GP says my routine bloods are normal. Really?

You can definitely have low iron symtoms with a ferritin of 36, @NotSoIronMan.

Some pp are being unhelpfully black and white in their approach. Acceptable ferritin is a range, but of course you don’t feel fine until you drop below 15 and then suddenly feel ill. Many doctors advise women to aim for a minimum of 50, preferably over 75. You are unlikely to get told that in the NHS though.

This is typical of GPs

absolutely get on iron, folic acid, b12 and vitamin d. I’d also take magnesium too.

Your blood tests are within the normal range, apart from the Vit D. Low Vit D is really common for people in Northern Europe during the winter and you can take a supplement to address that. And yeah, as your GP said, you can take an iron supplement too. Low iron and low Vit D can make you feel tired.

I'd go and speak to a nutritionist. I spoke to a woman called Helen Jones on zoom and it honestly changed my life. I will link her Instagram if I can but she specialises in perimenopause and menopause. I wish I'd spoken to her sooner.

www.instagram.com/helenjonesnutrition?igsh=YTFuNjM5N2xoM2Z6

Same. GP looked at all my bloods over 15 yrs and said my ferritin wasn't over 30 since giving birth. No wonder I always felt knackered.

Got ferritin from 16 to 77 in 3 months, took a ferrous sulphate every second morning with high strength vitamin C tablet and a full glass of water, didn't consume anything else for 2hrs.

My guess is that it's your vitamin D. I had a vit D of 50 and I felt beyond awful - painful joints, brain fog, exhausted like I had to lie down just because I walked up the stairs.

Look into what loading dose you will need. It's not as simple as just popping a supplement you find in Boots: https://cks.nice.org.uk/topics/vitamin-d-deficiency-in-adults/prescribing-information/vitamin-d-supplements/

I felt considerably better within about 3 weeks. Yes, to iron, folate, b12 too, but even when I had folate deficiency anaemia, I never felt as awful as I did when D was low. So that's the one I'd focus on.

You need to take Vit D & B12 (b complex better as it contains folate, which is B9)

Can anyone answer this. My bloods show Active B12 at 150 plus. Which is actually at the high end of 'their' range- but it doesn't show the actual B12 level- so for all I know it could be off the scale 'high' it wasn't highlighted though at all has anyone else had this ?

Thirded.

I second this.

Tbf ranges mean I thing anyway
my primary school aged childs
bloods recently

were vit D 29
iron 3
ferritin -6
wbc 2.8
platelets 44

and was told nothing to worry about 🙈🙈
we did end to getting vitamin d
and they will just monitor the rest

In winter you should have about 8000 units of vit D with K2 per day (K2 so any excess calcium goes into your bones), in summer drop down to 4000 per day.

Take a vit B12 supplement every day.

Consult a private doctor with your blood test results, if you are able.

The levels this country deem acceptable are appalling.

yes, and it would show where 'well' for each individual is in all the normal ranges, no arguments needed.

If I was health secretary I would be doing yearly bloods at separate preventative health clinics with everyone and probably saving money by picking things up early- you don't need doctors for this aspect- would also have a dietician and physios on hand too and an onsite lab so it didn't have to be farmed out at stupid money . It would create jobs too - yes it would cost but if we said to people you can opt in at £50 a year- I bet a great many would do it-

And your point is what?

sorry just saw you did share them, have you got the ranges? (they're different from different labs)

do you mind sharing your thyroid numbers?
because there's normal and fine and there's numbers are just within the normal range and most people feel like shit at that level...
(my TSH needs to be below 0.5 or I feel terrible. If normal for person 1 is 0.5 and they're at 5 they feel just as bad as person 2 who is normal at 4.5 and is at 9, but person 2 is treated and person 1 isn't. It's stupid.)

The blood results listed are basically normal- apart from very slightly low Vitamin D- Reasonable to take a multivitamin.

@MumblesParty of course I had bought my own supplements, over the counter ones aren’t as strong as those the GP prescribe if you have a deficiency.

Also I pay high NI tax, so it certainly isn’t a freebie??

she doesn’t need private bloods they can get very expensive and they don’t repeats u less really needed.
OP just had to take a copy of bloods from her GP that will get the ball rolling.

OP £180-£250 can get you an app with a specialist at a private hospital .
Best money I’ve ever spent .
I also know someone who kept getting told all was ok then took copy of her bloods to private appointment and straight away they contacted her dr and said what medication she had to start on immediately..
Thes appointments can be the following month I was lucky I got a cancellation the first time for within a week .
The nhs sadly is useless when dealing with your GP

But you can’t get strong iron off the shelf, it has to be on prescription.

OP this happened to me recently. When I looked at the results and I rang the GP to enquire because in one case it was 0.5 over the lowest limit, he was so rude and made out I was being some hysterical woman. Take supplements and see how you get on and go back if you aren’t happy. I don’t know what is going on but things are just not good at the moment.

"Normal" doesn't necessarily mean "optimal".
None of your levels are worrying and don't point to anything that needs "treating", but that doesn't mean you wouldn't benefit from supplements - especially if you're having symptoms.
It's like lots of things: blood pressure, weight, heart rate etc. There's a normal range, and then there's what's optimal for YOUR health.