Any help

Nadia, I hope someone can help you out and I am sorry it isn't me. I am new to all this and haven't a clue what all that means. I am in England and I wasn't given anything like your list. But I wanted you to know it is being read 😇

Hi Nadia,

First, well done putting in the test units and the normal ranges!  Normal ranges can vary between labs so it’s really helpful to have them.

Second, please do see your doctor about these test results, because as I’m sure you have noticed, some of them are outside the normal range.

There aren’t any iron (e.g., serum iron, ferritin, transferrin saturation, total iron binding capacity) test results in the list, so your doctor isn’t going to be able to tell about your iron status from these tests.

Your red blood cell measurements are all within range – although you might want to ask your doctor to look back at your previous red blood cell tests to see if these red cell measurements are typical for you or if they have changed from what was usual for you in the past. 

You’ve probably also noticed that these test results show that your TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) is low and your free T4 (unbound thyroid hormone) is high, which suggests overactive thyroid.  Your creatinine being down fits with the effect of overactive thyroid on the kidneys.  Your urea (blood urea nitrogen) is also down – there can be a bunch of reasons for this, including not eating enough – but maybe that could be an effect of overactive thyroid as well, because when your thyroid is overactive you have to eat more to keep up with the increased metabolism?

Anyhow – I think it’s definitely time to see your doctor . . . .

Once you stablise you will feel much better, Graves is another name for having too much thyroxin. Don't be scared It wont make you die and it looks like they are ontop of it. Stop trying to read that blood test. Everyones readings are different depending on weight age and size. I hope I made you feel a little better. X good luck Nadia.

What is your ferritin level and transferritin saturation rate? Those are the important ones with regards to hemochromatosis.

Hi Nadia. I am in the USA. I haven't been feeling good since I had surgery in Nov 2016. I saw my primary in Feb 2017 because I could not get my hbp regulated and had to go on RX. I mentioned to her that I was feeling tired. Then in April I mentioned that I was feeling horribly fatigued. She agreed to run a full CBC panel. We were having a long visit (mostly to talk about my "chronic" Essential hypertension, which to this day, I still believe there is an underlying issue. I was off all pharma meds for it for 9 years with good bp measurements until this latest flare), when I mentioned, out of the blue, can we please measure my ferritin?

To this day, I still don't know why I said that, but the lab results that came back from that office visit in April 2017 were high RBC, high hemoglobin, high hematocrit, high serum ferritin. Those have continued throughout this summer/year. Now my liver enzymes are going up. I am on 2 hbp meds, so that could be the cause, although looking back over my labs since 2008, there were a few other times when my liver enzymes were elevated--and I wasn't on pharma drugs. I have been tested for autoimmune diseases, and they are negative. My SED and CRP are normal.

My symptoms are petechiae/hyperpigmentation on my feet/lower legs, the lab results, extreme fatigue, and now I am getting issues with hard to breathe and a bloated/hurting tummy area. It was discovered on my CAT Scan in Nov 2016 that I had little to no right side abdominal muscle, so after my surgery I started seeing Physical Therapy to build up my CORE muscles. I have had pain in the right side of my belly button since I was a child. She sent me to another PT person who works with visceral therapy; that therapist told me I had issues with my Duodenum and all 5 spincters and that the ODDI spincter was the worse. I had a gall bladder attack once, when I was 18. It subsided, and I never had another one.

Lo and behold, the Duodenum and gall bladder are some of the areas of attack for Hemochromatosis. My CAT Scan also showed mild atherosclerosis in my abdomen, and an Echocardiogram showed a couple mild issues with my heart. A kidney ultrasound showed that I have a congenital defect on one of the arteries leading to my kidney. AND I was just diagnosed with congenital cataracts about 5 years ago, when I started wearing bifocals (there is a congenital cataract issue having to do with hyperferritin?).

The reason I am saying this is because your RBC, Hemoglobin, Hematocrit, Mean Cell Volume, and MCHC are all on the high side of the reference range, as are your albumin and globulin (even though they have not "tipped" over yet into the HIGH status). I would seriously watch those closely and see if they start dropping. If you do a full iron panel and that comes back normal and your RBC remain high or get higher, then please look into polycythemia (vera).

I would also encourage you to ask to have a full iron panel done. Since you're not actually over the top reference range for the RBCs, your doctor might refuse. But I would keep a very close eye on this. Just my opinion.

My latest serum ferritin was 266 ( I am 49 and premenopause) and was as high as 315. My transferrin saturation is normal at 29%. My hematologist is waiting on a preapproval from my health insurance company to get me tested for all 4 types of Hemachromatosis. She is thinking Transferrin (Type 3), maybe Ferroportin (Type 4)--the nonHFE Hemachromatosis disorders.

I did a genetic test on myself and, after looking through countless medical studies on HFE, I have found a paper that talks about the TfR2 gene (type 3) wherein I have a heterozygous gene on TF rs3811647 and a heterozygous gene on TFR2 gene rs7385804. I don't know if heterozygous is enough to get a diagnosis--or if medical genetic testing can dive deeper to find out more--but as of right now, this is something.

I also show another gene on TFR2 that I think is a homozygous gene with a benign allele with a missense.

And on the SLC40A1gene for Type 4/Ferroportin I have a heterozygous as well as another gene that again, I cannot tell if it is homozygous, common, or mutated because no population studies are included on that one in the Human Genome SNP database; that one is a pathogenic allele with a Forward missense.

So I am getting antsy and nervous for the Hematologist to get me genetically tested, so we know where I stand and can get started on getting this iron out of my body. I would donate blood already but don't want to screw up any lab work that can be used to find the underlying cause. I have been searching for the underlying cause for my health ailments for most of my life and just really want this Merry-go-round to stop already. It is frustrating to be sick all the time.