Can polycythemia cause iron deficiency?

Good morning, @mdobney Welcome to Mayo Connect. Polycythemia vera is a blood condition where your body is producing too many red blood cells. There can be a couple of potential reasons for this to happen so your doctor may run a few more tests to find the underlying cause.

I’m providing a few links below to informational articles about PV so you can read about the blood condition, possible causes and treatments.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/polycythemia-vera/symptoms-causes/syc-20355850
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https://www.verywellhealth.com/polycythemia-vera-disorder-overview-2252550
We also have quite a number of members in the forum who also have been diagnosed with PV. Here is just one of many discussions where members share their experiences. You can also find more by typing in PV in the upper search bar. Don’t hesitate to pop into any conversation to ask questions!

Polycythemia Vera: Just been diagnosed
https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/polycythemia-vera-1/
Your question was whether or not PV can cause iron deficiency. In a word…yes. You may have already gotten the answer in the articles posted above. But here is an excerpt from an article by the National Institute of Health-Pub Med. (Link below)

“Virtually all PV patients are iron deficient at presentation and/or during the course of their disease.”
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30042411/
You mentioned having elevated liver enzymes in a previous blood test. Were you able to find the cause?

@loribmt thank you for the response. An ultrasound and MRI showed a slightly fatty liver. My gastro believes that was the reason for the the elevated enzymes. I’ve lost about 10 pounds and my enzymes are now in the normal range. She thought losing weight would also help with my slightly elevated cholesterol. However, it increased significantly in the last 6 months. That’s why I am curious about any correlation.

I’m happy to hear your liver enzymes are back to normal. Our livers can be remarkably resilient. My cholesterol stayed in the ‘oops zone’ even with steep measures to drop it naturally. My liver had taken a hit during many months of chemo and even though it’s back to normal it’s felt that this may have something to do with my elevated cholesterol.

Two modifications I made in my diet that dropped my cholesterol and triglycerides was to watch my intake of saturated fats and also, decrease my unnecessary carb/sugar intake. I’d always been mindful of my diet which is basically the Mediterranean diet. But I took extra steps with watching sat fats. Now, I try to keep intake at no more than 5 gms per day. Not the 15-20 gm in the recommended daily allowance. That saw cholesterol numbers plummet. But still not where they need to be. So I did end up on a very low dose statin which is helping to keep levels in the happy zone.

But sometimes no matter what we try, genetics win. Did your parents have high cholesterol?

@loribmt Yes, both of my parents have high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Weight loss has not impacted my high blood pressure in the past. My doctor believes it’s definitely genetic, as I could stand to lose a few more pounds, but I’m not significantly overweight. The Mediterranean diet is how I recently lost 10 pounds, that’s why I was surprised to see my cholesterol increase so dramatically. It looks like I’m going to have to pay closer attention to the fat intake. My pcp did just put me on a statin. So, between the two, hopefully that gets my cholesterol on track!