I thought I’d share these results as it’s so interesting seeing the effect of supplementation.
My ferritin has gone from 38 to 92.3 but now my iron is over range (and saturation). It looks as if I need to back off the Three Arrows Iron repair - I was using one capsule 4 times a week. This pic is the latest test. I’ll include the one from Feb in the comments.
Yes, share previous from Feb
Confirm you were one 4x a week for 4-5 months?
Are Feb 2024 and above the only two iron results you have ever had. Any previous results and corresponding iron intake regiment will be helpful.
The key is indeed to find the homeostasis of how much iron you need to ingest in order to maintain iron at 55-70% through range and transferrin saturation mid-range and definitely not over.
So yes, pare back, but track how much/how long so if you dip under you can recalibrate .
I thought I’d added Feb but I can’t see it now, so I’ll include again. Was taking one 4x a week from December.
Here is previous in November. I had been using one sachet of Spatone but switched to Three Arrows in December.
So I’m guessing the Spatone was 20 mgs of non heme. Arguably that is barely enough to matter for those of us with absorption problems.
That being said - your iron was at a good level in Feb, and now in July you’ve been at the top of the range/slightly over all this time.
It did give your body comfort to send lots to your ferritin stores, so that worked.
But remember that your body has no way to excrete excess iron. It accumulates in your soft tissues and organs, and at high levels for long periods it is toxic because of this. It’s a crazy thought - but yes, excess iron that accumulates when we are young and through the decades is in our bodies for our whole lifetime.
Your trick will be to find out how much iron you need to take in to maintain 55-70% through range for iron, and stay mid range for saturation - and not go over. Those are sufficient levels for your body’s daily functions, and when those needs are met, your ferritin will stay solid and not be depleted for daily needs.
You have terrific history showing how you absorb… now’s time to decide on your reduction and if I were you I’d test in 4-6 weeks. I am very conservative when it comes to iron, so I’m willing to be on the deficient side for longer just to work up to my optimal dose. I know others approach differently. So I’d probably do one Three Arrows 2x a week for 4-5 weeks. And then might end up adding to 3x a week if needed. I’d rather immediately drop the excess and then work back up to range vs. staying over range any longer.
Just sharing my personal experience and opinion.
Yes I agree. I’d rather be cautious.
Thank you so much for your comprehensive reply- it’s very helpful. 😘
So I’m guessing the Spatone was 20 mgs of non heme.
Spatone contains 5 mg of non-heme iron per sachet.
Ah! Even worse, thank you for the clarification!!! Is it too bold to ask who on earth would benefit from that?!
Is it too bold to ask who on earth would benefit from that?!
The people who sell it.
🤣 🤣 🤣 match point!!!!
This is just a suggestion. It doesn't work for everyone.
For some people, they can change the ratio of their serum iron and ferritin by increasing their intake of "methyl donors". These are usually supplemented by taking methylfolate to optimise their folate, instead of folic acid, which should be avoided by people with MTHFR gene problems, and methylcobalamin instead of cyanocobalamin or one of the other forms of supplemental B12. Methyl-B12 is easily sourced online.
If folate and B12 are already at good levels then there are other supplements that can provide methyl donors that do not require a prescription.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trime... --- also known as TMG
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dimet... --- also known as DMG
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Methy... --- also known as MSM
The last time I checked all the above were available from Amazon and other sites selling supplements.
Thank you. So if, for example. I was to use MSM, this would be in addition to the Three Arrows iron (at a lower dose than previously)?
I think you ought to stop taking iron now, at least for about three months then test again. It's impossible for me to know how quickly your iron and iron-related results will drop once you stop taking iron.
Obviously it would be nice if your iron and saturation would reduce while your ferritin increased - but there is no guarantee that is what would happen. Taking methylfolate and methylcobalamin or the other things I mentioned might alter the ratio of your serum iron and ferritin, but the only way to know is to try it.
Love this 👆
Excellent point to suggest stopping the supplementing, and love acknowledging that the whole panel will likely drop but doing it anyway.
Lynneypin Your iron has been too high (even if right above target) for too long.
As I noted above (and we are all different) I have tolerated low ferritin symptoms (was in the single digits) while I have taken at least 6-7 months to go really low and slow.
In January I starting by eating 100-150%+ of the daily requirement of iron (about 18-25 mgs day). Didn’t help one bit. I then switched to one Three Arrows every third day, about 2 a week. I think I then went to one a day and I think my ferritin was in the 20s at that point, but my iron and TS% never went over. My last titration I increased to 2 a day - I am getting new bloods this week so we’ll see.
In my conservative approach (although HB bested me at it!) any long-term iron supplementation should start low and be accompanied by testing every 6-10 weeks while you are finding homeostasis.
Point being - you are learning how much you can ingest to hit target and not go over. Because any excess will accumulate in your body literally forever.
Are you saying my over range iron won’t come down??? As it’s stored forever?
No, that’s not what happens. Serum iron and all those other measures on the blood test change.
But when your blood has excess iron - as reflected by measures like iron and transferrin saturation percent - your body has no way to excrete that. It settles in your organs and other places.
It’s not like Vitamin B, for example, where you pee the excess out.
So the long term risks of having too much iron, are exacerbated by the fact that the body has no natural pathway to get it out and it accumulates.
That sounds quite alarming.
It is why those with high iron levels (and a classic cause is the hereditary syndrome haemochromatosis) can end up having therapeutic phlebotomy to reduce their iron levels.
My friend has this done. But it’s her ferritin that’s high.
