Iron/Ferritin Test Results

For everything and anything else not covered in the other RLS sections.
Post Reply
Chipmunk
Moderator
Posts: 655
Joined: Thu Mar 03, 2011 10:44 pm
Location: Madison, WI

Iron/Ferritin Test Results

Post by Chipmunk »

Ok, so I got my iron levels tested recently and here are my results:

SATURATION - 19 (4/19/2013) - 17 (9/23/2013)

TRANSFERRIN - 218 (4/19/2013) - 215 (9/23/2013)

IRON - 52 (4/19/2013) - 45 (9/23/2013)

TIBC - 273 (4/19/2013) - 269 (9/23/2013)

FERRITIN - 76 (4/19/2013) - 92 (9/23/2013)

Ferritin is the important one, right? But why did that one go up so much and the others went down? I expected the Ferritin to be lower because I have taken literally one pack of Slow-FE between tests. I just couldn't do the hard-core iron so I just ate red meat two or three times a week and took Vitamin C at the same time, and I took the Slow-FE at the same time as well.

I am pleasantly surprised but wondering why the others didn't go up as well.
Tracy

Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the WED/RLS Foundation, and are not medical advice.

badnights
Moderator
Posts: 6259
Joined: Tue Mar 10, 2009 4:20 pm
Location: Northwest Territories, Canada

Re: Iron/Ferritin Test Results

Post by badnights »

Don't know enough about it ... but aren't the other values maintained in a homeostasis of sorts, except transferrin? and TIBC, I just learned. Transferrin is the main protein used for transporting iron, and I have heard it will go up as ferritin goes down. Presumably this is because your body is attempting to move iron stores that it doesn't have. TIBC will go up and down the same as transferrin, I just learned, because it's a measure of the total amount of iron the blood can carry (total iron-binding capacity), and the main iron-binding molecule in the blood is transferrin.

Ferritin is the molecule used to store much of your body's iron. Most of your body's ferritin is not in the blood (it's in the liver, spleen, brain), although some does end up there. The amount in your blood will reflect the amount elsewhere, which is why the amount in your blood is used as an indication of total body iron stores (our good friend, the serum ferritin test). If our ferritin is low, our transferrin (and TIBC) might be high, because the body will be pumping out transferrin to move as much of the iron to where its needed as possible. Supposedly, in my understanding.

Serum iron is a measure of the amount of iron that is bound to transferrin, and therefore is circulating in your blood. It can be measured directly.

Saturation (transferrin saturation) is a ratio: how much iron is attached to transferrin molecules, compared to how much could be attached at its maximum capacity. It is not measured, it is calculated as the percent ratio of serum iron to TIBC. (Check your results: 52/273 *100 = 19 for Apr, 45/269 *100 = 17 for Sep).

So if saturation is lower, either transferrin (and TIBC) will be higher, or iron will be lower. (or both).

The part of your results I still don't understand is why serum iron is lower even though ferritin is higher. Maybe it's a slight lowering, not significant? Or more likely, body iron stores aren't reflected in the amount of iron bound to transferrin. Most of the body's iron is bound up in hemoglobin, myoglobin and ferritin, none of which are included in the serum iron measure.
Beth - Wishing you a restful sleep tonight
Click for info on WED/RLS AUGMENTATION & IRON
I am a volunteer moderator. My posts are not medical advice. My posts do not reflect RLS Foundation opinion.

Chipmunk
Moderator
Posts: 655
Joined: Thu Mar 03, 2011 10:44 pm
Location: Madison, WI

Re: Iron/Ferritin Test Results

Post by Chipmunk »

badnights wrote:The part of your results I still don't understand is why serum iron is lower even though ferritin is higher. Maybe it's a slight lowering, not significant? Or more likely, body iron stores aren't reflected in the amount of iron bound to transferrin. Most of the body's iron is bound up in hemoglobin, myoglobin and ferritin, none of which are included in the serum iron measure.

Right, that was the confusing part to me. But something you said made me search and I found this: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2572292/
Whereas serum ferritin is the main storage molecule for iron (7), it also is an acute phase reactant; i.e., its serum concentration tends to increase moderately in the presence of inflammation
so these test results would seem to indicate an inflammatory process at work instead of my iron stores actually rising, which is not good news, but makes a lot more sense than me getting my iron up doing basically nothing.
It's called Anemia of Chronic Disease: http://www.irondisorders.org/anemia-of-chronic-disease
Tracy

Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the WED/RLS Foundation, and are not medical advice.

Polar Bear
Moderator
Posts: 8797
Joined: Tue Dec 26, 2006 4:34 pm
Location: United Kingdom

Re: Iron/Ferritin Test Results

Post by Polar Bear »

So, all results have to be read as a picture and not just look at the ferritin serum level.
Betty
https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/a ... 0/fulltext
Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation

ViewsAskew
Moderator
Posts: 16570
Joined: Thu Oct 28, 2004 6:37 am
Location: Los Angeles

Re: Iron/Ferritin Test Results

Post by ViewsAskew »

Chipmunk wrote:
badnights wrote:The part of your results I still don't understand is why serum iron is lower even though ferritin is higher. Maybe it's a slight lowering, not significant? Or more likely, body iron stores aren't reflected in the amount of iron bound to transferrin. Most of the body's iron is bound up in hemoglobin, myoglobin and ferritin, none of which are included in the serum iron measure.

