Low ferritin, border line hct

[jsmith21896]

I just had blood work done and I asked to have my ferritin checked since I have had low ferritin in the past and my hct at my last lab was 52, I wanted to know what it was if I needed to start donating to bring down the hct. This time my hct was 49.2 and ferritin serum was 25 (30-400) so hct went down, possibly due to 2 factors. I did donate 3 months ago because I didn't like my hct that high, unfortunately it was before checking my ferritin. I also have changed from injecting .4 (200mg/ml) every 3.5 days to .18 eod. I'm wondering how long ferritin and hct take to restore to normal levels. Is ferritin still low from donating (it was a double red where they take 2 units of blood and give the plasma back) or should it have come back by now. I have not been sup. with iron or vit. c. Also, after 3 months, should my hct be stable if I stay at this protocol? Can I raise my ferritin without sending my hct through the roof? I am meeting with my Dr. tomorrow, just wanting more opinions.

Here are some of my numbers from this lab

WBC 7.4 (3.4-10.8)
RBC 5.85 (4.14-5.8)
Hemoglobin 16.7 (13-17.7)
Testosterone 919 (264-916)
Free Test 32.9 (6.8-21.5)
Ferritin 25 (30-400)

Thanks for any help.

 

[Vince Carter]

Ferritin and HCT and donating can get you trapped in a vicious circle, where the Iron (seemingly) spurs HCT/HGB/RBC so you donate which kills your Ferritin, so you supplement iron and on and on it goes. You can try eating high iron foods and supplementing 2g of Vit-C with it to aid absorption but in this case, me myself, I've cut way back on supplementing iron.