Can anyone decipher iron levels in blood results?

[opalescent]

I went to the GP as I have been feeling very lethargic lately, and have noticed that my hair is thinning. I also suffer really badly with restless limbs at night.
My GP messaged me to say that my iron levels are on the low side, and to try an over the counter supplement.

My actual serum ferritin level was 15ug/L

Can anyone give me an idea of how low that is relative to a normal and healthy value? Will over the counter supplements be enough?

Thanks all

11-307 is normal so yours is low normal. Ask the pharmacist for advice :)

Thank you 😊

Yours is very low but not low enough the GP will do anything about it. You will be advised to take iron tablets (ferrous sulphate), ideally you want to get your number up to 70-100 which can take 6-12 months of taking the tablets. Some people can't tolerate them so alternatives are floradix or spatone which are gentler but not as strong.

15 is far too low.

There's a Facebook group called The Iron Protocol for the UK which gives great advice for raising ferritin levels (and all things related).

I've been able to raise my ferritin from 44 to 86 over 4 months just by supplementing with a combination of heme iron from 3 Arrows and Life Extension's Iron Protein Plus.

Interesting, I've very recently been diagnosed with low iron levels and prescribed iron tablets.
I've just had a look at the actual blood test results having read this thread and I'm at 8.5ng/ml, so very low.