I was advised to get a full iron test done after a test for thyroid levels was within range. I'm trying to determine the cause of severe fatigue and muscle pain, twitches, digestion issues, headaches, pins & needles.
Does this measurement for transferrin saturation indicate anything I should investigate? I'm told it is not indicative of hemochromatosis.
Thanks for your help.
I would assume that you were told that your transferrin saturation wasn't indicative of haemochromatosis because it is the only result which is above range and it would usually be expected to be 100% if it was caused by haemochromatosis.
Also, ferritin would be expected to be about 1000+. I don't know what results would be expected for the other tests.
The optimal levels for iron tests usually given on this forum are described in this link :
rt3-adrenals.org/Iron_test_...
And there are different opinions on what optimal ferritin should be, but a result roughly 50% - 70% through the range would be good.
Your ferritin is roughly 58% through the range, and your iron is roughly 90% through the range.
I think your problem is more likely to be "High iron reason 1" on this link than anything else :
stopthethyroidmadness.com/h...
even though you don't have the higher than expected TIBC suggested in that link. Don't pay any attention to the numbers given, by the way. The author doesn't use units of measurement in many of her pages (which is very annoying!), and European units of measurement are different to those in the USA.
Don't get bogged down in the explanations about MTHFR. You don't need to get a test for it unless you want to. If you had a test and it came back positive you would start by treating yourself with vitamin B12 (methylcobalamin) and folate (NOT folic acid - use methylfolate instead). This treatment is not dangerous in any way whether you have an MTHFR problem or not.
So - do you have results for your vitamin B12 and folate? Because they are most likely going to be low if your problem is related to MTHFR. Have you been supplementing B12 and/or folate/folic acid at all? If yes, what were the products and doses?
Thanks a lot for the info. It's very helpful.
I'm doing a Superdrug B12, folate, PA home blood test tomorrow.
I have been supplementing with sublingual b12 5000mcg, but only a couple of times a week. I have also started taking (in the past week) a Jarrow B-right b complex every other day. This has 400mcg of folate.
The Jarrow product has the right form of B12 (methylcobalamin) and folate (5-MTHF aka methylfolate) which is good.
The Superdrug B12 has methylcobalamin which is also good - but it does have rather a lot of fillers, which wouldn't be my first choice.
Do you have a link to the Superdrug test you are going to do?
Yes, it's the 'extended' test here: onlinedoctor.superdrug.com/...
I'm doing a Superdrug B12, folate, PA home blood test tomorrow.
I just realised... You are planning to do your test on a Wednesday. Since you are sending your blood to a lab by post and since there are still postal strikes going on (as far as I know), do a check to see if there are any strikes in the next few days. The last thing you want is for your blood to sit in a post box or sorting office for days. I have no idea what effect that would have on your results but I think it would be less accurate with old blood rather than fresh blood.
Even if there are no strikes it isn't a good idea to post off blood only for it to arrive at the lab at a weekend.
We usually suggest that people get blood taken and posted off to a lab on a Monday or Tuesday (strikes permitting).
Another good idea is for people to use "Guaranteed Next Day Delivery by 1pm". It is more expensive than normal post but makes it more likely that your blood will be as fresh as possible when it arrives at the lab :
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