Blood Test Results - low iron

Hi Girlie, I'm not sure of the answer but wanted to put it out there that my daughter recently tested as being severely anemic as well -- both serum iron and iron saturation levels were way below the reference ranges. I had been giving her a highly absorbable iron supplement for several months before the blood test, too, but her iron levels had plummeted even further than when we had last checked them. It really freaked me out! And definitely led me to speculate about the role Babesia might be playing in that. My daughter has not tested positive for Babesia, per se, but has many of the symptoms. And from what I understand, Babesia can cause anemia because of the way it ruptures RBCs.

Low ferritin was what my son had with his undiagnosed Celiac disease.

Then the gluten antibodies were checked (after 9 - yes 9 years of low ferritin) and they were through the roof.

But, my husband and I were both tested.
Maybe I need a re-test...sometimes it can be 'activated' later on.

www.tiredoflyme.com/lyme-disease-can-use-manganese-in-lieu-of-iron-to-survive.html

...the ad with the picture changed...

DelOueste said...
Hi Girlie, I'm not sure of the answer but wanted to put it out there that my daughter recently tested as being severely anemic as well -- both serum iron and iron saturation levels were way below the reference ranges. I had been giving her a highly absorbable iron supplement for several months before the blood test, too, but her iron levels had plummeted even further than when we had last checked them. It really freaked me out! And definitely led me to speculate about the role Babesia might be playing in that. My daughter has not tested positive for Babesia, per se, but has many of the symptoms. And from what I understand, Babesia can cause anemia because of the way it ruptures RBCs.

I'm not sure what the difference is between ferritin, serum iron and iron saturation.
I only had the ferritin tested.

Do you know the difference..or anyone?

I was told ferritin is kind of "back up" iron, serum iron is used first then ferritin. Not completely sure if that's true or not. But my ferritin took a nose dive when I got sick, got better on Mepron, and got worse off of anti-malarials. So, I think it's the Babesia eating it. I've read articles saying Babesia eats iron. (I lost the article.) But my P.A. Said she sees patients, especially more so with women who have really low iron and ferritin with Babesia. (Maybe between menstruation and the Babesia its difficult for the body to keep iron?) Have you tried Floradix? It's awesome and easily absorbable. You can get it at whole foods. No stomach problems with it.

Post Edited (Violet Thomson) : 5/20/2016 4:37:44 PM (GMT-6)

Violet - I gave my son Floradix for many years when we were trying to get his hemoglobin and ferritin levels up...
if I supplement, that's what I will get.

evian - the only other known symptom he had was constipation. But, we didn't link it to celiac...same as the low ferritin.

He had hyper mobility of his joints and was quite weak for his age. I thought he might have Ehlers Danlos...but the Dr.'s said he didn't.
We discovered his low ferritin levels when I brought him to the Dr. requesting them to check it because he was losing hair and his nails were chipping.

Then we kept supplementing with iron...but no one thought to test for gluten antibodies until one day at his Dr. appt...there was a locum filling in...and it was her idea.
His antibodies were very high. It took over a year of gluten free for them to come down in to range...it took that long for his small intestine to heal...poor guy...

Oh, and he no longer has hypermobility of his joints...or constipation. The Dr.'s said the joint issue is not related...yah right!