The full iron panel is interrelated , but the measures don’t always move in the same direction. It’s very easy to have high iron but low ferritin. Iron is fairly fast moving (up and down), ferritin is much slower.
No one number gives a sufficient picture of your iron profile. That’s why we need to actively and frequently monitor a full iron panel when supplementing.
And yes, it is alarming.
Getting the right level of iron intake to avoid toxicity but increase your ferritin in a long term effort.
We are all different. Someone else taking the supplements you are taking might not have seen much improvement in ferritin at all. But yours did. Likewise, at the same level of supplementing, my own iron and saturation stayed in range/slightly low in range.
Others do indeed have genetic disorders and have too much iron. The “treatment “ for that as Helvella notes is donating blood
And it’s really delicate… as you’re seeing. You take too much, you overshoot, and now you have to take at least 4-8 weeks to swing back. Then you’ll likely be under. So you will recalibrate a little in the other direction.
Lastly - it’s even more alarming that most are unaware of this AND doctors never take the time to work with patients in the long term on anemia issues.
I think the way they safeguard their approach is by saying - take XYZ mgs of iron a day for 3 months, when iron is “in range” they simply say, stop supplementing. Ignoring completely the challenge of increasing ferritin, and ignoring that iron may drop pretty quickly and symptoms return.
Also Lynn…… in all this back n forth, we have forgotten to ask about inflammation.
Did you have a CRP-hs - a measure of inflammation- in your results?
When we evaluate your ferritin status we always should test CRP as part of it, since ferritin reacts to inflammation by shooting up. Although with your high iron, it’s likely your ferritin increased due to that. But unless you test CRP, you won’t know what role inflammation played. Many times CRP is high when we have a cold or flu, for example, but there are others things as well.
My CRP has been up and down for years. I have long term lung issues and sinusitis so my gp has always been wait and see, and it so far, has always dropped back. Here are the CRP results :
Range <3
2024 - July 3.08, Feb 0.448,
2023 - Nov 6.56, August 0.425
2022 - Dec 0.66
In January 2016 it was at its highest - 75, but then dropped to 6 by the end of the month . I’m always battling low grade infection with my lungs
So-
- Now - July ferritin 92 CRP slightly high
- Feb24 ferritin 36.2 CRP low
- Nov23 ferritin 38 CRP high
Was CRP in the same blood draws?
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It’s fact that ferritin is reactive to inflammation. It’s one of the body’s protective mechanisms to increase ferritin so it can sequester iron to make it not available to bacteria and viruses that require iron to multiply.
Inflammation will also inhibit iron absorption in the first place in the digestive process - where your liver will produce more hepcidin (which are like little warriors that combat iron when your body senses too much has been ingested.)
Hepcidin, by the way, is also part of the body’s miraculous ways of protecting us from iron toxicity. Which is part of why it’s practically impossible to eat yourself into iron toxicity, and why supplements need to be managed so much more carefully because supplements overwhelm your body’s natural defenses.
Knowing our body - when “healthy” - has all these amazing checks and balances… then with hypo or iron issues our body’s mechanisms stop working perfectly. There are just a bunch of variables that all work together that make these assessments nuanced and complex.
I dont have any personal experience or enough exposure/knowledge to exactly how much inflammation will impacts the exact number. And so… building this history of data for your own body is the prize. Which is what you are doing.
And again… taking these early days to find just how much you need to supplement to maintain target iron, not too high not too low, over time.
Many people on here, once they find that balance, test I think once or twice a year (???) but when you are calibrating - these are all the reasons to go low, slow and test frequently.
Thank you. Yes. CRP in same blood draws.
Also, looking back at your Iron results from 3 years ago. You’ve been top of the ranges for a long time now.
Let’s get your iron and ts% back to mid range and reassess. I can share other practical advice from my own experience at that time, but I think it’s time for a reset.
FallingInReverse
So I stopped supplementing iron completely and retested, and here are my latest results.
Thought you might like to see.
Wow! Enviable! And thank you so much for sharing back, I love seeing your individual journey !
Even though ferritin is off from that “100” I know people aim for, you must be very happy with it all.
Have you deliberately been eating iron rich foods?
No. The only thing I changed was stopping supplementing with Three Arrows iron. I now need to figure out how to maintain this result 😀
Thanks for your support!
I would go another 2 months taking no action, and test again.
It looks like you won’t have any trouble maintaining. I would worry only about a very long term creeping down of your ferritin, but not even sure that would happen even.
If you stay where you are, if I were you, I’d go tackle other problems first!
If you want to do something - you could try counting iron mgs to get your 18 mgs a day in your diet. It’s tough, but that’s the traditional and recommended.
The math is something like this - you absorb 10-30% of the iron you ingest (non-heme vs heme). So at 18 mgs a day you are absorbing 1 to 6 of that at the very most.
Our bodies naturally shed 2-4 a day (more for us in our periods.)
That being said - I found it impossible to eat 18 mgs a day. And I really tried. It was a lot of food, and even the most iron rich foods only have 4-6 per serving. And when it comes to liver - you have to limit servings due to the real risk of Vit A toxicity! Catch 22!
At some point, given you were at 4 three arrows a week, you could try 1 a week? That’s like having a couple servings of liver. You could even try half a capsule too - they pop open easily (but take care iron will stain your teeth with prolonged/repeated contact.)
all said - I’m jealous 😁
Yes, I was wondering about one a week. 😀 I’m going to remember it as Feed it Friday (how I remember to feed my tomatoes 😂)
Thanks again for all your help! X
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