Right, that was the confusing part to me. But something you said made me search and I found this: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2572292/
Whereas serum ferritin is the main storage molecule for iron (7), it also is an acute phase reactant; i.e., its serum concentration tends to increase moderately in the presence of inflammation
so these test results would seem to indicate an inflammatory process at work instead of my iron stores actually rising, which is not good news, but makes a lot more sense than me getting my iron up doing basically nothing.
It's called Anemia of Chronic Disease: http://www.irondisorders.org/anemia-of-chronic-disease



Interesting. Thanks for the links. This could be why some people respond to anti-inflammatory approach in regard to WED. This condition, rather than the all WED is the result of inflammation. It makes sense in that all disorders, diseases, or conditions that cause anemia also cause WED, rather than that inflammation causes WED.

Huh.

Now to wonder why you might have an inflammatory response. As you said, not good news, but at least a potential explanation.
Ann - Take what you need, leave the rest

Managing Your RLS

Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation, and are not medical advice.

badnights
Moderator
Posts: 6259
Joined: Tue Mar 10, 2009 4:20 pm
Location: Northwest Territories, Canada

Re: Iron/Ferritin Test Results

Post by badnights »

That makes sense. I was vaguely aware that ferritin rose in response to inflammation but didn't make the connection. So now - as Ann said - why might you have inflammation? Is this unexpected?
Beth - Wishing you a restful sleep tonight
Click for info on WED/RLS AUGMENTATION & IRON
I am a volunteer moderator. My posts are not medical advice. My posts do not reflect RLS Foundation opinion.

Chipmunk
Moderator
Posts: 655
Joined: Thu Mar 03, 2011 10:44 pm
Location: Madison, WI

Re: Iron/Ferritin Test Results

Post by Chipmunk »

I am not sure. I went through this all three years ago, and I had a negative SED test but didn't take a C-reactive protein test. My doctor felt that my body was responding to the generalized stress of being sleep-deprived. And I'm not dead, so it probably wasn't cancer, as is often the case with anemia of chronic disease.

I ordered some curcumin on Amazon and will take that 1-2 times a day and see if that helps. It's supposed to be good at lessening inflammation.

I should also add that I am just now realizing that everyone *doesn't* respond painfully when they are touched in certain muscles and that those spots happen to be fibromyalgia trigger points. I feel stupid calling up my doctor and saying, I think I have fibro because I'm not in pain so it would be an Ok, now what? diagnosis. And then I'm thinking, wow, all these inter-related diseases: RLS/WED, ADHD, depression, fibromyalgia, Ehlers-Danlos...I'm sure I'm missing a couple...what's the unifying thing here????? There HAS to be a common cause, an imbalance perhaps?, but what is it???
Tracy

Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the WED/RLS Foundation, and are not medical advice.

ViewsAskew
Moderator
Posts: 16570
Joined: Thu Oct 28, 2004 6:37 am
Location: Los Angeles

Re: Iron/Ferritin Test Results

Post by ViewsAskew »

Any possibility of celiac? It's often hard to diagnose - time to diagnosis is 8-12 years. There are over 200 symptoms and except for rapid weight loss partnered with gut issues, all of them are indicative of other problems, so celiac often isn't identified.
Ann - Take what you need, leave the rest

Managing Your RLS

Opinions presented by Discussion Board Moderators are personal in nature and do not, in any way, represent the opinion of the RLS Foundation, and are not medical advice.

Nikita
Posts: 9
Joined: Tue Oct 15, 2013 3:42 pm

Re: Iron/Ferritin Test Results

Post by Nikita »

Chipmunk,
I totally understand your feeling that there has to be a unifying cause for all the problems! I have felt the same way. Seems like the more I try to look, the more I find wrong.
However, do get all your medical records and try to organize them so you can have everything ready to support you when you see doctors. I have found that the doctors usually don't have time to look over everything, but if you can present them with your idea and the paperwork, it will help.
Good luck with it!
Just call me Iron Woman!

EeFall
Posts: 1557
Joined: Thu Jan 03, 2013 4:11 am
Location: Washington State, USA

Re: Iron/Ferritin Test Results

Post by EeFall »

I don't think you should make any conclusions about the changes in a 5 month period, they are very small. These are my results and if you look to the right of the results the numbers are what they should fall within to be normal. The doctors don't much care unless they fall out of these because your body fluctuates a lot over time. These results are large because I had 3 ferritin infusions over a 3 month period:

7/13/13
Iron Total 66 mcg/dL 60 - 165
Iron Binding Capacity, Unbound 249 mcg/dL 126 - 382
Iron Binding Capacity, Total 315 mcg/dL 300 - 480
Iron % Saturation 21 % 20 - 50
Ferritin Level, Serum 335 ng/mL 22 - 275

3/12/12
Iron Total 99 mcg/dL 55 - 160
Iron Binding Capacity, Unbound 254 mcg/dL 126 - 382
Iron Binding Capacity, Total 353 mcg/dL 300 - 480
Iron % Saturation 28 % 20 - 50
Ferritin Level, Serum 105 ng/mL 22 - 275

Post Reply