Why am I still so tired?

[cheeseisthebest]

I've had low b12 and iron. I take a liquid iron supplement and I've paid privately for a course of b12 injections. I've had blood tests for thyroid and thats fine. But I still feel absolutely exhausted. I really hoped the b12 injections would sort it.

It can take quite a while for iron to go up after starting supplements, and I was told recently that some people need a higher level than the standard 'baseline' to feel well. What was your most recent iron level and when did you start supplements?

I'm not an expert btw by any stretch, I'm just on a similar journey myself!

It was 17 ages but GP told me that was fine, I think it's low though.

What liquid iron supplement and how long for? It’s likely not strong enough to boost your ferritin levels if they are low tbh.

you can buy prescription strength iron. I’m prescribed ferrous fumerate but have also bought it myself rather than wait for blood tests/prescription. I was prescribed 3 x tablets a day and my iron was still low range of normal after 3 months so a liquid iron supplement might not be strong enough.

It's spatone. I thought liquid one was more easily absorbed.

17 is pretty low I think. Where I live we're told it's fine if above 30, but the tcm Dr I saw recently said he's seen heaps of women in the last couple of years battling fatigue after the lockdowns etc and reckons it needs to really be up closer to 50 for lots of people. And also for vitamin D we should aim for middle of the range rather than the low end.

I'm just starting to pick up a bit now energy wise - I've got my ferritin up to 36 and vit D up to mid range, but will keep going with the higher dose iron supplements as I'm still much more fatigued than I should be. Will aim for the magic 50 for ferritin and hope it works!

I think spatone is only 5mg is that right? I'm on 100mg every 2nd day at the moment

Obviously you don't want to overdo the iron supplements though. If you can get your most recent test results to confirm you're still faurly low, you could talk to the pharmacist about the best over the counter options

Do you remember your thyroid blood results? What GPs call normal is rarely normal.

Omg yes it is only 5.
Could someone please recommend a better iron supplement for me please?
I will try and get my most recent results.

Spatone isn't enough to raise your iron if your deficient. You really need a prescription supplement.

Have there been any investigations into why your iron is low. If you don't address that then it like pouring into a leaking bucket TBH. For me it was heavy periods and I had to take the pill to stop them for six months while I got my iron levels back up.

I'm not in the UK so not sure if you have all the same iron supplements, but I'm using Maltofer now which is great if you can get it. I can tolerate it much better than the other high dose types which - ahem - bunged me up rather uncomfortably

Ok just rung my Doctors and in April my iron was 45 and thyroid 1.3. B12 was 774.

If 45 is your ferritin level that would seem fine by what I've been told, but as I said I'm not an expert. But in any case all those are from 3 months ago now. If you are still really tired I'd suggest going back to the GP again to see if they'll retest and/or test for other stuff.

This is interesting. Can you expand?

Thank you, yes it's much higher than 17. I have very light periods as well.

What's your vitamin D levels?

They didn't check those.

Def go back and ask about Vit D and what else they can check for. Vitamin D could easily be the culprit. But if it's normal, go back again after that and keep asking - unfortunately in most cases the only person who is going to advocate for you is you, so you just need to keep on keeping on so they keep investigating for you.

I hope you can get some answers soon, fatigue is awful

Thank you

I thought the b12 injections would sort it. I am on strong prescription antihistamines, could be that.