Ferritin ranges

[Andie222]

Hello everyone

I have just had a ferritin blood test and been a bit blown away by the result. It was a staggering 155 with a range of 13-150. I haven’t achieved such giddy heights since childhood. It means that the ferrous fumarate is working. Sadly my hair is still falling out, so it can’t be the ferritin.

I have 2 questions….

Is this range correct? I thought that women post menopause had a higher upper limit and I the past I’ve been given a much wider range.

Should I reduce the ferrous fumarate now? I don’t want my levels to fall low again if I can avoid it. I also had an iron test which was 23.3 (5.8-34.5) so I’m nowhere near the top of that range.

[SlowDragon Administrator]

You now need to stop iron supplements as ferritin is high

Aim to maintain iron via iron rich foods

What are your most recent TSH, Ft4 and Ft3 results

Recommended that all thyroid blood tests early morning, ideally just before 9am, only drink water between waking and test and last dose levothyroxine 24 hours before test

This gives highest TSH, lowest FT4 and most consistent results. (Patient to patient tip)

T3 ….day before test split T3 as 2 or 3 smaller doses spread through the day, with last dose approximately 8-12 hours before test

What other supplements are you taking

Ever tested zinc levels?

[Andie222 in reply to SlowDragon]

I'm a bit concerned about stopping completely and then it falls too much. Haven't had my thyroid tested for about 6 months so should probably retest but numbers were looking good last time.

Yes I had zinc tested last year. I was about 30% through range. I supplement 3x week. Also take high strength B vit, vit D, selenium 3x week, magnesium.

[SlowDragon Administrator in reply to Andie222]

Now your ferritin is much better you may need dose increase in replacement thyroid hormones

Suggest you retest thyroid now

And keep an eye on ferritin

Trial and error what maintenance dose you need….if any

humanbean and FallingInReverse may have more info on that

[helvella Administrator]

Seems reasonable to reduce. But don't fall into the trap of stopping entirely and, in a few months, a year, seeing your levels low again.

150 could well be correct. There is much variation - and I include one set on my iron blog.

Hair can take a long time to recover even when the underlying issues have been addressed. So don't give up hope!

helvella - Iron Panel

A short article about explaining what is meant by "iron panel" in relation to blood tests including some reference interval (range) information.

Last updated 18/07/2024

helvella.blogspot.com/p/hel...

[Andie222 in reply to helvella]

Thanks Helvella. I'd be ok with it falling a bit, but don't want it to plummet. Difficult to know without regular testing which gets expensive.

[helvella Administrator in reply to Andie222]

That is absolutely the problem.

They used to use a copper sulphate solution and drop a tiny amount of each person's blood in to check for low haemoglobin at blood doning sessions.

Seems they have moved on to the HemoCue system.

blood.co.uk/news-and-campai...

Just a shame that these approaches are not readily available to you and me.

[Jaydee1507 Administrator]

Just checking, did you also have inflammation tested - crp- because if that is high it can falsely raise ferritin.

[Andie222 in reply to Jaydee1507]

No I didn't. It was just an iron profile. My blood haomolysed so I only got 2 out of 5 results back. It's a good point. I'll bear it in mind for the next batch of GP testing.