The blood donations are crushing your ferritin. A double red should take your ferritin down by over 50.Might be at the point where I need to get an iron infusion. I’ve been taking an iron supplement E0D (wrecks my stomach no matter what type) so maybe my ferritin is a tad higher. I’m no longer drop dead exhausted & my libido is back. Still pale and weak/flat.
Prior to all these issues my RBC/Hemo was very elevated. Probably from a 5-6 week cycle that I had to cut short because my ferritin crashed. Felt amazing the first 4 weeks and then boom! Extremely fatigued. Wasn’t putting size on or anything. Basically the reverse started happening.
Had to do a double red donation to drop them & hydrate like crazy.
Now my levels are fine. Nothing elevated in my labs.
Ferritin on end of that cycle was 16 & then another time 13.
Off cycle I’ve never broke 30 ferritin.
Doctors don’t give a shit. “You’re in range”
Naturopathic/hematologist is the next step. My PCP and Endo didn’t give a shit I’m 6’3 230 with 13 ferritin. The levels of a tiny anemic woman.
Seems it hits some people hard. And others it doesn’t do much. On TRT or blasting.
And low ferritin takes MONTHS to raise.
Worth checking if you have a copper deficiency too.
Is your serum iron elevated? TIBC? If you have enough circulating iron, it might be as simple as getting more copper to convert stores. Copper and to a lesser extent zinc are used to store the circulating iron away.
A couple easy things to help. Red meat, clams, Oysters. Heme iron from animals is absorbed about 5x more readily which makes packaging confusing. Vitamin C with every iron meal. It greatly increases iron absorption. Avoid cocoa, tea, etc around iron containing meals. Especially the harder absorbing plant based iron. Polyphenols and tanins in these items block absorption.
It's funny because I've been drawing blood to reduce my iron. I dont cycle hard anymore though. Ferritin about 300 and super high saturation. Shit British genes and drinking OJ as a home staple...
