Low iron question

[Twoshoesnewshoes]

Hello
I have been tired recently, hair is crap, feeling generally run down.
I had blood tests at GP, and my iron levels were in the lowest bracket of normal category.
my GP says therefore iron levels are fine and is suggesting the issue is hormonal and that I should try HRT again.
however, so many of my symptoms could be low iron - hair loss, brain fog, low energy- I’m wondering if this is the issue even if I am in the ‘normal’ category?
does anyone have any experience or advice?
i’m taking iron supplements anyway at GPs suggestion.
thanks x

hopeful bump!

Don’t you know what your ferritin level is? I’m regularly anaemic and start getting symptoms when my iron stores are low but before I become “officially” anaemic. However, those symptoms sound more menopausal.

Did they check ferritin as well? I find that if you're at bottom end of the "normal" range then that could well be too low for you. And read that need higher than the bottom range for things like healthy hair growth.

Hi, I suffer low iron and have for over 6 months. My symptoms were tired all the time, loss of hair, brain fog, felt dizzy all the time especially when standing, pale eyes and gums, and headaches. I'm not sure what my levels were but my doctor gave me iron tablets and had blood tests every 6 weeks to check my levels were going up. I always know when it's low...I can just tell now.

Thank you, no I don’t know any actual figures .@Miracle29 that sounds like my symptoms too, have they cleared up for you when you take iron?

'Normal' is different for each individual. A good doctor will work with a patient to determine her optimum 'normal' levels. It sounds like yours have been breached.

Yes I felt better after a month of taking the tablets but my iron levels were taking a while to go up so I did need them a little longer.

So I'm currently being investigated for low 'iron' levels. It turns out that there could be many reasons why a person is anaemic. I'm currently on iron supplements and vit B12 injections once every 3 months. I've had a FIT test which looks to see if you have blood in your stool (in case of a bleed somewhere), a CT colonography and I'm currently waiting on a Coeliac blood tests to come back!

You need full iron studies done.
This time my haemoglobin was 'normal' but my ferritin was literally non existent....5 (my lab / country range of normal 30-100). I felt like death warmed up.
2 iron infusions later and I am bouncing.
I know the symptoms of anaemia (been this bad before) but was able to put them down to recent COVID, poorly controlled nocturnal asthma, reflux from eating poorly due to fatigue from the other 2 issues......nope, anaemia.

Thank you everyone, really helpful!
interesting that my GP went straight to HRT when my symptoms could be explained by low iron. I wonder if people think brain fog is always due to peri menopause?

Please consider having your thyroid tested; if your TSH is too high or too low, this could explain some of your symptoms ❤️