Ferrtin of 45?

[ooonatoffolo]

Recently had full bloods done for suspected sleep apnoea.

(poor sleep and falling asleep in daytime)

Iron was 'low' and red blood cells were 'small and irregular'.

They re-did Ferritin. It came back as 45.

Is this ok? My GP says yes but wouldn't refer if my legs were falling off.

It's not optimal. Really it should be between 60-80, but few doctors would treat an in range result. Mine was 22 and they ignored it. Have they treated your low iron at all?

No.
I was 'borderline anaemic' through both pg's and they just told me to buy iron tablets but I cant tolerate the standard chemist ones.

Is iron separate to ferritin then?
sorry, I asked for an explanation / blood results at the time and they said: 'it's all fine and it will cost £10.50 for the results'. I didn't have my purse with me and they said I had to ask 'at the time'. As I said, they are not the most helpful bunch. They seemed quite annoyed at my asking for the actual figure when they had already told me it was normal!

Ferritin is you iron stores, so you do need it for your body to function! I seem to be ok on ferrous sulphate, but if you're struggling with most chemist ones, I've seen people recommend Gentle Iron (I think by Solgar). You could try that? I buy most supplements from Amazon as many of the decent ones aren't available in many high street shops or are really expensive.

Thanks, I'll give that a try.x

Ferratin of 45 is fine. Ideally it would be slightly higher but unlikely to be causing you problems.

My ferratin was 9 and I've worked it up to 30+ but nowhere near 45 yet.

I find spatone is easy to absorb and for my stomach to tolerate. It has little iron in it but is slowly doing the job as I can't stand the side effects of regular tablets.

Mine is 8 atm and the GP told me to take Galfer. From just the little bit of research I did , although the so called normal range is 11 to 307, in reality anything under 50 is low and should be treated.

I'd like to take a supplement as I get quite giddy a lot and I have very heavy menstruation.

I am grateful for suggestions of more stomach friendly iron supplements to take.

Have you/can you try anything to help with the heavy periods? They won't be helping your iron situation, as it will drop every time you have one.

This is the thing; I think it's not ok for some people after my experiences.

I was referred to an endocrinologist for suspected Addison's (which I didn't have) and he commented that the only suspect blood result at the time was my ferritin of 50. "A little on the low side".

My GP also now referred to it as borderline, the blood result ranges listing over 70 as normal. I really do seem to feel it at 50.

I've struggled to keep it up without being on tablets though, which are higher than otc, however I don't think any of them agree with me now. I'm about to find out latest ferritin and look into other otc versions. Spatone didn't provide anywhere near enough but my periods were really bad after ds which was the issue. They've settled a bit.

If you low ferritin is basically non anaemic iron deficiency. Look on patient.co.uk, but it's also in research papers too. I think I read s good piece by dr Briffa about many women simply needing to be over 70. The upper limit is around 2 or 3 hundred I think so it doesn't harm anyone to get it up if around 45.

I think I remember solgar iron bisglycinate being mentioned before on here which I might try out. 20 mg might be a bit low though as I was on 400mg.

Mine is always low - was 9 till I got it up to 14.5 after 2months on iron tablets. I hate the Ferrous Sulphate!

Agiraffe, how did you get yours up to 30?!

I used spatone two sachets a day and it took a few months. I know doctors always go on about the fact there is not a lot of iron in spatone but I can tolerate it and the type of iron is easily absorbed.

It is down again a bit now as, not being anemic for the first time in 20yrs, I foolishly went and donated blood so now have a lot to recover from. I have since been told I shouldn't donate blood, but always felt it was something you should do if you can.

I am back on the spatone now to try and recover it and hopefully improve further. My GP was quite happy with the progress I was previously making.

Right, I'm going to get some spatone. Did you have to avoid taking it with food/coffee/tea, etc?

Vitamin C helps with absorption, so have plenty of that. Tannins and calcium can deplete it, so avoid those for a good couple of hours either side.

OK! It's just hard to find a time to take it when I'm not likely to be having a cuppa soon

Maybe I should take it in the middle of the night!

I know the feeling! I keep it by my bedside and take it as soon as I wake up. And I read at night and take it last thing before I sleep, which is usually at least 2 hours after eating.

Actually that's a great plan Davina - I'm going to do that!