Low Ferritin Symptoms: I have been going to my... - Thyroid UK

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Low Ferritin Symptoms

Dramlouie profile image
13 Replies

I have been going to my doctors for years complaining of weakness, pains in limbs, tinnitus. They did a ferritin test a few years ago and result was 50, down from 75 a few years before that. I was told everything is fine, nothing to worry about. Every time I go they only look at one symptom per appointment. If I mention anything else they say I will have to make another appointment. So I was feeling a bit whoozy yesterday in the supermarket, come home and do some research and find that low ferritin could be to blame. What on earth are the doctors doing to us, I can hardly lift my arms up, even to hold my mobile in front of me causes my arms to ache. I can't clean windows. My tinnitus is screaming all the time. Could this be ferritin? I am hypothyroid on NDT for years. I walk with a stoop although only 62. Doctors just say what do you expect at your age or we all have something wrong with us! OMG fed up with it. I used to be so fit running over mountains and now I feel 20 years older than my years. Any ideas. Even typing this makes my arms and back ache.

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Dramlouie
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SeasideSusie profile image
SeasideSusieRemembering

If you want to know if there is an iron problem, and you can't get anywhere with your GP, you can do an "Iron deficiency check" with Medichecks which is a complete iron panel. This will test ferritin but also, importantly, serum iron:

medichecks.com/iron-tests/i...

Normal price is £39 for the fingerprick test, very occasionally on offer, but if not on offer you can use code THYROIDUK for 10% discount.

If anything untoward shows up with this test you can take the results to your GP and if he doesn't like the fact that you've done a private test you can then invite him to do his own based on the results of your Medichecks test.

Are your other vitamins and minerals optimal? For example, folate and B12?

Some of the symptoms could be to do with your thyroid status too. Are you sure you don't need an increase?

Dramlouie profile image
Dramlouie in reply to

I have actually slightly increased my NDT due to the cold and stress. I don't have my croaky voice I get when I forget a dose, always a sign for me. I used to take B12 and folate but had to stop due to finances, it was getting unaffordable.

in reply to Dramlouie

know the feeling :-(

Marz profile image
Marz in reply to Dramlouie

Many of your symptoms suggest Low B12 ...

SeasideSusie profile image
SeasideSusieRemembering in reply to Dramlouie

I used to take B12 and folate but had to stop due to finances, it was getting unaffordable.

7 months ago your levels were:

B12 791 (197-771)

Folate over 20 (1.9-25)

A maintenance dose to keep those levels there would be something like 1 x Igennus Super B a few times a week, works out at 20p per tablet if you buy from Amazon or Bodykind at £11.99 for 60 tablets. Is that do-able?

Murphysmum profile image
Murphysmum

I’m 42! and this is exactly how I feel.

Still searching for answers too so I’ll follow your post.

Sorry I can’t offer more help, just know you’re not alone!

Dramlouie profile image
Dramlouie in reply to Murphysmum

Thank goodness for healthunlocked, this cold weather doesn't help, my legs won't move!

humanbean profile image
humanbean

What on earth are the doctors doing to us, I can hardly lift my arms up, even to hold my mobile in front of me causes my arms to ache. I can't clean windows. My tinnitus is screaming all the time. Could this be ferritin?

To answer your question, yes, it could very well be ferritin or iron. The symptoms you describe are the same as the symptoms I had when I had a GI bleed and was losing substantial and obvious amounts of blood with every bowel movement. I couldn't hold my arms up for more than a second. Eventually I got to the stage that I couldn't walk upstairs in less than 20 minutes, and I could only go upstairs about twice a day.

I would recommend doing the iron deficiency check that SeasideSusie mentioned as soon as possible. Once you have the results post them on here in a new post and ask for feedback.

In the meantime, see if you are losing blood in your poo. It might not be obvious, in which case you might not be able to see it but it could still be there.

You could ask for your poo to be tested for blood. If you do, you need to be very careful not to get a false result, either negative or positive. See this post :

healthunlocked.com/thyroidu....

Dramlouie profile image
Dramlouie in reply to humanbean

I have just done a bowel cancer check and came back negative, would that pick it up?

humanbean profile image
humanbean in reply to Dramlouie

If you read that link at the end of my reply, you can find out how accurate your own result is likely to be. A few years ago I was producing huge amounts of blood when I had bowel movements, including occasional clots that were nearly the size of a tennis ball. I handed in a poo sample which I knew had blood on it, and it came back negative.

I can't possibly say whether your bowel cancer screen result was accurate or not. I'm afraid the best you can do is either look for blood visually or decide whether or not the foods, medications, and supplements you take may have produced a false negative. If you can't see blood in a poo sample then it doesn't necessarily mean that there is none. It might be there in very small amounts.

Of course, you might not be bleeding at all - it is just one of several possibilities that could explain low ferritin. You might just absorb iron poorly because of gut damage from some currently unknown cause. I have to take a maintenance dose of iron to keep it at a level which allows me to function, and currently this is one ferrous fumarate 210mg four times a week. If you've never taken a maintenance dose after improving your iron and ferritin then the likelihood is that your levels just dropped again.

Dramlouie profile image
Dramlouie in reply to humanbean

When finances are short it is difficult to get the money for tests otherwise I would do it straight away. Perhaps Father Christmas could give me a blood test!

humanbean profile image
humanbean in reply to Dramlouie

It would be worth waiting for Christmas or New Year to see if there are any seasonal discounts offered.

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