Patient Preparation:No special preparation is required
If you are having strange cravings for licorice, chalk, dirt, or clay, your doctor may suspect anaemia and may want to check your ferritin levels to understand the cause of anaemia. Ferritin is never ordered individually and is used along with other blood tests like transferrin for identifying the root cause of anaemia.
A ferritin test may be ordered with other blood tests when there is fatigue/tiredness that persists even with enough rest, Weakness, Dizziness, Headaches, Total Blackout, Pale skin, pain in legs, irritable mood, shortness of breath, ringing in ears.
Ferritin is protein found within the cells and contains iron. Ferritin stores iron and releases iron a controlled manner. The test is proposed to check for and measure the iron deposits in the body. The ferritin test is ordered along with other iron tests like transferrin when CBP results shows that haemoglobin is low and when the RBC are smaller and paler than it should be. Prolonged and severe anaemia could also lead to chest pain, pain the legs, experience of shock, severe headaches and could in extreme conditions lead to heart failure. Anemic children could also develop learning disabilities and may have cravings for specific substances, such as chalk, dirt, or clay, a burning sensation in the tongue or an appearance of smooth tongue, sores at the corners of the mouth; all of these are characteristics of anemia. Iron overload occurs over a period of time as Iron tends to get accumulated in cells and tissues. Symptoms of iron overload are pain in the joints, fatigue and feeling of weakness, weight loss, lack of energy, abdominal pain, hair loss etc.
• Increased ferritin: Iron overload as in multiple blood transfusions, hemochromatosis and anaemia of chronic disorders, liver disease, alcoholism, inflammatory conditions, leukaemia, Hodgkins disease and some malignancies.
• Decreased ferritin: Iron deficiency anemia, early stage before iron deficiency manifests as anaemia.
Sample: Serum (2 mL)
Methodology: CLIA