So I got my yearly iron panel check, and my ferritin had dropped to 42! even though I eat iron rich foods and take vitamin C with meals!
All my vitamin levels are now optimal I take an expensive powder form of probiotic by Biomel and the Rheal gut feel greens powder, all supporting my gut health and optimising nutrient absorption from food!
I was also taking 20mg of solgar gentle iron to!
So I went back on the 210mg of ferrous fumarate taking just 1 tablet every other day with vitamin C and my ferritin level has risen to 80 in 8 weeks!
If my body struggles to absorb iron, then why does my ferritin rise so quickly!? with only one of 210mg tablet every other day! (Around 70mg of elementary iron)…???
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ThyroidObsessed
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Also, remember that ferritin can rise quickly if you start suffering from inflammation. However, the point in that case is the the ferritin is produced from already-absorbed iron. It appears that the body does this in order to reduce the amount of iron available to the things that cause inflammation like bacteria.
It is very easy to take ferritin as a single factor test that reveals all. It doesn't.
Only low ferritin (below 30 being taken as definitive evidence of iron deficiency according to NICE) or high ferritin (when high enough to raise concerns over haemochromatosis or other causes of very high ferritin) are really helpful. The rest of the time, other iron-related tests are necessary in order to properly identify what is going on.
But, if you then developed inflammation, that could make your ferritin rise. Maybe it reaches 40. It is now over 30. But that does NOT mean you are no longer iron deficient. It just means that your ferritin result alone does not prove beyond all doubt that you are iron deficient.
And this:
Your ferritin is 70.
You then develop inflammation, that could make your ferritin rise. Maybe it reaches your apparent ideal of 100. Which is the value you just quoted. But that doesn't mean your iron level is ideal. Because the rise from 70 to 100 is due to inflammation.
The point is that under 30 is always, categorically and without question indicating iron deficiency. But a bit higher does not rule out iron deficiency.
Hi! So unfortunately there’s no CRP in the above. If there was there would be an actual line item that says CRP, or hs-CRP, or something like that.
It’s the most likely suspect for a fast increase in ferritin, but without the test being done at the same time you’ll never know.
Eyeballing your other numbers, looks like your iron is around 2/3 through range - which is a great place to be. And your transferrin saturation percent is pretty much as high as you’d want it before dialing back on supplementing.
There is no one single iron measure that tells the whole story, and some of the measures move fast and some move slow, and every one of us absorbs iron at different rates.
If you want to provide both iron panels, with dates, and the exact iron supplement regimen you were on and for how long at the time the test was taken, that would give a better indication of what iron supplement decisions you may make now.
You may know this, but it’s worth repeating, your body has no way to excrete excess iron… Any excess iron at any given time accumulates for a lifetime, and settles in your organs and can cause permanent, irreversible damage.
If your saturation percent is 38% right now, and your iron is 21.5, personally I’d recalibrate the iron pill dose.
If you could reply with the other set of iron panel results - so the one above is 8 weeks ago when you had 40 ferritin, 21.5 iron and 38%.
Now 8 weeks later - ferritin is 80…. What are the other results? (It’s most likely that 80 is the result of inflammation but you’ll never know. Have you been sick or under the weather at all? Not necessary to feel sick to have inflammation but just curious.)
Unfortunately it’s very common to have low ferritin and high iron. Regards to iron vs ferritin - your goal will be twofold:
1) Iron measures iron in your blood. Target iron levels at 55-70% through range. NOT OVER. Keep in mind iron is volatile. And your iron and ferritin results will not necessarily move in the same direction. Iron can jump up or drop pretty drastically depending on your own blood chemistry, and what you eat, etc. Stop supplements about 5 days or so before a test, and do not eat iron rich food the day before.
Transferrin saturation percent… transferrin are like the Ubers of iron. They are proteins who carry iron around your body. This shows that your Ubers are all full (of iron), showing your body is at capacity for iron it can tranport (somewhat oversimplified )- and this one too you do NOT want to go over, you want to be mid range. Yours is slightly too high.
2) Ferritin is a measure of your iron in storage. It’s actually a protein … a hollow little protein that holds iron. Its main function is to regulate iron levels by holding and releasing iron in a controlled way when the body needs it for various functions.
Everyone's different - but many of us work on it for 6-18 months. Increasing Ferritin is the prize here, so you need to focus on your iron staying at 55-70%, at which point your body will have enough iron through the day for essential functions, so it then feels comfortable sending some to storage, all without staying too high where it's toxic.
