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Having Low Ferritin Levels, Why Am I Unable To Absorb Iron?
Hi there -
Our daughter is `18 years of age with low ferritin levels of 10. She has symptoms of intense coldness, paleness, tiredness, irritability. She has a high hemoglobin and hematogrit and her thyroid function is normal.
We have received this result from just two years ago. her levels are going lower all the time. Can you give us a reason why she is not absorbing iron? How can we treat this? What specific blood tests
do we need to determine what is causing her to not absorb the iron? Thank you very much.
Our daughter is `18 years of age with low ferritin levels of 10. She has symptoms of intense coldness, paleness, tiredness, irritability. She has a high hemoglobin and hematogrit and her thyroid function is normal.
We have received this result from just two years ago. her levels are going lower all the time. Can you give us a reason why she is not absorbing iron? How can we treat this? What specific blood tests
do we need to determine what is causing her to not absorb the iron? Thank you very much.
Mon, 9 Mar 2015
Good Day,
The first thing I would do, mam, is to obtain a current CBC to evaluate where her HB and Hct are now, what her MCV and MCH and RDW are. High MCV,MCH indicate B12 or folic acid deficiencies. Low values indicate a possible iron or other micronutrient deficiencies. Her ferritin should not be low with a high Hb/Hct, that makes no sense. The next thing I would do is to order an iron panel that includes a TIBC, transferrin saturation, total iron and ferritin levels. If your daughter is truly iron deficient and intolerant of supplementation, try combining high vitamin C foods with high iron foods. The vitamin C (NOT a pill/supplement) in the food will increase the amount of iron absorbed from the food. Raise her iron that way. Hope this helps. Sincerely, Kathy Shattler, MS,RDN
The first thing I would do, mam, is to obtain a current CBC to evaluate where her HB and Hct are now, what her MCV and MCH and RDW are. High MCV,MCH indicate B12 or folic acid deficiencies. Low values indicate a possible iron or other micronutrient deficiencies. Her ferritin should not be low with a high Hb/Hct, that makes no sense. The next thing I would do is to order an iron panel that includes a TIBC, transferrin saturation, total iron and ferritin levels. If your daughter is truly iron deficient and intolerant of supplementation, try combining high vitamin C foods with high iron foods. The vitamin C (NOT a pill/supplement) in the food will increase the amount of iron absorbed from the food. Raise her iron that way. Hope this helps. Sincerely, Kathy Shattler, MS,RDN
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