When I said I like Heavy Metal, This isn't What I Meant

 My grand experiment is over... I had read something that made me think my protein issues were related to endurance exercise-induced anemia. In other words, maybe I have low protein because I'm not getting enough iron.

 

Now, nothing in my labs screamed anemia. All my iron and anemia related labs were in range.

 

BUT

 

-My iron was trending down

 

-My hemoglobin was the lowest it's ever been and only average when before it had been excellent

 

-My hematocrit was still pretty good, but also lower than it used to be

 

-My ferritin was slightly trending down (only a few points a year, but still) and was near the bottom of the range

 

Maybe, I thought, I'm not getting enough iron for me and that for me these results are borderline anemic.

 

So I started supplementing with more iron. Instead of relying on the iron in my Centrum multivitamin, I switched to the Celebrate Multivitamin with no iron and I started taking a separate iron supplement that I was sure would be absorbed. (I had some doubts about the iron in the Centrum.)

 

As a result, the following happened:

 

-My hair stopped falling out if I had a few days of protein under 100 g (good)

 

-My hematocrit and hemoglobin are back where they used to be (good)

 

-My ferritin went up 10 points and is the highest it's ever been (good, still could be better)

 

-My iron is now over the high end of the range (not good)

 

-My protein is still low (not good?)

 

There goes my theory that my serum protein is low because I wasn't getting enough iron. I'm not sure what's up with the protein. Dr. PCP and Dr. Awesome have both said not to worry about it because I clearly don't have any signs or symptoms of any of the problem that low protein is associated with, but it bugs me.

 

I do have to supplement with less iron. It's a heavy metal and you can get heavy metal poisoning if you aren't careful. I'm only a few points above the upper range so I'm probably fine (the ranges often have some slop built into them), but I was taking Proferrin twice a day for a while there and then Proferrin in the AM and Celebrate's Iron+C in the PM and then the Celebrate Iron twice a day when I ran out of Proferrin.

 

So I think I'll cut back to an iron supplement 1x a day. (Right now I'm not taking anything since I ran out, but I have some more Proferrin on order.)

 

Oh and I had a couple of other lab results the last time that were H or L that Dr. Awesome said were most likely due to being a bit dehydrated when I got my test done. (Things like Neutrophil and Eosinophil.)

 

Normally, I do my tests first thing in the AM and I don't eat or drink anything beforehand. However, you are allowed to drink clear fluids and it's still considered a "fasting" test so this time I drank a bottle of Vitamin Water on the way to get my labs done and everyone of those items was right in range. So he was right!

 

Not that I thought he wasn't, but I decided I wanted to get rid of all the noise in my lab results so that I could get a true picture of what was going on with me.

 

I still have some results to get back such as Vitamin D, PTH and Zinc.

 

But these are the ones I cared the most about as these were the ones with issues.

 

Now if only I could figure out what was going on with my protein, I'd be completely happy with my labs.

 well, hell's bells, if someone as smart as you is having problems I get worried.

hope you figure it out. I need labs again, sheesh how time flies.

How low is your protein? What is your albumin and pre-albumin? Those are considered the "big guns." The program that I am in, doesn't test total protein, just albumin and pre-albumin.

Interestingly, I have to cut back on my multivit to one per day, because my Vit A was too high. Go figure that one. I do supplement with fish oil and eat salmon 2-4 times/week, but the bariatric internist said to go down to one multi-vit/day. I use Kirkland brand.

Also, my vit D was too high, at 119, so I need to cut down from 10,000 units/day to 5, 000/day. Vit D is in my calcium citrate supplements, as well as multivit. I really haven't changed anything from the last time, except spending a bit more time outside and supplementing with fish oil.

Also, I need to decrease my B12 to 3 times/week, since it was over 1,000.

I'm doing too good of a job at supplementation. They have to tell  most people to increase certain things. I have to decrease.

My iron and ferritin are okay for the time being, but the transferrin was low, so that needs to be retested in 3 months.

I think I'll ask my bariatric internist about the protein issue.

Gail

Eh, Vitamin D of 119 is fine. There is some talk of changing the acceptable range to around 50-55 up to 150 and toxicity is considering anything over 200-280 (and the literature admits that there are no cases of people having any issues with Vitamin D that high, that actual symptoms of toxicity are rare and only happen at much higher levels).

I also wouldn't worry about the B12. It's okay to be above the range on that one. OTOH, most VSGers don't really need to supplement it so it's completely possible it will stay high for you with no supplementation. (It's a water soluable vitamin so extra is just peed out.) I don't supplement that one and my values are always near the top of the range.

Vitamin A too high can cause problems though. And it's no****er soluable so toxicity is possible.

My protein has varied the past 3 years from 5.8 to 6.1. It was 6.0 this time. My albumin is okay but at the lower end of the range. It was 3.7 pre-op and bounces around 3.5-3.7 post-op. It was 3.5 this time. Range is 3.2-4.7 g/dL. I only had prealbumin done once. It was 22.6 and the range is 18.0-35.7.

My ferritin was 24 last time and that's down from 29 the year before but with the iron supplementation I was doing, it got up to 34. Nothing to do the happy dance for, but nowhere near dangerously low either. I'd like to get it up to 75. Transferrin is exactly in the middle of the range.

Marie, I have been told by a Dermatologist that in order for hair to grow normally and not fall out your ferritin needs to be above 70.  Don't know if it's true but that's what she said.  Mine is currently at 20 down from 68 just 2 years ago.  I've started on the Proferrin myself as I was not doing any iron supplementing at all.  No one seems alarmed at it but me.  They're not the ones picking up wads of hair in the shower!  My protein however is currently at 8 so no worries there.  I do hope you figure things out.

Laura

I was told that endurance athletes should have ferritin above 45 by a friend. I haven't been able to verify that anywhere. But I wouldn't mind having mine higher.

I was thinking my hair loss was related to the protein because it would excelerate when I had a few days of "low" protein in a row. (Low = under 100 g) But it seems like it's more related to my ferritin. Maybe it's because a lot of my protein sources are also high in iron?

Well crap! 

I am always amused at the people who tell us not to worry about things.

Yes, I realize my X does not bother YOU, but that does not mean I should not DO something about it if I can! 

Yeah, it's easy for them to say "Don't worry about it" but it's NOT NORMAL!

I'm really happy with all my other labs though. My cholesterol numbers were great before and now they are even better. My magnesium is up to the middle of the range. Etc. Etc. I think part of this is that I switched up my vitamin regime and now am taking Celebrate capsules 3x a day instead of 2 Centrum 1x a day. Spreading them out is always better than not but I was relying on the iron in the Centrum so I couldn't take it with calcium. Celebrate has no iron so I can take it with calcium and do iron separately and that works better for me.