Elevated Ferritin

[MummyTo2Monsters]

Hi, Just need some advice or if anyone has experienced something similar to put my mind at ease.
My 10 yr old DS was not himself the whole of last week, napping after school which isn't like him, low energy levels, just not himself basically. He had a few tummy aches and threw up bile once, I took him to the GP thinking his iron might be low, bloods were done and results show all normal except his ferritin level was 256, his iron is within range and his white blood cells are a little low.
I turned to dr google which scared me senseless, GP said it could be caused by a viral infection (which I don't know if he had because besides the tummy ache and bile he had no other obvious symptoms of an infection) which does elevate ferritin and suggested we test again in 3 months, I cannot wait that long so he suggested a re-test in 6 weeks.
Has anyone else's child ever had this and what was the outcome.
I am besides myself with worry, I really am that overbearing mum and just need some reassurance, please.

That ferritin level doesn't look high to me. What were your labs referecne ranges?

@cutefluffyunicorn ranges are 20-170

ah, ok.
That is actually a very small increase to be honest.( I know it looks a lot, but it really isn't!)
Ferritin is what is called an "acute phase reactant" which means the levels will be raised by anything that may cause a degree of inflamation in the body - the most common of which is a low level infection such as a virus. (if you can see tha actual lab report with the result on, it probably says something along the lines of interpreting with caution if any infection may be present)
At this level I would say that that would almost certainly be the case, as you said your ds was generally not himself the week before. Other causes of high ferritin are very rare and would usually lead to much higher levels than that.
It is good your GP is going to monitor it but I would try to not stress too much (I know - easier said than done!)

@cutefluffyunicorn thank you so much for your detailed explanation, sometimes you just have to hear it from someone else to rationalize and calm down. The lab report did say it could be caused due to a viral infection but you know when you end up googling and there are a host of other sinister reasons it really eats you up. DS also has a few lymph nodes on the side of his neck which add to my health anxiety, he has had them since a baby, even had a biopsy done when he was 4 and came up as reactive nodes. They don't completely go down, just flare up now and then. All this coupled with the bloods and google send me in a total spin.