Donating blood, be careful

[EricJ123]

But your cbc wasn't normal, rdw is high. High rdw is a sign of iron deficiency, along with low mch and mchc. Mch and mchc aren't low but they borderline.

Rdw, mch, and mchc are how I learned I was iron deficient. Confirmed with additional bloodwork. Ferritin was at 14. Hemoglobin and hematocrit were still high. I learned the hard way like you. I was doing double reds, only took a couple donations.

Were you having symptoms of low iron? For how long?

 

[alfresco]

I will share some numbers that my wife had, you will be amazed.

'Normal' ferritin range, 12 - 240 range. Please correct me if I am wrong.
(Too lazy to look it up.) Seem like a low starting point

To add some perspective, on to my wife.

She has been keeping meticulous records dating back to 2005.
The doctors are very impressed with and it is very useful!
From 2005 to 2017 to it ranged from 10 - 36

1 month ago, 410 after infusion.

Now, 300

Lowest, <10

She hiked from Mexico to Canada (solo) with a range of 19 - 36

Gets cramps at altitude, up hill with a pack, at 14-15. Not fun.

1st infusion was Dextran. One infusion, hard on you body.
Brought her up from 10 to 170. In one year it dropped 68.

Feraheme now. Two infusions, 1 week apart. Much better.
Easy on body.

She has tried every supp under the sun. Some gleaned from PM.
No workie.

Hope this is useful.

 

[Muay Thai]

Im assuming you went to your GP? Doesn’t surprise me that they failed to dive in further when your basic blood work didn’t set off alarms. It’s a shame! Glad you were smart enough to do your own labs. Hopefully things improve for you soon.

Cage

i have a client who has sky high WBC on bloodwork and crazy rashes/blisters on his arms etc. It looks like a symptom of or related to leukemia. we have been battling his doc to get him a referral for that type of screening, it took months to convince him to do biopsy, my client is an immigrant from Arabia too. probably does not help, but he's a biochemist working on cancer cell cultures (ironic) and has excellent insurance.

 

[qbkilla]

ive been feeling tired for a while now, but blood work is always good, sodium is sometimes low and im seeing an endocrinologist next week to see if its just too much water or a problem

but even when I used to abuse AAS, EQ, hematocrit and hemoglobin are fine. but always lazy, tired, some days are worse. thought I was just getting old or the sodium

I wonder if any chance I have low iron>. I just happened to look on MFP, im only gettin 50 percent of what I should since I changed my diet. 3k calories but 50 percent of the iron MFP says I should get. Today I made sure I got 100 percent and feel better, maybe placebo.

if someone is not gettin enough dietary iron is it likely they are low, or can people not be getting enough and still be in range blood work wise>?

 

[Crazy_jay]

Were you having symptoms of low iron? For how long?

Lethargic/tired. I was playing around with some different hormones at the time so figured it had to do with that. After a couple months, dropped down to 200mg test only and as the others hormones cleared, I became progressively more tired. I work residential construction and it sucked. All I wanted to do is sleep. Sit down for break and sleep. Sit down for lunch and sleep. Don't really remember for how long those symptoms stayed after supplementing iron anymore. It's been a good 7-8 years or so. Not more than a couple months. Symptoms supposed to subside fairly soon after start taking iron supplements as body can start making healthy rbc's again but want to get ferritin back up to 70-100 before discontinue supplement.

 

[EricJ123]

ive been feeling tired for a while now, but blood work is always good, sodium is sometimes low and im seeing an endocrinologist next week to see if its just too much water or a problem

but even when I used to abuse AAS, EQ, hematocrit and hemoglobin are fine. but always lazy, tired, some days are worse. thought I was just getting old or the sodium

I wonder if any chance I have low iron>. I just happened to look on MFP, im only gettin 50 percent of what I should since I changed my diet. 3k calories but 50 percent of the iron MFP says I should get. Today I made sure I got 100 percent and feel better, maybe placebo.

if someone is not gettin enough dietary iron is it likely they are low, or can people not be getting enough and still be in range blood work wise>?

Its worth testing, especially if you've donated blood. Make sure the test has ferritin as the normal cbc test doesn't test ferritin.

 

[jcc80]

A big thank you to EricJ, danieltx, and everyone else who contributed to this thread. I ordered myself a $15 ferritin test, walked into Quest yesterday, and it came back at 30 (range 38-380). I've been SEEING this talked about for years but it didn't click.

I don't think I have bad symptoms, but for a health nut who does a lot of cardio, low doses, and a pretty healthy diet, I could not explain why I would just feel tired and a bit "off" at times. It's not like I was wanting to fall asleep every time I sat down. I felt decent, but not great.

