Can these symptoms really be down to low Ferritin?

ask her to check you for celiac disease as well, it causes ferriton aniema and manu other deficincies. make sure you are eating things like bread, noodles, cake, things gluten, when tested. did she check you ANA? there is a reason you are anemic.  don't just take iron without finding out the WHY part, it is not simply from having periods.

Emily,

I had every one of those symptoms.  My hemoglobin was low (8.1), but not as low as others who have posted.  However, my ferritin was *extremely* low--it was only 2.  I was so miserable.  In addition to the symptoms you mentioned above, I also had a lot of dizziness and I got disoriented pretty easily.

I did have low iron, too, but my doctors seemed primarily concerned about my ferritin level.  I had two IV iron infusions, which helped a lot. I also got an IUD to try to control my periods.  I definitely feel much better than I did two months ago.  I'm not quite 100% yet, but I don't have the constand headaches or breathlessness/chest pain.  (I also had ecg, chest x-ray, and a CT scan to make sure they were no cardiac or pulmonary issues--all clear.)

Good luck, and I hope your doctors can help you feel better soon!

This is a tough one,

because,

yes, even if hb is normal, red blood count is normal, iron is normal,

if ferritin is low, one can have symptoms, still have symptoms of anaemia

(which is really strange since how should it effect the oxygen level that is blamed for the symptoms,

but often encountered also in children. I read a study.

They can't concentrate, feel tired and only ferritin found low, a good supplement with iron, boost ferritin and voila they are fine, how strange, but it is experienced, not really explainable, but experienced. Hence if all parameters for red blood plus iron transferrin are normal, but ferritin was low, it is a really good idea to address this, it is still called 'iron deficiency'.)

We had even less than 11 ng/mL=mcg/L ferritin,

but boosting up ferritin to 30 (not sure what it is now as it is not retested) and stopping menstruation has done nothing to general symptoms.

So you get both answers.

Give it a try to boost ferritin up please, remeasure level,

only then you can be sure if it was down to it or not.

General symptoms are so hard to pin down and take a lot of trial and errors.

Best wishes it was 'only' ferritin level and that you can tackle it easily.

Would actually be the easiest way to help you with symptoms, let's hope it was just the ferritin level as it actually is for many (not all though).

Thank you all for the replies!

Just thought I would update you all and also pick your brain over another couple of questions.

I saw the doctor this morning, I must have misunderstood the email I received as my haemaglobin was a little low at 10 (not awful but below normal apparantly) and ferritin was 'very' low at 10 also.

The doctor said she was happy to attribute the tiredeness and fatigue to this as she said even this level of anemia can make you feel 'pretty rubbish'.

One thing that has been concerning me is my elevated heart rate. It seems to me fairly drastic, with a resting bpm of about 90, walking up stairs pushes it up to 140-50 and walking up a slight hill to the surgery today put it up to a scary 170.

However, because my blood pressure and thyroid is fine, and i had 2 ecgs about 3 weeks ago that were fine, shes happy to just say its the anemia, and that it should ease as my iron tablets take effect.

Has anybody else experienced heartrates increasing quite this much? I wish I could just trust that shes happy its a symptom of the iron deficiency but i can't help but worry its something more.

Any advice to calm my mind would be very much appreciated!!!

I'm curious to know the difference between low and high iron. I've been taking ferrous sulphate 325mg 3x a day for a month then for like a week I've been taking it twice and now not only an I feeling symptoms of anemia again but they get10x worse when i take the pills. I'm dizzy 24/7 tired for a few hours after I get up headaches shortness of breath extreme nausea. TThee symptoms get worse every single time I reach for the pill. I only take one a day now and still I feel terrible after that one .