Regards to “how” you do this.
With your results, you need to focus on eating an iron rich diet vs taking supplements to avoid iron toxicity.
You can’t eat yourself into iron toxicity (you probably could but you’d be eating a ton of food.) Our bodies have a wonderful and complex set of natural defenses when eating iron rich foods that combat excess iron.
But supplementing overwhelms those defenses with a blast of iron multiples more than any meal could ever provide. Hence leading to the excess iron results.
The important part for each of us is to understand the exact level of iron intake to find our personal homeostasis.
My doctor didn’t do another iron panel after the 8 weeks of supplementing, he just tested my ferritin again! 🤦🏻♀️
As for being poorly or off, contrary to us hypo/hashi warriors, iv not been ill in 10 years I even avoided covid (unjabbed) too!
As my ferritin was not below 30 when tested previously, and the worry of toxicity I think you have helped me reach the decision of just trying to eat more iron rich foods!
Should I take vitamin C with the iron rich foods? What foods do you suggest?
Could I still supplement with the above iron picture? As these are low dose…
I do already take a lot of supplements…
A B complex, selenium, omega 3, cranberry tablets, manuka honey, low dose gummy amino acids, a powder probiotic with digestive enzymes and added small dose calcium B vits…
Although it’s now been 12 weeks since supplementing with 210mg ferrous fumarate every other day and the changes I have noticed are less bruising easily and my hair is thicker and longer! 😳
Hi! My daughter experienced similar improvement regards to bruising and hair loss in similar timeframes, so yes, isnt it great to see! And yes, without this forum we’d be lost! Doctors don’t know or don’t care to manage our individual iron balance : )
I’m heading out of the house and can’t quickly find some of the more well written answers to your questions - here’s the gist of it.
We are all so completely different … some people can take iron pills and see no change in iron, others iron will increase with pills.
So the first thing is - start a good log of your supplementing and results. How much you take, for how long , and what your full iron panel results are. When I wasn’t supplementing I also tracked my food intake to see how much iron I was getting. (Yes it was a big pain in the a** but I learned a lot about myself. For example, I learned that it was impossible for me, personally, to eat enough iron rich foods to make any difference. I only at the most iron rich foods at every meal… and ferritin stayed in single digits. And I ate a lot of iron rich foods!)
You need to learn how YOU personally absorb. And find your personal maintenance dose.
So when you ask about the feroglobin 20 mgs…. OR whatever it was you were on when you had the 21/38%/40 results…. That resulted in keeping your iron just at the top levels you’d want… which is great (although that sat% is a wee bit high for my comfort) the longer you do that the more your body will squirrel away ferritin. That’s how it works.
So…
The trick is to calibrate over time, with frequent iron panels as you do, to figure out for yourself.
I personally test every 6-8 weeks along with my thyroid panel. I am still calibrating.
My ferritin started at about 5! I think it’s mid 20’s now. I think it’s been 6 months?
I take Three Arrows heme. See links in the SD link below. Ive been changing the dose every 6-8 weeks figuring it out for myself. I started on one 20 mg heme pill every other day, then once a day, and currently two a day. Achieving slow improvements in ferritin and never over on iron or sat%.
As for foods to eat - see links in SD post below for iron rich foods.
Plant- based iron absorbs at 1/3 rate of animal-based (heme) iron. If you eat non-heme iron, pair it with vitamin C. Heme on the other hand does not need Vit c. Avoid iron blockers - coffee, calcium, high fiber and other things. Keep in mind foods like spinach have both iron and calcium so can cancel each other out ! Catch 22! livestrong.com/article/2843...
For illustration, a serving of enriched bread/cereal can be 10 mgs of iron, and a serving of chicken liver can be 10 mgs. You’ll have 1-1.5 available at best from the cereal, and at about 2-3 ish at best from the liver.
So your non-heme supplement of 20 mgs presumably will yield you about 2-3 a day.
Keep in mind our bodies shed about 1-4 mgs a day naturally.
That’s why people often take 20 mgs a day, and get confused when they can’t increase their ferritin when taking it.
And so - going back to the beginning - if you can commit to frequent testing and methodical dosing where you become intimate with your own body, don’t let your iron or sat% go over the goal for too long, then … I think 20 mgs of gentle iron might be a nice base iron intake that you can augment with an iron rich diet.
Keep iron 4 hours on either side of thyroid hormones.
also -
Here is one of SlowDragon ’s terrific iron rundowns, you’ll find lots of relevant info and then some:
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