if, you, like me, have low ferritin despite a diet with sufficient iron intake. It's early days but in just over a month I have brought my ferritin level up from 15 to 34. Although GP did eventually prescribe iron it took a month to find a vegan one and by that time I had read that vegans are really unlikely to be lacking iron from their diet, the problem is more likely to be Vitamin C deficiency.
So I started taking vitamin C and when a month later I got the iron prescription I requested a second ferritin level test and this was the result.
I have also excluded soy and gluten; reduced intake of tea, coffee and the worst nuts for phytic acid and now soak nuts prior to eating them to remove it.
Hope this might help some of you.
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thyr01d
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Thanks for your concern but, no, I'm not taking any iron supplement, it interferes with thyroid medication and as a vegan the society website is clear that we vegans do not suffer from iron deficiency in our diet.
Since I've brought the ferritin up to more than double what it was in just a few weeks, for now I'll just carry on doing the same. If it stops rising, then I'll reconsider.
The advice from the vegan society probably refers to your diet and may not be taking into account a classic symptom of low thyroid hormone & high/low cortisol which is insufficient stomach acid.
With low stomach acid we can not absorb iron or nutrients so become deficient. If you have absolutely no gut issues then (hopefully) your diet along with Vit C will prove sufficient.
Also be aware that an inflated ferritin serum result can be due to an infection ( winter cold ?) or inflammation ( thyroid antibodies ? ) .
A second test in a few months will be able to assure that you are heading in the right direction. Great if this works as taking iron sups can be a pain.
Many thanks Flower, this is sadly a bit dampening, because I do have a rotten inflamed and painful chest at the moment, it will be disappointing if that's the reason for the ferritin level increasing. Thanks for alerting me.
I drink cider vinegar in water to help the stomach acid, a tip picked up off this site.
iron in veg is less well absorbed. iron shouldn't interfere with levo if taken well apart.
I salute your ethics, the vegan society may be right but remember there will be an inherent likelihood to bias in their thinking, and also that their remarks may not apply to someone as low as you who is ill with a disease strongly associated with other gut absorbtion probs. Often supplements are needed to overcome those absorbtion difficulties.
Glad that u have found a vegan supp, could you give its name for others?
Also v glad that u will consider it if ferritin doesn't rise.
Thanks for your thoughts. I've been vegan for about 15 years (uat for about 45) without low ferritin before so don't think it is the diet per se.
The vegan supplement is Ferrous Fumarate 140 mg. I haven't managed to take any yet, it contains a lot of glucose, sucrose etc and the thought of such sweetness in my mouth ......
Which is why it seems to be the vitamin C that's done the trick.
I was just checking because you can supplement iodine if you don't have hashis, but it is more tricky if you do. Also as a vegan you might be low in iodine since main sources seem to be fish and milk.
Also you might not need to go gluten free if you don't have hashis. the point of going g free is to reduce antibodies and you don't have any. Do you react to gluten after being g free?
I got so interested in yr post I looked up some research, one study found vegets in the us - nevada i think - were less likely to have thyroid probs. Well, there are differences, they have d fortified milk and more sun for a start. But it may suggest that you have another condition or a genetic inability to metabolise some nutrient efficiently.. that could explain the difference in your daughters. I'm just thinking aloud. Hope it's not irritating.
As for Hashi's, although the test was not positive a good family friend had three non-positive tests then went private and testing showed she definitely has Hashi's.
My results are all over the place too, I posted recently, and not related to how much levo I'm on.
So I still think it's a possibility and the family friend is sure I do have it.
So, I'm trying gluten free and when I've been free long enough will see what happens if I re-introduce, although I imagine there is no instant reaction as there would be with a gut problem but more of a gradual decline. Is that right?
Having tried iodine once I'm not doing that again!
I don't know about any genetic defect (well many!) relating to metabolising nutrients, do you know how I could find out more about this?
PS Your name is great, makes me think of Cleopatra and African beauties, would you tell how it came to be?
I think a vegan diet is definitely inadequate! If my ferritin levels come up though and then I feel the benefits of thyroxine perhaps I'll feel well and change my mind.
Thanks for this. I am vegan too, with low ferritin, and although I take liquid iron my ferritin is not really raising. I will add vit c and see how it goes.
Hello MidnightBlue, so pleased to meet another vegan, best of luck with the vitamin C, I'm sure it must be what has worked for me.
How do you obtain protein in your diet? Having cut out gluten, soy and a lot of nuts because of the phytic acid interfering with iron I find it very difficult now and would be grateful for any suggestions.
Hi, finally have time to reply! Like you I am vegan, and I don't eat soya or gluten ( I have hashis). My iron was always fine, I didn't need supplementing when I was pregnant unlike some meat eating friends, so I feel confident that it is not being vegan that has caused my low iron, but probably related to absorption issues that go hand in hand with hashis. I am not at all worried about protein, I eat nuts and pulses and feel confident that I eat enough protein. If you want to share meal ideas feel free to pm me. I have noticed that Ocado have started selling lots of new things that are vegan and gluten free ( like Dees dulse sausages, nut burgers, spinach and pine nut bites...) for occasions when I can't be bothered to cook a whole meal from scratch.
