I think my iron levels are low but my GP disagrees - wwyd?

[JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff]

I lead a very active and healthy lifestyle and generally have lots of energy. However recently my hair has started to fall out and I do feel tired and a bit emotional esp in the evenings.

Based on MN advice (thank you!) I booked a GP appt and was pleasantly surprised to be taken seriously. The GP immediately said, might be low ferritin. She ordered full bloods.

Thing is, these have come back now and my ferritin is 18ug/L whereas it describes the normal range as 11-307. These results are flagged as normal, no follow up required.

I can obviously see this technically is in the "normal" range, but it also feels like it's right at the bottom of a very big range.

In this situation, would you pursue? Try to supplement naturally? Or just leave?

My Ferritin is 24 but the boundary line is 5 -204 ug/L on my app! As you say OP, how can they all be different! I have had several years on B12, which is still only mid range and hair still falling out and breathless. My Serum Calcium is literally on the borderline at 2.2 and apparently that isn't concerning either...so it must be menopause apparently. Possibly weirdest of all is my serum iron is way over on 34.7 but also, not flagged as abnormal...

If this upcoming blood test isn't much of an improvement then push for an infusion. At least raise it, take the latest guidelines with you.

The fact ferritin was 3 and nothing was done may give you a bit of leverage. You could complain.

I don't know how you functioned with levels that low and are still functioning.

Try a young female doctor.

I'm reading this thread avidly as I've been suffering from hair loss for the past few years. I'm 49. I've tried all sorts of supplements but not ferritin as I assumed it was hormonal.

Well, this thread prompted me to look up my last blood test results which were from 2 years ago. Ferritin was 13!! The GP did not comment on this. I can't believe it.

I shall be buying ferritin tomorrow...

OP, I hope you start to get to the bottom of this soon.

I don’t really understand how the lab ranges work. OP has low ferritin, not normal and is symptomatic! If you’re getting headaches and struggling with sight and you go for an eye test, but the yardstick for assessing says even if you can read some of the top line, all is normal, despite what lots of evidence to the contrary says, it doesn’t mean it’s normal! I’d rather GPs would say you don’t meet the NHS threshold for advice or treatment, but it could be an iron issue.

OP I have had just had much more luck using AI with my bloods - having just copied in my last set of results in it has criticised the low lab cutoff of 5 for ferritin as clinically and globally concerning and that people would assume they were fine if that is the range...FFS AI can figure it out, why can't the laboratories? I am starting to think the NHS make them up so they don't "waste" resources on all of us literally bleeding women.

AI has pointed out my body needs Vit D to get calcium and in the meantime my body is likely supplementing from my bones - I have an increased risk of osteoperosis from over a decade on DEPO contraception - which could be partly why my finger joints and back are so painful and swollen. I am going to start taking vitamin D and do this with my lab results in the future. AI also suggested checking for autoimmune and ANA markers but that has never been suggested by dr. It is a sad state of affairs when you realise you feel more reassured taking advice from an algorithm.

I have had bloods done privately and my ferritin was 17- the advice was to take some iron supplements, the dr suggested the spatone liquid iron sachets. Not too disgusting :)

Vegetables are okay but they’re not a patch on eating red meat etc tbh. I’d take a supplement for sure with that level

Dc had severe mh issue with ferritin of 4.
It does seem crazy men vs women as 10 in a man may well stay the same or increase but menstruating women could well decrease, and how many women getting or trying to get pregnant with such low levels…

also can give signs that seem like adhd for those wondering why they seem to suddenly have adhd

Well I'm glad this thread helped someone else too!

I have looked up the NICE guidelines now and can confirm they say under 30 is depleted and an acute deficiency is under that, I think 15?

Get a new blood test and an IV Iron. Supplements can take 6m to a year to be effective

Thank you, I have a GP appointment booked and will ask.

My ferritin was at 15 four months ago.

I take iron bisglycinate plus a Vit C supplement every other morning on an empty stomach, and I do not eat or drink anything (aside from water) until two hours later. I also supplement with Vit D, B12 and beef liver capsules every day. My ferritin was up to 65 last month.

You cannot buy direct ferritin, you can buy ferrous fumarate/sulphate or Iron bisglycinate/gluconate which are iron supplements.

