I got some test results back!!

I haven't done a Ferritin since June. At that point it was at 12 (up from 5). So, after taking two Flintstone's Chewables per day (sometimes I forget though), my Ferritin is up to 25!! I know that is still low, but to see such progress just does my heart and mind good!!

My Hematocrit was at a solid 39.5 (up from 37 when my ferritin was lower).

The only thing "flagged" on the CBC was my MCH value which was a tad on the high side at 32.8 (upper end of range is 32). I don't know what that indicates but, I'll take it for now!

That is GREAT!!!

Woohoo! Great news! :D

Yeah - a step in the right direction....

I am happy to hear your good news.

Good for you!! Congrats!

Christine--Good for you! I know that were just making the charts but 25 is wonderful news for people like us. When I hit 20 my hair stopped falling out, for the most part. And I started to feel better around that time. Have you noticed any changes with your Ferritin count being up, could you tell before your actual test if your were feeling better?

I haven't had a Ferritin test in 2 months so I am really hoping that mine has gone up but I can't get any of my doctors to run the test now. I have to wait until January to see the Hematologist! Unless I come across a nice ~white coat~ that decides to run one for me. I hate not knowing.

I got my CBC results today also and the only flag that I had this time is my RDW 16.6 H. Do you know what that means? My HGB is now 13.6 range- 11.5-15.0. So it went from 8.5-13.6 in 9 months. I thought that it would be higher than that by now but I'm happy anyway. FLFLOWERGIRL:)

Christine--FYI, I read that the MCH is Mean Corpuscular HGB. It gives the average weight of HGB in RBC's. Decreased MCH is associated with microcytic anemia, the optimal is 30. I found this when I was tryingg to find out information about my ALT that came back 2 points over today and I'm not happy about it. Can't imagine why? I wondered if iron could cause it? I blame everything on the iron! FLFLOWERGIRL:)

HOORAY ChristineVA!!!:)
That is fantastic news to hear!
I hope my body responds as quickly and my ferritin and hemoglobin/hematocrit levels increase soon. I am tired of being so fatigued, exhausted and lose my train of thought constantly.

Thanks for sharing with the rest of us board readers!
Stefarina

Christine-Congratulations!!Odd that you have had good luck with the flintstones. As I am satisfied with my multi, I just added the ferrous fumarate separately. At 18mg. dose. Didn't you try other things that didn't work for you?? I am wondering if you could move your ferritin up a bit faster by just adding some straight ferrous fumarate to what you are already doing?Mine is nothing fancy just a brand that you would find in any supplement store or even grocery store- twinlab. While you have done great doubling your ferritin, you have got a distance to go and the more I read about the importance of iron , I would say maybe it would be good to try to move a bit faster. That is if your system can tolerate it.
Hey Christine, would you remind me, are you hypothyroid ?? I have a wee bit of brainfog here. If hypo, is it due to hashimoto's??

That's great, Christine. I am so happy for you. I'm glad things are moving in the right direction.

FLFLOWERGIRL--Sadly, I don't really feel any different than I have from when my ferritin was a 12. I *do* feel better than I did last year when my ferritin was 5 and I was anemic at the same time. I think once the anemia got corrected, I felt a bit better and it really hasn't changed since then despite the increases in ferritin. When my ferritin was lower, my MCH was at 30 (which is the ideal?), now I'm a tad over range. Probably due to the iron supplements.

I understand about having to wait for the tests. My GP was having me wait until November to do the testing. I was going nuts worrying about it. I do see a psychiatrist about every 4 months for anxiety/panic. He is convinced that my "problem" is physical. Anyway, when I get too stressed, he will order ANY test I want, no problem. So I asked him to do it.

Osteoblast--You're correct in that I should be trying to get this up faster. I have tried a few things but I had reactions to some. Flinstones don't seem to bother me at all. I do have a chelated iron that I try to take here and there. It is 27 mg. Really, I just forget to take it and I have to work everything around my Synthroid so it gets difficult.

I'm not hypothyroid but I do not have a thyroid gland because I had thyroid cancer about 12 years ago. My TSH usually is around 0.3 at all times.

Christine- yes, now I recall about your hypothyroid. It is hard to juggle around the synthroid. Perhaps you already know, but if you dont--- iron is needed to assist in the conversion of the t4(synthroid) that you take in to make the usable t3.So for those of us on synthroid meds it is so impt. to get the ferritin up there so the synthroid can do its work.

You have a good psych. to help you through the physical aspects and to see the connection and to be helpful to order the tests. That is great! It really gets to me when I read at the thyroid board the number of people who are put on antidepressants for depression with no consideration of thyroid issues. Only to learn a few years later it was the thyroid malfunctioning that caused the depression. And, I have also read that low iron and vit d can affect mood, cognition etc. So, to me it seems all diagnoses should start with good labs- I just don't understand why this doesn't happen.

