I'm dealing with low ferritin right now and it sucks. I had no idea this was a thing and was donating to keep rbc/hct in range. After my last donation, I was getting dizzy and yawning uncontrollably in the gym just from warming up. After multiple rounds of bloodwork/research I checked my iron and ferritin and everything was low, ferritin was at 10 ng/mL. Doc put me on ACCRUfeR and it hasn't helped much for ferritin; after 2 months, ferritin is 17 ng/mL, iron and saturation has gone up to normal range.

I'm going to try the Vorck Protocol to see if I can get ferritin in normal range quicker. Has anyone tried this?

https://vorck.com/erythrocytosis.html#ferritin

Thanks

Ferritin ain’t just some random lab number, bro … it’s your iron storage.Low ferritin = less oxygen delivery, more fatigue, weaker pumps. On TRT, it’s less about Hct/RBC only and more about keeping your iron reserves stable. Don’t screw with ferritin, it’s like cheating on your girl … once you tank it, good luck getting her back. Check iron intake, maybe add red meat or even better high dose of grass fed beef liver and maybe additional supps like copper zinc, iron glycinate, lactoferrin, vit C and other supplements, gotta be careful cause excessive iron can increase hematocrit, it’s a fck blowback…and don’t overdo blood donations unless you like chasing her forever… Lol

Always remember too that Ferritin is just stored iron. Of course it’s an important reading and can lead to symptoms but normal serum iron levels are mainly responsible for iron “symptoms”.

For example, thyroid function needs adequate iron, the iron who does this is serum iron and not ferritin. So always look into both as well as transferritin saturation.

You typically wont get low ferritin levels just because. The only way I’ve seen it happen is from donating blood. And when you crash your ferritin you will feel like total crap for a long time. It can be slow to recover. This is why donating is not a viable solution to high hematocrit on TRT. They really don’t have an answer for it actually. It’s unsolvable problem at the moment. Best thing you can do is to keep the RBC issue in check is do cardio daily and drink water.

I was donating every time my hematacrit started to get out of range, I have since stopped doing that. After having a GI bleed from a ruptured ulcer that landed me in the hospital and all of my levels crashing my ferritin and iron levels were the last ones to come up. All my other blood levels came back on their own, after 5-6 weeks of low iron and ferritin my hematologist decided to do infusions and it took 3 infusions to get my iron and ferritin back to normal, if you have never had an iron infusion it is not fun it burns going through you veins. I can tell you this I would much rather drink an extra liter of water every day and do some extra cardio and have hct and rbc slightly out if range than ever have to go through iron deficiency anemia again. Having rbc and hct slightly out of range is not an issue as long as it isn't super high out of range. When I was using an online provider they wanted me to donate as soon as rbc was over 5.8m/ul and hct was over 50%, I have since switched to a urologist for my trt and she doesn't want me to donate unless rbc is closer to 8 and hct is pushing mid 60's or I'm experiencing symptoms from the secondary polycythemia like shortness of breath, fatige, headaches, dizziness or joint pain. She stressed that just going by the normal numbers while on trt is a no go and she expects higher levels and advised me to just stay well hydrated and do my cardio to help keep it in check and reduce the frequency for the need to donate. So far it has been working hct hovering around 53 and rbc around 6 and I feel fine.

Brought my ferritin up from 25 to 96 in 8 weeks. Ate beef at least 4-5 times a week and took vitamin C with each of those meals to support absorption.

Way to stir the pot. Lol