Ferritin level is 7. Anyone explain?

[FennyBridges]

Basically I've got my haemoglobin up from 105 to 118 by eating spinach five times a week (Tesco's frozen defrosted and cooked. A wonder!) But I've had a ferritin level checked too and it's 7.

What does '7' mean? I've googled and I don't know '7' of what measurement. I don't understand if that's low, because I understand 118 for haemoglobin is only slightly low?

I was hoping someone could help explain. I'll see if I can get a Dr appointment this week. Bizarrely my legs are aching an awful lot and my hair appears to be falling out a bit. My breathlessness and chest pain have improved since my haemoglobin has gone up. I was going to Google the legs and hair but I'm reluctant.

Thanks

tickingthebox I will try those vitabiotics. Do I have to take iron as well as them?

tickingthebox, yes, along with low B12 and low ferritin, my vitD is also low (18) as is my iron level, which is 3.9, so that's probably true about them being connected.

FennyBridges, are any other levels too low or just ferritin?

Regular blood donor plus heavier than average periods plus not eating properly is enough to reduce your ferritin.

Maybe see if a telephone appt will be quicker? Or ask if the go can confirm that you need to take iron tablets and buy some? Get it rechecked after three months to ensure it’s going in the right direction.

My ferritin was in my boots, and also a bit low in b12 and vit d. It’s only when the ferritin got over 40 and I added in b12 and vit d I’ve started to feel more human. Just realised I haven’t fallen asleep on the sofa for a week!

I don't know yet. I rang up today after the blood test last week. I can only ring for a Dr appointment on Wednesday morning (long story involving the surgery, a school trip and suchlike) so I can find out when I get my appointment on Wednesday afternoon.

Can skipping meals every so often cause this?

Here you go. I'm assuming these are the levels ised across the NHS & not just South Tees trust.

WrongKindOfFace thank you! It seems to me that every day I just want to survive. So I'll feel different with higher ferritin?

@FennyBridges no they have iron in them already. At the time DS was 10 and I was looking for a simple solution as what the consultant recommended individually was 6 tablets and a liquid iron per day. These have everything in them (and more) in 2 tablets! The consultant said these were better but recommended the original combination as the cost was less for people.

I went with the "expensive" vitabiotics (cost is about £8 per month) as more comprehensive and definitely did the job.

(sorry £12.95 per month)...but small cost to pay to have ds with a full head of hair!

There isn’t enough iron in vitabiotics to make a significant difference. Each tablet contains 14mg of iron compared to 65mg in a ferrous sulphate tablet - and you’d take three of them a day so 195mg per day.

I found iron supplements (tablets) upset my stomach, I tried 3 different types on prescription. What worked for me was a combination of 2 X spatone iron water sachets with berocca first thing every day before food. This is supposed to be the best time. No coffee or milk for an hour after. This might help those who find solid iron supplements too harsh.

When mine was 9 they were contemplating a transfusion, so yeah, 7 is looow. Mine came up quickly with tablets though (7-90 in 15 days).

That's very low.
I recently had a ferritin of 8 despite taking iron tablets etc. My hb was 126 or such.

I was offered a monifer infusion which was lovely. It took a while to kick in, and I think it has dropped again but great for a while. I can walk upstairs properly and everything.

My gastro nurse booked it for me though, as it was picked up in a routine app for my Crohn's.
Can you ask (beg) your GP to refer you for one?

What's a 'monifer infusion'?

Bizarrely picked up on this thread at random yesterday and then today was informed that my Hb is at the lower limit of normal and my ferritin is 13. Cue swift cancellation of blood donor appointment this afternoon! Only symptom was intermittent dizzy spells when exercising.

As explained by GP, iron supplement is first thing to try and then blood test in 3 months to see if I've responded. Will only investigate further if supplement doesn't work (I've just had the bowel cancer screening test and that was negative).

I thought I had a reasonable diet although eat very little red meat and though my vegetable intake is ok I probably don't eat a lot of dark green vegetables. Not sure I can manage 5 portions of spinach a week!

Any comments/suggestions appreciated. I already take high dose Vit C and a normal multivitamin, should I be doing anything else?

My ferritin was 3 and I had b12 injections...I don't know the cause, I get quite heavy periods so maybe that's it. I double up on my vitamins during my period other wise I'm so tired I can't think straight.

