Last week I had some blood tests, however, once again, not all blood tests that were requested, were taken!!!I have results of some which are abnormal as follows....
Heaematocrit
0.483 0.37 - 9.47 abnormal
Red Blood cell distribution width
16.3% 11.5 - 15 abnormal
Iron
14 umol/L 14 - 30 normal
Transferrin saturation
21% 15-50 normal
Rheumatoid factor
28iu/mL <20 abnormal
TPA
486 ku/L unknown
FEV1/FVC
54% unknown
Any help on distinguishing these results would be brilliant.
My GP says they are normal - no action?????
Really?
Thankyou in advance .
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DandyButch
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Gotta love anyone who can see an iron result at the minimum threshold and say “nothing to see here” with a straight face, especially with the other supporting indicators.
Do you have a ferritin result?
Iron is 0% through range, target is 55-70%
Transferrin is too low, optimal is 35 to 45%, with a minimum saturation of 30% required to successfully treat with T3.
Over range RDW definitely consistent with low iron, heaematocrit on lower end also consistent with low iron.
Hello, I don't think they've done ferritin at all, as with other vits and minerals for optimal thyroid. With the NHS, they don't know what they're doing. I had to ask for the iron blood test. I also asked for B12, but they didn't do that!!!!GPs and Endocrinologists don't understand thyroiditis, and associated deficiencies and conditions. One tablet, you're fixed!!!!!
I had looked these things up on-line because I didn't understand some of them. Some also indicate inflammation.
Surely they should advise you that your results are abnormal, or at the bottom of range, so that even if the NHS won't prescribe supplements, because you are 'within range', you can supplement yourself?
No wonder so many people stay ill or become ill, when they don't check the basics, with a simple deficiency being a cause.
I do think that what you said warrants awareness. But what do I now do?
Hi. Your Iron is low but what is your haemoglobin result. Technically you are not anaemic unless haemoglobin is low as well. My haemoglobin has been fine but iron at about 10 and I'm just told yeah it's a bit low but buy a multivitamin and eat more green leafy veg!
That's similar to mine,and it looks healthy enough, so maybe that's why the Dr is not overly concerned about your Iron result even though you need to keep an eye on it . There are so many components to an iron profile test it's quite confusing. I tend to take the (simplistic) view that if my haemoglobin is OK that's not too bad. Of course it depends on whether you have other comorbidities alongside hypothyroid that can complicate the matter. Everybody has different needs. Vitamin D is too low in just about everybody and in thyroid patients more so it seems so that's an obvious one to keep an eye on and it can make a real difference how you feel. Mine was 30, should be at least 50 so I now take vit D regularly. I think it's helped.
Serum ferritin level is the biochemical test, which most reliably correlates with relative total body iron stores. In all people, a serum ferritin level of less than 30 micrograms/L confirms the diagnosis of iron deficiency.
Never supplement iron without doing full iron panel test for anaemia first and retest 3-4 times a year if self supplementing.
It’s possible to have low ferritin but high iron
Test early morning, only water to drink between waking and test. Avoid high iron rich dinner night before test
Eating iron rich foods like liver or liver pate once a week plus other red meat, pumpkin seeds and dark chocolate, plus daily orange juice or other vitamin C rich drink can help improve iron absorption
This is interesting because I have noticed that many patients with Hashimoto’s disease and hypothyroidism, start to feel worse when their ferritin drops below 80 and usually there is hair loss when it drops below 50.
Thank you for your incredible patience while you have been awaiting the outcome of our ferritin reference range review. We conducted this with Inuvi lab, which has now changed the reference ranges to the following:
Females 18 ≤ age < 40. 30 to 180
Females 40 ≤ age < 50. 30 to 207
Females 50 ≤ age < 60. 30 to 264l
Females Age ≥ 60. 30 to 332
Males 18 ≤ age < 40 30 to 442
Males Age ≥ 40 30 to 518
The lower limits of 30 are by the NICE threshold of <30 for iron deficiency. Our review of Medichecks data has determined the upper limits. This retrospective study used a large dataset of blood test results from 25,425 healthy participants aged 18 to 97 over seven years. This is the most extensive study on ferritin reference ranges, and we hope to achieve journal publication so that these ranges can be applied more widely.
Thankyou Slowdragon for all the info. It'll take a while to absorb it all. Enlightening, the bits I've read. Why the hell aren't GPs and Endocrinologists trained in all of this????? Clearly, we have to find out for ourselves, but then they take no notice, because they are trained in medicine, and you aren't, so shut up.
Is it possible to have low iron, but normal ferritin? What does this indicate?
Yes, it is possible to have low iron but normal ferritin.
What it most likely indicates is a condition called "Anaemia of Chronic Disease (or Chronic Inflammation)", which is extremely common in people with chronic diseases like thyroid disease or with poor gut health.
If you were to supplement iron what is most likely to happen is that your ferritin would get higher and your iron would stay low.
To get over the problem of the Anaemia of Chronic Disease can be difficult because it isn't always clear what causes the problem.
I would suggest optimising the nutrients that you can i.e. vitamin B12, folate, vitamin D. Also take vitamin C daily.
Test your zinc and copper if you can. If one is high then the other is low. So you could have low zinc, high copper, or alternatively high zinc, low copper. Low zinc is much more common than high zinc.
If zinc is low and copper is high then supplementing zinc should raise zinc and lower copper.
If zinc is high and copper is low then supplementing copper should raise copper and lower zinc.
Other supplements I would suggest trying are magnesium (if your kidneys function reasonably well), selenium and a B Complex.
I would also suggest that you go 100% gluten-free as an experiment. If you have had no benefits after three months then go back to eating gluten again and see if you feel worse or no different.
