Ferritin levels

[sportsfan8724]

Hearing more and more about ferritin levels being maybe the most important thing one can do to be healthy. What levels do you guys feel are ideal I'm thinking 60-120 at the most.

 

[Vettester Chris]

100 to 130 would be great, but you also want to make sure Iron Serum is maybe somewhere in the 125 to 150 range as well. Both crucial with the transport process of getting T3 to the cells throughout the body.

 

[rhino5169]

Chris, if I have low iron serum (37)
Low iron saturation (11)
And low ferritin (20)
Could this be the reason I'm not feeling 100% even with taking nature throid?

Initially started nature throid (nt) and felt awesome for a couple week.
Then started taking iron supplement when I found out those iron results (blood builder). Started feeling real bad again just like I was before nt and with the help of a post here discovered shouldn't take iron supps same time as thyroid supps.
I stopped the iron and didn't feel better. Doc increased my nt dose because he said body got used to it Initialy but now adjusted. It didn't help much so it all increased a little more until my next consult but I'm still nowhere near like i was for those first couple of weeks.

I started the iron supps again a few days ago, this time it all take them at night while I take nt in the morning so it shouldn't interfere.
It's been about a week but not feeling better.

Any thoughts on that?
Thanks

 

[ratbag]

If your iron and ferritin is as low as you say it'll take some time supplementing iron to get your ferritin to a normal range. So patience will be req'd. I agree with Vettester Chris, if you are on thyroid meds your ferritin needs to be minimum 125 otherwise you'll feel hypothyroid. Most MD's do not understand this, only hormone specialists get the iron part largely because regular MD's only look at labs and even if your ferritin is at the bottom of range it's still in range and they have been taught to ignore anything in range generally. So explains their limited understanding of our well being.

 

[rhino5169]

Thx ratbag.
I can hit up google but how long does it normally take to get that ferritin back up?
Weird that I felt great with those levels for a couple weeks but I guess that my body wasnt used to getting thyroid hormone so it soaked it in and kicked up for a couple weeks before coming back down.

 

[ratbag]

Actually that's quite common when starting thyroid meds with low ferritin, you initially feel better then it subsides. It's different for everyone. Some people absorb iron very well and quickly while others don't. If you absorb iron normally you can still expect it to take a month or two. It takes time for iron supps to change your ferritin. I for example cannot get my ferritin any higher than 70 even though I take 200mg of iron daily. I need to go see a HRT friendly hematologist and figure that part out.

 

[rhino5169]

Actually that's quite common when starting thyroid meds with low ferritin, you initially feel better then it subsides. It's different for everyone. Some people absorb iron very well and quickly while others don't. If you absorb iron normally you can still expect it to take a month or two. It takes time for iron supps to change your ferritin. I for example cannot get my ferritin any higher than 70 even though I take 200mg of iron daily. I need to go see a HRT friendly hematologist and figure that part out.

Thanks for that info.
One day at a time!

 

[JPB]

You may want to look at iron binding capacity and liver function as well. Low transferrin may be an indicator of compromised liver function, as may be seen with NAFLD.

 

[rhino5169]

Iron binding capacity (TIBC) is 341 <250-450>
ALT (SGPT) is 27 <0-44>
AST (SGOT) is 23 <0-40>

No curent NAFLD but a 2-3 years ago tests showed somewhat fatty liver.

 

[Vince Carter]

Im dealing with Iron def anemia (I think)....Ferritin in the teens and Iron, serum, very low (can't quote numbers right now). I've been taking 62mg 2-3x a day for about two weeks now. Plenty of red meat, cast iron skillet, and I'm still low, prior to supplementing that is. Haven't donated blood in about 4 months now but have about 5 times in the last 18 months.

 

[rhino5169]

Do you think you're low from all the donations?
I've only donated once in my life and was almost 30 years ago.

 

[sportsfan8724]

This Dr seems the think a level of 80 is the greatest thing anyone can do to live longer. http://aarongrossmanmd.com/tag/ferritin-test/ Very long but interesting video.

 

[Vince Carter]

This Dr seems the think a level of 80 is the greatest thing anyone can do to live longer. http://aarongrossmanmd.com/tag/ferritin-test/ Very long but interesting video.

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