I'm in my late 40s and I've always struggled with my iron levels. A year ago I was feeling particularly crap and a blood test revealed my ferritin was 4.
GP was disinterested but I'm fortunate to have private health insurance and was able to arrange an iron infusion. The doctor who ran the iron clinic explained that some people are just poor at absorbing iron, and for menstruating women in particular, diet and even oral supplements often aren't enough - we will just loose iron faster than we can replace it.
I felt much better after the infusion, but was warned that unless I can fix the heavy periods I'd be back to square one in a year. Which is exactly what has happened - over the past few weeks I've been feeling crap again.
To make matters worse, my periods are getting even heavier and also closer together - over the past year, my cycle has shrunk from 5 weeks to 3.5 weeks.
I tried tranexamic acid which worked well but unfortunately gave me very bad headaches, so that's out. The iron doctor urged me to try the mirena coil, which I was reluctant to do because I've had friends/close relatives who have had very poor experiences with it from a mental health perspective. Perhaps I do need to try it though, because I've probably got another five years of this.
I'd be really interested in hearing from anyone else has had a similar experience and if anything has helped you?
Thanks!