New Iron Labs

[GreenMachineX]

Here's my newest iron lab results. Could this be why I still have periodic increased heart rate and flutters, breathlessness, fatigue, cold hands and dry skin? My ferritin is up which I've read can be from correct thyroid treatment or inflammation (horrible diet this past week compared to months of keto, rebound inflammation?). That iron saturation is on the low end of normal.

 

[Vince Carter]

I dont see a problem there, per se. YOu might send VettesterChris a PM and ask him to stop by and weigh-in.

 

[Saul]

I agree with Vince. Labs look good. What does the Dr say about your symptoms?

 

[GreenMachineX]

I dont see a problem there, per se. YOu might send VettesterChris a PM and ask him to stop by and weigh-in.

Will do, thanks.

I agree with Vince. Labs look good. What does the Dr say about your symptoms?

Haven't talked to any doctor yet. I ordered these myself. My thought has been thyroid hormone pooling due to inadequate iron. My ferritin was at a 9 last year after donating too much. That was a horrible mess back then, but these are the symptoms that haven't completely went away. Stop The Thyroid Madness says iron saturation should be upper 30's to low 40's, in the same way we say total testosterone should be at the upper end of the range for optimum functioning.

 

[GreenMachineX]

I should also mention that cutting my Naturethroid dose in half cuts the intensity of the symptoms a good bit as well.

 

[HealthMan]

I agree with Vince and Saul. Everything looks good.
Do you have your full iron panel when your ferritin was 9? How did you manage to bring it back up and control hematocrit?

 

[GreenMachineX]

I agree with Vince and Saul. Everything looks good.
Do you have your full iron panel when your ferritin was 9? How did you manage to bring it back up and control hematocrit?

For some reason it's not on the patient portal anymore.
Losartan 25mg is controlling hematocrit while using Ferrasorb from Thorne Research.

 

[Vince Carter]

I ran the Thyroid panel like you I was thinking pooling with my known Ferritin/iron problems and my TSH had crept up twice to over 2.XX but reverse T3 was in range, just OK and didn't indicate a problem. Something though that has I thinked helped Thyroid and has shown up in my body temp coming up was adding Iodine and Selenium daily. I used to never could get even 98.0 degrees in fact my body temp would always flag as "low". But when I donated blood the intake exam my body temp was 98.3 and that's a drastic improvement that really caught my eye.

 

[GreenMachineX]

Gotcha. My other suspicion is adrenal issues since my DHEA-s levels were abysmal (in that other thread I had going). That might be why when I reduce thyroid dose my symptoms improve a little but still sluggish and brain fog. I made an appointment for next Wednesday and I'll ask for more in depth testing. My last e2 sensitive was a 27 so that is ruled out. The thing is, this all started when we first found the iron deficiency back in February. There's no chance the iron just isn't optimal enough for me (bring 5'8” and 215 lb for example)?
I'm really tired of every time I eat a normal size meal, or carry laundry upstairs, or wake up in the middle of the night I get out of breath or my heart pounds like crazy. The weird thing is it only mildly effects my workouts. I don't understand that.
What other Labs might be useful in this?

 

[Vince Carter]

I too get that slightly winded feeling and was why I started messing with iron supplemetation, my ferritin has been subterranean even with supplementing daily. I recently doubled my saily supplement and added 2g of VitC and Lysine to increase absorption. Unfort I had to donate 1 pint of blood 4 days ago, and will do a new CBC and irons in 5 Jan to see where I'm at.

 

[GreenMachineX]

I too get that slightly winded feeling and was why I started messing with iron supplemetation, my ferritin has been subterranean even with supplementing daily. I recently doubled my saily supplement and added 2g of VitC and Lysine to increase absorption. Unfort I had to donate 1 pint of blood 4 days ago, and will do a new CBC and irons in 5 Jan to see where I'm at.

Gotcha. I'm curious to see your results. Are you on thyroid meds too?
For the record, I found a study on hyperthyroid patients that had elevated ferritin until euthyroid, then it became normal. Still concerned the Naturethroid is giving a falsely elevated ferritin.

i found the Labs from the original iron deficiency back in March.
TIBC 540 (high) 250-425
iron Saturation 11 (low) 15-60
ferritin 8 (low) 20-345 ng/mL

1 month later in April (I took iron pills either that morning or day before which I've read was wrong)
ferritin 45 ng/mL 20-345
tibc 449 (high) 250-425
Iron saturation 33 (15-60)

2 months later switched to Naturethroid from synthroid.

 

[GreenMachineX]

I should also mention, since being a kid, I've always been the one in shorts and t-shirt when everyone else is freezing. Around the iron deficiency diagnosis, I began to get cold all the time, aside from the cold hands and feet I mentioned earlier. Just makes me think it's still not quite optimized or something.

