How can I raise my Ferritin while lowering Crit and Hemoglobin?

[EricJ123]

Blood work came back with Low ferritin but my RBC, Crit, and Hemoglobin are the highest they have ever been.

Things I am doing:
*Halfing my test dose. I was on 200mg/week putting my test at 1787.
*Getting off EQ. I was on 300mg/week. I've read Equipoise is one of the compounds that can really raise your crit. I've never seen the science behind this, just forum talk. Is this true that EQ raises your crit more than other compounds?
*Resuming CPAP. Never felt like this did anything for me but I'm going to resume in attempts to get my crit down.
And of course regular cardio and Iron Rich foods. Steak and ground beef are my primary protein source at the moment.

How can I raise my ferritin without further raising my RBC, Crit, and Hemoglobin? How can I lower my Crit and Hemo without lowering my Ferritin?

 

[nicocujo]

Blood work came back with Low ferritin but my RBC, Crit, and Hemoglobin are the highest they have ever been.

Things I am doing:
*Halfing my test dose. I was on 200mg/week putting my test at 1787.
*Getting off EQ. I was on 300mg/week. I've read Equipoise is one of the compounds that can really raise your crit. I've never seen the science behind this, just forum talk. Is this true that EQ raises your crit more than other compounds?
*Resuming CPAP. Never felt like this did anything for me but I'm going to resume in attempts to get my crit down.
And of course regular cardio and Iron Rich foods. Steak and ground beef are my primary protein source at the moment.

How can I raise my ferritin without further raising my RBC, Crit, and Hemoglobin? How can I lower my Crit and Hemo without lowering my Ferritin?

Get off the EQ. It did the same to me.

 

[headtrainer]

EQ is the worst for causing high hematocrit levels. Anadrol is probably runner up!

 

[qbkilla]

I'd say of what you listed 2 stand out...cardio and iron rich foods. Broccoli and beef liver are my go to along with 3x cardio weekly. Cardio as in intense cardio not counting steps or walking the dog etc

 

[bg65]

Why would you specifically want to raise your ferritin? What's your endpoint that you're after? And it's just barely below normal limits. If it was 38 would you feel better about it?

Your body probably consumed most of your iron stores to make the rbcs that are reflected in your polycythemia. The only thing you need to do is drop the EQ. Repeat labs in a month or so. You could also donate blood in the meantime. Stay well hydrated.
Trying to drive up your ferritin by eating more iron might set you up for more of an increase in hct while you still have EQ in your system.
There's no point to trying to normalize ferritin unless you are anemic and even then the endpoint is normalized hct/hgb not specifically normal range ferritin.

 

[Bio]

I think @nothuman had this problem and had a thread on it a few years ago. Hopefully he can chime in!

 

[juggy38]

Donate blood, 4oz beef liver ED with 500mg vitamin C for 2-3 weeks

 

[EricJ123]

You guys saying donating blood. That will tank my ferritin. Donating blood does lower my Crit and Hemoglobin but at the cost of crashing my ferritin. It got as low as 13 at one point from donating blood.

Does anyone have any literature on why EQ raises Crit more than other compounds? Its something I've heard on forums quite a bit but have never seen anything to back it up.

 

[strongsafety41]

I’ve

You guys saying donating blood. That will tank my ferritin. Donating blood does lower my Crit and Hemoglobin but at the cost of crashing my ferritin. It got as low as 13 at one point from donating blood.

Does anyone have any literature on why EQ raises Crit more than other compounds? Its something I've heard on forums quite a bit but have never seen anything to back it up.

Donating blood will compound your problem. It will cause your ferritin to drop even lower. I’d drop all of the other compounds and lower test to TRT dose. From the decrease in dose/compounds your blood markers (HCT, HGB, RBC’s) should drop.

The Red Cross recommends frequent donators to supplement iron, it’s in the fine print on their website. I didn’t pay attention and ended up in a situation like yours.

If you’re asymptomatic I’d make the changes you mentioned earlier and add in staying well hydrated! I’d definitely do diet changes to include iron rich food and couple with Vit C with meals (helps with iron absorption).

I see you a PM as well.

 

[bg65]

What is your concern with having a low ferritin?
There is literally zero diagnostic information to obtain from a normal ferritin other than to show that your iron stores are in equilibrium. It is only useful as a diagnostic tool if it is low and even then yours is basically lower limit of normal. It can be high for any number of reasons since it is an acute phase reactant.
Your iron stores are barely not at equilibrium which is likely due to the supraphysiologic stimulus toward increased erythropoiesis provided by the EQ. Your body was cranking out RBCs using up your iron stores, as reflected in the marginally low ferritin on your labs.
You're clearly not anemic. There is no point to try to raise your ferritin just as a sole endpoint. When the EQ is gone and your body resumes a normal rate of erythropoiesis I'd bet your ferritin would be normal on your diet as it is now.

The tibc, iron level, MCV, RDW and reticulocyte count could provide a little more info but would just be academic. You remove the stimulus for cranked up RBC production and i bet it normalizes.
But again, in a setting of polycythemia provoked w AAS use what is it that concerns you abt your ferritin level?
If you were anemic with that ferritin level then it would be meaningful

 

[Lumpi]

Nebivolol lowers my erythrozyts, hematocrit, hemoglobin depending on the dose without touching ferritin.

 

[qbkilla]

My A1c is low out of range but ferritin was fine, shouldn't these two correlate?

 

[bg65]

My A1c is low out of range but ferritin was fine, shouldn't these two correlate?

No. HgbA1c is essentially just sugar stuck on RBCs. Ferritin generally rises and falls in correlation with the body's iron stores.

I'd still really like any kind of explanation why you guys are fixated on ferritin. What is it that you guys think it does? Or what the value reflects?

