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[Mary1962]

Have had non anaemic iron deficiency for the last 3 and a half years due to my periods becoming a lot heavier and long-lasting (in some rare instances 2- 3 weeks of daily flooding). All been checked for anything more serious going on and all fine. Doctors just recommended ferrous fumerate to be used during those times when I felt shattered and breathless.  During these years I've had 6-9 monthly blood tests to check levels and while my ferritin was always low (minimum its been was 8, highest it ever got to was 26), my haemoglobin was always fine so I was not actually anaemic just very low iron stores.  Just had another test as my cycle is changing again to more infrequent periods and lighter but the odd very heavy one and my results this time were totally opposite - ferritin is best it's ever been at 40 which I was pleased about but my haemoglobin showed I was tipping into anaemia but what I found bizarre this time the GP said no point in taking any iron...which I don't get!  I feel exhausted a lot of the time and breathless on exertion and all he said was (blood test and results only done over the phone) was come back and see us if you feel no better which I think I'm going to have to now.  I don't want to take iron tablets unless I have to and try and get as much into me via diet but can anyone shed any light on that logic?

[Sarai]

I tried ferrous fumerate but its no better for me than ferrous sulphate so I rely Spatone iron liquid sachets, they sort me out within a month, as I have low iron stores too. After a month I tend to give up. I buy them from Boots in apple flavour, not cheep but they work well.
My daughter cant cope with any so ate raw spinach with every meal and solved hers that way.

[babyjane]

floridix tonic is also very good.  I have a friend who was a nurse and she swears by it, swigs it out of the bottle (but I am not recommending to do that!)

[Tabbycat]

If you don't fancy the liquid, then Floradix tablets are also very good. They contain lots of B vitamins (one of which your body needs to be able to use iron - it's often a deficiency of this, rather than iron, that causes anaemia).

[notgivingin]

I cannot believe your doctor said no point in taking any iron !!

In my previous job I covered a lot of clinical areas covering anaemia and its so important to have a good HB. Anything below 12 is not so good. Try and boost your levels back up, you will feel better.  There are some good iron supplements  and one worth looking at is a sachet powder drink called Spatone (no nasty side effects)  you can buy this in Boots.

[Mary1962]

Update...been back to the doctors and this one thinks, as I suspected, the blood test ferritin level was not a true result and showing high as I was unwell.  Ferritin is apparently an acute phase protein so reacts when there's inflammation and other things going on (I've had a bad couple of months with various emotional and physical stuff to contend with and now had a bug for 4 weeks!). So she's asked me to pause for a few weeks to get the bug out of my system as thinks I may have a post-viral thing going on and then she will do another ferritin test as she thinks we'll get a clearer picture then as to how low my ferritin truly is and whether or not I'm anaemic or heading that way.  She's also going to test my thyroid and hormones as hormones have been fannying about again.  Such an interesting time of life...

[Pollie]

Hi

This is my last blood test result. Can anyone medically knowledgeable translate it  ? My GP just reported 'no action required' but it looks to me like I might be a little ow in something.....
 
Red blood cell (RBC) count   4.1 10^12/L  Abnormal result   4.32 - 5.610^12/L   
 
Haemoglobin estimation   126 g/l   120 - 150g/l   
 
Haematocrit   0.4 l/L   0.36 - .46l/L   
 
Mean corpuscular volume (MCV)   99 fL  Abnormal result   82 - 98fL   
 
Mean corpusc. haemoglobin(MCH)   30.9 pg   27.3 - 32.6pg   
 
Mean corpusc. Hb. conc. (MCHC)   313 g/l  Abnormal result   320 - 350g/l   
 
Red blood cell distribut width   12.6 %   9.9 - 15.5%   

Thanks

Pollie
 

[countrybumpkin]

I'm not medically qualified but worked for a Dr and as your results are only slightly abnormal alot of Drs would not take further action. They might ask you to be retested in a few months to make sure that the slightly abnormal ones were not continuing to worsen but its very very common to have slightly abnormal results and it means nothing as the range for normal is just that a range not an absolute.

If you are worried then request a retest in 6-8 weeks.

[joyce21]

Hi Mary
I've had a problem with Iron levels nearly all my adult life due to A) a blood clotting condition and B) I don't eat any green vegetable's at all .
But a few years ago things got really bad, 1st my iron levels were very low, so I was put on iron tablets, then on my next blood test it was discovered my ferritin levels were very low, this was explained to me that ferritin is your iron store, and when your iron get's low it takes from the back up stuff, but it takes a while for these to build back up. Then it was discovered that my vit B12 was low also, so I was put on tablets for that too, it took about 12 months to get all the levels back to where they should be, my GP said it's a bit like a domino effect, as one will pinch from another, and only when it's all been depleted will you get the symptoms, I now have regular test's (every 12 months) and when my iron dips he puts me on tablets for about 3 months, this seems to work for me, hope I've helped in some way xx

[karin]

I was tired and my hair started to thin badly and a trichologist told me to get my ferritin level checked- it was 12 and anaemia is registered at 10 so I was borderline-  at 10 and under your normal levels of iron will start to deplete. GPs dont always check ferritin so you can miss an opportunity to improve iron level before becoming full blown anaemic. I took Florasene tablets and they were great, no digestion probs etc. took 6 months to start feeling better and now i take a mantenance level. I also eat lots of iron rich foods, tinned sardines ( ok!) green veg, red meat and brown bread. Hope you feel better soon xx