6 month labs

I posted recently about donating blood and had a couple people comment that my ferritin was really low at 28. I asked the NP at my surgeon's office, and she said it wasn't to the point of needing a transfusion, but that they prefer to see it above 40. She also said she recommends I not try to donate blood again because it's more difficult now to rebuild depleted iron stores -- this is probably good advice as I'd tried about 2 dozen times pre-op, only had iron high enough to actually donate twice, and passed out one of those times.

I asked her to have all my labs rechecked to see which way things are trending, and here's what I got. Any words of wisdom or suggestions from the vets would be much appreciated! 

                     8/20/15         11/12/15
Folate            >22.3            >22.3
B12               915 (H)          679   (told to halve dose after high reading in August)
VitD Total       68                 68
Iron Lvlv         64                 73
Ferritin           28                  41 

Notable parts of metabolic panel (previous fatty liver disease):
SGPT/ALT       33                  41 (H)  (worried that this is going up)
SGOT/AST      18                  21

Notable parts of CBC:
Hemoglobin     12.3               12.4
Hematocrit      37.9               37.6
RDW               15.1 (H)         13.4
Platelet count   290                312

The lab report will have an acceptable range for each value.  That can vary by lab, so look at your acceptable range and see if you are in it.

When I am concerned about a particular reading, I google it and find out what it involves.  Then I check with my surgeon about any concerns and take his advice for adjusting supplements.

on an unrelated note, I love your ticker.  The incredible shrinking woman!

I like your thorough, sharp posts.  A+ all the way and predict you will be a long-timer to admire.  Be proud.

It all looks good my only note is I have seen posted on here that many feel better when their B12 is at the high end. I did the same thing you did had a 900+ B12 so I lowered my dose. I was then in the 450 range which is still considered "normal'. I started getting numbness in my fingers and toes... at the same time so I figured it was vitamin related. My surgeon kept telling me my labs were fine. Then I saw someone post on the numbness/B12 connection... so I upped my B12. It got significantly better. Not 100% but much better. Saw my PC today for Blood results at my B12 was 1012. She said it was OK for it to be a little high. She wants to give it a little time to see if the numbness resolves itself before sending me for other testing....

Do what they are telling you to do, but just realize there is a range of normal, so your normal may need to be higher if you have any symptoms.

Interesting point, thanks! I have had my toes go numb rather frequently lately, but it's also gotten a lot colder. I might try upping it again though just to see if it's the temperature or possibly the B12.

Having a high B12 number won't hurt you.  It's a water soluble vitamin and we pee out any B12 that we don't need.  Many of us keep our numbers around 1000.  Any numbers under 400 can cause you to have symptoms of deficiency.  Nerve damage from a low B12 is not reversible, it's permanent.  

I get iron infusions when my ferritin goes below 50.  You can get symptoms like restless leg syndrome, fatigue, shortness of breath with numbers below 50.  My lowest ferritin number was 8, so my PCP said there is no good reason to let my numbers fall so far that I feel like crap.

Being proactive is important. I keep a spread sheet of my labs so I can track any downward or upward trends and adjust my vitamin dosage accordingly.

Your Vitamin D is BEAUTIFUL!

It's normal for liver enzymes to  go up a little with rapid weight loss.  Your liver is working really hard to flush out the fat you are losing.

Thank you Rocky! I may go back to taking the B12 daily instead of every other day. They're pretty tasty anyway.    That's great to know about the liver enzymes, too. They were previously both in the hundreds, so I was a little afraid of being outside the normal range again, but my NP wasn't worried either, so I'll just keep an eye on them.