ferritin

[careergirl]

Hi my ferritin levels are low, 9.
How low is this? I am taking iron tablets to try to bring it back up
also I am a bit confused by the references to both ferritin and iron- are they one and the same?

9 sounds very low, assuming you are in the UK and on a standard sort of range. Here in the West Midlands the range is something like 15-350 and you need to have your ferritin level at around 90 to avoid symptoms like hair loss, fatigue and breathlessness.

Ferritin refers to your iron stores rather than the iron that is going round in your blood. It is important to have good levels of ferritin because if, for example, you had an accident and lost a lot of blood, then you would need your iron stores and if you didn't have any, you could potentially be very ill indeed.

You will need to keep getting this tested at about three monthly intervals to ensure that your levels go up and do not slip back again.

Thank you that's helpful. I had been feeling tired but put it down to other things, doing too much at work, not getting enough sleep, the usual. I have booked a blood test in for about three weeks time and will get it reviewed periodically. I had a suspicion 9 was quite a "low score" but wanted to check.

Also you can have low iron stores without being anaemic - but if you don't treat low iron stores/ferritin, then eventually your body will have nothing left to dip into so you will end up anaemic. Not everyone feels tired with low ferritin - I do, even if I'm not anaemic. Anaemia is when when your haemoglobin levels are low too or there are fewer red blood cells than normal. If you end up anaemic as well, you will feel worse.