Is my ferritin too low? Aibu? Please advice..

[Wintertales]

Aibu if I think my ferritin is too low at 15.5 ?
Im 51 and in peri ( no periods for almost a year) but I do worry about having a bowel cancer.
My ferritin always was around 25-30..
Plus on NHS website is says normal level is 100 ..
However it says on my report Normal no action needed.
would you say I’m anaemic please?
shall I contact the gp?

that's within NHS range but way too low. I feel like death at that level. You need at least 70-80 to function. Good iron supplements (ferrous sulphate) will push it up.

Totally agree

In my area the NHS "normal" goes as low as 10! 50 or even 100 is definitely better though.

Have you ever been tested for coeliac disease? If you’re not having periods I’d want that ruling out.

Mine is 12. I feel awful with horrendous heavy periods every two weeks. Getting nowhere with gp it feels. Awaiting scans- god know when they’ll be. I feel like I’ll bleed to death beforehand at this rate.

I got no symptoms at all.
iwas tested for celiac few month back, it was negative.
My ferritin probably never was in 100 .
i checked my previous records since 2017 and always on the low side around 20-30..

Gosh mine is 2 my Dr would be very happy to see those numbers in me 😂

Ha-I had the other way 190 to 220 - which shows slightly above top end- GO felt it was probably because I had mirena for 20 years and hence no periods and I also used to take vitamin pills most days too - I still do but ones without iron

My partner had a Ferritin level of 3 when he was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer, needed urgent iron transfusions the next day. 2 is near death !

mine was 6 and my dr didn’t seem bothered at all, just a text message to say buy some iron tablets! I think the guidelines are rubbish and every person will have a different tolerance.

What's your protein intake like? I only ever got mine to consistently good levels by increased my protein to about 120g a day. GP said it was one of the best they'd seen.

Same and I felt fine. 🙈

You are thinking of haemoglobin levels. Hb of 3 is extremely low & life threatening. I have an illness that leads to anemia & my lowest was Hb of 4 which needed a blood transfusion & iron.

Having low ferritin isn't ideal but it's not life threatening. My ferritin is nearly always <4 (the lowest reading so basically zero). It only becomes symptomatic or dangerous when the haemoglobin falls - this is anemia.

Having low ferritin doesn't make someone anaemic - it's the back up iron store & not the iron in the red blood cells.

People often get confused between ferritin & haemoglobin levels.

My last test was Hb 8 & ferritin <4 (so zero ferritin) this is mildly anaemic & not really noticeable symptoms. That can be managed in most people with iron supplements. Someone with a Hb of 4 (would almost certainly have ferritin of <4 too) would be extremely sick (like your partner) - I don't think that's what OP & other PPs mean.

I remember when I was at different GP surgery some years ago my ferritin was 30 and I was treated for bordeline results, giving me Iron tablets. This is even much lower and on the report it says Normal.
But again I don’t feel tired or anything.. so I wonder if this is mine new normal?
I am also in Perimenopause, almost a year without periods so no any visible reasonable bleeding ..

@Wintertales if it's that low and no periods, I would expect the GP to do some digging why it is low even if you feel 'fine'.