you need to supplement iron. You have low ferritin but not iron deficiency. You can help raise your level by eating liver regularly, maximum 200g per week due to it's high Vit A content, also liver pate, black pudding, and including lots of iron rich foods in your diet

bda.uk.com/resource/iron-ri...

everydayhealth.com/pictures...

B12 850 High (145 - 569)

Assuming there was B12 in your multi I wouldn't worry too much about this, it would be the supplement that has taken your level over range.

Folate 32.6 (8.6-60.80)

Folate is recommended to be at least half way through range, so around 35 plus with that range. Maybe include lots of folate rich food in your diet.

I would retest all vitamins in a few months time to see if stopping your multi has made any difference and to see if eating iron rich foods has improved your ferritin level.

[gaellea in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thank you very much SeasideSusie. I increased the thyroxine the day after my thyroid and B12 result and stopped the multivitamins the same day. I had my iron blood test 5 days later. Still don’t understand why my ferritin is on the low side when my iron is ok. Considering I always feel tired wouldn’t it be beneficial to take some iron supplements? Thanks.

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to gaellea]

gaellea

I increased the thyroxine the day after my thyroid and B12 result

You increased the day after this result you've posted here, so as a result of the low FT4 and FT3?

If so then you need to retest 6-8 weeks after the increase to check your levels.

Still don’t understand why my ferritin is on the low side when my iron is ok.

Because they are two different things.

Ferritin is your iron store. When your body asks for iron, it gets drawn from your iron store. You can have good iron levels but poor ferritin.

Considering I always feel tired wouldn’t it be beneficial to take some iron supplements?

Not if you have good iron levels because taking iron tablets will raise your iron level too high and could become toxic, too much iron is as bad as too little. So if you have good iron levels and low ferritin then you have to find a way of raising ferritin (iron store) but not iron. The suggested way to do this is with foods listed above.