After making up your mind whether or not to continue eating/not eating gluten you could also try giving up milk products made from animal milk. Just remember eggs are NOT dairy and if you give up animal-sourced dairy you don't have to give up eggs too.
Giving up any foods for your health should only be done as a last resort. Cutting things out of your diet increases your risk of low nutrients. If you don't get a benefit from giving something up then start eating it again.
Hello, I am currently taking B12 3000mcg Methylcobalamin, Thorne Basic B complex, Thorne Vit C with flavonoids Vit D & K2 4000iu/100ug, Super Omega Fish Oil, selenium 200ug, Magnesium 500mg, plus sporadic soluble Vit C and Zinc.I don't feel that my liothyronine is optimal following my last blood test, but endocrinologist won't increase due to low TSH. My next appointment is Sept 2025!
Hello, again, I've just read the link re anaemia of chronic disease. It states for this, you have low iron serum and low ferritin serum. Although my iron is low, my ferritin is 318ug/L range 30 - 400. Transferrin saturation is 21% range 15-50. The link states that if iron is low, but ferritin is high, iron deficiency anaemia is most likely the cause and not anaemia of chronic disease.
I've just read the link re anaemia of chronic disease. It states for this, you have low iron serum and low ferritin serum. Although my iron is low, my ferritin is 318ug/L range 30 - 400.
That is weird because this link says serum iron is low and ferritin is high :
I think if serum iron is low and serum ferritin is low it suggests that iron is deficient and supplementing is required.
If serum iron is low and serum ferritin is high then it suggests that someone probably has Anaemia of Chronic Disease (ACD) and supplementing might not be a good idea.
There are plenty of other sources of info on ACD on the web.
You could try supplementing iron for, say, 4 - 8 weeks and then do another iron panel at the end of it to see what happens. If your ferritin rises but your serum iron stays low then it would suggest you don't have classic iron deficiency and are more likely to have ACD.
From my experience, I've been told that ferritin is not always a reliable indicator as it can be high due to inflammation. Also, if your haemoglobin is healthy I would not think iron supplements are necessary if you could get your iron up through iron rich foods. I'm no expert but that's just going off the results you've provided. Mine has improved a bit but my diet could be better. I no longer enjoy food like I used to as I'm conscious of trying to eat unadulterated food all the time and avoid gluten, always packet reading and keeping my weight at a good level.
Maybe low iron is due to poor absorption in the gut due to hypothyroidism. I understand hypothyroid means our gut is not efficient at extracting nutrients from foods which is probably why we end up supplementing certain vitamins and minerals.
There is no single measure for iron that you can use to detemine if something is wrong or what you should do. And even with all the blood tests done at once, you still need to do periodic testing - anywhere from 4 weeks through a year depending on whether you are fixing iron or maintaining it.
So iron is one measure at one point in time.
Blood iron results are fairly fast moving, up and down. It can be impacted by an iron rich meal the night before the test. It is also completely and totally individual - some peoples can jump and others can drop in a few weeks time.
Here is one recco for what you might consider tracking when it comes to iron:
Iron
Total iron-binding capacity (TIBC)
Transferrin saturation
Ferritin
High Sensitivity CRP (CRP-hs)
What you should do is to make sure you are consistent with whatever iron supplements you are taking, keep on a steady regiment u til your next test, and then as recommended above you need to plan for a retest in 6-8 weeks.
The good news is your iron indicators are mixed with some positive leaning indicators. Your terrific ferritin is what most of us struggle to increase, so you’re starting off with a great platform.
I’ve been doing similar in my house for me and my daughter and our results are different - underscoring that everyone is different.
You have to learn about your own absorption and levels.
Don’t forget, excess iron is toxic and over time will create permanent and irreversible organ damage. If you supplement, test regularly..
I’m not sure how significant the impact, but 100% yes, that’s why we test CRP-hs.
Ferritin is reactive to inflammation so we test together to see if inflammation is at play.
But I don’t know the scale of impact - like, if there was or wasn’t inflammation what your Ferritin would be.
With no iron supplements - take advice above , do a full iron panel in 4-8 weeks. FYI - there was a time my iron went from above range to below in about 5 weeks. Also, my ferritin has been in single digits/teens. So your profile right now does not look horrible : ) So just get a full panel and then you can figure out what to do.
Can you also confirm that the iron, ferritin, transferrin saturation and the CRP were some at the same time.
I know you didn’t think you had them at the start of the post, and so just making sure.
Assuming yes - also confirm you haven’t been sick, had a cold/flu/virus etc recently before this test.
Either way - advise the same. Wait and redo the full iron panel all together. Personally I’d like to see if inflammation changes and if ferritin subsequently changes.
Hypo (and hypo related anemia) are all long haul races… there is no quick fix or short cuts. Gather your data and then assess.
Caveat/disclaimer- all responses are personal opinion based on my own personal experience : )
Iron, ferritin and transferring saturation all done last week. CRP serum last taken August 2022. I had a slight cold a few weeks ago, but nothing major.
Well, that CRP won’t be helpful for the iron/ferritin/saturation : ) It will be helpful when done all together.
I just re-read the replies above again, and they are so good! You’ve got to sort out the low iron & transferrin saturation against what seems to be high in range ferritin. You can’t do that without a CRP at the same time.
These tests were requested by different sources within the NHS for different reasons.
Trying to get the GP to do anything at the same time is almost impossible. Remember, they cannot multitask. One symptom, one illness, more than one symptom, mental health problem. One illness can not possibly have lots of symptoms.
Things frequently are not explained to you. Frequently I have asked for various tests, but they have only done some!!!!!
Computer says no.
But, surely the fact that I have hashimoto's, inflammation exists?
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