Hoonta, First your high serum iron level is very disturbing. I have not come across anyone with such a high serum iron level. I have to ask if the results have not got mixed up and they should be the other way around! Do you have a printed copy of the results, to make sure the dr has not misinterpreted them.
As I mentioned to jwrhn, I have been investigating the relationship of copper and iron overload. I am currently reading another website which is convincing me that excess copper reduces ferritin.
I googled "copper overload decreases ferritin" for the following information. I won't include urls, because there is a lot of results to read. Bear in mind, some are from pseudo medics, like hair analysis labs, etc.
There was mention that foods that a vegetarian would eat to such as seeds, nuts, beans, grains are high in copper. That those with high copper tend to avoid protein foods esp red meat. Those with high copper also crave sweets, fruit and fruit juices - that's my husband, the sweets, anyway.
As a vegetarian, how is your vit B12 levels? If low, go for injections to increase levels. They are more effective. Also vit D is important. If low again, D3 forte drops are best. Good cholesterol is the precursor vit D, and if it is low, your vit D is probably low.
Vit C chelates copper. It just keeps ringing bells to me, as I have already established from medical science studies that iron overload reduces copper/ceruloplasmin which is not good either.
My husband and I practice trying to reduce iron uptake by drinking, tea, coffee (tannins), red wine (polyphenols), dairy/cheese/yoghurt (calcium) with meals. Calcium tablets with evening meal. Check out your local library for a book called "The Hemochromatosis Cookbook" by Cheryl Garrison who is involved with the Iron Disorder Institute for reasons for this. Not necessarily for the recipes, although I am intrigued by her suggestion to marinate meat in tea, but there is a lot written about iron and food.
Now, I am going to make sure my husband increases his intake of vit C between meals. All antioxidants are good too, e.g. C & E. Other copper antagonists are molybdenum, sulfur, vitamin B6, manganese, zinc and others.
Next time we see his dr, we will ask him for a blood test for copper/ceruloplasmin. Other minerals, e.g. lead, molybdenum and zinc can be involved too. But that is won't be till January.
After I read the Iron Disorder Institutes article on Anaemia of Chronic Disease, I found that rather alarming too, given that my husband has had Hodgkin's Lymphoma. A few months before that diagnosis, I noticed that one of his iron studies revealed that he had enlarged macrophages. On questioning the dr, I was told that was no problem. But later I did read that it is a sign that something is going wrong, e.g. HL. And the Iron D/Inst advise not to take iron supplements.
Anyway, have a read, ask to be tested, and let us know the results. It is always good to know the results of these investigations.