Ferritin Update

[Oliva1955]

update on 2 nd visit to Drs ! I got up at 6 which is extremely difficult for me with this exhaustion ! Was out side the Drs office before they arrived ! Receptionist tried to fob me of with a telephone visit, I insisted on face to face ! I had to wait till 3 pm ! This time I was armed with the NICE recommendations which states that anything below 30 is considered insuffieint (again was told it was in range !) I told him if I wasn’t feeling so exhausted , I would not be sitting in his office ! I showed him my phone and he finally agreed to a further tests a ferritin panel , he said something about if it was 20% ( not sure what he meant )going tomorrow morning for the test ! Does it have to be fasting ? Oh , and before he agreed he said it could be somethin* as simple as your Vit D !

I’ve been taking Vit +k for years !

[FallingInReverse]

Not sure if you are asking for other input, but regards to fasting… so what IS important with iron panels is to stop iron supplements if any for about 5 days, and absolutely avoid any iron rich foods the day before.

Iron itself is fast moving (on the up AND down…), and ingesting iron the day before may obscure your results.

[humanbean]

Yes, even the NHS mentions that iron testing should be done fasting :

nhs.uk/common-health-questi...

And they also refer people to Lab Tests Online UK :

labtestsonline.org.uk/tests...

In the link above, read the four "At a Glance" boxes near the top of the page and one of them says...

Test Preparation Needed?

You may be instructed to fast for 12 hours before the test; in this case, only water is permitted.

They do hedge their instructions in both the NHS link and the Lab Tests Online, saying that you may be instructed to fast.

Personally I think they probably hedge about fasting to cover staff who forget to mention it to the patients. **Rolls eyes**