I have iron bisglycinate 25mg caps, and vitamin C. Any recommendations to get myself back in range as quickly as possible?

 

[nothuman]

As much as I am against frequent donations for the purpose of lowering hematocrit (which it doesn't any longer than a few weeks), I can't ignore the fact that donating blood once in a blue moon is associated with an 88% reduced risk of heart issues. So I still think we should do it once a year for general health reasons as long as our ferritin stores are decent enough.

 

[qbkilla]

A big thank you to EricJ, danieltx, and everyone else who contributed to this thread. I ordered myself a $15 ferritin test, walked into Quest yesterday, and it came back at 30 (range 38-380). I've been SEEING this talked about for years but it didn't click.

I don't think I have bad symptoms, but for a health nut who does a lot of cardio, low doses, and a pretty healthy diet, I could not explain why I would just feel tired and a bit "off" at times. It's not like I was wanting to fall asleep every time I sat down. I felt decent, but not great.

I have iron bisglycinate 25mg caps, and vitamin C. Any recommendations to get myself back in range as quickly as possible?

I bought beef liver. Eating 4 oz per day wish I could eat more but it's not filling lol

 

[nothuman]

I bought beef liver. Eating 4 oz per day wish I could eat more but it's not filling lol

I kind of want to start eating that but it's such an expensive habit plus it's hard to find

 

[jcc80]

Way back in the day they used to talk about liver tabs. Do people still use those? I don't really hear them talked about anymore.

 

[Elvia1023]

I have never donated blood. I have had higher HCT/HGB in the past but never for long and it always went back to mid range with the right changes.

 

[EricJ123]

A big thank you to EricJ, danieltx, and everyone else who contributed to this thread. I ordered myself a $15 ferritin test, walked into Quest yesterday, and it came back at 30 (range 38-380). I've been SEEING this talked about for years but it didn't click.

I don't think I have bad symptoms, but for a health nut who does a lot of cardio, low doses, and a pretty healthy diet, I could not explain why I would just feel tired and a bit "off" at times. It's not like I was wanting to fall asleep every time I sat down. I felt decent, but not great.

I have iron bisglycinate 25mg caps, and vitamin C. Any recommendations to get myself back in range as quickly as possible?

100mg daily or every other day of elemental iron is the consensus from my research. Your sup should say how much elemental iron is in it. There's also studies out there that show Iron is best absorbed supplementing every other day due to the hormone level Hepcidin. I supplement with both Heme and non heme iron. Keep us updated how you're feeling and if/when you re-test. I got get my ferritin retested in 48 hours.

 

[marssel]

The past 4 months I have had debilitating fatigue. Not the I'm tired and feel crappy fatigue, the don't leave your house for days at a time fatigue. The you can hardly make a first and your shaky fatigue. Brain fog so bad I didn't trust myself to drive some days. After 3 months of not getting better I broke down and ran labs for everything Full CBC, lipids, kidneys, vitamins, thyroid, liver, hormones, the works. Everything came back normal...... Except my Crit was 53 so I did what I usually do and donated blood like I did a couple moths prior. After reviewing the blood panel with my Dr. he had no concerns of anemia or iron deficiency as my Hemoglobin was on the high end of normal and CBC was fine.

In desperation I order a comprehensive Iron/anemic panel myself of privatemdlabs.com
Well holy fucking shit.... Ferritin 13. Iron Saturation 8% Total Iron 31. For reference this isn't just kinda low, its really low. I immediately starting supplementing with Oral Iron and eating more iron rich foods. After two weeks and not much improvement today I had an Iron Transfusion. Dr wants me to re-test levels in a month.

I share this as a caution. Its easily overlooked when trying to find out why fatigue is hitting you so hard. If you donate blood don't just run a CBC get a comprehensive iron analysis as well that tests your ferritin.

I still feel wrecked. Too weak and shaky to train with barbells, too tired to work more than a couple hours a day, I've lost my whole summer. The kicker of it all is I donated blood while trying to figure out what was wrong.

Take care of you health my friends, its the greatest asset you have.

This may sound stupid but bro if you take Beverly Ultra 40 liver it should help get all that up as well as eating liver, preferably from wild game. Every little bit helps, I had a client who high stress travels well travelled alll over US and collapsed from fatigue got put in icu it took him a couple days but they actually figured out the low iron was the culprit and she got an iron transfusion and I immediately put her on 40 liver tablets today and the doctors were blown away at how fast she came back they were actually against her taking supplements which doctors always miss calculate the value of supplements but they had expected her to stay in the ICU or at least in the hospital another week and she was out in three days and they actually conceded that they felt like the liver made a big difference I completely felt it made a big difference I also did bring some venison liver up to her at the hospital to eat but I do feel like it was the saturation of not just the iron but all the components of desiccated liver

 

[qbkilla]

100mg daily or every other day of elemental iron is the consensus from my research. Your sup should say how much elemental iron is in it. There's also studies out there that show Iron is best absorbed supplementing every other day due to the hormone level Hepcidin. I supplement with both Heme and non heme iron. Keep us updated how you're feeling and if/when you re-test. I got get my ferritin retested in 48 hours.

