Low Ferratin, High Iron in 5 year old

[PeatInspired]

* Iron 190 ug/dL
* Ferratin 20 ng/dL

And his D3 is low (which is little weird because we live in California and are outside often)

* Calcidiol+ercalcidiol 26 ng/mL

He does not take iron supplements, he eats a lot of red meat and mango (and pineapple juice...). He did not fast for the test. He had eggs for breakfast and lamb the night before. His pediatrician suggested he might have hemochromatosis, but wouldn't he need to also need to have high ferritin for that diagnosis?

He takes magnesium and pregnenolone regularly and occasionally a couple B vitamins (no B12). And we've been trying Saffron to help with ADHD symptoms.

Also, a few days after the bloodtest we realized he had covid. So maybe the weirdly high iron is due to inflammation from getting sick? The doctor said inflammation usually causes ferritin to get higher so she doesn't think that's it.

We'll retest him in a couple of weeks. For now he's mostly eating dairy and eggs and less high C foods. I don't know.

My life is a little chaotic at the moment, looking for some ideas... I used to have the time to do an insane amount of research on something like this, did some poking around. Looking for help!

Thank you!

 

[youngsinatra]

1. Does he have symptoms?
2. Definitely re-do the simple tests after he is recovered from COVID. It massively disturbs iron metabolism momentarily.
3. If the panel looks weird nonetheless, then….

…I’d do a CBC. (to see if he has anemia or any other disturbances that give some clues)

A full iron panel (ferritin, serum iron, total-iron-binding-capacity, iron saturation index) is needed to assess true iron status.

Serum ceruloplasmin and serum copper are needed to ensure that iron metabolism and utilization is happening properly. Only if those are in the right range, can we ensure that the iron panel is actually accurate. Because if ceruloplasmin is low, then iron metabolism is really disturbed, with potentially low iron labs despite high dietary intake and potentially even high tissue stores that are just unable to get utilized.

Serum folate, B12 and homocysteine are a good idea because methylation impairments (like low B12, folate or riboflavin and consequently high homocysteine) can cause low ceruloplasmin and consequently low iron despite normal dietary intake like said earlier.

Good thyroid function is needed for proper methylation (B12/B9 cycling)

 

[Peater]

Definitely re-do the simple tests after he is recovered from COVID. It massively disturbs iron metabolism momentarily.

That's a good point, there was a post here somewhere describing it in detail with diagrams etc.

 

[PeatInspired]

1. Does he have symptoms?
2. Definitely re-do the simple tests after he is recovered from COVID. It massively disturbs iron metabolism momentarily.
3. If the panel looks weird nonetheless, then….

…I’d do a CBC. (to see if he has anemia or any other disturbances that give some clues)

A full iron panel (ferritin, serum iron, total-iron-binding-capacity, iron saturation index) is needed to assess true iron status.

Serum ceruloplasmin and serum copper are needed to ensure that iron metabolism and utilization is happening properly. Only if those are in the right range, can we ensure that the iron panel is actually accurate. Because if ceruloplasmin is low, then iron metabolism is really disturbed, with potentially low iron labs despite high dietary intake and potentially even high tissue stores that are just unable to get utilized.

Serum folate, B12 and homocysteine are a good idea because methylation impairments (like low B12, folate or riboflavin and consequently high homocysteine) can cause low ceruloplasmin and consequently low iron despite normal dietary intake like said earlier.

Good thyroid function is needed for proper methylation (B12/B9 cycling)

Thanks for the response @youngsinatra! Symptoms of high iron? He sometimes sluggish/foggy. (Other times hyper/ impulsive) but is unusually intelligent when the fog clears. (His dad is high IQ but with ADHD/brain fog too)

He sleeps a solid 11 hours at night, he used to take very long naps when he was younger (3 hour nap plus an 11 hour night). I had been interpreting this all as having to do with his ADHD symptoms, but I suppose it could actually just have been an iron issue.

Here are the other iron related results:

 

[Ginali]

I regularly address this issue in my health. My B vitamin levels, hemoglobin, and iron become high, then my ferritin levels are extremely low. When I raise my ferritin levels, there's a sudden drop in all my iron-related levels, including B vitamins and hemoglobin. It seems like a compensatory mechanism at work or something similar. To counter this, I turn to top-quality iron supplements, which effectively restore everything to a balanced state. However, I've never considered the role of copper in this issue, and I believe it's time to have it checked as well. For me, relying solely on a hemoglobin test has never been sufficient in assessing my iron stores.