Low ferritin

Does anyone have low ferritin? My primary physician says it could be gastro related. Blood in stool or bleeding ulcer or gastritis.

He is making me nervous.

I really don’t want to get a colonoscopy right now or an endoscopy.

I’m going through a lot right now. I’m in the midst of several neuro symptoms. Plus my thyroid is suddenly very off. It was fine 3 months ago.

I don’t think I can take much more.

Zimica said...
Hi aphysicalwreck,

I had low ferritin for a very long time. I believe this was due to my long term gluten consumption even though I was aware of my gluten sensitivity. Gluten triggers an immune reaction that damages the intestinal villi, which are responsible for nutrient absorption, so low iron is common. Without the ability for nutrient intake your body doesn't have the tools to fight off the disease even if you eat healthy, so it's very important to take gluten sensitivity seriously if you suspect it. It takes a long time to repair the villi. The best way to know if you are sensitive to gluten is to just stop consuming it and see what changes.

I took all different kinds of 'natural' and 'gentle' iron with co-factors, but that didn't help. Finally, I took just regular iron sulphate with vitamin C and my ferritin level finally went up - iron sulphate is constipating but perfectly manageable with the right fiber rich diet, at least for me. We'll see if my ferritin stays up.

I believe blood in stool makes dark stools, so you can check, and I guess you would feel pain or discomfort too?

edit: iron suphate also causes very dark stools, this is normal

Thank you for your reply.

I don’t believe I have a sensitivity to gluten. I keep gluten down to a minimum anyway.

I don’t think that’s my issue.

My iron level is fine. It’s the ferritin that’s low.

Did you have any symptoms of low ferritin?

saraeli said...
Two non-LL functional medicine doctors that treat CFS and two LLMDs have told me that most of their patients have some degree of low ferritin. I got the impression that low ferritin alone doesn't usually cause symptoms unless anemia is also present. My blood work was always very robust aside from the low ferritin, though. I was never clear on the cause.

Thank you.

That’s good to know but should we be taking iron supplements?

Also my rbc was slightly low.

Quin said...
Low ferritin and low rbc is suggestive of bartonella or babesia destroying red blood cells. Did you also check your bilirubin?

My bilirubin was fine.

Thank you for responding

Do you have a normal CBC?

My providers seemed to think that regular iron supplements would not help a body convert ferritin and store it. They recommended Ferrochel, but taking it gave me immediate, acute liver pain, so I only took one tablet!

Wish I had more insight!

Girlie said...
“ I don’t believe I have a sensitivity to gluten. I keep gluten down to a minimum anyway.
I don’t think that’s my issue.

My iron level is fine. It’s the ferritin that’s low. “

Did you have any symptoms of low ferritin?

My son had celiac disease and wasn’t diagnosed for several years.
His ferritin was very low. Celiac can damage the small intestine - and this affects the absorption of iron,
He really didn’t have any reaction when he ate gluten - so we didn’t pick up on it - took several years before he was diagnosed.




Wouidnt hurt for you to get the blood test to rule it out.

Thanks girlie.

With the thousands of drs I’ve been to and the thousands of viles of blood I’ve had over the years, I would imagine I was tested for it. Especially since I go to a lot of natural drs.
But I can check it out.
I’m freaking out right now because my thyroid is suddenly off the chart low and so is my ferritin.
I don’t get it. My thyroid was fine 2 months ago.

I’m on thyroid meds for hypo for for 30 years. It’s never been this bad.

My tsh is 35
My ferritin is now 6

I had blood work taken about two weeks ago. My ferritin was 13.

I had blood work yesterday, a different lab, and my ferritin went down to 6.
The rbc is normal right now.

Could this be caused by Lyme? I don’t have any other explanation of how that can happen with the thyroid especially.

Girlie said...
The test for celiac that you should get done is:

Tissue Transglutaminase IgA or tTG-IgA

Thanks. I don’t think I ever had that.

acarined said...
I wouldn't be concerned, this isn't uncommon with Lyme. Low ferritin can be a cause of restless leg syndrome, if you have symptoms ask about supplementing iron.

Hmm. I don’t have restless leg syndrome. But I thank you for replying.

Zimica said...

aphysicalwreck said...

Did you have any symptoms of low ferritin?

My hair is falling out, that's why I was determined to get my ferritin up to see if that's what is causing it. By the looks of it, it's not.
After supplementing for 2 months I see some improvement in the skin on my face, it looks better, 'thicker' in a way, it heals quicker, and I can say a big improvement in the quality of my hair (but it's still falling out). My iron levels were also normal. Low ferritin are depleted iron stores.

To Girlie's point, you can take the test for coeliac disease, but you don't necessarily need to be coeliac for gluten to wreck havoc in your body, you can just simply be intolerant. Whether it is gluten causing you low ferritin or not, with an underactive thyroid I would suggest ditching it altogether.
Gluten can also cause irritable bowel disease and some of the digestive problems that your doctor mentioned.

In this article they say : "Interpretation of ferritin levels
Ferritin levels reflect body iron stores in otherwise healthy people. Serum ferritin assay has become the standard test for the assessment of iron stores. However, ferritin levels are unreliable in:
Acute or chronic inflammation. Simultaneously checking another inflammatory marker such as ESR or CRP may help to establish if inflammation could be a confounding factor in interpreting ferritin."
https://patient.info/doctor/non-anaemic-iron-deficiency

I am not sure what that means, talk about inflammation in lyme.

Thank you so much for this info.

I’m going to get some supplements for now and see what happens.

I’m also going up on my thyroid meds. My thyoue was very off too all of a sudden.

If I got rid of the Lyme and co maybe my ferritin would change.

I’m out of ideas how to accomplish that. I was on abx recently but didn’t get anywhere. I probably was not on them long enough but I’m afraid of them.

I need another plan.

I’ve done herbs in the past. Didn’t get anywhere with that either.

I probably didn’t give anything enough time.