high ferritin levels/

susiered

high ferritin levels/

susiered

I had no idea where to post this, so I will try here first. I finished 6 rounds of THC in Oct. 08. I continue to do herceptin every three weeks until August. I have battled with low  rbc all the way through chemo. I had 2 blood transfusions during chemo and 1 in December. I went yesterday for my herceptin and the Onc said my hemoglobin is 10.2. That is up from what it was 3 weeks ago. At that time it was 8.9. So it looks like my body is trying to recover, which is good. The thing that concerns me is that my ferritin levels were very elevated. I believe the high end of normal is 160 and mine is 590. My AST liver enzymes were also very slightly elevated- 42..normal is 5-40. Does anyone know anything about this? Especially the high ferritin? I have googled it and it says it can be a sign of many things including cancer in the body. Of course that scared me to death. Could the blood transfusions be the culprit? From what I have read your body does not rid itself of excess iron (ferritin). I asked my Onc if the high levels could be bad and all I got was "yes...we will have to watch it" UUURRRR!! 

Cilla39

I had breast cancer also in 2008, chemo, herceptin. I did much better than I expected with the chemo. A couple of times my blood tests had a few things that were low or high. I took a shot one time because my low white blood count was low. My chemo was carboplatin/taxotere & the herceptin(for a year).  A couple of years ago I told my primary physician that I didn't have a lot of energy.  She checked my iron and b-12 levels. Both of these were ok, but my ferritin was elevated- around 800. She was concerned and told me it is usually means there is some type inflamation. With my history she recommended seeing my oncologist.  The oncologist ordered the test to see if had hemacromatosis(sp) and that came back ok.  He said you are fine but I kept bringing it up and he sent me to a liver specialist to see if he saw any problems. Again, liver specialist came back with my liver functions were excellent and he saw no problems either. 

I decided I would donate blood. I called the number at the Red Cross told them my history and they said it was ok for me to give blood.  I donated a pint and when my primary phys. checked my blood my ferritin had gone done about 150-200 . She thought that was great and was very surprised when I told her I gave blood. She didn't think I should give more than once a year.(I am 74)

I did not have any blood transfusions during my 12 weeks of chemo so I started looking at the chemo drugs as well as the Arimidex that I took for 5 years.  My primary doctor is going to check the Ferritin again in Oct to see if it has gone down after being off Arimidex for a year in Dec.  

The high ferritin has concerned me since the day I found out it was high.  The sad thing it does not seem that many doctors pay much attention to Ferritin levels if your iron level is fine.  CMC Charlotte now has most of your records for you to review online. I had gone to a doctor yesterday who was checking my Thyroid and vitamin d levels.  When he sent me a message that the results were fine, I saw that a lot of my blood work during chemo was now online. I had never had anyone say anything about Ferritin levels to me until my Primary physician checked my iron.  I thought maybe it had always been high. When I looked at the blood work before and during chemo I saw the my ferritin level was normal when I started chemo.   If you should find out any additional information on this topic, please let me know.  I just wanted you to know that my Ferritin was high and I did not have any blood transfusions.