Extremely low ferritin
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Anonymous
| Just saw hematologist. Blood test 4 weeks ago showed ferritin level of 3. She says normal is above 50. I will get an iron transfusion and then in August, after getting back from a month's overseas vacation to see family in my home country, I will see gynaecologist. DH is super-worried bout risk of colon cancer but hematologist think that, given I had a clear colonoscopy in April 2021, this is very unlikely. Would you push for another colonoscopy? |
Anonymous
| Lemme guess.... diet high in whole grains and leafy greens and low in animal fats and protein? |
Anonymous
Actually, I'm an unabashed carnivore plus eat lots of dairy, fair bit of spinach and broccoli, etc. |
Anonymous
OP here. I suppose I should have said omnivore. |
Anonymous
|
I had a ferritin level of 8 a few years ago. My periods were really heavy at the time. I started taking tranexamic acid during my period and an iron supplement daily. Now my levels are fine.
Normal range for ferritin is 13-150. Did you have any other lab abnormalities? |
Anonymous
| more likely to be fibroids than colon cancer - can you have that checked out? |
Anonymous
Try removing the spinach and broccoli |
Anonymous
Yes, hematologist wants me to be checked by gynecologist but that won't happen until August, I think. Then, if that shows nothing, would go to gastroenterologist. I'm just conscious that any visit to gynecologist wouldn't happen until almost 4 months after blood test which was due to a standard finger prick test when I went to donate blood. What constitutes a normal ferritin level is quite confusing. Hematologist says 50ng/mL but online searches indicate all sorts of standards are used. |
Anonymous
That’s the lab range. Ideal is at least 50, some people think 100. |
Anonymous
| Do you have very heavy periods? |
Anonymous
|
OP. Periods not heavier than usual. I’m 53 but no signs of menopause yet. Red blood cell count only slightly low at 10.5 L and red blood cell size also little low. Iron binding capacity 496 H and apparently normal is 200. But that’s apparently not surprising given the ferritin.
Getting iron infusion hopefully on Monday. |
Anonymous
|
Why can’t they just send you for an ultrasound right now? Anyone could write that scrip.
I feel for you. I’m dealing with something similar with weird blood test results. So stressful. I will say that my understanding is that in a pre menopausal woman the drs are much less nervous low iron is something nefarious like colon cancer. Particularly combined with your recent colonoscopy that seems unlikely. |
Anonymous
OP. Think I’m a little paranoid due to proximity to people diagnosed with colon cancer. Neighbour diagnosed with anemia prior to heart surgery and turned out to be early stage colon cancer. And two 40-something-year-olds. One died and other being treated. I might push for an earlier ultrasound. |
Anonymous
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PO here and I hear you on the paranoia. My DH was anemic and we were really concerned it might be colon cancer but it was bleeding in the esophagus (they did an endoscopy) from what I think they called a hernia (may be getting that wrong but basically wasn’t a big deal).
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Anonymous
m Had any of those people had recently clear colonoscopies? |