Would the every other day thing apply to eating liver too?

 

[specter]

Would the every other day thing apply to eating liver too?

Yeah its the high iron amount that raises hebicidin, it inhibits iron uptake.

 

[EricJ123]

Would the every other day thing apply to eating liver too?

Not sure. The amount of Iron in foods, even red meats is significantly lower than supplements so one could argue that its the dosage from supplements that cause such a drastic rise in hepcidin. But I honestly don't know and don't know of any data out there measuring hepcidin levels from liver.

Here's the study on supplementing every other day. Not a very large or diverse sample.
The TL;DR version is they saw a greater absorption in iron due to decreased hepcidin levels.

Iron absorption from supplements is greater with alternate day than with consecutive day dosing in iron-deficient anemic women - PubMed

In iron-depleted women without anemia, oral iron supplements induce an increase in serum hepcidin (SHep) that persists for 24 hours, decreasing iron absorption from supplements given later on the same or next day. Consequently, iron absorption from supplements is highest if iron is given on...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Anecdotally I've been supplementing every day 2-3x/day, including one iron transfusion. I still am having terrible fatigue and weakness. Perhaps thats why its taking so long for me to feel better? I get my ferritin retested tomorrow and will report my results when I receive them.

 

[alfresco]

Not sure. The amount of Iron in foods, even red meats is significantly lower than supplements so one could argue that its the dosage from supplements that cause such a drastic rise in hepcidin. But I honestly don't know and don't know of any data out there measuring hepcidin levels from liver.

Here's the study on supplementing every other day. Not a very large or diverse sample.
The TL;DR version is they saw a greater absorption in iron due to decreased hepcidin levels.

Iron absorption from supplements is greater with alternate day than with consecutive day dosing in iron-deficient anemic women - PubMed

In iron-depleted women without anemia, oral iron supplements induce an increase in serum hepcidin (SHep) that persists for 24 hours, decreasing iron absorption from supplements given later on the same or next day. Consequently, iron absorption from supplements is highest if iron is given on...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Anecdotally I've been supplementing every day 2-3x/day, including one iron transfusion. I still am having terrible fatigue and weakness. Perhaps thats why its taking so long for me to feel better? I get my ferritin retested tomorrow and will report my results when I receive them.

Just asked my wife; if you are starting from the very bottom,
rock bottom, it took her 6 months to feel it. Now, because
she is keeping on top of it with frequent blood tests, it usually
takes about 6 weeks to feel it. This is real world, first hand,
or in this case second hand (reliable) information.

The bottom line is be patient, don't expect to feel it over night.

Your mileage may vary, this is sample size of one.

 

[specter]

Not sure. The amount of Iron in foods, even red meats is significantly lower than supplements so one could argue that its the dosage from supplements that cause such a drastic rise in hepcidin. But I honestly don't know and don't know of any data out there measuring hepcidin levels from liver.

Here's the study on supplementing every other day. Not a very large or diverse sample.
The TL;DR version is they saw a greater absorption in iron due to decreased hepcidin levels.

Iron absorption from supplements is greater with alternate day than with consecutive day dosing in iron-deficient anemic women - PubMed

In iron-depleted women without anemia, oral iron supplements induce an increase in serum hepcidin (SHep) that persists for 24 hours, decreasing iron absorption from supplements given later on the same or next day. Consequently, iron absorption from supplements is highest if iron is given on...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Anecdotally I've been supplementing every day 2-3x/day, including one iron transfusion. I still am having terrible fatigue and weakness. Perhaps thats why its taking so long for me to feel better? I get my ferritin retested tomorrow and will report my results when I receive them.

When i had low iron i tried the everyday 2 times a day and it took for ever for something to happen, second time i talked to Scally and he told me EOD and after only 2 weeks i started to feel way better.

 

[EricJ123]

Got my labs back today.
Both tests on a 12 hour fast.

Initial result on 7-13-22
Ferritin 13. Iron Saturation 8% Total Iron 31. RDW 15.3

Recent Results Collected 08/09/2022 after oral supplementation and one iron Transfusion
Ferritin 79. Saturation 11% Total Iron 41. RDW 16.2 Folate serum(new reading) 16.5

Still feeling very tired and weak. My ferritin has improved significantly but my Total iron and Saturation haven't moved much. My RDW actually went up. Not sure what to make of these readings.