poppadr3w
10-07-17, 14:28
I don't exactly "fear" or have much anxiety over the issue (well, compared to past experiences and other anxiety-inducing situations and thoughts), but I've had low Ferritin for the past couple of years or so.
It all started when getting bloodwork from my Testosterone doctor. My liver enzymes came up elevated, potentially due to stress or whatnot. So they sent me to a Gastroenterologist to have my body looked at. He ran more bloodwork and my liver enzymes went down a bit, but my Ferritin was very low overall. He stated that it is usually an issue with woman who menstruate due to blood loss. Otherwise it can be caused by inadequate dietary intake, inadequate absorption (which could be disease related) or an internal bleed somewhere (fun).
So he ran some tests - a take home Stool Test (sorry if that's too much information), an Endoscopy and a Colonoscopy. All came back pretty clear, but he did say I had some minor erosion from the Endoscopy and to take some over the counter antacids. No problem. He wanted to do a Capsule Endoscopy, but I never got the chance because his office was quite far and for that I'd have to go there once to swallow the capsule and put on a vest, go back the same day to get the vest removed, and another day to go over the results, and maybe even another day if something came up. Honestly, I was getting married at the time last year and had a lot on my plate, so it fell by the wayside. I wish I had just gotten it over with, but I didn't.
My Ferritin levels went up after another round of bloodwork at my Testosterone doctor's office. Not a ton, but enough to be out of the really low red area. Yay. I didn't even think about it anymore and went on my ways to deal with other medical issues (more fun).
Late June of this year (2017) I had routine bloodwork. I talked to the PA and told her I wanted to get a bunch of stuff checked, like my Ferritin, Vitamin D and more. She obliged since they were taking blood anyway and it's no more money to me. The results came back and my Ferritin level was like a 6 or 7 - the lowest it had ever been for me and the lowest that she had ever seen. She said I should start taking an Iron supplement (which I did the same day) and schedule an appointment with a Hemotologist (which is scary, because they're also cancer doctors and that's... scary).
So tomorrow I turn 29 (also scary) and have this idea that something may be gravely wrong with me. Like cancer in my bone marrow, some sort of internal bleed, etc. I mean, the cause I see for men is that it's either disease causing a lack of absorption or an internal bleed.
Has anyone else dealt with this before?
It all started when getting bloodwork from my Testosterone doctor. My liver enzymes came up elevated, potentially due to stress or whatnot. So they sent me to a Gastroenterologist to have my body looked at. He ran more bloodwork and my liver enzymes went down a bit, but my Ferritin was very low overall. He stated that it is usually an issue with woman who menstruate due to blood loss. Otherwise it can be caused by inadequate dietary intake, inadequate absorption (which could be disease related) or an internal bleed somewhere (fun).
So he ran some tests - a take home Stool Test (sorry if that's too much information), an Endoscopy and a Colonoscopy. All came back pretty clear, but he did say I had some minor erosion from the Endoscopy and to take some over the counter antacids. No problem. He wanted to do a Capsule Endoscopy, but I never got the chance because his office was quite far and for that I'd have to go there once to swallow the capsule and put on a vest, go back the same day to get the vest removed, and another day to go over the results, and maybe even another day if something came up. Honestly, I was getting married at the time last year and had a lot on my plate, so it fell by the wayside. I wish I had just gotten it over with, but I didn't.
My Ferritin levels went up after another round of bloodwork at my Testosterone doctor's office. Not a ton, but enough to be out of the really low red area. Yay. I didn't even think about it anymore and went on my ways to deal with other medical issues (more fun).
Late June of this year (2017) I had routine bloodwork. I talked to the PA and told her I wanted to get a bunch of stuff checked, like my Ferritin, Vitamin D and more. She obliged since they were taking blood anyway and it's no more money to me. The results came back and my Ferritin level was like a 6 or 7 - the lowest it had ever been for me and the lowest that she had ever seen. She said I should start taking an Iron supplement (which I did the same day) and schedule an appointment with a Hemotologist (which is scary, because they're also cancer doctors and that's... scary).
So tomorrow I turn 29 (also scary) and have this idea that something may be gravely wrong with me. Like cancer in my bone marrow, some sort of internal bleed, etc. I mean, the cause I see for men is that it's either disease causing a lack of absorption or an internal bleed.
Has anyone else dealt with this before?