Supplementing folate and ferritin

[Salsa2014]

Hi all,

Please could someone recommend the best, most accessible sources of folate and ferritin that I can buy, and where from?

My serum folate is 6.2 in a range of 3.0-20.00 and my serum ferritin is 49.3 in a range of 10-200, so both less than halfway through the respective ranges.

I have been potentially offered a trial of thyroxine, so want to get my folate and ferritin to halfway in the ranges to give the hormone the best chance of it working, before I start the trial.

My serum B12 is 586 in a range of 180-900 so that doesn't seem too bad.

Thanks for any advice anyone can give. X

[SeasideSusie Remembering]

Salsa2014 Your B12 isn't that good really. The Pernicious Anaemia Society recommends 1000 so you should really be supplementing with sublingual methylcobalamin lozenges. When taking B12 you should also take a B Complex to balance the B Vits. If you take Thorne Basic B, which is a good brand with good bioavailability, it contains 400mcg folate and that should help get your folate up nicely.

As for your ferritin, you need a decent iron supplement. Many people use Ferrous Fumarate which contains about 65mg elemental iron, and I think the recommended dose is 3 daily. You should take iron supplements with 1000mg Vit C to aid absorption and help prevent constipation. If you do get tummy problems or constipation with FF then you could try iron bisglycinate which is a more gentle, non-constipating form, Solgar Gentle Iron is one brand. Take iron away from other supplements and if you do start thyroxine then leave four hours between that and iron.

Introduce your supplements one at a time, start with one, give it a week or so before introducing the next. This ensures that if you have any adverse reaction you will know which supplement caused it.

[humanbean in reply to SeasideSusie]

About availability of the things mentioned by SeasideSusie :

Methylcoblamin (a good form of B12) can be bought from Amazon. So can Gentle Iron and Thorne Basic B. You are unlikely to find these supplements in the shops.

Ferrous Fumarate must be bought from a pharmacy or online, but not all pharmacies will sell it without prescription. Boots often won't sell it, but Tesco Pharmacy and Lloyds Pharmacy will. For ferrous fumarate you need to ask for "Ferrous Fumarate 210mg, in a box of 84" which is enough for one to be taken three times a day for 28 days. Start by taking 1 a day, and then increase every few days depending on tolerance, up to a maximum of 3.

[Salsa2014 in reply to humanbean]

Thanks very much both for your very helpful replies. Lovely of you. X