 

[HealthMan]

Do you take HCG as well? My old trt protocol i used thyroid medication but no HCG. Once i added HCG to my protocol i started to have hyperthyroidism symptoms including flutters. So i stopped the thyroid medication and it went away. After getting blood test done my thyroid panel was great (same as before adding HCG but taking thyroid medication). HCG is similar to TSH so it can mess with your thyroid. Studies show that this happens with massive doses of HCG but for me it happened with 1000IU a week.

Interesting thing about losartan. Do you have high blood pressure or started using it with the sole purpose of reducing hematocrit? You no longer donate blood? Where has been your hematocrit lately?

 

[GreenMachineX]

Nope, no HCG. Just 140mg testosterone cyp weekly, 15mg DHEA, 81.25mg Naturethroid, 25mg Losartan and a boatload of supplements.

I was prescribed bisoprolol for blood pressure for years, and didn't like it, so I've weaned myself off and asked my doctor for a Losartan script because there's studies showing it's effects on lowered hematocrit. I haven't donated blood in 4 or 5 months and hematocrit sits at 48.

 

[Vince Carter]

Gotcha. I'm curious to see your results. Are you on thyroid meds too?
For the record, I found a study on hyperthyroid patients that had elevated ferritin until euthyroid, then it became normal. Still concerned the Naturethroid is giving a falsely elevated ferritin.

i found the Labs from the original iron deficiency back in March.
TIBC 540 (high) 250-425
iron Saturation 11 (low) 15-60
ferritin 8 (low) 20-345 ng/mL

1 month later in April (I took iron pills either that morning or day before which I've read was wrong)
ferritin 45 ng/mL 20-345
tibc 449 (high) 250-425
Iron saturation 33 (15-60)

2 months later switched to Naturethroid from synthroid.

No thyroid meds for me, I though am supplementing Iodine and Selenium and I have seen an increase in my body temp moving to 98.3 and used to never be able to get that close to normal.

 

[HealthMan]

Nope, no HCG. Just 140mg testosterone cyp weekly, 15mg DHEA, 81.25mg Naturethroid, 25mg Losartan and a boatload of supplements.

I was prescribed bisoprolol for blood pressure for years, and didn't like it, so I've weaned myself off and asked my doctor for a Losartan script because there's studies showing it's effects on lowered hematocrit. I haven't donated blood in 4 or 5 months and hematocrit sits at 48.

Thinking about trying lorsatan to control hematocrit. Will wait a few more months and see if my change in protocol sorts this out.

 

[OMI100]

Site with a lot of info on iron:
http://www.irondisorders.org/forms/
and
http://www.tiredthyroid.com/cofactors.html

 

[Vettester Chris]

At a glance, the iron panel isn't all that bad ... If you brought your iron serum up about another 25 to 40 points, it would be just about optimal for thyroid hormone purposes, with getting hormone transported to the cells. However, as you have already broached upon, cortisol and the adrenals will play a strong role with thyroid productivity, as will other variables.

Without speculating too much, it would be good to see a complete thyroid panel (TSH, FT3, FT4, RT3 & TPO & TgAb antibodies), and if you by chance were to have a 4x saliva cortisol panel, that would provide A LOT of insight. A metabolic profile with electrolytes would also be helpful, and even D3 can be beneficial in this discussion.

Also, just for future reference, your Saturation % is simply a calculation of Iron/TIBC (transferrin), 100/422 =.2369. In the labs that you mentioned that were from March (TIBC was 540, Saturation was 11%), so reverse calculating this would indicate that your iron serum at that time was at/around 60? When iron is deficient, it's 'normal' to see both TIBC and UIBC on the high side, which again will calculate a low saturation %. Sometimes other metabolic factors/disease can influence these figures, e.g., hemochromatosis (which is in my family), which would/should prompt other labs & exams.

 

[GreenMachineX]

Healthman, no dosage change was low enough to control my hematocrit. Only Losartan.

orin Israel, thanks for the links.

vettester Chris, thanks for checking in. I did start taking iron when I first had the labs drawn and already feel better. I'm going to ask for all those other labs you mentioned as well. Definitely appreciate it.

 

[GreenMachineX]

Updating this thread:
I’m noticing a better pattern to these palpitations and increased heart rate. It seems to happen with anything that takes blood away from my heart, such as eating a heavy meal, exercising (until the adrenaline kicks in about 30 minutes in), getting too tired late at night then moving around.

10 months ago I created a thread called dizziness and other symptoms that turned out to be iron deficiency which is why I ordered those labs and created this thread. That dizziness I used to experience was right after meals just like these palpitations and increased heart rate. Postprandial hypotension regarding the meals? Maybe it’s all too low blood pressure? Just noting the pattern for future reference.

Other symptoms I still have are vertical lines in fingernails, dry/brittle toenails, and dry skin. Also getting lightheaded every so often without a pattern.

Doctor appointment with TRT doc in 3 days.