Weird symptoms low vit d ferritin and folate

[Lilxa89]

Hi all. Been feeling awful for a year now tests all keep coming back normal other than low vit d,folate and ferritin. Can I ask what weird symptoms you all delete with please and for how lomg? Did anyone struggle with dizziness,breathlessness,vision issues and feeling like you're going to shut down? It's hard to explain just feel weird all over:(

I had same symptoms and the blood test showed low folate, ferritin and vitamin E. After many tests, I was diagnosed with coeliac disease.

My GP was concerned that I had a bleeding tumour somewhere so coeliac disease was a welcome outcome.

I was diagnosed with low ferritin after repeatedly going to the doctor for feeling tired all the time. Symptoms were just that, I needed to sleep 11 hours a night and I'd be exhausted at the end of the working day so would nap for an hour and a half. My toenails also fell off. I took a decent liquid iron supplement with vitamin c which helped but it took a few years to feel fully recovered.

Can I ask what test finally indicated you have coeliac disease?

It was a gastroscopy and colonoscopy.

The blood tests didn't show coeliac perhaps because I don't eat a lot of gluten as I've always had a reaction to it.

These can all make you feel terrible. I had every test under the sun as felt like i was dying some days! Final conclusion was low ferritin, borderline low folate and vitamin d, and low b12.
Now i'm on decent supplements i feel a lot better. I think the B12 in particular makes me feel more human again.

Sorry - duff info! It wasn't Vitamin E I was very low in - it was B12! Apparently that's the one that creates the fuzziness, poor memory and clumsiness.

Thanks - same here with blood tests but constant low ferritin

I had a total gastrectomy, duodenumectomy, and a total vagotomy. As a result i have many malababsorbtion issues. It's like playing 'whack a mole.'

I have all my macro and micro nutrients tested every twelve weeks. One year there was a screw up and my Haemoglobin levels weren't being checked. My ferritin is always single figures, but I only get iron infusions when Hb drops to below 8(80).

I was experiencing all sorts of classic severe anaemia symptoms but assumed they were still being checked quarterly. My complaints were dismissed as part of other vitamin deficiencies, despite my saying I felt barely conscious and couldn't form cohesive thoughts. I felt 'thick.' I think they assumed I was exaggerating because the figures in front of them were 'normal' for me.

The exhaustion was unbelievable. I'd struggle to walk down stairs Restless leg was also awful too. To cut a very long story short I had pre-op bloods taken under a different trust. They called the same day saying the test result must be spurious because with my Haemoglobin level (3 or 30) I was a dead man walking and would be barely conscious, but just to be sure could I nip in the next morning and wait until the test was re-run and results received.

I think you can guess where this is going... I left a week later after 5 blood transfusions an iron infusion.

My worst symptoms were definitely exhaustion, muscle ache, mental fog, metallic taste constantly and breathlessness.

Low Vit D gave me feelings of horrendous bone pain in shins and hips. The hips were so painful I couldn't even turn over in bed so I had to get out of bed to turn over. That was fun.

Low folate made me feel as though I was gasping for air, like a goldfish out of water.

Low iron gave me heart palpitations and anxiety/panic attacks.

Low Vit B12 made me think I was dying. I couldn't walk upstairs as I had to crawl, I couldn't walk in a straight-line, numbness. But most of all the sensation you described - as though my body was shutting down.

GP wasn't bothered, so I decided to go on a 3 month course of very high doses of each then go on high maintenance doses. Even now, after a couple of years of maintenance, I can tell when I miss a couple of days. Obviously my body isn't retaining enough if i can't cope with missing two days and this should be investigated but my GP thinks me being permanently on high doses is perfectly acceptable 🙄

Edit - read other posts and agree with the sheer exhaustion and brain fog. I keep forgetting those as my GP has decided they are my fibro symptoms only but they have generally eased off enough with taking supplements for me to say they are at least partly responsible for the symptoms.

@Goldenmimx thanks for commenting. May I ask whatvyour ferritin levels were coming baxk at please? Arw you feeling good again now? X

@Melsy88 thanks for commenting. Sorry you went through this also but gld things have improved. May I ask how low your levels were back then and what symptoms you were experiencing please ? I constantly feel like im going to pass out, breathless, dizzy, don't feel really like Depersonalization/derealization, aches and pains, vision issues, exhausted always feel Luke Ive never slept, feelnlike my body is shutting doen. I was scared it's was ALS. Neurology referral was refused. All tests come baxk normal apart from have the ones mentioned in post

I'll dig out my results tonight. A lot of mine were technically normal... But I've learnt theres a big difference between 'normal' and 'optimal'.

If you want to post your results I'll take a look

Yessssssss! I found out I was folate deficient last year, was prescribed folic acid and it worked wonders. Came off it around 2 months ago and all symptoms returned, currently awaiting another blood test so they can confirm if I’m still deficient which I’m almost certain I am as all the same symptoms, it’s debilitating. I am 47 so definitely a bit of peri in there too 😵‍💫

It was quite a while ago now but I could probably dig the results out from the NHS app- I just know they were very low and I had low white blood cells too. I think some of it was connected to having had glandular fever (but I only found that out later) and heavy periods. Once I got to the bottom of it and started supplements I felt better but it did take me a few years to feel normal. I'd sometimes feel like I was removed from my body (sorry I'm describing it quite poorly) but like I wasn't with it at all. Feel absolutely fine now. I really hope with the right supplements you start to feel normal again because it really is awful

@Melsy88

@Melsy88 sorry not letting me upload pictures. So my b12 has sat in the 200s since 2019. Its currently at 247
My folate Is always between 2-5.4 was recently 2 somethijf then up to 5 and now currently at 3.7
Ferritin been between 5 and 17 since 2019 currently at 14
Vitamin d was 21 a few months ago and now 34
My transferrin was low at 12% went up to 51% and now back at 11%