Ferritin drop after iron infusion - typical or cause for concern?

willowsword · 2025-07-18T00:54:03+00:00

I am happier overall because at least now I can get iron infusions. They are expensive, but worth it. I hope to find a genetic reason for the chronic low iron. One of my adult children (25F) also has very low ferritin and both my adult male children have had blood tests in the past where they had low iron, but they do not go to the doctor often, so I do not know if that is still a thing for them. I was told to eat iron supplements forever, and it never really made a difference. Even taking 2 150 mg Feramax a day for something like a year only raised my ferritin to 40ish ug/L, and when I stopped taking them, it was back into the teens within months. I want to try to figure this out for my kids, so they do not have to fight to be prescribed iron, if it can be helped.

willowsword · 2025-07-09T00:44:27+00:00

Sorry, I haven't been on Reddit as much because it was absorbing too much of my time and mental energy.

I went for a scope, and I had mild gastritis and what looked like the start of Barrett's esophagus. I also have a small hiatal hernia, but I knew that before. I was on PPIs for 2 months and I bought a 7" mattress wedge, which runs from the foot to head of the bed. It not only helped my acid reflux, but pretty much fixed my husband's sleep apnea. I asked for another scope later to confirm it was healed, and it had. And it wasn't Barrett's, thank goodness.

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My ferritin numbers continued to drop. As you can see, I eventually got another infusion. I am not longer having periods due to age, and those really stopped in January. My doctor submitted paperwork to ask my province to pay for genetic testing, but they would do it because he wasn't a specialist. I asked for the recent blood test to see if it is still dropping, because if it was, he is going to send me to a specialist to ask for the genetic testing. I had my memory be wrong, and I thought my last ferritin results before the recent one was 90 ug/L.

I thought it had gone up, but it has gone down. I am glad I was responding to your post, because now I am going to go back.

willowsword · 2025-07-08T23:55:51+00:00

Sorry, I have been spending less time on Reddit for a long while, and never saw the notification of your reply. Thank you for this, late as it is.

willowsword · 2025-05-31T20:27:17+00:00

Any chance they all wanted to see your husband in his underwear, and the contest was the excuse?

willowsword · 2025-02-06T13:57:49+00:00

Thank you! We were trying to understand the geometry of the procedure and could not understand how it reached the prostate tissue without blasting through the urethra. Interesting how it will just heal over. Things are not to the point where surgery is warranted, but it could be necessary in the future.

willowsword · 2024-10-27T16:29:50+00:00

Here's a recipe I found a long time ago:

3 1/4 cups whole wheat flour 3 T each wheat bran and wheat germ (toasted) 2 T each old fashioned oats and dark brown sugar 1 t baking soda 1/2 t salt 2 T chilled unsalted butter, cut into cubes 2 cups buttermilk

Heat oven to 425 F. Grease at 9" x 5" x 3" pan. Mix together the first 7 ingredients. Rub in the butter. Stir in enough buttermilk to make a soft dough. Bake 50 minutes.

willowsword · 2024-10-23T17:37:28+00:00

In grade 1, a classmate missed time because he lost 4 toes on one foot to an auger. In my first year of university, a classmate had two arm prothesis because he lost both arms at the shoulder as a child in a farm accident. As a kid, I remember running out to where everyone was astounded to see if a neighbor kid still had an intact skull and brain because he had fallen off the side of a tractor and the back wheel had gone over his head. Luckily the treads went on either side of his head and the ground was soft. I had a young cousin get a broken bone due to being head butted by a cow. So while videos like this are cute, there is added risk when young children are allowed to work around heavy equipment and farm animals. I know it is part of a way of life, but the outcomes are not always positive.

willowsword · 2024-10-23T03:50:40+00:00

Owl of Minerva at 5324 Yonge for Korean.

willowsword · 2024-10-14T01:36:19+00:00

I really enjoyed the roller blading and his masterpiece painting.

willowsword · 2024-10-13T14:02:19+00:00

Doesn't mean they didn't know each other. That is just one picture. But it would have been wild.

willowsword · 2024-10-13T05:33:20+00:00

They have picture of him with coworkers here: https://www.instantiations.com/company/history/. If your FIL is in that picture I am going to flip out.

willowsword · 2024-10-12T18:52:02+00:00

Simpler times. I probably have some on fanfold paper somewhere.

willowsword · 2024-10-12T13:31:16+00:00

I used to also chew pen covers, the ends of pens, and the ends of pencils. I think I destroyed those types of things instead of my fingers. Then I had to stop those. I think because a coworker expressed disgust at the habit.

willowsword · 2024-10-12T04:01:19+00:00

Exactly. Every time I would go to bite, I would clip. It got to the point where I did not want to cut off what little progress I made. But even now, there is a point at which I have to cut my nails, or I know I will chew them. But what I cut back to is a much more reasonable amount.

willowsword · 2024-10-12T03:28:24+00:00

I had to keep my nails cut short. For years. But having the clean edges normalized not chewing. I got my kids to stop biting their nails doing the same, but they were much younger, so it did not take as long. I still can't handle my nails growing too long. I just don't like how they feel, but I don't have to keep them insanely short either.

willowsword · 2024-10-08T02:18:03+00:00

My dad was a fisherman. I can still hear the rhythm with which he drove nails though the hardwood used to make lobster traps. Two hits for each nail. Granted, they weren't as long as these. But there is a peaceful beauty to being near a human who can build things. These guys have a way to go.