I have recently had a full panel fasting blood test done, and these are the results. I would appreciate your thoughts before I make an appointment with my GP.
Serum ferritin level 144
Serum iron 17.8
Serum transferrin 2.44
Iron saturation 32.3%
Thank you
Your ferritin and Iron saturation are fine but your serum iron is a little low so you might want to take iron to bring it up.
If you take blood thinners, iron binds with blood thinners, potentially reducing the effectiveness of the blood thinners and of the iron so check with your doctor. Otherwise, take 325 mg of ferrous sulfate which contains 65 mg of elemental iron, the normal amount used to increase ones ferritin, or 50 mg to 75 mg (which is elemental iron) of iron bisglycinate with 100 mg of vitamin C or some orange juice since that helps its absorption. Ferrous sulfate is fine for most people, but if you have problems with constipation, iron bisglycinate is better.
Take it every other day, preferably at night at least 1 hour before a meal or coffee or tea and at least 2 hours after a meal or coffee or tea since iron is absorbed better on an empty stomach and the tannins in coffee and tea limit absorption.
If you take magnesium, calcium or zinc, even in a multivitamin take them at least 2 hours apart since they interfere with the absorption of iron. Also antacids interfere with its absorption so should be taken at least 4 hours before the iron or at least 2 hours after.
Don't take your iron tablets before or after exercise since inflammation peaks after a workout. Don't take tumeric as it can interfere with the absorption of iron. If you take thyroid medicine don't take it within 4 hours. It takes several months for the iron tablets to slowly raise your values. Ask for a new blood test after 3 months.
Thanks Sue
Just wondering what level serum iron should be in order to impact breakthrough RLS?
It probably won't impact RLS. It is the ferritin that is important.
Flora, serum iron is important in the sense that it is much lower at night (in all humans) and that is the reason RLS acts up at night.
Serum iron is the grease and glue that keeps people’s dopamine receptors chugging along. We rely VERY heavily on that serum iron because the RLS brain (not body) has a problem storing iron for a rainy day, or should I say night ;). The non-RLS world has plenty of “brain ferritin.” Tests on the RLS brain have shown many of us have close to 0 “brain ferritin”, but plenty of unstored brain iron - maybe even more than the non-RLS world. Serum iron is simply this kind of free-floating iron that isn’t stored. Sadly, no matter how high that free-floating brain serum iron is by day, it drops precipitously at night and we get symptoms of RLS. Brain and body serum iron starts to drop early evening and is lowest at midnight.
The non-RLS world can make a withdrawal from their plentiful “brain ferritin” when brain serum iron falls… and not even know what RLS stands for. I think I hate them. We on the other hand are left high and dry.
Sadly, unless you’re anemic, raising “bodily” stores of “ferritin” does little for our RLS symptoms. We’ve seen people with VERY high ferritin (400+) with severe RLS and people with low to normal ferritin (18+) with mild symptoms. There doesn’t seem to be a direct (if any) correlation between body ferritin and brain ferritin and symptoms of RLS.
All hope is not lost. MANY many people find relief by taking around 56mg of ferrous bisglycinate, about two hours before bed, on an empty stomach. It should relieve your RLS symptoms that very first night.
Good luck!
Please keep us posted.
Hello Desert Oasis! Thank you for your post. These are my issues.. If I take iron on an empty stomach I won’t be able to sleep because of hunger pangs😩. When I did take it, it made no difference. My husband and I eat in the evening about 7.00 and go to bed about 10.30pm. I have Iron Bisglycinate ( 42 mg )with natural vitamin C (56mg). I also have Ferrous Sulphate tablets x200mg. I take 450 mg of pregabolin at 9.00pm. I really don’t know whether it’s worth interfering with a joint lifestyle (like you I think I hate him, or at least the way he sales through life without RLS!🤣)
I can relate. I don’t like adjusting my life around the iron. My only suggestion would be to take one 42mg ferrous bisglycinate capsule (ferrous sulfate is a waste of time) at same time as Pregabalin. If you get hungry have a slice of apple or rice cracker (that’s what I eat when hungry after iron). If you don’t sleep remarkably well that night then you can probably take the iron whenever suits your schedule, or consider discontinuing?
Maybe I never paid attention, but I’m shocked by the lack of relief Pregabalin provides and/or the life altering side effects. Based on the resounding failure of it on here, I’m ready to put it in the “bad drug” category along with DAs. Gabapentin seems only slightly better in terms of success on here.
The big issue is what to take while drawing down from a DA. I think it might be better to take a low dose of an opiate like Tramadol or Codeine (and skip the GABAs entirely) until the person is back to baseline. Which brings me to my other conclusion - the vast (vast!)majority of people were driven to a DA by some other drug, like an antidepressant or HRT. In some cases, the person didn’t know they had RLS, or it was mild, until they started the drug. So the hope is when this person returns to pre - DA baseline, then some natural approach, like magnesium by day and iron by night, is all they will need. If not, then at this point they can trial drugs like Gabapentin, Dipyridamole or just take a small amount of Codeine when needed.
Blood Iron results 
Iron test
Iron Test Results
blood results in for RLS 
Iron Blood Test Results
