What Does High Ferritin Levels But 25% Saturation Mean?

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Kratos

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my level is 350 i did not get a diagnosis of hemochromatosis yet but i just got new blood work done. my iron and other numbers are normal though. or could this just be the start of hemo and the iron hasn't gotten to my organs yet and i caught it in time? or do the high ferritin levels means that iron is built up in my organs already?
 

wintagal

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Could be early hemochromatosis, typically starts in men in their 40s. Or it could be you just had the flu, have a tooth that needs a root canal, have cancer or kidney failure...
https://www.rcpa.edu.au/getattachme...e4084de22d97/Interpreting-Serum-Ferritin.aspx

A quote from the linked pdf:
"In the presence of conditions such as inflammation, infection, malignancy (haematological and solid tumours), or liver or kidney disease, serum ferritin concentrations do not reflect iron stores alone and are typically higher than otherwise expected. In addition, higher ferritin levels are seen with increasing BMI and post-menopause. In all these settings, a normal or elevated serum ferritin level does not exclude iron deficiency nor diagnose iron overload. Serum iron concentration is a poor measure of iron status in the body. In an individual, levels fluctuate significantly due to diurnal variation and fasting status. Even when blood collection is standardised to morning samples in fasting patients, iron is an acute phase reactant and low levels may be seen as a consequence of acute inflammation."
 

tankasnowgod

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my level is 350 i did not get a diagnosis of hemochromatosis yet but i just got new blood work done. my iron and other numbers are normal though. or could this just be the start of hemo and the iron hasn't gotten to my organs yet and i caught it in time? or do the high ferritin levels means that iron is built up in my organs already?

TSAT is just a calculation, serum iron divided by total iron binding capacity. Ferritin is much more reliable as an indicator of total body iron stores. 350 ng/dl is fairly high, but it may still be "in the lab range" for men. You would likely see benefits from reducing body iron stores, but it's unlikely you have any damage to your organs. The critical number is 1000 ng/ml, and that is the level that is thought to risk serious and permanent liver damage.
 

tankasnowgod

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Could be early hemochromatosis, typically starts in men in their 40s. Or it could be you just had the flu, have a tooth that needs a root canal, have cancer or kidney failure...
https://www.rcpa.edu.au/getattachme...e4084de22d97/Interpreting-Serum-Ferritin.aspx

A quote from the linked pdf:
"In the presence of conditions such as inflammation, infection, malignancy (haematological and solid tumours), or liver or kidney disease, serum ferritin concentrations do not reflect iron stores alone and are typically higher than otherwise expected. In addition, higher ferritin levels are seen with increasing BMI and post-menopause. In all these settings, a normal or elevated serum ferritin level does not exclude iron deficiency nor diagnose iron overload. Serum iron concentration is a poor measure of iron status in the body. In an individual, levels fluctuate significantly due to diurnal variation and fasting status. Even when blood collection is standardised to morning samples in fasting patients, iron is an acute phase reactant and low levels may be seen as a consequence of acute inflammation."

Ferritin can be elevated with a cold or flu, but generally, it's about 10% higher than normal. That would mean the OP would still have a ferritin level of about 320 or so "normally," which is still high (or high-normal), and would likely benefit from having iron removed. As for diseased tooth, cancer or kidney disease...... lower iron would benefit patients with those conditions, too. In fact, iron lowering has been shown to improve every single condition that that pamphlet lists as a potential cause of "high ferritin." And ferritin of 686 is insanely high. That pamphlet focuses too much on "hereditary" hemochromatosis, but it's not having the genes that's the problem..... it's having high iron. I am not at all impressed with the References they list. No mention of E.D. Weinberg or Dr. Francesco Facchini.
 
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Kratos

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thanks for the replies, my hematologist thinks i have secondary polycythemia vera and wants to do a spleen catscan and i have not gotten hemachromatosis gene testing yet. from labcorp, my alt is 29, my ast is 25, bilrubin is . 0.5, globulin is 2.9 and albumin is 5.2 so i doubt its a liver issue. my erythropoietin is 7 which shows i dont have a kidney problem which and tested negative for jak2 which means i shouldnt have polycythemia. this all started because my hemoglobin was 18 last month and my hematocrit is 50 and my rbc was 5.9 which alerted my doctor. i went to donate blood after i got the results and the person that took care of me just said i no doubt have hemachromatosis and i just caught it early and since im irish, italian and finnish thats a giveaway according to her.
 

tankasnowgod

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thanks for the replies, my hematologist thinks i have secondary polycythemia vera and wants to do a spleen catscan and i have not gotten hemachromatosis gene testing yet. from labcorp, my alt is 29, my ast is 25, bilrubin is . 0.5, globulin is 2.9 and albumin is 5.2 so i doubt its a liver issue. my erythropoietin is 7 which shows i dont have a kidney problem which and tested negative for jak2 which means i shouldnt have polycythemia. this all started because my hemoglobin was 18 last month and my hematocrit is 50 and my rbc was 5.9 which alerted my doctor. i went to donate blood after i got the results and the person that took care of me just said i no doubt have hemachromatosis and i just caught it early and since im irish, italian and finnish thats a giveaway according to her.

Curious, how old are you? Ferritin is pretty high, but if you're in your 20s or 30s, yeah, I would agree with the phlebotomist that took your blood.
 
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Kratos

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Curious, how old are you? Ferritin is pretty high, but if you're in your 20s or 30s, yeah, I would agree with the phlebotomist that took your blood.

28, i asked the hematologist about hemochromatosis and he said most likely no which i didn't agree with him, next time i'll bring it up again.
 

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