Iron blood test results

[flohal]

Please could I ask for someone to help me interpret these?

Uibc 56.4µmol/L (20 - 62)

TIBC 67.8 µmol/L (45 - 70)

Iron 11.4 µmol/L (8.8 - 27)

Transferrin 2.7 g/L (1.9 - 3.8)

Transferrin Saturation 17% (16 - 45)

Ferritin 19 µg/L (30 - 204)

RDW 14.1 %CV (11.6 - 14)

MCHC 336 g/L (315 - 345)

MCH 32.2 pg (27 - 32)

MCV 96 fl (83 - 101)

HCT 0.39 L/L (0.36 - 0.46)

RBC 4.1 10*12/L (3.8 - 4.8)

Haemoglobin 132 g/L (120 - 150)

Please can you also tell me what "optimal" levels are (I know Ferritin is over 70 but none of the others).

Thanks in advance

[FallingInReverse]

Hi, sorry I missed the alert from your previous post.

You are showing a need for iron supplementation on all measures. Off the top of my head, although I know others on this forum have a few good links to help interpret iron panels.

Iron target is 55-70% through range. This is the usable form of iron in your blood that is carried around to all the essential functions it's needed for. It's volatile and pretty fast moving, so this is what you need to watch frequently (testing every 4-12 weeks depending on how much you are supplementing) to ensure it does not go above 70% for too long or else you risk permanent and irreversible organ damage from excess iron.

Ferritin is next - this is like your iron "storage cabinets." It relies on a steady adequate iron level over time so that your body is comfortable sending some to storage. Ferritin is ridiculously slow moving. Like... most people take 6-12 months minimum and sometimes years (if they go the supplement or diet route, iron infusions are different.)

Inflammation can raise Ferritin - you don't have an inflammation measure, but your Ferritin is so low it doesn't matter right now for how you should interpret. Make sure to get a CRP-HS test next time with your iron panel to see the impact of inflammation on the Ferritin number.

The others are more indicators that support the iron anemia, vs the iron levels themselves:

- TIBC and UIBC are a measure of whether your body has capacity to take more iron around to the places your body needs it. They don't tell you much on their own, and can be a little ambiguous out of context. Total Iron Binding Capacity is on the high side in range, which means you have capacity for more iron. With anemia, it usually means your body is creating the vehicles that iron needs to jump on to get around....

BUT your SATURATION number is low. So even though your body is preparing these things hoping there will be more iron... they are NOT saturated with iron. So you have empty little proteins ready for more iron! Saturation is VERY IMPORTANT as a measure for us hypo folks, because it must be between 20 - 40% or so for our T3 to work. That means your body doesn't have the iron it needs for T3 to do it's job as well as it could.

[flohal in reply to FallingInReverse]

Thank you SO much, this is super helpful! I am ever so grateful for everyone who is giving up their time and expertise to help me. Patiently waiting for my three iron supplements to arrive! I wonder if I should be looking into iron injections privately if this means I can get my levels up more quickly?

[FallingInReverse in reply to flohal]

There are discussions on here about iron infusions. Of course some of the ones on here had bad experiences (that’s why we come to forums like this!) but from my understanding they are generally fine.

For some reason I’m too spooked to get my head around it and try. Not real reason other than I haven’t researched enough.

Also, I’m in the US.

Getting/justifying one in the UK I think is a whole different ballgame!