I have had mild anemia for 9 months now. The RBC's are large. They have ruled out B12 and folate deficiency, and a host of other things. I was referred to a hematologist who decided to do a bone marrow biopsy.

Got through the biopsy this morning. YOUCH :eek: I understand many people have little pain, but I cried while he was numbing the bone. The actual biopsy/aspiration wasn't quite as bad.

The hematologist did another ferritin test along with the CBC. Since my anemia is macrocytic I am not sure what he is looking for. Everything I read says iron problems cause microcytic anemia. My ferritin is on the low end of normal (it ranges from 19-37, normal is 10-291). I was still too shaky when he asked for the ferritin level check to ask any questions.

Any ideas on what ferritin might have to do with a macrocytic anemia?

Zoe

What is Macrocytic Anemia?

Macrocytic means the red blood cells are larger than they should be. Microcytic means they are smaller than they should be. Normocytic means they are normal sized.

What kind of blood tests show this condition? In other words, how do you know if the kind of anemia you have is macrocytic or microcytic? I know that I have iron defiency anemia by the ferritin level, but can I tell about the other?

On your CBC there will be several categories that tell details about the rbc's themselves. MCV (mean corpuscular volume) tells the size of the rbc's. Normal is about 80-98. My last CBC listed mine as 111. It is routinely done with all rbc counts. Normocytic is (I believe) the most common. Iron deficiency is generally microcytic, but can be normocytic.