Low iron/ ferritin- so lost!

[Lockdownbaby2021]

posted last year about my serum ferritin being 12 and the drs saying it was normal. I pushed for iron tablets prescribing which they did but they made me feel awful, dizzy, sick, stomach pains!!!

Fast forward to this year, at the drs crying as i'm feeling so low, tired, brain fog, palpitations and struggling to put on weight despite eating loads. My periods are heavier than normal too.

she repeated my iron levels and my ferritin came back 17... yes only 5 marks up from the last one😫

She suggested i take a supplement, which I had been doing anyway! so no help at all. She also prescribed something to make my period lighter but i'm reluctant to interfere with nature and not heard much about this medication!

I ended up buying some nutrition geek iron supplements online and taking them with orange juice but I feel like I'm getting worse.

I've bought some spartone liquid sachets but they taste disgusting!!!!

I just want everyone to give me their magic ways of increasing iron... fast!!

Is the medication tranexamic acid? I take it. It works so well.

Sparpone sachets in oj / add first

Hi Op sorry to hear you're not feeling well :( I know exactly how you are feeling as my levels were 13 and then after 3 months of the strong iron tablets, it only increased to 18. I don't know what it is currently but I do feel better - still taking the 212mg dose of iron with a vitamin C and also a high dose of vitamin b complex (from Betavits) do you have the funds to try an iron infusion privately? I was going to go down that route if things didn't improve but I'm not too bad currently with taking this b vitamin too. Hoping someone comes along with a more helpful solution! X

Not iron but I have really low B12, and like you was put on tablets 3 times a day for a year and I had stomach pains etc with them and had to come off them. In the end the Doctor said no amount of supplement or diet changes could fix the problem so I now get a B12 injection every 6 months.

Maybe have a discussion with your doctor around eligibility for iron infusions, it really sounds like you need them.

Hope you get sorted

What's the medication - if it's tranexamic acid it's perfectly safe, my 17 year old ds has been taking it for a couple of years.

My ferritin was at 3 for over 6 years. I really struggled with the iron tablets, they really messed with my IBS but my GP wouldn't do anything about it. I felt exhausted for so long.

After many many years I was eventually diagnosed with endometriosis and adenomyosis, that was the cause of decades of heavy periods and I was able to get iron infusions via my gynae (they are really hard to get on the NHS).

Have you discovered the cause of your heavy periods? That would be the best place to start. And don't let your GP fob you off that it's normal as they did with me.

I agree with the others get an infusion

unfortunately I cannot afford an infusion and it hasn't been an option from my GP

the medication is tranexamic acid. I was on the pill from the age of 14 and came off when I was 21 to try for my babies. Now I have had them i've vowed not to go on anything hormonal or take anything to interfere with my natural cycle, but hearing your experiences I may now go collect my prescription! I know it's not hormonal but just seems wrong somehow!

I have pcos but since my second I have suffered really badly with heavy periods! I had a scan last year which didn't show anything much. I've requested another as I keep getting period pains all cycle but it got declined

I looked into an infusion and it was about £1k for two privately. I had it done on the NHS as my levels shimmied into unsafe. It’s worth considering if you have funds. Apparently you need 70 - 100 for hair growth which shows you how low you are. NHS levels are really on the floor.

Mine is 6! I’m currently on iron tablets. When they made you feel rubbish how many were you taking? I was on them a few years ago and they said 3 a day. Now they’ve changed and said only 1 and tbh I’ve not really noticed much in the way of side effects.

It's affecting my work, I feel so low, unmotivated, grouchy and everything feels heavy! I keep getting teary too and not interested in being intimate with my partner either😪

To the previous poster, the ones prescribed by my GP they said to take 3 a day but I started with two to work upwards but never increased as 2 made me feel awful. I now take 1x nutritian geek tablet with OJ and try and take 1x sachet of spartone (with vit c) on a morning empty stomach.

Another issue is my pcos gives me really bad IBS so my stomach at the moment is not loving all this OJ 😬😬

Mine was 11. The lowest number on the scale here and told its fine. Tired and dizzy. Am taking over the counter tablets but they are making me feel so sick and my stomach hurt, debating whether to stop.

I have IBS, too.

In the kindest possible way OP you can “vow” not to do something but your body does not necessarily respond. The older you get the more you find that hormones can seriously make your life feel less than it should be. Try not to be blinkered in what options you go for. At the end of the day any stance you take makes no difference to how your body responds, how you are treated or the end response. Listen to “all” of your body and advocate for it.

My ferritin level was 3 about 18 months ago when I was pregnant and I've managed to get it up to 56. I found the liquid medication much easier on my stomach than the tablets. I shot it and then drink orange juice straight after. I don't drink caffeine or dairy in the morning so it gives it chance to absorb.

Which liquid Lalpopo?

I'm on prescribed ferrous fumarate. The tablets made me feel awful but my body has responded much better to the liquid. I also have low vitamin D and had to take 3 months of weekly tablets (which were massive and hard to swallow!)

Also, I've become very restless at work, having to play with random objects when talking to customers, blue tack, my lanyard, clicking pens. I never used to do this? is this a low iron thing? Or it could be my anxiety has floored the last few months ! Either way I just want to hide away because I feel totally incapable!

My ferritin is also really low but go said to get over the counter ones. Verywell vitamins (think they were Asda but could be Tesco) don’t make me feel ill but the fancier Vitabiotics ones did.
I’ve also got low vitamin d and calcium and go said they are linked. I thought it was the iron making me feel tired but I’m now on a combined calcium and vitamin d supplement and I feel loads better.

Put the spatone into a glass of orange juice and take double the dose. It will take a couple of months but it does work.
The problem is the bleeding is the cause and you will never maintain the benefit if you don't reduce the bleeding. Try the tablets and see how you get on, if they don't help, go back to the GP.
Buy some good quality vitamin D capsules - not the cheap ones from Boots, go to an independent pharmacy. Ask for small, easy to swallow capsules. It takes a couple of months but they do work.
My ferritin was 3 and my vitamin D was extremely low. I felt absolutely dreadful, but the supplements helped.

Not go (grr autocorrect) I mean GP

When you take the iron with orange juice you absorb 4 times as much.
Don't have tea or coffee within 2 hours of either side of a meal or your supplement. They stop you absorbing iron. Don't take a zinc supplement either because you won't absorb the iron.

my vitamin D is also low! This is interesting.

I will try the medication for my periods too. Does anyone know if they have any side effects??

I was told OTC supplements my iron barely budged in a year, current (female) GP has put me on the mirena coil to reduce periods, and 305mg of iron plus I take folate with vit d and a bvit complex OTC all on an empty stomach with OJ and don't eat for 90 minutes after. Within weeks I started to feel better. I know the exact feeling you're describing it's awful.

Try the liquid version of iron tablets, feroglobin. Worked for me within a week of taking it, found it very easy to take and stomach kind.