Iron panel results

[4youreyesonly]

Good morning, after advice on here decided to get iron panel done as low ferritin.

Iron 30 .3 range 5.8 -34.5

Ti bc 63.6 range 45-81

Uibc 33.3 range 24.2-70.1

Transferrin Sat 47% range 20-50

Ferritin 40.6 range 13-150

My ferritin is usually 15 to 20 .

I have blood tests every month,sometimes every fortnight depending on my neutrophil count. I assume that without that some of these results may be too high . Any comments welcome please. At present iam sub clinical .

[SlowDragon Administrator]

Will flag up for humanbean and SeasideSusie to comment on

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

4youreyesonly

Your iron panel is good and doesn't show iron deficiency. So it's the low ferritin you need to address. Taking iron tablets will take your iron and saturation too high and too much iron is as bad as too little and can lead to toxicity.

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...

[4youreyesonly in reply to SeasideSusie]

Thank you, probably a silly question but why does eating more iron rich food help ferritin and not just raise iron levels evenmore

[SeasideSusie Remembering in reply to 4youreyesonly]

I don't know, but in my experience of having a good serum iron and saturation and low ferritin, I have raised my ferritin to a certain extent without affecting iron and saturation levels.

[humanbean in reply to 4youreyesonly]

probably a silly question but why does eating more iron rich food help ferritin and not just raise iron levels evenmore

It isn't a silly question. It's actually rather a complicated one.

I'm going to describe a condition called Anaemia of Chronic Disease (ACD), to explain how iron and ferritin interact.

Imagine you caught a fungal infection. That fungus wants to reproduce. One of the essential requirements for reproduction is iron.

Iron must be kept away from the fungus as much as possible. The human body needs iron for lots and lots of processes and can't survive without it, and in the fight between a fungus and a human body there is no guarantee that the human would win.

So, to tip the odds in favour of the human and reduce the odds for the fungus, the body treats iron in the bloodstream (i.e. serum iron) and ferritin (iron stores) differently.

Pathogens like funguses can't get at iron in ferritin, but they can get it from serum iron. So a healthy body with a fungus will store more iron in ferritin and reduce the iron in the blood stream. The patient won't feel great but at least they'll live while the immune system does its best to destroy the fungus.

In ACD the human with a fungus will have low serum iron and high ferritin.

And in healthy people iron will move from the blood stream into ferritin and back again as required.

Note there are many kinds of pathogens that could trigger ACD - bacteria, viruses, fungal infections, moulds, cancers and probably others too.

But there are other iron-related problems where things go wrong in a different way. Imagine the process that makes iron move freely into ferritin and back again isn't working well. This can happen if nutrients are too low, particularly vitamin B12 and folate. So, if the person in this situation takes iron they may end up with very high iron, and low(ish) ferritin. This is not a good situation to be in if the person gets a pathogen - it could reproduce far too easily.

...

Your results

Iron 30 .3 range 5.8 -34.5 --- 85% of the way through the range

Ti bc 63.6 range 45-81 --- 52% of the way through the range

Uibc 33.3 range 24.2-70.1 --- 20% of the way through the range

Transferrin Sat 47% range 20-50

Ferritin 40.6 range 13-150 --- 20% of the way through the range

My ferritin is usually 15 to 20 .

---

Optimal results for iron and iron-related tests from this link :

rt3-adrenals.org/Iron_test_...

Iron is above optimal.

TIBC is roughly mid-range which is good.

UIBC - I don't know what optimal is for this

Transferrin Saturation - slightly over optimal but not by much

Ferritin - Optimal is roughly 50% - 65% of the way through the range. Yours is too low. Low ferritin will cause fatigue.

...

Based on what I said earlier in this reply, it is possible that taking iron supplements may push your iron even higher (it is already going in that direction) and your ferritin lower.

Please read these links :

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

stopthethyroidmadness.com/h...

stopthethyroidmadness.com/m...

[Note STTM uses US units of measurement and reference ranges, so any numbers quoted can't be compared to numbers from British testing.]

If you have results from testing Vitamin B12, folate, and any other nutrients please post them with their reference ranges. There are some people who have optimised their B12 and folate and without taking iron at all their iron levels have greatly improved, because some of their high serum iron has been moved into ferritin. For some people this won't work because the nutrient(s) they need haven't been identified ( because the tests to identify them haven't been done).

...

Please note that I am not a doctor, and have no medical training whatsoever.

