Hey guys what can cause ferritin to all of a sudden be low after starting trt? Could a blood test 5 days prior to today’s affect it? Here are my values:
The first 3 are before starting trt.
Looks like a lab error to me. I would have it re tested.
You did not do a double red donate did you?
If you did not donate blood that is an lab error. It happens a lot doc don’t run these test minimum wage employees do.
No. I’ve never donated blood. Been on trt 3 months. Now the other results from the blood test seem accurate. Would the whole test be spoiled, or could only one value like ferritin be messed up?
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Every test is seperate, that is why they take several tubes so yes they can mess just one test up.
TRT places greater demand on other systems, ferritin was probably already insignificant and TRT exposed another weak system.
In what sense?
I am having the exact same problem right now. How did you overcome low ferritin? Or was that a lab error?
No lab error. Ferritin in the 20’s for a year now. No way to overcome. Testosterone uses up your ferritin stores to create huge amounts of red blood cells and hemoglobin. You could take iron pills.
How does that make you feel? Any symptoms?
Did you try to lower your T dose and see if ferritin comes back high? I was told that is one way to fix it.
I’d really appreciate if you share your current protocol and also how is your RBC , HCT , HB?
Dosage and frequency did nothing. I’ve done as low as 80 mg a week and as high as 112 mg a week. Once a week, every 3.5 days, every 5 days and now every 4 days. On every protocol hemoglobin goes up to mid 18s and hematocrit 56. I have no symptoms at all. Blood pressure low. Resting heart rate low. I donate every 2-3 months now, but this also lowers ferritin.
So you have low ferritin the whole year and when you donate blood it goes even lower?
I wonder how is everyone else dealing with it? I mean surely not all has low ferritin due to TRT.
By the way my hemoglobin and hematocrit is not as nearly high as yours (RBC 5.61 , HGB 16.6 HCT 49.7%) and i don’t donate blood… But my ferritin had sudden massive drop to 22 from 83.7 after i changed my protocol from 50mg twice weekly to 75mg twice weekly.
This is what testosterone does. It utilizes your iron stores to increase red blood cells. That’s why it can help people with anemia. I’m around 22 all the time. A donation can bring it down 3-4 points. Google some medical papers. Testosterone will lower feritin by 30-50% in all people. As long as you’re not anemic it’s fine. You’re whole body changes how you function when on testosterone. Maybe a non trt person with a 22 feritin would feel and look pale and anemic. I still have a nice glow lol
Couldn’t you get some portion of it back up with iron supplements?
@pita13’s drop is around 75% by the way. That’s significant.
That doesn’t make you feel lethargic, tired?
My drop was even higher. 140’s to 20’s. It correlates with how well you respond to test I guess. Even on 100 mg my test levels were 1240 ng/dl. Lower ferritin higher RBC and hemoglobin. I have zero symptoms with low feritin. If anything I was way more lethargic before trt with higher feritin. I do take iron bysglicinate 29 mg with 1 gram vitamin C every other day now. Will test soon to seen the effect it’s had on feritin.
No lab error.
T leads to a higher rate of red blood cell formation and hemoglobin synthesis. This process requires iron and therefore lowers your iron stores (ferritin).
Carefully check your hematocrit and hemoglobin values during TRT for signs of high HCT (called erythrocytosis or polycathemia). I guess these values will be elevated in comparison to pre-TRT.
Rate of erythrocytosis is T dose dependent. Meaning if you develop high HCT either deal with it (blood donation) or try lower dose T.
Ha just realized its an old post.
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I have some news in regards to my experiment on raising feritin.
So I donated blood on August 21th and checked feritin a week later. Results low 20 range 22 - 275.
After doing some research I noticed the best way to increase iron stores is to take iron bysglicinate with 1000 mg vitamin c EVERY OTHER DAY not daily. Iron supplements inhibit hepcidin for up to 48 hours preventing iron absorption. So I took 29 mg iron bisglycinate with 1000 mg vitamin c every other day for the last 2 months. I’ve managed to increase my feritin by 100%. Tested today and I came back with feritin levels of 40.
I’ll be replicating this again after Tuesday’s blood donation but doubling the iron dose. Let’s see what will happen.
@sublimeprince32
When I added L-lysine to iron and vit C my ferritin raised 40 points in about 10 weeks as opposed to iron & vit C only raising it about 10 points in 2 months.