Vitamin C is a wonder, isn't it? I was thinking that only a balanced vegan diet will provide sufficient iron ( and even then Flower's comment regarding stomach acid and cortisol are important). Some vegans eat nonsense - all bread-based stuff and few, if any, vegetables! Being vegan is not synonymous with healthy if the diet is imbalanced.
I rarely eat pulses as I feel terribly bloated after -red lentils and occasionally hummus are all I can manage. What do you eat that gives you sufficient iron? Oats and....?
I think some of us have to be careful not to overdo broccoli and sprouts and cabbage which is a pity and I think too much spinach can be a bit weird too. My lips swelled up once when I was eating a ton of it! I am struggling to take the liquid iron ( vegan and free of all nasties like gluten etc) as it seems to burn my stomach.
The healthy diet question is one I find fascinating, here's why. I have one son, carnivore, and two daughters, both vegan. One is average build, is tired after a day's work and has to rest and suffers from the usual ills and terrible back pain. The other is model-slim though shapely, works at a very physically and mentally demanding job all day (equine vet), often goes right out after work and builds fences in her field, home to cook, eat and study often late into the night because she's always studying something new. She is almost never ill or tired, at weekends she drives 3 hours each way to see me. When she goes back she gets up at 5.00 am to do her horses here first, works a full day and is then on-call all through the night and working right through the following day, still full of energy.
The first one, who suffers from the usual ills, is highly intelligent and well informed and eats a very healthy diet.
The second one, strong, fit, healthy and lively lives on mostly processed white bread and cereal, for months at a time almost exclusively bread and cereal.
We wonder if the fortified 'unhealthy' bread and cereal actually provides a better diet than careful eating!
Like you, I avoid most pulses other than hummus and the brassica and goitrogens but there is iron in other vegetables and according to the vegan society website low iron doesn't seem to occur in vegans, normally. When I remember I eat parsley and think that must be good.
I don't eat oats, because of the gluten.
How do you get protein? My biggest problem is finding a source of protein.
I am very gluten sensitive, but I don't react to oats, and they are safe so long as the oats are not grown in a field which has recently been used for wheat. Think you could consider adding them back in, see if you have a reaction, your diet sounds difficult.
I'm not vegan, no. I have, two or three times over the last 20 years, tried it, the last time a year ago. And I have to say excess quantities of nuts and seeds are probably very bad for me too! Within a week on a strict vegan, gluten free diet I felt - would feel- dreadful. I suffer from peculiar cataplexy-type symptoms and these reappear very quickly on such a diet. Even invested in a dehydrator so I could make 'bread' ( ground soaked nuts and seeds....again). I use it now just to dry fruit and veg.
I am not even vegetarian, as it happens. We eat meat ( fowl and beef usually) twice a week. Organic, naturally! I make bone broth and treat myself to parma ham often enough. Fact is, we ARE all different as your family proves. Our bodies are unique to us and most of us can learn to listen to it, to know what it needs to feel strong. To distinguish between cravings for not-good-stuff and things we need regularly. I have done yoga holidays ( vegerarian/dairy free) where I had to smuggle tins of tuna and sardines into my room to satisfy my need for animal protein and fat! I was eating nothing but salads and couldn't fill up on the pasta dishes everyone else was stuffing! Made me feel so weak and wobbly.
I think, btw, that many classic recipes -particularly Mediterranean veg recipes are very wise in that they pair ingredients in almost a scientific manner. Lemon juice with cooked spinach, for example - which aids in the absorption of iron. And when served this way it IS a good source of iron!
But seriously - what would you feed me if your yoga days were yoga weeks? No pulses, no grains, no dairy, no eggs, no gluten. No soya. Few, if any, nuts. And 4? hours yoga a day. I have to admit that I once bought a packet of parma ham in the supermarket on our free afternoon on my Italian yoga adventure - and scoffed it in the street I was that desperate! Mind you, quite a few of my fellow yogis headed straight to the nearest bar...
Be assured though I would because I am vegan, gluten free, soya free and struggle with pulses and most nuts, so I live on a diet similar to yours but with no meat or fish at all either.
Like you I always have trouble on organised yoga events so I make sure my students are offered good nutritious satisfying food, even when only coming for one day.
Can you tolerate hummus and chick pea flour? Hummus (homemade without garlic) with baked potatoes is one of my staples as a quick meal when I get in at 9.00 pm on a cold night having been teaching yoga much of the day.
Low ferritin can be a "silent" symptom of Coeliac. Is it possible that you have gut absorption problems? Could the improvement in ferritin levels be due to going Gluten Free and that your gut is healing? Not everyone has classic Coeliac symptoms
Constant low ferritin was my only symptom for Coeliac and going GF solved it within weeks
Thank-you very much judburke for this comment. I'm sure I was tested for Coeliac disease (my aunt had it) and the result was negative, if that's the one where you have to eat a lot of gluten in the previous week. Do you know if the results can be wrong?
I think they say that you should be eating every day for 6 weeks prior to the tests for Coeliac. I have heard of people testing negative on the blood tests but they did have it after having endoscopy tests. Coeliac can be genetic. My mother had it too. It can be common to have more than one Auto Immune issue
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