Blood Letting And Ferritin Level.

Hi Andy

Lab Test Online revealed the following:

"Does donating blood affect my iron levels? Yes. Every time you donate a pint of blood, your body loses about 250 mg of iron. The level of serum ferritin, which is a reflection of the total amount of storage iron, drops with each donation. The more blood you donate, the lower the ferritin becomes. Other tests, such as serum iron and TIBC, are not as affected by blood donation."

My daughter is going to donate 200ml of blood each time and her latest ferritin was 1724 ug/L. How many blood donating sessions she need to bring her ferritin level down to 300 ug/L theoretically?

Thank you.

Best Regards

Omega

I don't think this question can be answered because the body iron stores cannot be accurately estimated. The serum ferritin will slowly drop but it will take some time and continued chelation to lower the iron stores. Serum ferritin is not the best measure of iron overload. Liver and heart MRI scans give a much more accurate measure of the iron stores. Between the chelation and the bloodletting, the actual iron stores should eventually drop.

Dear omega,
I hope your daughter isnt a thal major and need regular B.T
blood letting would help her in case of chronic iod. but regarding the amount of iron chelation, Andy is absolutely right.

you may visit following links for further reading.

http://www.hemochromatosis.co.uk/tp.html

http://www.cdc.gov/ncbddd/hemochromatosis/training/treatment/phlebotomy_treatment.htm

http://www.medifocushealth.com/GS020/Treatment-of-Hereditary-Hemochromatosis_Therapeutic-Phlebotomy-for-Hereditary-Hemochromatosis.php


http://www.healthatoz.com/healthatoz/Atoz/common/standard/transform.jsp?requestURI=/healthatoz/Atoz/ency/phlebotomy.jsp

regards,

dr Joban Modha M.D. Ph.D. Ayurveda medicines

Thank you Andy, Dr Joban Modha

I guess I just have to be patient for the time being. Hopefully, things will be getting better.

Thank you.

Best Regards

Omega.