make sure you get and keep copies of all your lab work, docs have been known to say something is normal when it is not

That is EXCELLENT advice!

Thankfully, I am not so stupid as to walk out of there without the lab results. I have learned from experience. Anyhow, I went to see my PCP today, and his diagnosis is metabolic syndrome, especially in the absence of any other markers. I certainly do have all the usual symptoms, like high BP, cholesterol, blood sugar, abdominal fat. However, I asked if metabolic syndrome would be enough to drive the ferritin level to 3 times the upper limit. He was not sure, but said he would consult with a blood specialist and get back to me. I may need to have more blood work done. If I had not asked, I figure he was happy to let it go at that.

I am thinking that Cushing's syndrome in MALES is hard to identify and doctors often miss it. In females the hormone changes are dramatic but in males they are just "more male".

The presence of metabolic syndrome is common. But if you have Cushing's, it will be more extreme.

Don't know your work or environmental history, but consider a blood lead level? High iron is an indicator of subtle lead poisoning. Don't know about normal serum iron with high ferritin.

I learned this the hard way.

Cushing's in men is the same as women - oddly, testosterone is said to go low in most cushies, not high but there are exceptions and I was one. I also had low cholerestol, normal glucose and low triglicerides but I had a red face, round belly, purple stretch marks and could not heal for nothing. Bye bye immune system.

I have a bud who used to have Cushing's that I can put you in touch with if you want to talk to a man with hormonal issues. He had the belly, striae, fatigue, etc. He would post a lot of pics. I think he would talk to you. I am still in touch with him and his wife.

I'm glad you are going to continue to pursue the high ferritin. You can still have too much iron even though your other labs are normal. There are also other things to rule out and a hematologist sounds like a good ideas to cover all bases now and not wait.

Metabolic syndrome can also be a result of too much iron being stored in the organs. Metabolic syndrome is a symptom of something else going wrong. Like I stated before, iron, when you have too much gets stored in your pancreas, thyroid, liver, heart, bone marrow, pituitary and causes many problems like diabetes, high blood pressure, heart problems, hormone insufficiencies and more.

IMO, giving blood has many benefits....it reduces your iron and gives life to others. And your doc can monitor your progress closely. The Iron Overload organization is a good resource to check out if you get a chance.

Good luck and keep us posted.

Marlene

just did a quick search, it does appear to be elevate ferritin>metabolic synrome, rather than metabolic syndrome>elvated ferritin

Excuse me for resurrecting this old thread. I went through this same thing a couple of years ago - it really stressed me out. My ferritin was over 600 and my iron saturation was around 90%.

My GP was a jerk and for six months tried to convince me I had fatty liver. He simply would not consider any other conclusion - but my CRP was normal and I am very fit so fatty liver did not make sense to me. Especially with the CRP being normal.

So I told that GP to jump in the lake and the blood services here (new zealand) treated me for suspected haemochromatosis. I was negative on the gene test but 20% test falsely as negative on the gene testing and also they only test for three out of over 40 different suspected genetic profiles being researched for iron overload.

Worse than this is a total prejudice about nutritional causes of iron overload. A large steak has far more iron than a vitamin pill. If you eat red meat heavily over a number of years you will almost certainly accumulate iron. Same with seafood, but most medical people just prattle off what the drug companies tell them - which is that vitamins and supplements are bad and people should get their nutrition from food.

Anyway the blood service recognized that I probably had iron overload - immediately after the first treatment the hemorrhoids I'd had for 6 months disappeared and have never returned.

The sleep apnea which is associated with high red blood cell count took longer but has also gone. Those were my only physical symptoms apart from the blood work.

They have by now removed all of my blood many months later. At first I had venesection every two weeks. Now it is every 3-4 months.

Basically Iron overload is very commonly misdiagnosed as metabolic syndrome and/or fatty liver. If your CRP is normal and you have no known infections then too much iron is the logical culprit - but many GP's seem to pay their mortgage by prescribing medication so they deliberately misdiagnose.

The treatment for Iron overload is non-drug, simply being venesection and there is also some what of a government cover up as they don't want to screen the general population due to funding.

In all the experience left me greatful for losing my hemorrhoids and sleep apnea - and possibly averting much worse disease. But deeply disillusioned with the medical profession in my country.

Glad you are feeling better. I know my cousins had to do the phlebotoby treatments quite a bit in the beginning, but one is at every two months and the other is at every 3 now.

I hope you get the better genetic testing in the future - you can pay for them yourself! I have the gene.