For those that donate often and test ferritin

[HealthMan]

Do you also test serum iron levels, TIBC and % saturation? Are all these parameters normal when you ferritin is on/below the low side of normal range?

 

[ratbag]

Yes and no... when ferritin is low usually most thorough MD's run a complete iron panel to rule out anemia just in case.

 

[Saul]

IMO and based on my research (I am not a Dr or in the medical field), these tests are for different indicators. Ferritin, as it relates to iron, is an indicator of your body's iron stores as stored in your organs. When making new RBC, your body takes iron from these stores to make the RBC, such as when you donate and need to make many new RBC due to loss.
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The blood is the transport mechanism for the iron.
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The other tests you mention have more to do with iron level in the blood and your blood's ability to carry more iron in the blood, namely is the blood's iron transport capacity saturated with iron. The amount of iron in your blood, such as iron serum is very small in relation to the iron stored in your organs (as indicated by ferritin levels). My Dr tests all the iron level indicators but is most concerned with ferritin.
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IMO, your blood can be saturated with iron because you are supplementing or just ate an iron rich meal . . . but your iron stores in your organ (indicated by ferritin) could be low because you donate blood often. Or, in my case, my blood was full of iron due to a very high absorption rate, and my ferritin was also high because I had been absorbing and storing too much iron for years. There are charts provide more info when one value is high and another low.
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IMO the one to watch is ferritin because you will need to draw on iron reserves to create new red blood cells if you donate and too much ferritin indicates too much iron, which can be toxic over time at high levels.
I am open to corrections if I am mis-stating something.

 

[HealthMan]

Thank you guys. If you have a chance google “iron avidity”. Looks like after many donations or phelobotomies this is a body response to fight back the blood loss. So wondering if people on TRT that donate often and have lowish ferritin suffer from this condition. Or if this is only for people with hematochromatosis.
I didnt eat any meat for 16hours before drawing blood this time.

 

[HealthMan]

I was reviewing the supplements i am taking and came across ashwagandha has high levels of iron (although i found conflicting info about how much). Maybe that has been a contributor

 

[Vince Carter]

Do you also test serum iron levels, TIBC and % saturation? Are all these parameters normal when you ferritin is on/below the low side of normal range?

I treat those like TSH, one is just a tiny snapshot and of itself isn't too conclusive to draw an opinion on so I ran them all this last time since I've become aware of all of them.

 

[HealthMan]

I treat those like TSH, one is just a tiny snapshot and of itself isn't too conclusive to draw an opinion on so I ran them all this last time since I've become aware of all of them.

Do they all come back wihin range?

 

[HealthMan]

“The striking biochemical characteristic of superdonors is greatly decreased serum hepcidin, consistent with their need to absorb maximal amounts of dietary iron to replace that lost from blood donation.”

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1537-2995.2008.01823.x/full

Low hepcidin raises serum iron levels and can cause high iron saturation. Looks like this is the answer.
I guess the strategy is to supplement with iron in order to restore ferritin levels and increase hepcidin levels that will then decrease iron absorption and normalize serum iron and iron saturation. It might look counterproductive to supplement iron while having high serum iron but this looks to be the approach according to some papers i read.