Weird blood test 8 mos after SOVALDI/olysio

[amocuatli]

I've been having elevated iron, and something about an iron ratio. I feel like crap tired all the time.
They are going to keep testing but is anyone else having problems with elevated iron in their blood?
When I looked my results I found that the results I got back can be indicative of an autoimmune reaction. Oh hepatitis C, how I detest you!!

[Hepless]

Having elevated serum iron can occur for various reasons.  Additional blood tests that should be done are ferritin and transferrin saturation.  If ferritin and transferrin saturation are elevated, then you could have iron overload.  Iron overload has various causes.  It's common in patients who have chronic Hepatitis C.  Also, there are gene mutations that can cause an iron overload disease called hemochromatosis.  I've had chronic Hepatitis C since the 1970's, and I've had iron overload since the 1990's.  I just started taking Harvoni a week ago, and I've been hoping that my iron overload will go away when my Hep C is cured.  I hope your elevated iron is just a temporary anomaly!

[Ledoc01]

More testing is needed to be sure. It'd be nice to know how long you've had the elevated iron. I had it before I stated HCV Tx but it'll be interesting to see what changes IF (I'm not counting ANY chickens... or even other birds) I clear the HCV.
In my case...they don't know just WHY I have elevated iron levels, it could be related to the virus or not. I only have 1 marker for hemochromatosis which may or may not mean I have that.

 <as an aside...I think I should find a job that pays me insane amounts where I can constantly scratch my head like the doctors and declare I don't know.. but I digress>

In any event...my ferritin levels WERE up to about 1200; normal is ~ <50 soooo,
they bled me. Medieval as heck eh? Just drain and toss. Over time the level drops.

It's kinda harsh.. at least for me cuz I'm chronically anemic. Oh well.

That's the oddest effect I've seen from Harvoni btw...my hemaglobin and hematocrit levels went up. My hemaglobin was like 11.7 when last checked... normally it's more like 10. It'll be interesting to see if clearing hcv has a sustainable impact on those levels. I haven't had the ferritin checked... I have to remember to remind the doc to order that test when I do my 12 post VL test.

I'm going to start pressing harder for answers from now on. That's one of the big takeaways from this whole thing...we (*I*) let Doctors get away with too much ambiguity. "Exactly what does that mean?" is something that's going to come out of my mouth now.

It helps me to remember that the Dr. isn't sending me any $; that means I employ them not the other way around.

Good luck m8 :-)

[amocuatli]

Good luck to you all in your journey I will do anything to irradiate this virus from the world FOREVER!
Regarding blood test I went and got the numbers ferritin is low normal/ Reticulocutes/100 erythrocytesNFr:Pt:Bld:Qn:Automatedcount 1.1 (normal) TIBC NORMAL UIBC 129 low;normal starts at 150 to375 iron 175 normal 35-155 iron saturation ratio 58% and im telling you I can barely make it through the day!