Hemochromatosis Support Group

Hemochromatosis is a hereditary disease characterized by improper processing by the body of dietary iron which causes iron to accumulate in a number of body tissues, eventually causing organ dysfunction. It is the main iron overload disorder. Hemochromatosis is notorious for having symptoms that are often initially misattributed to other diseases.

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ferretin jump

langlois
langlois
My ferretin jumped from 25 to 85 in a couple of months. After many phlebotomies it stayed well under 50. Any suggestion on how to keep this from happening again? I am having a phlebotomy, my level should be 30, I am not doing anything different...
deleted_user
deleted_user
Ferritin is an acute phase reaction and may have nothing to do with iron loading...you may be fighting an infection or virus or inflammation of some kind, which causes the body to react by shunting excess iron or free iron into ferritin as a defense mechanism, as virus, bacteria, cancer cells all need and love iron to thrive. The body immune system protects itself and does it's job by taking free iron out of circulation, which can account for the elevation. This is acute reaction, meaning it will not be long term, as long as the underlying condition is addressed or treated or resolves.

What are your other numbers? CBC's? TSAT? Have you had a CRP test done to see if there is any indication of inflammation? There will be other clues in your labs...

the following link provides info on the types of test results and what they mean...compare them with your latest results and if not had some of those done, ask your dr to run some updated tests other than just the ferritin.

Take care, C
deleted_user
deleted_user
Sorry, forgot to add the link!!

http://www.drpincott.com/pdf/RMA%20Blood.pdf

Remember there is a difference between reference ranges and what is optimal, so there may be some clues in your test results other than ferritin as to whether your body is fighting a virus, infection or bacteria. Your CBC's with differentials the dr can run will show whether your body is responding correctly in immune response.

C