So back to the iron, if the flintstones work so well for you why not just amp up the type of iron that is in the flintstones vits and take it at the same time as the vit? Your reaction to the ferrous fumarate is so good. I have read it is a real good type. Of course if you push it to a really larger dose , it could throw your synthroid dose off- meaning you would have to increase it for the time of the increased iron but it seems like an important enough reason to go through the modification of your dose for a short period. It would be so good for you to get another double on your ferritin level. Wouldn't that be something! Let's see it's about 3 months to Christmas.Maybe it's time to write to Santa- all I want for Christmas is my ferritin to double. But then again, maybe you want some other things as well, so just add them to the list.Keep us posted on the ferritin project!

Did you see the b12 thread where the doc doesn't want to treat a ferritin of 20 if no anemia signs in the cbc. It doesn't make any sense when it takes soooo long to get the ferritin up. Why wait till anemia to start the ferritin project. Do you understand this at all??Of course,the doc should do other diagnostic work to see the reason for the low ferritin, but apparently there is no interest in the ferritin whatsoever.Glad I have learned somethings here on this board, and through my readings as well as having a good doc here and there to help. Again and again it seems docs want to send you along if you just fall within range- nevermind if it is at the bottom of the range.

p.s.- I just had an appt with my pcp and got the referral to a naturopath who is highly recommended so this is going to be interesting. I will let you and the board know anything she has to say about type of iron supplement, level to aim for etc. I want to get her advice on this so I can maintain a vegetarian diet and still get the vit, minerals that I need for health and well being. So after the colonoscopy , I get somewhat of a treat going to the naturopath finally and getting a different perspective .

Did you see the b12 thread where the doc doesn't want to treat a ferritin of 20 if no anemia signs in the cbc. It doesn't make any sense when it takes soooo long to get the ferritin up. Why wait till anemia to start the ferritin project. Do you understand this at all??Of course,the doc should do other diagnostic work to see the reason for the low ferritin, but apparently there is no interest in the ferritin whatsoever.Glad I have learned somethings here on this board, and through my readings as well as having a good doc here and there to help. Again and again it seems docs want to send you along if you just fall within range- nevermind if it is at the bottom of the range.



Yes, I saw that thread and just shook my head. I think many U.S. doctors are not on board with this ferritin issue. When reading the internet it seems that the docs in Australia and the UK are more eager to treat iron deficiency.

Yes, I saw that thread and just shook my head. I think many U.S. doctors are not on board with this ferritin issue. When reading the internet it seems that the docs in Australia and the UK are more eager to treat iron deficiency.

Great News Christine!

Im lucky enough to be in the uk, where as you say the doctors are on the ball with treating the low ferritin before it develops into nasty old aneamia. Some of the posts on here make me shake my head too that some countries differ, it should be the same worldwide.
Thank god for these boards!

Hi Christine and BIG CONGRATULATIONS on boosting your figures :)

I haven't been on the board for a short while and it's so great to come back and find a positive post. I would say keep doing what you are doing and hopefully the higher your figures climb the quicker they will climb. I know it must make it difficult with having to take the thyroid meds too and that the iron and thyroid meds can interfere with each other. I think when our figures are stuck in single digits or the teens that it takes far longer to move upwards as so many area of the body rely on that iron, but the more iron you have sitting spare on the side the faster it can grown. Kind of like a lot of money sitting in the bank earning interest.........well that's my theory on iron anyway :P

I hope i'm right as next monday night i have an appointment with the Trichologist to get my results back. I'm a bit worried as i had to get braces on my teeth which i'll have for 6months. Five days prior to getting them they put the seperaters between a couple of my back teeth and it killed to eat anything firmer than yogurt. Then getting the braces was even worse. I ate mush for nearly two weeks. So i'm worried that not getting much iron in my diet could have set me back. I tend to get paranoid at times that my figures will drop all the way back down again and that the iron injections were for nothing.

Hope to keep hearing better and better figures from you :)

Osteo, with being a vegetarian, have you ever looked into taking those natural products which contain a mix of spirullina/bluegreen algae/barley grass? Apparently these dried/powdered formulas are high in iron. It doesnt taste the best, but apparently they work. I bought a bottle of it, but keep forgetting to take it every day. A lady at my work swears by it and says when she doesnt take it for a while she feels the difference and feels a lot more tired.

Audrey-Thanks for the information about the barley etc grass. I believe I saw this at the health food store and will take a closer look at it next time.

Osteoblast - the one i have has all 3 ingredients in the one bottle (spirulina, chlorella & barley grass), but you can buy them in individual lots, but i find it ends up far more expensive. The one i have is in loose form and i just take one heaped teaspoon per day. The ones in tablet form you need to pop about 6pills per day which i think is annoying, considering all the other stuff you might already be taking during the course of a day.