Ferritin levels in low range 1.5 years after infusion - Any tips to maintain/raise?

[techo]

Hello!

I had an iron infusion when my levels were below 20 around 1.5 years ago. It raised my levels to above the normal range (between 300-400).

I've just had a blood test within the last week, everything is fine and normal besides that my ferritin is showing around 31, and my doctor wants me to take iron supplements - which just don't agree with me.

Either can't absorb iron supplements or can't absorb the dietary iron it seems. I don't want to do another infusion if possible, because the side effects were horrible for a week or two.

I'm eating plenty of iron rich foods and pair every meal with vitamin C. Have plenty of Vitamin C throughout the day from fruits, vegetables, and twice daily freshly squeezed hot lemon water.

Anyone have any tips on any other tricks I may be missing in order to raise my ferritin levels? I'm about to brew up a big jug of nettle tea w/ lemon juice overnight, but hopefully ya'll have some other things I can implement to avoid having an infusion again.

Thanks!

 

[palmequinox]

@techo It sounds like you're pretty well informed. The only thing to maybe consider is that tea can inhibit iron absorption, I believe. There's also looking into the lucky iron fish/leaf to increase iron in meals, but it sounds like you're doing your best already.

Unfortunately some people just need more serious supplementation. My partner has never been able to absorb enough B12 from food and has to get injections.

 

[17cleo]

@palmequinox Interesting. Any particular tea or just tea in general? I recently switched from coffee to tea and when I went to donate blood, my hemoglobin levels were too low for the first time in my life.

 

[palmequinox]

@17cleo My blood bank advised against tea around meals in general, but that's the extent of my knowledge, I'm afraid. Some types might be better than others, but I honestly can't say for sure.

 

[paska]

@17cleo Any tea (green, black, white, etc) has tannins which can inhibit iron absorption. For most people, a couple cups a day won't cause you any problems, as long as you don't take iron supplements around the same time.

Herbal tea usually doesn't inhibit iron absorption, depending on the plant I guess.

 

[ateche]

@techo With your side effects from the infusion - are you vit d deficient? I had an undiagnosed severe vitamin d deficiency when I had an iron infusion and on diagnosis, the doctor said that's why I had such a bad time (after the iron infusion).

 

[techo]

@ateche At the time, yes. I had metallic taste on my tongue, a weird metallic feeling splitting headache, and loss of taste. I love mangoes and they tasted horrible at time, and mostly other foods. I slept for the better part of 1 week to get rid of the splitting headaches, then just felt like the week after was just trying to get food into me as I had no apetite.

edit: The Vit D defiency has since been corrected. I'm at normal levels now.

 

[ateche]

@techo Sounds similar to me- I was fine (other than metallic taste and a bit of fatigue) for the first 48 hours... then completely out of nowhere, I fainted. No warning, just bam, on the ground. What followed was a week and a half of extreme headaches, fatigue and generally being bedridden... Hopefully if the vit d deficiency has been addressed, if you do have to have another infusion, you'll not have a reaction. I sure as hell hope I don't!

 

[techo]

@ateche Holy moly, that sounds just as horrible!

Hopefully not! If I have to do it again, I'll still be preparing myself to be wiped out for a week or two.

But I do want to try this fishy iron thing that someone recommended. Seems to be no side effects from just adding the iron fish to your meals, from my little research of it.

 

[tumin0]

@techo You could try a formulation that works for you - ferrous fumarate, ferrous sulphate or ferrous glyconate - and your doctor should be able to recommend one that agrees with you.

 

[techo]

@tumin0 Thank you. I'll look into the different forms and talk to my doctor about it.

 

[katie4469]

@techo Which iron supplements have you tried?

 

[autumn16]

@techo Similar situation here, non-anemic iron deficiency with low ferritin for a few years, finally properly diagnosed about 6 months ago, but I've never done an infusion (I'm male, 42). I have however taken a number of the different iron supplements. There's pretty good evidence that supplementing every other day is as effective as daily supplementation because your body releases hormones that prevent the uptake of iron in subsequent meals for about 24 hours.. So better to take a higher dose every other day which also seems to help for me with the side effects (I take 100-125mg every other day).

A few things that I've learned.

First, I do cook with non-enameled cast-iron cookware every single day. Every single meal. There are some old wives tales that using the iron fish and / or using cast iron help iron levels but if they do it's very nominal, so I definitely would not recommend that as part of an actual treatment routine that your body is depending on. Long-term it can't hurt but I don't think it's made a significant difference in my levels.

There are three main irons that I personally have used that are fairly gentle to the stomach: Country Life Easy Iron, Solgar Gentle Iron (both are iron bisglycinate), and Mega Food Blood Builder. These all come in 25 mg formulations, and Blood Builder comes with the necessary B and C vitamins in it. I don't generally take blood builder because I'm currently supplementing 100 to 125 mg a day and it just has too much of the supplemental vitamins at that dosing.

I'd really recommend either the Solgar or the country life in the short term, with both vitamin C and B complex. I have found that adding a magnesium citrate or glycinate supplement to my routine definitely helps with the resulting constipation and bloating, at times I have also Miralax to help move things along.

Personally I find that at 50 to 75 mg a day I don't have a lot of stomach side effects but bumping up to 100 or 125 mg a day the side effects get more severe. My doctor has me taking 100 to 125 just to move things faster but I found that after just a few weeks at 75 mg a day that the symptoms of low iron disappeared.

That was a long one hopefully there's something in there that helps and good luck!

 

[longfellow]

@techo I haven't used this but you can try cooking with this

https://luckyironfish.com/

 

[songonthewind]

@techo Have you tried a chelated iron supplement (easier on stomach) taken far away from other meals/supplements (middle of the night is best) and pair with 500mg vitamin C?

 

[cait549]

@techo

Either can't absorb iron supplements or can't absorb the dietary iron it seems. I don't want to do another infusion if possible, because the side effects were horrible for a week or two.

Have you tried gentle iron?

 

[deacongirl]

@techo There's a slow release iron supp that has fewer GI effects. I think it's called "Slow Fe" also there are other brands.

 

[bpolst]

@techo I was about to write that you should pair every meal with vitamin C but I see you already do that. There's a few different kinds of iron supplements though and perhaps you can find one that suits you better? Ferrous fumarate and iron biglycinate are supposed to not cause as much discomfort. Otherwise the injection might be the best choice.

 

[dawn16]

@techo You should cook in a cast iron pan. Increases your dietary iron intake by for the average meal 30% I believe.

 

[carenski]

@techo I would agree with changing to a different iron supplement - the classic iron tablets are very variably absorbed. Iron (II) Glycinate or other Amino Acid Chelates I find works the best for me. Sometimes if they give you constipation a tablet of Coloxyl w/ senna helps too. If you get nasty side effects after a few days can always just do every 3 days to build up tolerance. Make sure you have it at a different time to high calcium foods/supplement.