Anyone have high ferritin on lab work? What did you have to do? Just wondering because my doctors appointment is a few weeks away.

how high is it? Mine is almost always above the normal range, and the surgeon just shrugs. I guess it depends on HOW high it is. I'll check my chart and update this in a minute

well, the last three years it's been 69, 111, and 205. I'm pretty sure it's been over 200 in earlier years - I'll check.

OK. For some reason, only the last three years were on the graph - but I manually looked back on my chart for earlier years. It was always over 200 until I hit that 69 in 2019 - which was surprising because it'd always been in the 200s. But it started going up again in 2020 (to that 111 reading) - and now back in the 200s. High end of the range for women is 200 - so mine usually runs a little above normal. They never said anything about it, so..

if they feel yours is too high, they'll probably have you cut back on your iron supplementation

Edited January 31, 20224 yr by catwoman7

Just now, catwoman7 said:

how high is it? Mine has been over 200 a couple of times, and the surgeon just shrugged.

412

Everything else, except my ldl, was in the normal range.

14 minutes ago, OutdoorsGirl said:

412

mine has never been that high, so I'm not sure. But if they feel it's too high, they'll have you cut back on the iron supplements (ferritin is just iron stores in your body that it draws on when the iron in your blood gets too low)

if you're not taking iron supplements, then...not sure (not all sleevers take iron). They may have you find a multi that doesn't have iron in it (the ones for seniors often don't have iron). Or again, they may be fine with your current level - I'm just not sure.

Edited January 31, 20224 yr by catwoman7

Were you advised to take additional iron? It’s not uncommon for people to take a range of vitamins supplements when they don’t need them or only need a little extra, or take multiple supplements & end up double dosing say (take iron & a multi vitamin with iron) then end up with too much in their systems.

Did you have a blood test before surgery & what was your level then? That is it a new thing or pre existing. Too much ferritin can be a sign of other conditions which should be explored. It can be a genetic thing too (my brother has it - hemochromatosis) & regularly giving blood can keep it under control.

Most importantly ask your medical team for more information about what it means for you, what could be causing it & what you can do about it.

Thanks so much! My multi does have iron, so maybe that will be dropped. I’ll post again after I see the doctor.

I found this on Mayo.org:

If a ferritin test shows higher than normal levels, it could indicate that you have a condition that causes your body to store too much iron. It could also point to liver disease, rheumatoid arthritis, other inflammatory conditions or hyperthyroidism. Some types of cancer also can cause your blood ferritin level to be high.

Again, wait until your doctor tells you what to do or if they want you to have further tests. Can you check prior results to see if your ferritin is usually high?

My MIL had high iron levels. It was called hemochromatosis. She had no diseases so it most likely was hereditary (probably some sort of dominant gene as it showed up later in life). She just had her blood monitored and every so often she would "give blood" but they just threw it out because there was too much iron in it. This dropped her iron levels for about a year or so.