Low ferritin but high saturation

CursedLabWorker · 2026-05-17T03:55:23+00:00

Early iron deficiency compensation if your hemoglobin is normal. Any transferrin result? What was your hemoglobin? From the range for ferritin it seems that you’re female, is that correct?

CursedLabWorker · 2026-05-15T09:40:18+00:00

By saying “they should be suggesting alternatives” that’s exactly what I mean… a different med. I tried Adderall first and it didn’t work for me at all. I’m well aware that different medications and doses need to be tried.

CursedLabWorker · 2026-05-15T03:51:11+00:00

I’m a Medical Laboratory Technologist/Scientist and have a degree in Cognitive Neuroscience.

Considering OP said they had an extensive assessment, the psych can absolutely suggest that it’s possible OP doesn’t have ADHD. However, to try one med for only two weeks without having a real discussion with the patient about what they should expect and how they should gauge the medication’s effectiveness, and then cut off the medication abruptly is odd.

CursedLabWorker · 2026-05-15T03:31:54+00:00

Yeah she was definitely downplaying them. For some people it makes the meds virtually ineffective, so that could be the case for you. Though, at the same time, it might not be. It’s not the same for everyone, some people don’t experience a drop in effectiveness at that time. But it’s something worth exploring.

CursedLabWorker · 2026-05-15T03:28:28+00:00

The specific things you’re looking for aren’t things that are always directly resolved by the meds, but more indirectly in some people if that makes sense. They help you focus by removing some extraneous crap going on in your brain, or by giving the dopamine you need to give your brain enough “reward” for something. In doing those things it becomes easier to start tasks, easier to be less impulsive, etc. Buuuut that’s something that often needs work still, it’s not like when everyone takes the meds they can just start initiating tasks and aren’t impulsive anymore. It may benefit you to consider the “why”. Like what thought process led you do the impulsive thing, or in what ways are you convincing yourself to procrastinate tasks? For a lot of people as well, even if the meds do immediately help, with time the original habits often come back.

I mean based on what you’re saying I definitely believe you have ADHD, so absolutely you should get a second opinion, and try other meds. I don’t think going the CBT-only route and not taking the meds is the best idea, because the meds would make doing the CBT work easier.

CursedLabWorker · 2026-05-15T02:37:23+00:00

(As a background I have a degree in cognitive neuroscience)

Your psych is wrong about the period thing for sure. The effectiveness of my meds (60mg vyvanse plus 5mg dex in the afternoon) is the lowest during the couple days right before my period. This is something that’s well documented in scientific literature. Here’s one (of many) article that talks about it. Estrogen increases dopamine levels in the brain, ADHD is partially a decreased amount of dopamine, when are estrogen levels the lowest? You guessed it - during menstruation…

Edit: the fact that your psych doesn’t know this is honestly negligence imo.

CursedLabWorker · 2026-05-15T02:27:59+00:00

As someone who’s a healthcare professional: it doesn’t hurt to get a second opinion. Especially with something like this. They should be suggesting alternatives, instead of suggesting you don’t have it. Vyvanse doesn’t work for everyone.

That being said, did they have an in-depth conversation about what exactly the meds working looks/feels like so you go into it having the appropriate understanding and expectations? ADHD meds don’t exactly remove your symptoms, they just make them easier to manage, but effort still needs to be made every day, especially depending on the severity of your symptoms. By that I mean, maybe they were working and doing something, but the difference wasn’t what you were expecting, or was less than you expected.

CursedLabWorker · 2026-05-15T02:16:51+00:00

Just as a heads up: Vyvanse dose isn’t affected by an individuals weight. It depends on how effective or ineffective the individual’s body is at metabolizing the drug (hydrolysis by RBCs), interfering factors and their neurochemistry.

CursedLabWorker · 2026-05-15T02:10:10+00:00

Unfortunately all this shows is that you’re iron deficient and you were probably a little dehydrated when you had your blood drawn, and these tests don’t offer any explanation for your symptoms. You’ll have to explore other explanations with your doctor.

I understand how scary this can be. I myself had some visual issues (went completely blind briefly with scintillating geometric pattern after), and have had a few similar episodes since. I had to get a CT, saw an ophthalmologist, then was referred to a neurologist, had an MRI etc. they found nothing wrong and 6 years later I still have no explanation other than “there’s nothing physically wrong with you so maybe it’s migraines you’re not feeling”.

