Blood iron levels - doc says they should be between 10 and 32

[Scarletforya]

Can anyone advise me about blood iron levels. I thick it must be ferritin.

My doctor said it should be between 10 and 32 ......? Didn't say what though...

Mine is 25, I'm aged 45

But the internet says should be 12 -50 nanograms per millilitre blood....

Can anyone clarify?

The range looks more like serum iron than ferritin to me, in which case your result looks OK.

Ranges vary from lab to lab, but where I live the range for ferritin is 15-150, in which case it needs to be over 75 to be 'good'.

Maybe ask for a print out of your results, so you can be sure what has been tested and where in range the results are.

Thank you very much.

Serum iron, ok.

I'd been having significant hair loss, probably lost about half my hair all over. I got bloods done, everything normal.

Even so i started taking iron (Spatone sachets) and the hair loss stopped, but I'm worried about taking too much. I know it can harm organs etc

But I'm scared to stop taking the iron in case the hair started falling again. The doctor is putting the hair loss down to my age.

If you have hairloss issues, it would not be unreasonable for you to ask your GP to check your ferritin levels.

Thank you.

I phoned and got the ferritin result, it was 18.

Ouch! I remember those days well. When my ferritin was at that level I could only get up the stairs on my hands and knees!

You need some serious iron supplementation. The very low ferritin may well be the cause of your hair loss and in any event you need good reserves of iron, which is what ferritin is because of the role iron plays in supporting all sorts of biochemical processes in the body.

Thanks!

I've been taking a supplement. But annoyed at the doctor. She should have known, she sent me off saying it was just my age and not to take any iron.