Low Ferritine And Thyroid?

gilson dantas

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Does someone could explain why ferritin may fall rapidly from 100 to 23, in a old person which started the use, few weeks agor, of thyroid and also pregnenolone, 20 mg/day [along with a nutrition by the R Peat´s way]?
[No blood lost, no iron deficiency on feeding, no anemia]
 
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gilson dantas

gilson dantas

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@dbh25, yes there is a controversy; great part of the labs say it's normal a value around 100; but some others consider that the lower is the better; and somewhere I heard that around 50 would be ideal; never found reliable information on normal values;
 

Fame

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What is a recommended ferritin number?

I got my blood work done recently, out of curiosity. My ferritin level was 46, now I am not sure if that is optimal or not but it was well within suggested range, which is 22-322.
 

Koveras

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Does someone could explain why ferritin may fall rapidly from 100 to 23, in a old person which started the use, few weeks agor, of thyroid and also pregnenolone, 20 mg/day [along with a nutrition by the R Peat´s way]?
[No blood lost, no iron deficiency on feeding, no anemia]

Inflammation increases serum ferritin, so it's possible the thyroid and pregnenolone reduced inflammation and in turn ferritin.

Do you also take aspirin?
 

dbh25

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@Gilson,Fame
Thanks, I know my ferritin was 200+ at one time but is around 30 now after blood donations. I was curious what is an optimal range.
 

tankasnowgod

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I take aspirin.
But stills the doubt: what are the normal values [phisiological]?

The best answers I have on this come from the book "Exposing the Hidden Dangers of Iron" by Weinberg and Garrison, and from reading Anthony Colpo's work on iron lowering. Basically, keeping ferritin under 70 cuts your risk heart disease, cancer, and other nasty degenerative diseases (and it's very likely that excess iron is causal in these diseases). When de-ironing someone with very high iron, the idea is for ferritin to hit 25 on one occasion, after which it's desirable to keep it in that 25-75 range. Colpo, as a very active individual, found his mountain biking performance slipping a bit when it was around 25, and found everything to be significantly better around 40. So, I think the "optimal" desirable range is about 30-70, while active individuals should keep the lower cutoff around 40. Of course, hemoglobin and TSAT are important considerations as well. (As an aside, pre-menopausal females tend to stay in that 20-50 range for the most part, just like teens, probably the reason heart disease is so low in that population.)

By the way, the lab range of 30-400 for Ferritin for men represents what's "normal" and "physiological" in today's environment, but there were lots of factors that kept iron much lower in men historically. Some iron is lost in sweat, so being more sedentary makes it higher. Intestinal parasites like hookworm used to be ubiquitous and fed on the host's blood, so that was something else that lowered iron. Tobacco contains a fair amount of iron, so smoking can increase iron burden further. Iron fortification of bread and grains began in the forties, and also, bloodletting used to be very popular throughout the world until the late 19th century. So, I think it's much wiser to go with that 30-70 range, and of course, pay attention to subjective markers like mood and physical ability at various ferritin levels.
 

Fame

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@Gilson,Fame
Thanks, I know my ferritin was 200+ at one time but is around 30 now after blood donations. I was curious what is an optimal range.

Hey, sorry I still cant give an exact number, but I wanted to say before, that I believe within the range I stated earlier, the lower the better. So when you say around 30, that should be good.

As you know, if ferritin is below the suggested range then it means your bodys iron stores are low and you have iron deficiency; alternatively if iron is too high then it can cause a whole host of problems, being as its so reactive. Obviously we cannot live without iron, but personally I would aim to keep it down in the body.

I remember reading somewhere that most adults will never be deficient in it, even if they carefully avoid it. I encourage you to look into it more yourself, but if that is the case, I would just aim to have ferritin on the low range withing those limits(22-322) for optimal health.
 

Koveras

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I take aspirin.
But stills the doubt: what are the normal values [phisiological]?

Aspirin intake and the use of serum ferritin as a measure of iron status. - PubMed - NCBI

If worried about iron, ferritin may be more valuable in the context of Ferritin:AST Ratio, Iron (serum), TIBC, % Transferrin Saturation

On the lower side (<100, or maybe <50) may be beneficial provided no anemia.

If worried about inflammation, may be more valuable in the context of other inflammatory markers.
 

dbh25

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@tankasnowgod, Fame- Thanks for your responses on ferritin range. @Koveras, thanks for posting the study, I had no idea aspirin may lower ferritin. I haven't had my ferritin tested since taking aspirin.
 

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