[4youreyesonly in reply to humanbean]

Thank you ,yes it is complicated but you explained it extremely well.I had the following done by gap in feb.I take b12 now but not when I had this done

Serum B12 612 (150-1,000)

Folate 24 (2.0-18.8) Take folic acid because of being on methotrexate prescribed by consultant.

VitD 62

Calcium 2.35(2.2-2.6) Take Accrete D3 for osteopenia .

Coeliac - normal

Thanks for your help and advice

[humanbean in reply to 4youreyesonly]

Serum B12 612 (150-1,000)

Folate 24 (2.0-18.8) Take folic acid because of being on methotrexate prescribed by consultant.

VitD 62

Calcium 2.35(2.2-2.6) Take Accrete D3 for osteopenia .

Coeliac - normal

...

Vitamin B12

Serum B12 612 (150-1,000)

See this link : rt3-adrenals.org/Miscellane...

From that link :

Vitamin B12

• Optimal is over range, usually above 1000 pg/mL (738 pmol/L)

Note that ng/L and pg/mL are equivalent i.e. 1 ng/L = 1 pg/mL. My own test results for B12 always come with a unit of measurement of ng/L.

There are different opinions on what optimal B12 is.

1) Above 500ng/L

2) Top half of the range

3) Top of range

4) 1000 ng/L

5) Over 1000 ng/L

Personally I keep my own level between 1000 ng/L and 2000 ng/L as best I can because I've found it helps keep my eczema at bay. Note that B12 is not poisonous.

Some links on the subject of B12 :

b12deficiency.info/signs-an...

stichtingb12tekort.nl/engli...

stichtingb12tekort.nl/weten...

Best form of B12 supplement for many people is methylcobalamin - it can be bought on Amazon and other supplements sites.

...

Folate 24 (2.0-18.8) Take folic acid because of being on methotrexate prescribed by consultant.

Symptoms of folate deficiency :

b12deficiency.info/folate-b...

In people NOT taking methotrexate the optimal level in a folate test is upper half of the reference range.

I'm not going to discuss your folate levels because I have just read that folic acid, folate, and methotrexate have a complicated relationship, and my biochemistry knowledge is not up to the job of working out what is going on.

I'll just give you some links that might be of interest :

pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/p...

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK5...

takecareof.com/articles/ben...

chriskresser.com/folate-vs-...

...

Vitamin D

VitD 62

Optimal for Vitamin D is considered to be 100 nmol/L - 150nmol/L although some sources suggest 125 nmol/L.

You might find this link of interest :

grassrootshealth.net/projec...

...

Calcium 2.35(2.2-2.6) Take Accrete D3 for osteopenia.

Your calcium level looks fine. I should point out that increasing vitamin D will raise the body's absorption of calcium.

Some considerations...

Some people won't take calcium supplements if their calcium hasn't been tested and shown to be deficient. If calcium level is high in range, there is evidence that excess calcium can end up lining the arteries and causing kidney stones. Also, too much calcium may increase density of the bones but it also makes bones brittle so they snap more easily.

Another link that may be of interest (related to osteopaenia) is this one :

npr.org/2009/12/21/12160981...

...

When taking Vitamin D it is important to take various other co-factors - they are :

1) Vitamin K2 which helps to send calcium to the bones and teeth rather than lining the arteries. (This is NOT the same as Vitamin K1 which is involved in blood clotting). Your best bet for info on this is taking a look at SeasideSusie 's posts on the subject of

Vitamin D, calcium and vitamin K2.

2) Magnesium is also very important for bone health.

This link is useful, although I'm dubious about the info on calcium for reasons I've already mentioned. I would research any of the suggestions given to see if other sources agree.

betterbones.com/bone-nutrit...

.

[humanbean in reply to humanbean]

I forgot to say...

Although you don't have coeliac disease many people with thyroid disease benefit from giving up gluten. It has to be done 100% ruthlessly - just cutting down doesn't work.

I don't have coeliac disease, but giving up gluten improved my mood enormously, improved my balance, and reduced inflammation in the gut.

Search the forum for more info on giving up gluten.

[4youreyesonly in reply to humanbean]

You have given me a lot to read and think about which iam grateful for as iam learning along the way . I have considered not taking the calcium and just vitd instead as my diet is pretty good .Quite a lot going on .Many thanks again for all your help

[humanbean in reply to 4youreyesonly]

You're welcome.