Help with iron test results please

[LucyYoga]

Hello-

I would be most grateful if anyone could give me some feedback on my iron test that I have just got back. I’ve been supplementing with solgar iron bisglycinate since my last test in a November when my ferritin was 44. I’m about to start 3 arrows haem iron that has been recommended on this site and that I believe is more potent.

Would be grateful if   humanbean could cast her eye over it please —- or anyone else !

Thankyou

[humanbean]

Iron 13 ; 25% through range

TIBC 56.6 ; 32% through range

UIBC 43.6 ; 42% through range

Transferrin saturation 23% ; 10% through range

Ferritin 59 ; 34% through range

Some of the optimal levels for iron and iron-related tests are given on this link :

rt3-adrenals.org/Iron_test_...

Iron - Optimal is 55% - 70% of the range, lower end for women. Yours is 25% and is miles away from optimal, suggesting you need more iron.

TIBC - Optimal isn't precisely specified in that link above so I always assume mid-range is best. Yours is rather too low which suggests you can't absorb more iron at the moment. Conflicting results are NOT uncommon, by the way.

UIBC - Your result is nearly mid-range, so isn't really high or low, so I wouldn't worry about it.

Transferrin Saturation - Optimal is 35% - 45%, lower end for women. Your result is much too low suggesting that you need more iron.

Ferritin (iron stores) - There are various opinions on this, but I would suggest a good result would be 50% - 70% through the range, which would be very approximately 85 - 110 with the range you've been given. Another suggested optimal for the same range is 90 - 110.

See this link : thyroidpharmacist.com/artic...

With your result for ferritin of 34% through the range this suggests you need more iron.

***

Comments :

Regarding ferritin... The range for pre-menopausal women of 13 - 150 mcg/L has been used for quite a long time, as far as I'm aware. But fairly recently (Nov 2021) NICE declared that a result below 30 is evidence of confirmed deficiency so obviously it shouldn't be used as part of a reference range. A lot of labs haven't updated their reference ranges yet so 13 - 150 still crops up a lot on the forum. What new reference ranges are likely to look like I don't know. Whether this will change professional opinions on optimal I don't know either. Ideally I would still like my own ferritin to be around 100 with the 13 - 150 range.

In all people, a serum ferritin level of less than 30 micrograms/L confirms the diagnosis of iron deficiency.

See link - it is worth reading : cks.nice.org.uk/topics/anae...

Serum iron and ferritin... If someone is anaemic or suffers from iron deficiency and they start supplementing iron the patient can't tell whether the supplemental iron will end up as serum iron or ferritin unless they test. In some cases supplemental iron will raise serum iron, in some cases it might raise ferritin. It is not a good idea to allow either of these to sky-rocket upwards while the other stays low.

You might find theses links useful :

irondisorders.org/wp-conten...

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...

Good luck.

[LucyYoga in reply to humanbean]

Thankyou so much as always for your wealth of knowledge…. Will get into the links you’ve sent. X