Iron problem

Hi all, I posted last week that my Dr's nurse called and told me I had microcytosis. Well I picked up a copy of the completed lab work today and am totally befuddled. If anyone has any help they can offer please do. I must explain that my middle daughter had a brain aneurysm in May and was air lifted to Phoenix from Tucson, we thought we were going to lose her but, she is making a miraculous recovery. During that time in Phoenix I kind of let my vitamin regiment go down to the bare minimum. If you're new, take heed. This did not take long at all. Two months of not taking what I normally take.

PROTEIN TOT 6.4 L
ALBUMIN 3.7
UBI 427
TBIC 468 H
Iron Sat 9 L
MCH 24.6 L
MCHC 30.4 L
RDW 15.1 H
MPV 6.9 L
B12 702
No Ferretin?

My Ferrtin went to a low of 3...not good which resulted in alot of hair shedding, legg cramps, muddled mind, terrible monthly, shallow looking skin.  All because I became very lacks about doing my vitamins and Iron.  It is extremely hard to get back to so called normal...I had to end up doing 6 Iron infussions.  Just starting to go back on a schedule didn't help much cause I had really screwed up.  My Doc said it is harder for us because of absorbution...I take one of my vitamins in the morning, my B's in the afternoon and my Iron and another Vitamin at night.  Caffine will block Iron!  Good luck, this is a for life regima!

You're not getting enough protein.  Ideally your total protein would be at least 7.0 and your albumin at least 4.0.

Your B12 is on the low side, though not low enough to cause problems yet.

I don't see a total iron level, and as you noted there is no ferritin, but I'm wondering if you need more iron.

You know Kelly, I have religiously gotten between 120 and 160 grams of protein a day and I have always shown on the low side. IDK. I will bump up my B12 to one everyday as I've been doing 1,000 mg every other day.  You're right, Albumin is on the low side of normal range. My total iron is 41 (40-165) not good.

Whoa, I'd like to see your ferritin number!  Reggie are you seeing a hematologist?  Strongly recommend you do.

I have a call into my Dr.  I will ask.

I'm so sorry about your daughter. That must've been almost unbearable to cope with and I can see how vitamins would fall to the wayside. I'm glad she's recovering though. And I really hope you're back on top of your vitamins. Nothing good ever comes from feeling bad and functioning less which is what happens.

Your protein is low (need to be 7+), iron is low, B12 is low (needs to be 1000-2000),  and even without knowing your Ferritin, I can tell you're in trouble with your iron.

An Iron Sat% of 9 is very low. It should be 20-55%.

I don't understand why you were diagnosed with microcytosis. Why not just garden variety iron deficiency anemia? Your red blood cells shrink when you don't have enough iron. That's the MCH, MCHC and RDW values and they do indicate smaller than normal red blood cells.... but your test also shows low iron... it should be a no brainer. Unless they know something I don't. That you'll have to ask them.

The MCHC -- mean corpuscular hemoglobin concentration-- gives me an idea of your hematocrit and hemoglobin levels and you're probably not just iron deficient, but mildly anemic as well. The MCHC number is just your hemoglobin divded by your hematocrit.

Thanks for the feedback.  I have a call into my Dr's office so we will see what we're going to do.  Thanks for the love.

I don't have anything useful to add about the iron. I just wanted to say I hope you get some concrete answers soon and I'm glad to hear your daughter is much improved. That must have been terribly frightening.

Hugs to you and yours and take care

I do too and thanks..