Re: Low ferritin

[Guest guest]

>

> I'm going to make a fresh start with this thread.

>

> I agree with that the body will protect itself against

oxidative damage by maintaining a low ferritin. This will be true in

cases of heavy metal toxicity. It is also true in cases of parasite

load. Parasites will feed on the iron in the body, and having low

ferritin will help protect against parasite load and infections. If a

person's ferritin stays low despite supplementation, I would suspect

some underlying condition still exists. Could be parasites (maybe

candida?), could be hypothyroid, could be stomach ulcers from taking

NSAIDS like Naproxen, probably other reasons as well.

S> I'm not sure how one teases these apart and decides what to

address first. I haven't taken Naproxen for a few years (hormones

are low now and endometriosis problems are gone). I think dysbiosis

is the most likely source of the problem, but I have " managed " this

for years and it seems I won't get rid of it without more chelation.

S> My free T4 was low enough at last testing for me to call

hypothyroid an issue, but it really hasn't been clear-cut before

and my symptoms are not exactly " classic " hypothyroid. But my

low iron problem goes back quite a few years when I looked even

less hypothyroid than I do now (by both symptoms and testing).

> My husband's former doctor recommended he take an aspirin every day

as a cardiac preventative. He did this for about 5 years, then went

to my doctor, who did blood tests and thought his serum iron was less

than optimal. My husband had an endoscope of his stomach, and a

colonoscopy, and it turned out he had a erosion of the stomach lining

in several places, probably not quite bad enough to be called an

ulcer, but enough to make him lose a few drops of blood a day. So he

stopped the aspirin. The moral is that you can lose small amounts of

blood every day and never have any symptoms, but those drops of blood

add up.

S> My husband had a severe version of this. He learned the hard

way that you need to take NSAIDS with a full glass of water,

preferably on a full stomach, and without lying down right

afterwards. Even at that, I imagine occult bleeding might

develop in some people.

S> We don't use NSAIDS in my house at all now.

> Anyway, iron creates free radicals and causes oxidative damage.

That's why I prefer a more natural form like beef or beef liver or

dessicated beef liver to taking iron supplements. Iron is not such an

innocent supplement. You really want to consume it in a food or

chelated form, especially if you have mercury toxicity.

S> Hopefully you are eating organic beef liver. Even organic

animals presumably have toxins in their liver.

S> I can't tolerate the taste/smell of liver, but I do eat some

beef. I currently take Hemagenics (by Metagenics). I have

had trouble with a lot of iron supps (from ferrous sulfate to

ferrous fumarate to iron glycinate to those liquid " iron and herbs "

things). I seem to tolerate the Hemagenics product well enough.

> As for hypothyroid and hydrocortisone, if a person is adrenally

insufficient, it probably is best to start on HC first. But I

wouldn't go more than 2 weeks on just the HC before adding in a low

dose of thyroid, and slowly incrementing the thyroid depending on

symptoms. Maybe incrementing the HC too, depending on what dose a

person started on. I think after starting thyroid that if anything

the HC will stay the same or need to increase. The HC can be

S> Not sure I understand this. I thought that lack of thyroid

hormone made the adrenals work harder because the body needs more

cortisol to compensate for lack of thyroid?? If so, then doesn't

providing more thyroid reduce the need for cortisol? I'm sure it

is not so simple as that...maybe you can explain further?

decreased after the adrenals have healed, which will take some time.

So if you're already on HC, just start adding the thyroid slowly. I

find I need to dose my thyroid 4 times a day, but I'm not on HC. I

found my ferritin has jumped from 30 to 200 just by increasing my

thyroid, getting my body temp up, and eating more meat. I was also

taking dessicated liver for a couple years.

S> I don't take HC. I take ashwagandha (which is supposed to help

the thyroid as well), so my situation is not typical. I'm not

*totally* convinced I need Armour, but considering it. I have some

forskolin and guggul and I will probably try one of those first.

> The problem with doing one thing at a time is that our hormones,

minerals, vitamins, and enzymes work in tandem, and taking one thing

increases the demand for something else or affects the metabolism of

something else. When you're talking about the inputs to the human

metabolism, you need everything in balance at the same time. I think

S> As you say, the same is true with minerals and vitamins, and

we add those one at a time. Why not do the same with hormones?

(I'm really not trying to be ornery, but it probably sounds that

way.)

this is a different scenario than adding in pharmacological agents.

In that case I would agree to only start one thing at a time, such as

not starting ALA and DMSA at the same time.

S> I have heard this story before from folks on thyroid groups

(that I need to take multiple hormones), but I have a large hurdle

to get over before I am willing even to take a single one. I have

expressed concerns to folks on thyroid groups about my reactions

to progesterone cream and DHEA, and noone has offered explanation

or reassurance or really any response to those concerns. They just

say " you need to take a bunch of hormones " . I am not convinced.

S> I guess I am a lost cause for now.

--

> Lynn