High ferritin after coming off trt?

[MDS90]

Been on trt for 6 years. The last bloodwork I had done before going off was done 1.5 years prior to stopping trt and the ferritin at that time showed 315. Blodwork now done 6 weeks after stopping trt showed an ferritin of 530. Then a follow up test 5 weeks later showed 610. Is there a possibility that this can be caused by the sesation of of trt? My total test came back at 216 ng/dl

Iron came back at 24 umol/l
TIBC at 54 umol/l
Transferin saturation 45%

 

[Weasel]

Following. Very interesting.

 

[Systemlord]

Ferritin is more a test for inflammation rather than iron status. Too much iron is toxic to the body. Ferritin above 100 is strongly associated with decreased life expectancy. A ferritin of 500 and life expectancy is in the 50s.

 

[Mastodont]

Of course it is rising, the same way it goes down when getting on trt, it is due to exogenous testosterone suppressing hepcidin.

 

[MDS90]

Of course it is rising, the same way it goes down when getting on trt, it is due to exogenous testosterone suppressing hepcidin.

Aha, thanks for the insight! But would it be expected to be elevated to this extent? Considering that my ferritin prior to starting trt was 190. Is there a rebound effect when coming off trt?

 

[ajax31]

No one should have a ferritin level that high. You need to see a hematologist or a gastroenterologist. Insist on having a genetic test for hereditary hemochromatosis.

More information:

Iron Disorders Institute | A National Voluntary Health Agency

irondisorders.org

Other than that, iron overload can be iatrogenic - for example, multiple RBC transfusions or excessive iron supplementation. Hyperferritinemia can also be caused by an infection and uncontrolled inflammation.

You need to find out what’s going on.

 

[MDS90]

No one should have a ferritin level that high. You need to see a hematologist or a gastroenterologist. Insist on having a genetic test for hereditary hemochromatosis.

More information:

Iron Disorders Institute | A National Voluntary Health Agency

irondisorders.org

Other than that, iron overload can be iatrogenic - for example, multiple RBC transfusions or excessive iron supplementation. Hyperferritinemia can also be caused by an infection and uncontrolled inflammation.

You need to find out what’s going on.

Thank you! I do have some white coating on the back of my tongue. I want to get it tested to figure out if it is a yeast overgrowth. I also have some sinus pressure from time to time. These two could potentially explain the rise in ferritin while my other markers for iron are normal. However, I did have the coating on my tongue when my ferritin was at 315 prior to stopping trt

 

[Mastodont]

Seems a rebound effect could make sense, donating blood might be a good idea.

 

[MDS90]

Follow up with the doc today;

He said that it is coming from my red meat consumption. I eat 5-600 grams of venison every day. He advised to cut the red meat out of thet diet. No word on phlebotomies.

I think it was strange that he could be so certain that it actually is iron, and not due to inflammation given that all my markers for iron is in range

 

[Mastodont]

He would say that, but it's most likely just a rebound, is blood donation not an option for you? Anyway have some dairy and coffee with your red meat to block iron absorption for a while if you're not going to donate.

 

[MDS90]

He would say that, but it's most likely just a rebound, is blood donation not an option for you? Anyway have some dairy and coffee with your red meat to block iron absorption for a while if you're not going to donate.

Thanks, mate! I am starting to think that it is a rebound too. I could find a study that showed a significant negative association between testosterone levels and ferritin (The Association between the Levels of Serum Ferritin and Sex Hormones in a Large Scale of Chinese Male Population)

Doc didn't think a donation would be necessary but asked if I could cut red meat for 3 months. I'll switch some of it out with chicken or fish for a while and do you like you suggest adding coffee, dairy and also some green tea with the meals.

I went off self-prescribed trt to try and get a prescription so it will be interesting to see the ferritin once I am back on

 

[Mastodont]

Testosterone Induces Erythrocytosis via Increased Erythropoietin and Suppressed Hepcidin: Evidence for a New Erythropoietin/Hemoglobin Set Point

AbstractBackground.. The mechanisms by which testosterone increases hemoglobin and hematocrit remain unclear.Methods.. We assessed the hormonal and hematol

academic.oup.com

 

[Belekas]

Any updates mate or interesting things you found out more on this matter? I got off TRT myself 5 months ago and today got my blood tests results and ferritin is 395 (30-300). I had like 90 on TRT fwiw. I also have higg B12 but I was injecting that so it makes sense. Also my transferrin saturation was 53%(20-50). Test was done by GP 2 weeks ago. Tomorrow or day after I'll be doing my own complete iron panel to see if it changed in these 2 weeks. I never had such numbers in my life. Last test 2023 while on TRT it was 124 fwiw.

 

[MDS90]

Any updates mate or interesting things you found out more on this matter? I got off TRT myself 5 months ago and today got my blood tests results and ferritin is 395 (30-300). I had like 90 on TRT fwiw. I also have higg B12 but I was injecting that so it makes sense. Also my transferrin saturation was 53%(20-50). Test was done by GP 2 weeks ago. Tomorrow or day after I'll be doing my own complete iron panel to see if it changed in these 2 weeks. I never had such numbers in my life. Last test 2023 while on TRT it was 124 fwiw.

I kinda settled on testosterone being the explanation. It has been a slow downward trend on my ferritin over the past 3 bloodtests. 611, 589 and 571.

 

[Systemlord]

High ferritin after coming off TRT is to be expected, because TRT utilizes more iron stores than someone not on the therapy. There is a correlation between high testosterone and lower ferritin and lower testosterone and higher ferritin.

My ferritin before TRT was around a 128, on TRT it’s below 100.

 

[Belekas]

I kinda settled on testosterone being the explanation. It has been a slow downward trend on my ferritin over the past 3 bloodtests. 611, 589 and 571.

Whats ure transferrin saturation % now? Ferritin in isolation pretty much says nothing about the big picture.

 

[MDS90]

Follow up bloodtest done about 7 weeks after starting TRT showed a new ferritin level of 418 so we are down from 579.

Sidenote: my testosterone levels were 2999 NG/DL which is the highest I have measured on TRT. I've been doing 140-160mg per week with daily injections. Before I went off trt I would be at 900-1000 ng/dl when doing 200mg per week. I didn't get my SHBG tested so I might have a lower free testosterone this time around.

 

[Systemlord]

He advised to cut the red meat out of thet diet.

Read meat is a testosterone boosting food, it increases testosterone. Unbelievable, this is bad advice and doesn't solve the misery why your ferritin is so high. Please read my quote at the bottom of my post because I believe it has merit in this case.

Nutrition is a blind spot for many doctors as it's not taught in medical school, instead they follow these shame nutritional organizations bought and paid for by the drug and food companies some of whom serve on the board of directors of some of these organizations.

The majority of doctors have no clue how to optimize their patient's health. There's no money in cures or anything that leads to a patient not needing to reply on our medical system for care.

 

[MDS90]

Read meat is a testosterone boosting food, it increases testosterone. Unbelievable, this is bad advice and doesn't solve the misery why your ferritin is so high. Please read my quote at the bottom of my post because I believe it has merit in this case.

Nutrition is a blind spot for many doctors as it's not taught in medical school, instead they follow these shame nutritional organizations bought and paid for by the drug and food companies some of whom serve on the board of directors of some of these organizations.

The majority of doctors have no clue how to optimize their patient's health. There's no money in cures or anything that leads to a patient not needing to reply on our medical system for care.

Agreed! It's more of an issue for people that haven't realized this yet