abnormal iron,serum

I am a 46 year old female that has an iron serum level of 211-225. This was found on a routine general chem and lipid lab for a physical. My other labs were all normal except the MCH was 33.8. I am concerned since this has come from nowhere. I feel fine other than a little tired. I do work in a hospital setting and try to be careful with blood spills etc.  I have not had a need stick. I do not take any multi-vitimans and the only routine med that I take is Voltaren. I have had 2 epidural steriod injections 3 months ago. What can cause this sudden elevation in my iron?

[Forseegood]

Hi, not sure exactly what youre saying?, youre wondering if you have hep c? I'm a little thick sometimes, forgive me. And you've recieved high iron level readings? I'd say to get all the necessary tests done for the hep c if you haven't already. Full blood labs, liver enzyme levels, viral load if you did test positive. There can be false positives at times. There is a lot of good information here as to what to do next. Try to get as educated as possible about the disease. You might have a mild case if you even have it.

As far as the iron level readings being a bit high, there is a current thread on that issue, named Post Card (first words) and it has the word ferritin levels in as well. It'll be easy to identify w/ Post Card I hope. Hopefully, it'll be informative for you. Good luck.

[jmjm530]

Speaking of iron...lately I've been having All Bran and milk for lunch to help with digestion.  Noticed that just about all these cereals are iron fortified. I don't have a problem with high iron but I know the docs don't recommend supplemental iron except in specific cases. Has anyone heard anything bad about iron fortified cereals/foods when you're on treatment? Or, is it a non-issue as long as your iron levels are normal?

[Forseegood]

Hi jm, glad to speak to you, enjoy your posts. Anyway, what I know I know from friends that have had high iron levels, which isn't a huge emergency all the time btw...that its best to stay away from very iron rich foods, most importantly iron fortified cereals.

As far as we heppers w/out high iron levels, my homeopath and integrative medicine guys have both said its better to stay away from iron fortified foods as well. I have to shop at the health food store for cereals, (and many other foods as well) cause it seems that most American cereals are iron fortified. What's up w/ that? And while eating some spinach and other iron heavy foods isnt going to break the bank, just don't make a huge routine of it, according to them.

And of course, I've also heard that most conventional medicine docs say it's okay to eat most anything, just don't iron supplement. So it's up to us, once again, to divine out what we should do in these circumstances. This is just my experience. Hope this helps.

[1fairygirl]

I don't know about iron fortified cereal but my dr. told me to use only the multi-vitamins which do NOT have iron added.  I would probably also not use cereal which has a lot of iron. Such as those which say 100% iron, and so forth.  I would think that regular cereal which has a smaller amount of iron may be okay.  Good question.
Smiles, Sue

[jmjm530]

All Bran says "25%" of daily iron. Serum iron's been between 98 and 116 on tx so I guess I'm OK. Anyone know what is considered high iron?

[1fairygirl]

Your serum iron should be 60-150mg/dl.
A good site to look up all blood levels is

http://www.flash-med.com/LabNormal.asp

Hope this helps.
Smiles, Sue