Dude has polycythemia which could actually be problematic, although not likely at his level, and everyone is worried abt a ferritin level that is 1 point below normal?

 

[nothuman]

I think @nothuman had this problem and had a thread on it a few years ago. Hopefully he can chime in!

I certainly did.

The best way to raise ferritin is to take 150mg iron bisglycinate once EVERY OTHER DAY. This is an evidence based strategy because studies show taking it daily is a waste because it lasts two days in the body. So six 25mg tabs All at once every other day with vitamin c (from food or a supplement). Iron bisglycinate is the best form.

Do this until your ferritin is alright again but don’t overdo it to the point you induce an iron overload because that’s really bad too.

 

[TommyJ]

I certainly did.

The best way to raise ferritin is to take 150mg iron bisglycinate once EVERY OTHER DAY. This is an evidence based strategy because studies show taking it daily is a waste because it lasts two days in the body. So six 25mg tabs All at once every other day with vitamin c (from food or a supplement). Iron bisglycinate is the best form.

Do this until your ferritin is alright again but don’t overdo it to the point you induce an iron overload because that’s really bad too.

Do you remember how long it took to get yours to a “good”level with this method?

Also, did the iron give you any side effects?

Is there a brand you recommend?

Thank you!

 

[bg65]

So, my take-home from this thread is that you guys have no idea what ferritin is/does, its role in the body or it's clinical significance. More troubling to me is that it seems pretty clear that y'all dont intend to understand it better.
Even the original question "How can I raise my ferritin without further raising my RBC, Crit, and Hemoglobin?" shows a total lack of understanding how it works in the body. And then you guys are telling a dude w polycythemia that he needs to ingest more iron because his ferritin is 1 point below normal?! Why? No one has even attempted to explain why they think ferritin, in and of itself, is so important to have in the normal range and that is because there is no reason. Are you guys trying to provoke his polycythemia by telling him to increase iron intake? The stimulus for increased erythropoiesis is present with a known cause (EQ) and objective data proving it (elevated hct). So in that environment lets have the guy ingest more of the ingredients necessary to make RBCs so thank God his ferritin can be in a normal range?! That's the priority?
Was there some time before where the answer to "how do i raise my ferritin?" was a mystery? In the absence of an inflammatory state, ferritin will rise and fall w the levels of iron in the body, so no shit, ingesting more iron will bring your ferritin up. Ferritin is a protein that stores iron in the body. You will not have any symptoms whatsoever from low ferritin itself. If you're anemic, you most definitely could have symptoms from the anemia but in that setting a low ferritin would just indicate that low iron was a likely factor. You would not have any clinical manifestation of the low ferritin itself.

Juggy gave the best answer and in the correct order. Address the polycythemia and then look to increase your body's iron stores via iron rich foods/supplements.
You are not going to "feel" a low ferritin (you expressed concern about it dropping after donation) and you will resolve the potential issues that can arise from polycythemia by donating blood. Increase your iron intake and your ferritin will come up but I'd worry abt that after you address the elevated hct.
Now that I've thought abt it more, the total iron in your body isn't even low based on those labs, you just have a lot of iron contained in all the RBCs that are above the normal range. If you could (but you cant) somehow get rid of all of the RBCs that are putting you above normal range and move that iron into your ferritin stores then your ferritin would be in the normal range.
Address the actual important issue, the polycythemia, and then come back with new labs in a month or two. If you have normal RBC indices or heaven forbid you are anemic AND your ferritin is low in either of those settings then we can get excited abt it and try to figure it out.
Presently, fretting over your marginally low ferritin while you have polycythemia is absurd.
Now i understand why some of you guys get so frustrated with the repetitive/silly AAS/GH questions.

 

[bg65]

This is a great iron supplement, plant derived, doesn't cause constipation. Also has b12 and folate which you also need for RBC production. Its the iron bisglycinate form mentioned above

 

[strongsafety41]

This is a great iron supplement, plant derived, doesn't cause constipation. Also has b12 and folate which you also need for RBC production. Its the iron bisglycinate form mentioned above

Why the change up, why all of a sudden posting up iron supps?

 

[strongsafety41]

I’m looking at his slightly low ferritin levels because of what it could lead to if he doesn’t address it. Let’s say he chooses to donate to lower his RBC and HCT (bad advice as it is temporary and will further deplete his ferritin stores leading to anemia).
Low ferritin can have some serious sides (SOB, high HR, high BP, arrhythmias, weakness etc.. ) and can lead to anemia. Especially if you’re donating frequently. Blood loss is a common cause of low ferritin, in my case blood donations.
I was in OP’s shoes and saw several docs trying to figure out what was wrong with me. Got on my friend ole google which led me to testing ferritin with private labs md. Ferritin came back at 25 and all of a sudden my docs were all marching to a different beat.
I’m not offering medical advice, but I had to take the approach of dropping all other compounds and down to a true TrT dose to help my levels HCT, HGB, RBC’s normalize.
The other side of the balance was to raise my ferritin through iron supps slowly (EOD) works best for me. After a couple of weeks my symptoms all began to subside.
Although OP has high RBC’s it doesn’t mean they’re healthy. RDW can help prove this. It’s a delicate balance for sure. Iron supps, diet (including vitamin c with meals, and addition of b12). Also with dieting knowing which foods to avoid in the window (2hours) while eating iron rich foods that aren’t oxalates. A lot of variables at play here to address this issue.

 

[bg65]

Why the change up, why all of a sudden posting up iron supps?

I never said he won't need an iron supplement at some point, i just think its silly to pursue that now, for reasons cited above. He posted that he had a ferritin of 13 previously. Ferritin <15 is pathognomonic for iron deficiency. I'm always down to offer help when i am able. That's a really good iron supplement. Now, let me read your next post. Stoked to engage in conversation about this...