Help understanding iron and vits panel

[PaleoGirl]

Hello, looking for advice understanding what my iron panel is indicating.

Vits + mins (I have worked really hard over several years with diet, supplements etc to get to improve on where I was 5 years ago)

TIBC: 53.6 range 45-81

Total Iron: 15.7 umol/L range 5.8-34.5

Ferritin: 75.8 ug/L 13-150

Transferrin Saturation: 29.3% 20-50

B-12: > 150 37.5-150 *

Vitamin D3: 128 nmol/L 50-200

Folate: 23.85 ug/L >3.89

Magnesium: 0.88 nmol/L 0.7-1. (I cannot do any supplementation as BP crashes, even with transdermal oil). Low BP, usually in the region of 110/65 - 98/55

I think I need to get even better than this?

Currently eating a nutrient dense diet and supplementing with liver and beef organs (the only supplement I tried that moved my iron results up).

Is the high B12 indicating anything in relation to the iron results. I think I read somewhere that is could be masking an iron issue.

I would welcome any views/links to help get a better understanding of where I'm at now. It seems there are so many overlapping symptoms between low iron, low thyroid, adrenals, peri-menopause and my recent trial with NDT was not great so wanting to try again or possibly try T4, but keen to address iron in relation to it all too.

Many thanks

[FallingInReverse]

What iron supplement regime/duration resulted in those numbers?

[PaleoGirl in reply to FallingInReverse]

I have followed (strictly) a nutrient dense diet (see people like Chris Kresser: chriskresser.com/why-nutrie... and supplemented with liver and beef organs (as I can't make myself eat offal and liver...). The supplements I am using at the moment are made by Ancestral Supplements: ancestralsupplements.com and are available on Amazon and Aggressive Health website. I take a mix of the pure liver 3 per day and beef organs 3 per day. I think adding these supplements helped improve my iron.

I have struggled to get my iron up following severe blood loss in a c-section delivery in 2010 (they monitored me and I was being considered for a transfusion but in the end they said it was not necessary - who knows what the range was though for being considered okay). I am only just connecting the dots back to this now and trying to understand the importance of optimal iron.

[FallingInReverse in reply to PaleoGirl]

You’ve done great!

How many mgs of iron are you supplementing daily and for how long have you been on that consistent dosing?

[PaleoGirl in reply to FallingInReverse]

Sorry, forgot about length of time. I have been taking them for 3+ years.

[PaleoGirl]

I only supplement with the Ancestral Supplements liver and beef organs (no other iron supplements). I take 3 x liver and 3 x beef organs per day.

[FallingInReverse in reply to PaleoGirl]

How many milligrams of iron in each?

[Battypatty2]

Hi PaleoGirl! I hugely recommend you hop onto the pernicious anaemia forum on here and look/post - your B12 isn't high, it's actually borderline low! UK labs' reference range are very low. NICE B12 guidelines are a good place to start. Mine was 152 and it caused all the symptoms that was leading me to visit the doctor in the first place. I'm a big meat and egg eater so knew my B12 shouldn't have been that low. The forum helped me get treatment, with great resistance from my DRs surgery.

I'm not an expert at all but hope that lead might help!

[humanbean in reply to Battypatty2]

Battypatty2

B-12: > 150 37.5-150 *

It looks to me like that test result comes from an Active B12 test, not the Serum B12 test. You can tell the difference by looking at the reference range. The two different tests are not measuring the exact same thing.

This link is old, but still worth reading :

web.archive.org/web/2015042...

A serum B12 test in the UK usually has a reference range of roughly 200 - 600, which is horribly low. In Japan, allegedly, the reference range for a serum B12 test is about 500 - 1300.

A result of > 150 for an Active B12 test is over the range and is perfectly fine.

[Battypatty2 in reply to humanbean]

Ah yes so sorry I read that as serum! I was never offered an active b12 test. Glad you got in there quickly 😳🤭

[radd]

PaleoGirl

All your results are great! 👍

Hashi sufferers often require higher Vit B12 levels to compensate for iron irregularities, as the multiple levels of iron mechanisms are notorious for being negatively affected by Hashi/hypo.

You can encourage iron to work better by looking after your gut to aid maximum absorption, and keeping autoimmune chronic inflammation low (as iron has relations with inflammation far beyond ferritin, hence why iron deficiency is so common on the forum).

I would keep at what you are doing as it’s obviously working, and you might find thyroid hormones naturally raise a bit.