So I went to the doctor a few months ago after having symptoms such as restless feet, brain fog , heart palpitations, cold feet and hands and feeling very fatigue. The doctor took my blood and these were my results . Iron 67 ( 50-170) TIBC 295 ( 250-450) saturation 23 (11-55)
RBC ( 5.41) (4.2-5.4) that was high
HGB 12.3 ( 12.0-16.0)
MCV 79 ( 80-100) L
MCH 22.7 ( 26.0-32.0) L
MCHC 28.8 ( 30.0 - 36.0 ) L
And my ferritin levels were 28 ( 10-291)
The doctor told me I was “ slightly anemic “ and not to worry about it. So I didn’t take it serious then I started feeling worse. I was also told that i was vitamin d deficient . My levels were 13 . Can someone help me I been taking everything and nothing seems to work. I took iron tablets, iron liquid . Nothing is working I haven’t had any blood work done since but I don’t feel like I’m getting better . What is a good iron supplement to take?
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Alexa1997
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I'm not medically trained and can't diagnose, but your iron/full blood count results strongly suggest iron deficiency anaemia, hardly "slightly anaemic", not something you can treat yourself with over the counter supplements. Your doctor needs to instigate a treatment plan. Are you in the UK? If so the following will apply to iron deficiency anaemia if confirmed
•Address underlying causes as necessary (for example treat menorrhagia or stop nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, if possible).
•Treat with oral ferrous sulphate 200 mg tablets two or three times a day.
◦If ferrous sulphate is not tolerated, consider oral ferrous fumarate tablets or ferrous gluconate tablets.
◦Do not wait for investigations to be carried out before prescribing iron supplements.
•If dietary deficiency of iron is thought to be a contributory cause of iron deficiency anaemia, advise the person to maintain an adequate balanced intake of iron-rich foods (for example dark green vegetables, iron-fortified bread, meat, apricots, prunes, and raisins) and consider referral to a dietitian.
• Monitor the person to ensure that there is an adequate response to iron treatment.
You can raise ferritin by eating liver regularly, maximum 200g per week due to it's high Vit A content, and including lots of iron rich foods in your diet apjcn.nhri.org.tw/server/in...
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Is your Vit D level 13 nmol/L or 13 ng/ml?
If in the UK and it is 13nmol/L then you are severely deficient and your GP must provide loading doses totalling 300,000iu D3 over a few weeks then you would have to adjust dose to reach the Vit D Council's recommended level of 100-150nmol/L and then find your maintenance dose to keep it there.
"Treat for Vitamin D deficiency if serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25[OH]D) levels are less than 30 nmol/L.
For the treatment of vitamin D deficiency, the recommended treatment is based on fixed loading doses of vitamin D (up to a total of about 300,000 international units [IU] given either as weekly or daily split doses, followed by lifelong maintenace treatment of about 800 IU a day. Higher doses of up to 2000IU a day, occasionally up to 4000 IU a day, may be used for certain groups of people, for example those with malabsorption disorders. Several treatment regims are available, including 50,000 IU once a week for 6 weeks (300,000 IU in total), 20,000 IU twice a week for 7 weeks (280,000 IU in total), or 4000 IU daily for 10 weeks (280,000 IU in total)."
Each Health Authority has their own guidelines but they will be very similar. Go and see your GP and ask that he treats you according to the local guidelines or this summary and prescribes the loading doses. Once these have been completed you will need a reduced amount (more than 800iu so post your new result at the time for members to suggest a dose) to bring your level up to what's recommended by the Vit D Council - which is 100-150nmol/L - and then you'll need a maintenance dose which may be 2000iu daily, maybe more or less, maybe less in summer than winter, it's trial and error so it's recommended to retest once or twice a year to keep within the recommended range. You can do this with a private fingerprick blood spot test with City Assays vitamindtest.org.uk/
Your doctor wont know, because they are not taught nutrition, but there are important cofactors needed when taking D3 as recommended by the Vit D Council -
D3 aids absorption of calcium from food and K2-MK7 directs the calcium to bones and teeth where it is needed and away from arteries and soft tissues where it can be deposited and cause problems.
D3 and K2 are fat soluble so should be taken with the fattiest meal of the day, D3 four hours away from thyroid meds.
Magnesium helps D3 to work and comes in different forms, check to see which would suit you best and as it's calming it's best taken in the evening, four hours away from thyroid meds
Are you diagnosed with a thyroid condition? Are you hypothyroid and on any replacement hormone? Have you had thyroid antibodies tested and were they raised confirming autoimmune thyroid disease aka Hashimoto's? If so then besides your iron problem and severe Vit D Deficiency, you very likely have low B12 and folate as Hashi's can trash nutrient levels. If not tested then I would get them done as soon as possible.
Yes I was told it is a iron deficiency anemia. So I began eating a lot of foods with iron and taking otc iron pills and felt no difference . I started taking sss tonic everyday still felt no difference . I also was taking a vitamin D3 supplement liquid once a day . I began to feel a little better I was able to move around and then I went back to not feeling good. I’m going to go to the doctor and get some lab done over to see if there has been any improvement but I don’t think so so I’m also going to talk to him about a different medicine . Can u guys recommend me something that u guys took that worked for you guys? I would highly appreciate it
Have you had a coeliac test done? Also, very important to check b12 and folate as well. My GP only bothered addressing my iron deficiency and I had to ask about the others and found B12 to be very low (but in range). GPs are not concerned with b12 (PA) issues provided it's 'in range'. Yet, so often on this forum, both can occur simultaneously due to absorption issues. Symptoms including neuropathy can become permanent if unaddressed and can occur at levels below 500.
Make sure not to drink any tea or coffee anytime near iron - it's an absolute no-no as chemicals in them bind with iron rendering it useless: the same goes for milk, whole grains and nuts. Vitamin C (cheaper bought as asorbic acid powder) taken with iron tablets will aid absorption.
That's pretty low. Worth supplementing for a while with methylcobalamin spray / sublinguals (1000 mcg) as they bypass the gut - see how you go (maybe take one every three days to start) as they can make you feel quite 'wired', so best in the morning and you may need the loo a bit more as excess gets sent to the kidneys, so a problem if you have any kidney issues. Increasing b12 to levels above 550 should, I hope, help a bit with some of your symptoms.. especially cognitive and heart. If you take b12 make sure to also take magnesium (calming, as SeasideSusie said) and p-5-p ('posh' b6) is also helpful.
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