Do you have short of breath with low ferritin?

Yes Jace, that's what took me to my GP. Total exhaustion and any effort at all, everything went black, with little white dots in front if my eyes, though I was going to faint.

It's a frightening feeling.

Can you elaborate more on the sudden sensations of weakness and fatigue? I thought I was getting better but I feel so up and down. Like one day I can be tired all day and the next have more energy but then go backwards again. And even in a matter of hours. Like this morning I was feeling "ok" but then suddenly just felt so drained like I couldn't do anything . I hate this feeling it scares me a lot and idk how much of it is iron anymore and how much is anxiety and depression about the anxiety and how I have been feeling

Hi, was wondering how you are doing now? Did you have low Ferritin in the end? If so how long did it take for the breathlessness to go? 

I have low Ferritin and low Folate. I'm on Feerous Fumarate 210mgs 1-2 times a day due to IBS issues my belly can't handle 3 and I'm on Folic Acid 5mgs once a day and my breathlessness is driving me mad and like you I have a good day or a few good days then bam feel all tired and no energy.

Hope things are better for you now 👍🏻

Hi. Yes it turned out that my ferritin was 11 and my iron saturation and iron level was low but my hemoglobin was normal. No one seemed to think it could be the cause of my symptoms but I knew it had to be atleast part of the reason. after taking iron in biglycinate form on an empty stomach with orange juice and eating lots of red meat and iron rich foods I got my ferritin up to 29 and the rest normal and most of my symptoms improved over time. Before that I had tried floradix which I think I might be really good for some people but wasn't enough for me and the added herbs may have been actually affecting my anxiety. I haven't tried the type of iron your taking but you should look into designs for life ferrochel iron which is what I take. It's supposed to be the most easily absorbed and I never had any stomach issues. I continue to take one a day. I felt really really awful till I figured out I was low in iron then over time my symptoms gradually got better. The breathlessness got better, probably took a good month, but I still feel some tightness and I'm trying to figure out if it has to do with acid reflux. What I hate the most is that I never knew you could be low in iron with normal hemoglobin and that it could have affected me the way it did. It put me in a really bad place and I am still dealing with the repercussions of it.   

Yes my hemoglobin is perfect so my doctor dismissed my bloods as normal & put my symptoms down to anxiety & it was only 2wks later I decided to see a different doctor and she ordered loads of blood tests and it showed up. I'm just fed up with the breathlessness. I also have pharmacophobia so that doesn't help 😕

That is exactly what happened to me! My regular doc said everything was fine and told me to get on meds for anxiety but I knew it was more than that so asked my naturopath to test my iron levels and that's how I found out to supplement. May I ask what your ferritin level was? I think you will find supplementing and high iron foods will make a big difference. Also I forgot to mention I also take magnesium. It's good for everything and if your iron deficient your most likely magnesium deficient as well

My Ferritin levels were 8.. At my doctors between 10 & 300 is classed as normal x

I 'twas prescribed Ferrous Fumarate 210mgs to take up to 3 times a day but due to IBS I can only take 1-2 tablets a day and also been prescribed Folic Acid 5mgs once a day but due to my Pharmacophobia I can't take pill together on the same day so I alternate every few days x

What I find strange is that they use such a broad range of numbers for "normal" and then most doctors don't take even lower range as a problem. I was told 11 shouldn't be giving me problems and yet it did big time. And from what I read amongst many different forums online many people are very symptomatic under 20 and ideal is over 50. What also upsets me is the number of people probably suffering and not doing anything about it because their doctors tell them everything is fine. 

I hope that you feel better soon and don't forget to take your supplement with vitamin c as it increases the absorption. 

There must be so many people who suffer and don't know what's wrong. When my anxiety first started last year I had a wide range of symptoms and during that time I found out I was low in folate, I asked my GP if perhaps that was the cause of my anxiety as I read on a few forums that other people with low folate had been told by their GP it probably was and once they got their levels up their anxiety went but my GP said no but after taking the folic acid 5mgs for 3months I got a lot better and found out I was pregnant so then went onto the normal dosage of folic acid for pregnant women and a month later I was over my anxiety.. Had my baby and was getting symptoms not long after the birth and I was getting anxious again and what a surprise my folate and ferritin are both low.. I will be asking my GP about this.

I will be getting some orange juice in tomorrow when I go shopping and tomorrow's roast dinner will have lots of green leafy veg's! I'll be so happy when I am back to being me again!

That makes a lot of sense. Especially since you could see a direct correlation between your levels and symptoms of anxiety. I am a firm believer that vitamin and mineral deficiencies can be the cause for so many mental problems. I have had off and on anxiety for so many years and only now did I found out about the link to iron. It upsets me that I probably have had low iron through the years due to heavy bleeding and never knew about ferritin etc. so I will always wonder if that was the initial cause.

As I told you in previous replies that my ferritin was low.. I was diagnosed that at the beginning of June as I have a fear of medications between the diagnosis and now I've took only 27 of my tablets when in fact I should of finished the lot of them I was prescribed.. Any way I went for a blood test yesterday and my results came back today..

I've gone from 8-26! I think that's pretty good going considering I hardly take the pills 👍🏻 Going to keep on taking them to get higher but I'm so surprised! Still not sure what my Folate level is yet though and due to my fear of meds I've only taken 15 or 16 over the last 3 months when by now I should have finished all of them 😕

THAT was exactly me. Two years ago I started had these exact symptoms (breathlessness tiredness dizziness seeing starts etc) and my hemoglobin was only very slightly low so they dismissed me and said it was anxiety. Got to the point where I was not enjoying life so I went back and my ferritin was finally tested and found to be at 8, I was having so many bad days it was horrible. I would highly recomend an iron infusion directly into your blood instead of screwing around with pills for months that just upset your stomach and barley do anything. After just 2-3 treatments  my ferritin went up to 152 and I felt great and just succeeded in every aspect of my life last fall. My iron is now dropping again as I am feeling symptoms return so now I am going to

Go back for another treatment. God bless and good luck 

Hi!  I’m trying to figure out if I should do IV or not. I feel absolutely HORRIBLE about 15 days out of the month due to my period. How long before you felt better and your numbers raised?  Do you know why you are anemic?