optimal conditions for measuring ferritin and transferrin

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Anonymous

optimal conditions for measuring ferritin and transferrin

Post by Anonymous »

What are the optimal conditions for drawing blood to measure ferritin and transferrin levels? For instance, if it's true that ferritin levels drop by 30% at night (as was stated at the recent RLS conference), does the time of day at which the blood draw is done matter? Or, perhaps, time of day and how long you've been awake? Also, does fasting or not before the blood draw have an impact? If fasting is recommended, for how long? I might as well schedule my blood draw for conditions under which ferritin is most likely to register as low. If it doesn't measure low under those conditions, then I can more easily conclude it is not a factor in my PLMD and RLS. Can anyone on this discussion board who has acquired professional knowledge comment on these questions?

cornelia

ferritin

Post by cornelia »

rabbit9: the only info I know of you can find underneath:
Patient history

Before patients are tested for iron, they should be checked for any of the following factors:


Prescription medications that affect iron levels, absorption, or storage


Blood transfusion or radioactive medications within the last four days


Recent extreme stress or sleep deprivation


Recent eating habits. Test results can be affected by eating large amounts of iron-rich foods shortly before the blood test.

Fasting

Patients scheduled for an iron level, TIBC, or transferrin test should fast for 12 hours before the blood is drawn. They are allowed to drink water. Patients scheduled for a ferritin test do not need to fast but they should not have any alcoholic beverages before the test.

Aftercare

Corrie

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