Ferritin level 35 and hair problems?

[RaisingthedeadArizona]

A blood test I had about 3 months back showed a ferritin level of 35 which is within the normal range. But I have increasingly thinning, brittle and shedding hair which is becoming a real problem now. Does anyone know if a reading of 35 is low enough to compromise hair health? The GP said my thyroid was also normal but is checking that again just in case it isn't now. I thought the hair problem might be menopausal but I've been on HRT for about 7 months now and if anything my hair is even worse :( My diet is OK apart from I don't have red meat.

That's a low ferritin. It should be over 80 or more for good health
what was your thyroid result?

Thanks. I wonder if I have that right then merci? The GP said iron. Is that a different thing to ferritin?

I can't remember what she said the thyroid result was other than she said normal. They are re-testing though to see if it has perhaps gone down, so I will find out.

Mine was 50, my gp said that was low enough for hair loss. Appears my iron levels are normal but iron store and saturation low

Oooh that's interesting goodasitgets My GP is usually good but think she must have been stressed out today, as she didn't seem as informative/helpful as usual. She just said something about "would like to get that up to 40" which doesn't seem to tally with what your GP says. She looked at my scalp and agreed that my hair was definitely thinning and wrote out a form for a repeat blood test which didn't seem too pro-active. My hairdresser refused to do highlights last week as she said my hair was just breaking off in her hands and she didn't want to do more damage :( Never had that happen before and she advised going back to my GP.

Ask what the tsh was as well. Should be under 2
Ferritin can be supplemented with spatone or floradix if gp wont prescribe

raising I have been having hair loss for the past 3 months, my ferritin level was 16, I am going to get it re tested again next month. I have also had other blood tests, like thyroid, hormones etc, they came back normal, so they put it down to low ferritin. It's starting to get me now, I hate washing my hair, but I am hoping it will stop soon.

My ferritin was 9. It's 30s now and I'm still losing hair. Have you got ferrous phosphate (sp?). I took spartone too

I am on ferrous sulphate.

pretty it's rotten isn't it. I hope yours starts to improve on the ferrous sulphate. I've started taking a liquid iron formula from the chemists. Am really confused about the whole ferritin and iron count thing. Thanks merci and pickled I will make sure I'm taking supplements of both.

Raising - with my ferritin level and my saturation level she has put me on ferrous fumarate twice a day (it says each contains equivalent of 106mg elemental iron)
I went not so much because of my hair but because I felt like I was walking through a fog and was crying with exhaustion
Think what happened is a post termination bleed and then periods every 14 days lasting 8/9 days depleted my levels and so the iron store went down

Just reading through thread. Whilst you're supplementing your iron, can you start taking Brewer's Yeast? It really does help your hair. The brand you get (tablets) in Holland & Barrett is fine.

I will try the brewers yeast too Mistress. Thanks for that.

I'm a bit confused between ferrous sulphate and ferrous fuminate. I've bought some Feroglobin liquid but is ferrous fuminate something different?

I was taking ferroglobin liquid for a while before my blood tests, it has iron in but v little compared to iron tablets. Ferrous fumarate is what the doctor has given me

Thanks goodasitgets. That's helpful to know.

raising, as others have said yes ferritin levels that low can and do. Affect hair. You are fortunate to have such a good GP who is prepared to help you like that. My levels are 16 and my GP surgery are not prepared to concede I may have a problem, are not prepared to prescribe iron supplementation for me, although Thanks to MN I was sufficiently armed with facts to get them to agree to re test my bloods in 3 months and I sort out my own iron supplementation. I hope you fell better soon.