Less caffeine is meant to help as it prevents iron absorption.

It's awful you have my sympathy.

Do you think they'll prescribe tablets or injections? I'd like to be prepared! Shall I mention that my legs ache, and I get chest pains? Are those kinds of things important?

If I were you I'd push for injections. You sound really quite poorly with it. Tablets will take an age to get your levels up. What's your B12 levels like?

And yes, mention hair loss, leg pain, lack of energy etc etc.

OP I would definitely look into Celiac as one symptom is hair loss. My dd was diagnosed at 14. My dds and I all struggle to keep our ferritin levels up, not sure why as we eat really healthily. My girls do two hours of sport a day Mon-Fri plus competing at weekends so I think they burn through their nutrition and of course have periods so makes them vulnerable. What was frustrating was for years I struggled with extreme fatigue and my iron levels were always fine but I never was tested for ferritin. When I was finally tested the doctor was shocked and it was so bad my husband took a week off work to care for me! The doc said I would’ve had a transfusion except they have stopped doing that as found building your iron up naturally is healthier. So I believe this can be an issue for many women they are told they are not anemic when their iron stores (ferritin) are in fact very low.

When you completely recover from low ferritin you feel like a new woman, it is incredible!!! So make sure to look after yourself and eat an iron rich diet with plenty of vitamin C plus iron supplements.

Sorry forgot to mention it was following a miscarriage followed by very heavy periods so I had clearly lost an awful lot of blood. It wasn’t checked until 18 months later as I struggled on convincing myself it was normal. Of course you can be getting so ill with low iron that you are not able to make sound judgments on your own health, I was so exhausted I think I was slightly delusional!

The first thing the doc said was “you mustn’t have a period this month” and put me on the pill because it was dangerous for me to lose more blood, she was an gynecologist.

I hope the Gp is helpful and I hope you actually get injections.

I found that a ferritin of 50 was low enough to give me symptoms (though I'm also hypothyroid so I think I'm tuned into a whiff of fatigue!) and I noticed a big difference when it was over 70.

I had tablets but they eventually gave me bad ibs (inc different sorts.) and it dropped when I stopped them.

Wonderfully helpful Gp suggested trying fodmaps diet and coming off the pills but also to see what ferritin was after a month (also heavy periods). I cut milk out and gluten and other triggers, ate iron rich foods with orange juice regularly. tummy improved a bit but iron went up as much as when I'd been taking tablets amazingly.

For me it's not gluten, I'd been drinking milk and tea all day. Calcium, dairy and tea block iron absorption. Now I have days where I drink oatly and eat iron rich foods with orange juice (rare steak for eg) in a conscious effort to keep iron up and it's worked well.

There's been recent research on the best way to take iron tablets as apparently the gut doesn't absorb it if over loaded (usually iron tablets are 3 times a day, 200mg each). They now think alternate days and less works better. (Can't remember exact amounts but it's in this radio 4 prog)

www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09ply54

And I just found this:

acpinternist.org/weekly/archives/2017/10/17/2.htm

Thank you so much everyone. You are all so kind in your responses and I will definitely look at those links.

I've been teaching every day. It's full on and I'm exhausted generally. I'm marking now. I havr two boys too. I love my job and I can't get signed off. Can they sign me off? I'm worried about this.

I had low to normal haemoglobin levels but a ferritin count of 11. I felt absolutely shocking. I remember lying in bed telling DH I thought I was dying and I wasn’t even slightly joking.

Mine was caused by stupidly heavy periods. A course of ferrous fumerate and I’m back up to 65. I still don’t feel right but better than I did. I was exhausted, depressed, my hair was falling out and I couldn’t breathe after climbing a flight of stairs.

Some people are ok on iron supplements, I was so do give them a try. Any stomach issues should hopefully pass in a week or so.

Ekphrasis that BBC programme concerning iron supplement dosage is really interesting - thank you! I haven’t picked up my prescription yet so will see what leeway (if any) there is with dosage. Just don’t like the idea of ingesting large amounts of iron, a lot of which won’t actually be absorbed, when my symptoms are relatively minor.

I've wondered if that's why I actually bizarrely absorbed more off the pills - though there was lots going on.

Many people are fine on pills though. I'd definitely cut back on caffeine and milk while taking them; a friend who gets anaemia occasionally only drinks herbal tea and seems to bounce back within a couple of months on the pills.