Is it necessary to cease iron a wk before iron panel please?

[Jo5454]

HiI usually stop taking iron a wk or so before ferritin or iron panel tests and wonder if u can please tell me if necessary?

I did an iron panel couple months ago which said I need iron, but no capacity. Gp has said take eod, so thght I'd better retest to check,don't want to overload

My ferritin had been jumping abt, but bk to 35 a mnth ago, so would like to retest to know if I can raise iron supplementation,before it dives further!

Many thanks.

[TiggerMe Ambassador]

You'd certainly want to stop before testing but I don't know how long before is recommended I've always thought it was 24 hours? I'm sure someone will put us right

[Jo5454 in reply to TiggerMe]

Thank you TiggerMe, yes I've read 24hrs, also a week, so have erred on side of precaution with a week in past. It's just that I darent restart iron until I know test has worked, as often takes more than 1 attempt for iron, so it can be nearly 3 wks round without taking iron, which is a big gap when trying to do more regular iron panel...thank you.

[humanbean]

Recommendations about stopping iron before testing vary from stopping for 24 hours up to 5 - 7 days. The 5 - 7 days came from a website that was about haemochromatosis. I don't remember the source of the 24 hours.

Personally I stop many supplements for 5 - 7 days before testing unless I have a good, convincing reason not to.

[Jo5454 in reply to humanbean]

Thanks humanbean, looks like I'd better stick to what I've been doing then. As I said above, it's just a bit of gap with no iron by time I've allowed for retest if needed, etc, but if that's what's needed, fair enough. No good paying for these tests and not completing properly, thank you.