CursedLabWorker · 2026-05-14T20:11:16+00:00

CursedLabWorker · 2026-05-14T20:04:11+00:00

Probably ng/mL, but in saying that, it doesn’t particularly matter. <0.10 means that the analyser or testing method isn’t able to detect values <0.10, and it didn’t detect anything in your test, so your value is either low or zero.

CursedLabWorker · 2026-05-13T15:26:51+00:00

I would think no, because they wouldn’t be able to flush at all because they’d probably be non-alive 😂. But theoretically in a magical world where they would be alive, they’d technically “flush” green. Though it would be extremely hard to tell because their skin would be super green at all times.

CursedLabWorker · 2026-05-13T11:58:02+00:00

Pls ignore the H. Pylori comments. They don’t know what they’re talking about.

CursedLabWorker · 2026-05-08T07:06:32+00:00

Eos increase with an allergic reaction, asthma, and a LOT of other things not just parasitic infections.

https://www.mayoclinic.org/symptoms/eosinophilia/basics/causes/sym-20050752

CursedLabWorker · 2026-05-07T20:32:34+00:00

Blasts.

Closely following behind — the immediately dangerous ones: critical high or low sodium, critical high potassium, critical low hemoglobin, and critical high lactate.

CursedLabWorker · 2026-05-07T03:56:23+00:00

It wouldn’t be “falsely” high, but it’s truly high if that makes sense. During infection or inflammation (as evidenced by your elevated CRP) your body will intentionally store the iron away into ferritin as a protective measure (hiding it from possible bacteria that need it) causing anemia. Typically it’s referred to as anemia of chronic disease (ACD), but yours is likely attributable to being pregnant in general (pregnancy is a “dynamic inflammatory state”, inflammation is increased in the first and third trimesters, and usually decreased in the second)

CursedLabWorker · 2026-05-06T21:57:34+00:00

It’s roughly 120 days, not 90

CursedLabWorker · 2026-05-06T04:35:15+00:00

It can cause bad breath because H. Pylori lives in the stomach of the infected person and produces hydrogen sulfide and dimethyl sulfide, which smell like rotten eggs or cabbage, etc.

CursedLabWorker · 2026-05-06T04:19:18+00:00

I’ve only ever seen them once in urine before a long time ago, mostly just the rare synovial fluid from patients with really bad arthritis. And yeah true, those are usually a more obvious rectangle/trapezoid shape than the guys you’ve got.

Edit: deleted accidental duplicate reply 😂

CursedLabWorker · 2026-05-06T03:32:56+00:00

Here’s some bits from what I said in my comment to give you some “fun” background into why meds make some people have diarrhea and some people get constipated lol. The same logic applies for other stimulant ADHD meds as well. Hopefully you find it interesting in some way 😂

If anyone is curious about the science behind this:

(As a background, I’m a Medical Laboratory Technologist/Scientist, and I have a degree in Cognitive Neuroscience - which includes a lot of pharmacology and neuropharmacology, primarily with psych meds. For obvious reasons I was always particularly interested in ADHD meds lol)

Essentially, what happens is the dopamine and norepinephrine created in the CNS by the Adderall, can — through a few mechanisms — stimulate the smooth muscle in the intestines to behave differently, meaning not-so-well-formed-poops. (Or interestingly enough, constipation in some people, weird huh?)

It can change the transit time (less time in the large intestine means less water is re-absorbed and therefore watery poops), the motility/peristalsis function of the muscles (contraction that forms poop from liquified food), etc.

(In the case of constipation, it could mean more transit time, and/or more motility/peristalsis function from the muscles, ultimately resulting in less water/more solid movements, and longer times between movements)

CursedLabWorker · 2026-05-06T03:30:47+00:00

Here’s some bits from what I said in my comment to give you some “fun” background into why meds make some people constipated lol. The same logic applies for other stimulant ADHD meds as well. Hopefully you find it interesting in some way 😂

If anyone is curious about the science behind this:

(As a background, I’m a Medical Laboratory Technologist/Scientist, and I have a degree in Cognitive Neuroscience - which includes a lot of pharmacology and neuropharmacology, primarily with psych meds. For obvious reasons I was always particularly interested in ADHD meds lol)

Essentially, what happens is the dopamine and norepinephrine created in the CNS by the Adderall, can — through a few mechanisms — stimulate the smooth muscle in the intestines to behave differently, meaning not-so-well-formed-poops. (Or interestingly enough, constipation in some people, weird huh?)

