Low Ferritin

[calicp]

I have been on trt close to a year and I need to donate blood again last time was in Oct 2013. My Hematocrit is @ 53.2 from blood work done 2 weeks ago. My blood work also indicates my Ferritin is 24 on scale of (30-400) right now. I am worried my donation is going to put this in the tank further. My doc just says to start supplementing with Iron and it should start to come back up. Is there anything else I can do to get this back in range? I also asked him to get some labs done on my thyroid on my next round of blood work in 3 months, so what would you guys suggest me doing? Thanks

[lacey23]

taking vitamin C with iron sups helps iron absorption.

It can take a while to get it up higher though. I was at at 80 when I started, and took about 7 months to get it near the upper end of the normal range.

Red meat like liver can help as well.

[nyjetsfan]

Hypothyroidism causes low ferritin. Reason : lower production of stomach acid. Get thyroid checked. My 2 cents

[Bonaparte]

Not a big deal. Just do what your doctor suggested.

[junk2222yard]

I am in the same boat. TRT causes my Hematocrit to get too high, but I have low ferritin and donating blood knocks it way too low. (And yes, I have hypothyroidism, so that is likely why my ferritin is low to begin with.)

Last time I gave blood my ferritin was something like 12 on a scale similar to yours, and I felt horrible for weeks. At the gym, I had to reduce the weight in all of my lifts, week after week, for a couple months!! It sucked. I got an iron shot in the ass from my doc when he saw how low it was, and added iron supps to my many daily pills, for months. It very slowly raised my iron to low-normal. Very slowly. (Again, likely because of hypothyroidism.) I don't want to have to repeat this slow process again, so I have resolved not to give any more blood.

With that in mind, the only thing I have been able to figure out is to keep my Test dose as low as I can, while still getting into a *reasonable* range. This keeps my Hematocrit from creeping.

[nyjetsfan]

I am in the same boat. TRT causes my Hematocrit to get too high, but I have low ferritin and donating blood knocks it way too low. (And yes, I have hypothyroidism, so that is likely why my ferritin is low to begin with.) Last time I gave blood my ferritin was something like 12 on a scale similar to yours, and I felt horrible for weeks. At the gym, I had to reduce the weight in all of my lifts, week after week, for a couple months!! It sucked. I got an iron shot in the ass from my doc when he saw how low it was, and added iron supps to my many daily pills, for months. It very slowly raised my iron to low-normal. Very slowly. (Again, likely because of hypothyroidism.) I don't want to have to repeat this slow process again, so I have resolved not to give any more blood. With that in mind, the only thing I have been able to figure out is to keep my Test dose as low as I can, while still getting into a *reasonable* range. This keeps my Hematocrit from creeping.

junk- what's your protocol in terms of test per week? Also any hcg? I'm in the same situation.

[Kwn]

taking vitamin C with iron sups helps iron absorption.

It can take a while to get it up higher though. I was at at 80 when I started, and took about 7 months to get it near the upper end of the normal range.

Red meat like liver can help as well.

Lacey, which form of iron supp did you take and what dose?

[Bonaparte]

I am in the same boat. TRT causes my Hematocrit to get too high, but I have low ferritin and donating blood knocks it way too low. (And yes, I have hypothyroidism, so that is likely why my ferritin is low to begin with.)

Last time I gave blood my ferritin was something like 12 on a scale similar to yours, and I felt horrible for weeks. At the gym, I had to reduce the weight in all of my lifts, week after week, for a couple months!! It sucked. I got an iron shot in the ass from my doc when he saw how low it was, and added iron supps to my many daily pills, for months. It very slowly raised my iron to low-normal. Very slowly. (Again, likely because of hypothyroidism.) I don't want to have to repeat this slow process again, so I have resolved not to give any more blood.

With that in mind, the only thing I have been able to figure out is to keep my Test dose as low as I can, while still getting into a *reasonable* range. This keeps my Hematocrit from creeping.

Why don't you just get on thyroid meds?

[nyjetsfan]

Hypothyroid and on trt is complex. When hypothyroid some have low ferritin due to lack of stomach acid absorption. low Ferritin will decrease T4 to T3 conversion. Thus taking a large amount of thyroid meds with low ferritin can make one hyperthyroid because of the low ferritin! Some have high hemoglobin with low ferritin with TRT. while you want to drop hemoglobin levels you want to keep up ferritin levels. I really think the trick may be lower test dose as minimal as possible so hemoglobin stays stable and not give blood to raise ferritin. Keep on low dose thyroid, test blood often and work with doctor accordingly.

[junk2222yard]

Why don't you just get on thyroid meds?

At the time of this post, I was on Thyroid hormones and TRT. Trouble is, I couldn't bump my thyroid meds high enough to get my Free T3 and Free T4 in the right zone, without having undesirable side effects. So I have weaned myself off the thyroid med (It was NDT) and am going to try another approach.

junk- what's your protocol in terms of test per week? Also any hcg? I'm in the same situation.

At the time of this writing my protocol was inject T every 3 days: Day 1, 250mg Hcg, Day 2 60mg Test E and 1/4 pull adex, Day 3 rest. Also I took two grains NDT per day, which I have since stopped.

[highpsi]

My ferritin is low but iron is normal, seem to get winded easily. I don't know what to think anymore.