Iron deficient for at least the last 8 years and I didn't even know!

[CoffeandPancakes]

Hi,

So in reality it's probably a few years on top of that, as I had been feeling crap for a while before I had blood tests, which came back to show I was anaemic and my ferritin levels were 7. I was told anything above 10 takes you out of the anaemic zone, so was put on ferrous fumarate and my levels went up to 14 quite quickly.

Job done, I thought. I carried on taking the tablets and my gp said I wasn't anaemic anymore, but because my anaemia was almost certainly brought on by myveryheavy periods, it was something I'd need to carry on with, so I take a low dose to just keep myself topped up without the nasty side effects.

Anyway, my last results were 24, which I thought was good, but was then told by my new gp that they should be above 50, which was the first I had heard! After doing my own research, apparently that reading still makes me iron deficient, so no bloody wonder I still feel crap a lot of the time, as that's the highest I've been in almost a decade! Maybe more, who knows?!

I'm genuinely quite cross that nobody has told me this before, as a lot of the symptoms, like low mood, trouble sleeping, palpitations, feeling faint, hair loss, I have.

Actually the hair loss is quite significant. I used to have really thick hair, but over the past 5 or so years, I'd say I've lost at least a third of it☹

I don't want to take a higher dose of supplements, but I would have really ramped up the iron in my diet alongside and it could have saved me years of feeling awful.

Does anyone have any experience with this?

Hi CoffeandPancake, sorry to hear that you have such bad experience with your gp. I always obtain a copy of my blood test result as I don’t feel I can entirely trust the surgery. Many gps don’t bother to do anything if your results are showing within the ranges. But being at the low end or high end of the range can still mean that you need some attention before things get worse. I believe only if gps would give more attention to our blood test results NHS hospitals would be less busy. So many people feel the need to self diagnose and self medicate because many gps would not listen to their symptoms only because their blood results were just about within the ranges. Really hope you will feel better before too long.

My ferritin level has just come back as 5. I feel absolutely fine, better and fitter during lockdown than I have for years!
I’ve been put on ferritin fumate(sp?) tablets and am getting retested in a month. I don’t eat red meat and have heavy period bleeding so it’s been put down to that.
Hope you feel better soon.

May also be work that getting checked for coeliac too

Sorry for typos- Worth getting!

Yes my ferritin drops to 4 at times and I use Spatone instead of the tablets - along with orange juice for absorption.

I don't even have periods!

Keep taking the tablets and eat iron rich food

Might also be worth a look at Floradix. It’s a natural iron supplement and doesn’t cause constipation.

You can buy 'gentle iron ' which doesn't bung you up

Poor OP.
Reminds self that I need to find out my recent blood test results.

My wxperience of long term anaemia is its ‘just one of those things’ we have to deal whth once they’ve ruled out major causes such as fibroids or coeliac.
Makes me cross too, it’s been over 11 years for me. Last time I was checked my ferritin was 4.
The only tablets I can tolerate now are Blood Builder tablets and I feel great on them. Highly recommend (and I’ve tried the lot! Fumarate gives me raging headaches and gastritis).