TTC and iron deficiency

[Libu90]

looking for advice or anyone else who has been on a similar journey to me. Long winded but here goes… my husband and I married in summer 23 and are almost a year in to our ttc journey, whilst everyone around us has been falling pregnant seemingly at the drop of a hat, we have been silently struggling and I’ve really struggled wondering when will it be our turn. In December we had a fertility MOT with a highly recommended clinic, as I wanted to make sure all was well and if not we could be one step ahead of the game, thankfully, all is well for my husband and for me too, I have mild polycystic ovaries but ovulation was confirmed and the doctor said if we wanted to move things along I could take letrazole to encourage regular monthly ovulation. We did this for 4 months without success, I then opted to have a hycosy done in May due to a burst appendix 4 years ago which could affect tubal patency. Thankfully they are open and patent - this was excellent news as it was always something in the back of my head. I decided to help calm my nervous system and I’d read lots of positive reviews that I would see an acupuncturist, she asked to see my blood results and noted my ferritin was low (23) even though that’s just within the normal range for the nhs. She suggested I asked my GP to run a full iron profile, it turns out I’m iron deficient (8.5 score iron serum) - I’ve then read how this can cause havoc when ttc with egg quality and implantation and also can lead to miscarriage. Has anyone experienced this? And any success stories following iron supplements- I’ve been prescribed 100g of ferrous sulphate for 8 weeks. Sorry for the long-windedness but at my wits end x

Hi. I have some experience of this. My Hb was 8 and my ferritin was 2! I felt dreadful! Short of breath, constant UTI's and knackered. This was a year before TTC. It dropped again when I was pregnant, but never got that low again. Once corrected, I took a multi vitamin with iron as maintenance (check multivitamins don't have Vit A though when TTC/pregnant).

I'm surprised the 'highly recommended clinic' didn't run full blood tests as part of the regular MOT and pick up the deficiency then! When I had fertility testing, along with STI screening, checking bloods for anaemia, thyroid, sugar, U&E's, FBC etc was the norm.

I'd suggest buying the book 'It starts with an egg'. You can get a 2nd hand copy from ebay. Just some handy tips of day to day things you can change to hopefully increase your chances.

Along with taking the iron supplements, dietary changes can be almost as affective. Take your meds with Vit C rich food or drink- glass of orange juice, peppers etc. Reduce your tannin intake, which depletes iron absorption, so reduce or cut down tea/coffee/red wine etc and certainly don't have them at the same time as your iron meds. Your body takes 3mths to replicate new blood cells, so it won't be corrected after a week or 2.

Unfortunately, I don't have have a success story to share. We TTC 12yrs, had rounds of IVF and lost 3. Nothing to do with anaemia though. There was never any cause for sub-fertility ever found. Just one of those things. Wishing you all the best of your journey.

Hi I also have low ferritin and around the same amount as you. I’ve been on ferrus sulphate since Jan, we conceived second month (last month) but unfortunately miscarried at 6 weeks. I don’t think it was anything to do with iron levels though but just to reassure that it can happen and my iron levels haven’t improved much in the last 4/5 months.
We could only dtd 4 days before I ovulated last month so I wonder if that had something to do with it, and the sperm wasn’t as good quality as possible but who knows!
Good luck, your levels shouldn’t affect fertility as I also have a dd and must have had low iron before her but never got this checked.

I had low ferritin (less than 20) for years. Was TTC and being investigated for unexplained infertility as it had been 2y without a pregnancy. They determined I may or may not be ovulating, couldn't be sure. I started iron supplements and after a few months did get pregnant. I had an ectopic, a miscarriage and then a successful pregnancy. When TTC my second child I supplemented iron for over 6m before I got pregnant again, and had another miscarriage and then shortly after a successful pregnancy. I remember reading a study that suggested ferritin under 30 can prevent ovulation. I'm as sure as I can be that raising my ferritin level enabled me to get pregnant.