High iron & low Vitamin D

I am 18 months post op. Just wondered if anyone else had been in the same situation?

 My blood work six months ago showed high iron (normal 20-200, mine 349) again. I have had this is in the past pre-op as well. I was advised to cut back on suppliments (as most have iron) and to avoid raw seafood, have more white than red meat as protein. Latest blood work was 212 so better but still high.

At the same time for this latest set we also ran a vitamin D test and this was 23 (normal above 32) so I am now on 1000IU Vitamin D3.

Has anyone else had to juggle this annoying combination?

can't say i have heard of this combination. lots of people are low on D and don't know it but its an easy thing to supplement. High iron is weird - don't know what you do. When i would donate blood they would test and tell me gee i must be taking iron due to a higher reading but it was not abnormal. and i did nothing i know of to make it that way. hope you can get it worked out. D

Even though 32 is in the normal range, now a days, doctors like to see the D a lot higher. I have low iron and I am trying to bring it up. It's not easy cause it's hard to take iron when you're not supposed to take so many things within 2 hours of taking it.

Do you drink alcohol or have any issues with your liver?  This may not just be about your supplementation but also about liver issues, so it might be a good thing to check.  Also do you have any symptoms such as fatigue or muscle weakness?

 The best way to get your vitamin D is to go out in the sun more, or if regular sunshine isn't available visit a tanning salon.  Supplements are poor substitutes for the real thing.

I wouldn't recommend tanning salons, because of the increased risk of skin cancer.

Actually a lot of the information you hear in the media about tanning (indoor and outdoor)  causing skin cancer are fallacies promoted by industries such as those who want to sell you sun block.  Check out this article (and several of the other articles) on this website:

http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/vitaminDToxicity.shtml

 I've met this particular doctor that runs the Vitamin D Council and attended a few of his lectures and he is trying to work on fixing the myths about sunshine exposure.  In fact far from *causing* skin cancer, sunshine can help prevent skin cancer and several other forms of cancer, keep you healthier, etc.

 Lots of the information you hear about health in general is often tainted by marketing hype.. it's hard to get the real scoop on these things.

Thanks for the replies. No I do not really drink (would be lucky to have had 2-3 total in the last 18 months) and liver tests and function were good. 

Sunwise I get plenty (summer here atm) and have been told that the issue for people post op is not caused by sunlight but inability to process the Vit D.

The high Iron I think is a result of the endometriosis I have. Medication means no periods so my blood work is more like that of menopausal people than younger ones.

Ah well thanks again. Hopefully the targeted suppliments only (which is much more expensive way to do it sadly) ends up working.

The problem with relying on sunlight is that there isn't enough of it at the latitudes most of us live at. (Here in North America)

I brought my levels up from 32 to 100 by taking 50,000 IUs of Vitamin D3 once a week. Now I'm only taking it every other week because 100 is on the high end of the range and I don't want to go over that. Before I started doing this, I was working out in the sunshine, often forgetting to use sunscreen (I'm bad about it) and it barely moved the needle at all when it came to my Vitamin D levels.