Low ferritin

[Flatwhite32]

Hi everyone. My ferritin level has recently come out as 18 at a hospital blood test which I believe is the low end of the normal range. The receptionist at the GP (who I was asked to follow up results with) said she'll 'speak to the GP', and I'll get a phone call back 'if needed', but I'm guessing because 18 is in the normal range, no action is needed and I haven't heard back. However, I feel so so tired. To top it off have an 11 month old DD who wakes consistently at 5am. I did have insomnia related to this but that's slowly improving, yet I feel more exhausted than ever, and it's a different type of exhaustion to baby tired. My whole body feels heavy and like lead, if that makes sense! Going up the stairs feels like really hard work too. Should I be feeling ok with a ferritin of 18, seeing as it's in the normal range? I eat a very varied, mostly cooked from scratch diet including food like red meat, iron fortified cereal, spinach etc, so I'm not sure what else I'd change there. Any advice greatly appreciated.

I also had this. My gp recommended over the counter iron supplements as well. I got some disolvable ones and taking one a day has really upped my energy. I feel almost like a new person lol. Mine have vit c in as well so no unpleasant side effects. Hope you feel better soon

Have your thyroid levels been checked properly?. What you're describing here could be attributable to a problem with your thyroid gland. The interrelationship between iron, red blood cells, and TSH can contribute to hypothyroidism by interfering with the normal function of the thyroid gland.

@toriap2 Glad they made you feel much better! I was on prescribed iron tablets in pregnancy and they had adverse effects on my stomach, so had to take a half dose in the end which didn't feel like it made much difference. What's the name of the OTC tablets you take?

@AttilaTheMeerkat My thyroid level came back as normal. Thank you though! I suspect the cause may be my heavy periods which I've had since having my DD. I went back on the combined pill for that reason, but in my most recent packet I bled for two weeks! The GP said to come back if the bleeding continued, but it has stopped now thankfully.

I use floravital liquid which seems to be kind on my digestive system.

Which iron tablets did you try OP? I find ferrous fumerate to be far more gentle than ferrous sulphate and you can buy them over the counter.

I had low ferritin (10) and felt absolutely awful. I was put on a course and felt much better pretty quickly.

The problem with things like spatone and liquid iron is they are often not high enough to build you back up again, it’s more of a maintenance dose than a therapeutic one. The dose of iron I needed to take was the equivalent of 120 sachets of spatone a day.

Why don’t you talk to a pharmacist?

I hope you feel better soon. I genuinely thought I was slowly dying before my deficiency was spotted, I felt really crap.

Thanks @Egghead68!

I can't remember their name @MeganChips although it'll be on my medical record. I feel sooooo bad today! Really struggling to do anything with my very active DD, and feel like my body is filled with lead! That's good to know you can get the iron tablets OTC, as I highly doubt the GP will prescribe them, even though I feel rubbish! How do you feel now?

I feel great now but I have since had a hysterectomy so no more bleeding problems, it was severe before.

You should feel better quite quickly if you can stomach the supplements. It does usually pass even if they cause some issues at first.

Have you tried a mirena? It didn’t work for me for a host of reasons but some people find it a miracle cure.