Iron Levels

[Theblacksheepandme]

Anyone any good at reading results?
My GP said my iron levels are fine but from past experience she's not very good.

I'm absolutely exhausted all the time. I am currently taking HRT - Oestrogel 2 pumps and Testosterone 0.6 ml Androfeme

My menopause clinic which I attend online upped both doses but I got really bad acne and reverted back to original dose. They upped the dose due to anxiety.

I started feeling absolutely exhausted about 4 weeks ago.

Serum Iron 26 umol/L

Transferrin 3.5 g/L

Transferrin Saturation (calc.) 30 %

TIBC (calculated) 88 umol/L

Your iron is higher end of normal, so totally fine.

Low estrogen will make you very tired, though. Also try a b12 tablet and a b6 - this can help with fatigue during menopause x

Did you get your ferritin levels?

I was feeling faint at work when my ferritin was 16 (my hospitals scale for 'normal' was 12-290) so I was almost off the scale at the bottom.

GP gave me iron tablets. I took two a day for three weeks and now I take one every 48hrs. Hoping to see a big improvement when I get bloods done again in March

So maybe compare your ferritin levels?

Do you take progesterone? My mirena coil wasn’t working properly I felt awful for months but extra progesterone by tablet has been amazing along with a dissolvable VitB12 tablet (under tongue not swallowed), I feel a lot more human again

You need a ferritin to interpret the results - do you have that?

That is the full result I received. Do they need to do a blood test for ferritin?

I was taking B12 supplements and had B12 checked a while ago and GP told me it was very high. She told me to stop taking it.

I'm on Mirena for the Progesterone side of HRT but worth asking if I need extra.

Anxiety would have caused all those symptoms.

Yes, I’d get ferritin checked. You can have low ferritin with normal iron and feel awful.

Ferritin can make a big difference, even when your iron is normal.