Normal hb low ferritin?

[Cinderellashoes]

My hb is 118 but my ferritin is 4. What does this mean? My GP has prescribed iron tablets.

I am not sure what it means but I had rh same issue. low ferritin but normal iron. I had crushing fatigue as the main symptom. I used iron tablets and it came up slowly. I was at about 70 after 4-5 months for the retest.

Thanks for the response. How many tablets did you take? And how long before you felt better? I am tired - I have a nearly 2 year old and a 5 year old who wakes at 4am!! I keep falling asleep in the day (when the baby is napping) but my main thing is restless legs and really sore achy muscles. Sometimes I can’t even walk up the stairs without having my legs burn and gasping for breath!

I had low ferritin but normal iron levels too. I spent quite a while trying to read up online what it actually meant but never got to the bottom of it. I didn't have any symptoms though so although I was prescribed 2 iron tablets a day I didn't take them because they made my issues with constipation even worse and I had terrible reflux which tasted like blood after taking the tablets. But obviously I wouldn't recommend doing that. My midwife said some hospitals don't even test for ferritin levels in pregnant women.

Just wanted to recommend Spatone, I take it for low ferritin. You add it to water, juice etc. It's very gentle on the tummy and it has really helped. I couldn't tolerate the prescribed iron tablets, even the lowest dose I just pooed everything back out 🙈 I feel much better when I take Spatone.

From what I read online (DD had low ferritin and normal iron) is that body has ferritin reserves which are used to make iron as and when body needs it. When we loose blood then iron is lost and the body uses ferritin to up the iron levels. Normal iron and low ferritin can be because your ferritin is still not zero but you start getting symptoms so that you can replenish your ferritin. It is for this reason that doctors do both iron and ferritin test as iron alone will not give the correct picture. Iron tablets are used to increase ferritin reserves. NHS recommends that around 20 is fine but most people say that they feel normal once it is around 100.
Those who can't take iron because of constipation please ask your gp for ferrous gluconate or fumarate (fumarate is even better).

How many tablets did you take?

3 x ferrous sulphate (200mg). took several months.

spatone is not stong at all and I would not take it with such low ferritin.

No it's not strong, it was just a suggestion that it might help a little.