Hey ,

I feel your concern about your daughter’s blood test. Is this the daughter you are talking about in earlier posts and that your daughter’s age is 8 (or 9 by now)? Am I right to assume that ferritin’s reference range is in mcg/l? And could you tell us what the reference ranges are from ferritin and iron in your lab report – since this can vary a bit from lab to lab?

If you have the full blood test results, Bernadette and I could find some other clues into what might be at play as well. Especially having insight into liver and kidney health would be valuable. Values you might see on the test like ALAT (sometimes ALT), ASAT (sometimes AST), GGT and Alkaline Phosphatase provides us insight into liver health. Creatinine and the eGFR are usually measured to evaluate kidney health. 

But since in functional medicine, we see the body as a whole, we preferably evaluate all values together.

Other important clues are any possible symptoms that are present. If your kid was recently sick, that would help to know as well. Every symptom helps, but here are a few you can watch out for specifically:
• Fatigue. You could for example observe how she plays with other kids or how she plays sports.
• Abdominal pain
• She might have problems with eating
• Nausea
• Swelling caused by a buildup of fluids could also be something you might notice. 
• Another thing you could ask is if she experiences problems with breathing. Elevations in iron can sometimes cause inflammation in the lungs.
• High iron can cause skin color changes. The skin might look more grey, bronze or brown than usual. 
• With genetic conditions like Thalassemia, a pale color or a yellow color of the skin could present. With Thalassemia you might also see lower hemoglobin on the blood test since with Thalassemia the body struggles to produce hemoglobin. This can cause elevations in iron since around 70% of your body’s iron is used to create hemoglobin. 

With symptoms, please contact your doctor.

Elevations of iron and ferritin can be caused by a few things. Iron-containing supplements like iron-containing multivitamins could be a cause. 

Other sources of iron are of course foods. It is unusual to get high iron blood values from foods alone, but it happens. Iron-rich foods might be things you could avoid for the moment. Avoiding the use of Iron-cast pans can help as well since these pans can add to the diet.

If you believe that dietary iron isn’t the problem, there aren’t symptoms present, liver and kidney health turns out to be ok, but you are still worried, you could rule out genetic conditions that cause high iron by asking the help of your doctor.

I hope you have some tools to help you further!

Hi  – thanks for sharing the results. I encourage you to watch the whole iron section in the Mineral Balance course if you haven’t already done so. Here’s the start of the section with the risk factors for iron deficiency.

Given her high ferritin and the skewing in her white blood cells (neutrophils and lymphocytes), this pattern could point to a low grade simmering infection. Normally we’d like to see higher neutrophils and lower lymphocytes, but in her case, they’re about the same which tends to happen when there’s a simmering infection of some sort. Does she have any digestive complaints? Does she have gas/farting or bloating? Have you ever run an OAT test for her in urine?

If there is in fact a simmering infection, then her body’s response to sequester iron is appropriate – hence the higher ferritin.

Please watch the videos in the iron section and let me know if you have any follow-up questions. I feel it will help answer a lot of your questions (even for yourself) as I do also touch on iron overload.

 so perhaps whatever she caught in November is still lingering in the background. The OAT test would show fungal/bacterial overgrowths systemically (not just the gut like a stool test), among many other markers.

Kefir and probiotics is a good idea to help her gut immunity fight off whatever overgrowth there may be present. If this doesn’t help, then a 1-month cleanse might help as well; parasite cleanse and/or broad specturm anti-microbials/funglas like Biocidin liquid.

 also keep in mind the other immune nutrients vitamin A and zinc in addition to vitamin D. Make sure those are optimal as well. Zinc is best measured in red blood cells so ask for RBC zinc.

The OAT test is not something your conventional doctor will order. It’s a functional urine test with 75 markers that can provide an overview of cellular metabolism, systemic fungal/bacterial overgrowths, detoxification abilities, and status of some nutrients like Vitamin C, B vitamins, etc.

Here’s a sample report if you’d like to check it out. The cost is $349 plus shipping (~$40) and you pay the lab directly. We can help with the requisition if you need it. Just email support@bernadetteabraham.com with your daughter’s full name, date of birth, your email, shipping/billing address if different, phone number, and we’ll be happy to assist you.