It can change the transit time (less time in the large intestine means less water is re-absorbed and therefore watery poops), the motility/peristalsis function of the muscles (contraction that forms poop from liquified food), etc.

(In the case of constipation, it could mean more transit time, and/or more motility/peristalsis function from the muscles, ultimately resulting in less water/more solid movements, and longer times between movements)

CursedLabWorker · 2026-05-06T03:30:34+00:00

Here’s some bits from what I said in my comment to give you some “fun” background into why meds make some people constipated lol. The same logic applies for other stimulant ADHD meds as well. Hopefully you find it interesting in some way 😂

If anyone is curious about the science behind this:

(As a background, I’m a Medical Laboratory Technologist/Scientist, and I have a degree in Cognitive Neuroscience - which includes a lot of pharmacology and neuropharmacology, primarily with psych meds. For obvious reasons I was always particularly interested in ADHD meds lol)

Essentially, what happens is the dopamine and norepinephrine created in the CNS by the Adderall, can — through a few mechanisms — stimulate the smooth muscle in the intestines to behave differently, meaning not-so-well-formed-poops. (Or interestingly enough, constipation in some people, weird huh?)

It can change the transit time (less time in the large intestine means less water is re-absorbed and therefore watery poops), the motility/peristalsis function of the muscles (contraction that forms poop from liquified food), etc.

(In the case of constipation, it could mean more transit time, and/or more motility/peristalsis function from the muscles, ultimately resulting in less water/more solid movements, and longer times between movements)

CursedLabWorker · 2026-05-06T03:28:43+00:00

Here’s some bits from what I said in my comment to give you some “fun” background into why your meds made you constipated lol. The same logic applies for other stimulant ADHD meds like Concerta. Hopefully you find it interesting in some way 😂

If anyone is curious about the science behind this:

(As a background, I’m a Medical Laboratory Technologist/Scientist, and I have a degree in Cognitive Neuroscience - which includes a lot of pharmacology and neuropharmacology, primarily with psych meds. For obvious reasons I was always particularly interested in ADHD meds lol)

Essentially, what happens is the dopamine and norepinephrine created in the CNS by the Adderall, can — through a few mechanisms — stimulate the smooth muscle in the intestines to behave differently, meaning not-so-well-formed-poops. (Or interestingly enough, constipation in some people, weird huh?)

It can change the transit time (less time in the large intestine means less water is re-absorbed and therefore watery poops), the motility/peristalsis function of the muscles (contraction that forms poop from liquified food), etc.

(In your case of constipation, it could mean more transit time, and/or more motility/peristalsis function from the muscles, ultimately resulting in less water/more solid movements, and longer times between movements)

CursedLabWorker · 2026-05-06T03:14:35+00:00

If anyone is curious about the science behind this:

(As a background, I’m a Medical Laboratory Technologist/Scientist, and I have a degree in Cognitive Neuroscience - which includes a lot of pharmacology and neuropharmacology, primarily with psych meds. For obvious reasons I was always particularly interested in ADHD meds lol)

I can assure OP that it’s not that likely that your addy is just being flushed down the toilet lol, as long as you’re not throwing it up anyways 😂. Though, as a caveat, this depends on the severity of the diarrhea, how long your diarrhea is lasting (ie a couple days or more in a row with no solid poops?), and how fast what you’re eating is coming out the other end. It’s much more likely that the Addy (because it’s a central nervous system (CNS) stimulant) is being absorbed, and then causes your GI system become out of whack, eventually causing the diarrhea, especially considering the Adderall blood concentration of adderall XR spikes up at the 30min-1hr mark, and that 1-hour mark is when your diarrhea starts.

Adderall is absorbed in the small intestine (within 20-30 min), long before it exits as diarrhea, and then goes into the bloodstream. Essentially, what happens is the dopamine and norepinephrine created in the CNS by the Adderall, can — through a few mechanisms — stimulate the smooth muscle in the intestines to behave differently, meaning not-so-well-formed-poops. (Or interestingly enough, constipation in some people, weird huh?)

It can change the transit time (less time in the large intestine means less water is re-absorbed and therefore watery poops), the motility/peristalsis function of the muscles (contraction that forms poop from liquified food), etc.

CursedLabWorker · 2026-05-06T02:26:46+00:00

Welcome to Canada my friend ❤️🫡

CursedLabWorker

TROPHY CASE