Haven’t donated blood in years because when I was donating 4 times per year my ferritin dropped as low as 0 (according to labs). After lowering my T dose and stopping all phlebotomies, it took about 2 years to get a normal (in the 40s) ferritin level.
I donated again 6 weeks ago because me hematocrit was back up to 57. 1 week after the donation I checked labs and Ferritin was 27.. Normal but very low normal. So I just ran labs again about 5 weeks post donation and ferritin dropped to 14! Not sure why it dropped further although I did read somewhere that ferritin continues to drop for about a month after a blood donation. My hematocrit is 52. I’m contemplating taking an iron supplement but concerned the iron supplement may raise my hematocrit again. This is a vicious cycle. I had a clean colonoscopy 4 years ago, been struggling with low ferritin since way before that. Not sure what to do.
I donated again 6 weeks ago because me hematocrit was back up to 57. 1 week after the donation I checked labs and Ferritin was 27.. Normal but very low normal. So I just ran labs again about 5 weeks post donation and ferritin dropped to 14! Not sure why it dropped further although I did read somewhere that ferritin continues to drop for about a month after a blood donation. My hematocrit is 52. I’m contemplating taking an iron supplement but concerned the iron supplement may raise my hematocrit again. This is a vicious cycle. I had a clean colonoscopy 4 years ago, been struggling with low ferritin since way before that. Not sure what to do.