You have circulating iron, which can vary from day to day and even be affected by what you ate before you were tested. So it's not a reliable picture of how much iron your body has available to meet all it's needs

Then you have Ferritin, which is your body's stored iron reserves and provides a more accurate picture of your overall iron level status. When it's low, even if your separate iron blood levels seem ok, it means you are low in iron, you don't have enough iron to make the hemoglobin and red blood cells you need when you need energy to do things. Your body cannot get more from it's iron store. It is functioning purely on what you provide it day by day. Circulating iron is like a zero hours contract cash-in-hand job, vs ferritin which is a fully contracted secure daily 9-5.

Your reliable 9 - 5 provides you with all your household bills, pays for holidays, and important purchases like electrical items, the monthly food shop.

Your zero hours pays for bare basic things, a meal or two a day. It doesn't cover bills. It doesn't pay the mortgage. It just about sustains you for the day. You cannot make any future plans with it because you don't know if you'll get paid and don't have the full contract job to provide any lifestyle flexibility, you cannot go out with friends and push it or do anything remotely lush because your income is too low and unpredictable and it places a massive strain on your finances.

In this state your period is akin to you being reckless whilst on the Zero hours contract and going out and treating all your friends to a three course meal at Zizzi's. So is working out hard.

There are better analogies but that's the best way I can describe the differences!

By taking iron you get your iron levels high enough for your body to meet all it's needs and top up your iron stores, your ferritin.

I was 11 i went and paid for an Iron IV, I feel so much better

Understood, thanks for taking the time to explain!

I am fairly sure nice guidelines recommend treatment of ferritin when levels are below 30.

Spatone is quite good. Mix it with some orange juice once a day and it might support rebuilding your iron stores. Good luck!

My doctor prescribed me iron tablets for a score of 18 just last month. She said they're low but not scary low but definitely low enough to have an impact and she prescribed me three months of tablets. She then rang again to book me for an appointment to tell me that I also have an underactive thyroid. The tablets I have been prescribed for my thyroid have been the biggest game changer for my fatigue and random crying outbursts. I must get better at my iron tablets because I will be like a whole new woman once I'm secure in taking both! Definitely query your iron results.

@Wipeywipey I'm not all for Ai but this is the future we will be able to get a proper all around clinical care from sound medical ai ! .

How much spatone ie needed to build iron up

Get some supplements. What do you want the doctor to do?

It is low but the NHS doesn’t consider it “low” until you are pretty much at zero

Mine was 9 and I'm not at deaths door. No hair falling out and I'm not emotional, I was just tired. I'd focus in getting to the bottom of what's causing your symptoms rather than pushing on the iron levels. There were also other markers in my blood results that backed up anemia, it wasn't only feratin that was low.

Ferritin of 18!! Mine is 6 and the GP still won't help me!

I buy my own ferrous sulphate from the pharmacy. You should do the same if you feel you need to.

This happened to me. I had REALLY bad hair shedding. I mean, possibly a third of my thick hair. The GP eventually did ferritin levels after I researched and I scraped into the very large range, so he dismissed me as fine.

I took it upon myself to sort a protocol. I started taking ferrous fumerate, which you can buy over the counter. I took it with Lysine, and Vit C tablets (you could drink orange juice, but I don't drink juice), to help with absorption. I think I took it 2 x a day. I had no side effects. I also went to see a dermatologist who specialised in hair and he wrote a very stern letter to the practice that I was malnourished. (Incidentally, and as an aside, my GP practice was closed down by the CQC for a raft of other reasons a few months later, so it's fair to say that they weren't the best). The consultant said my hair would start to grow back in 3=5 months and it did...and he also told me to have red meat every week.

I've had two further monments like this over the past decade and each time I feel my hair shedding I just follow the same protocol. It seems to work. I can't rely on tiredness to be an indicator as at 56, I'm often fucking tired!

My ferritin levels were 15. Right at the bottom end. I take nutrition geeks iron supplements now, and the symptoms I was having then have gone. yes it might be in the normal range but it's not optimal.

They aren't expensive so I'd just supplement yourself. If it's helpful, they are best taken on an empty stomach, or with orange juice (vitamin C) as this helps absorption. I found out that tea and coffee have a huge effect on limiting the absorption of iron tablets - it's something in the tea and coffee itself, not the caffeine (so decaf makes no difference.) So avoid tea or coffee about an hour before or after taking it.

Also rule out other causes and look at your lifestyle. Lack of sleep definitely didn't help me!