[mausmish]

I've only had a total of four transfusions in my lifetime, the last one being immediately post bone marrow transplant in December. Thus, I was hugely surprised last week when a routine ferritin test yielded results of 2465! My other iron values are witin normal range, as are my kidney and liver function values (aside from slightly elevated liver enzymes). My ferritin was normal less than a year ago. My six month check-up with my transplant doctor is tomorrow. I want to go armed with as much information as possible to discuss causes and treatments.

I had my BMT 11/30/10 and have had very few issues and very few medications. I take 0.5 mg Ativan twice daily for ongoing nausea (food still tastes terrible and every bite is a struggle), Prevacid once or twice daily for acid reflux, and Valtrex antiviral twice daily and Dapsone antibiotic once daily for prophalaxis, stool softeners for constipation, otc eye drops for dry eye, and otc lotion for dry skin. I have some patchy skin rash that is presumed to be mild gvhd. That's it - no steroids, immunosuppressants, anti-rejection drugs! In addition, I get post transplant Vidaza treatments, subcutaneous injections 5 days out of every 28, as part of a clinical trial to try to prevent relapse.

Any ideas what might be going on to cause the high ferritin in the first place? I'll be retested tomorrow, and am hoping the last reading was falsely high.

I'm nervous about chelating drugs such as Exjade and would like to first try the homeopathic remedies I've read about here and heard about from other friends and relatives: wheat grass, tea, curcumin. Any recommendations about these, pro or con? Is there any known harm or benefit in taking them together or is it better to try one at a time? How long should it take to start seeing results?

I appreciate any feedback you can offer from personal experiences.

Thanks,
Karen