Iron --- Optimal is 55% - 70% of the way through the range. Yours is lower than that and suggests you need more iron. With the range you've given optimal is approx 17.3 - 20.2, lower end of that for women, so optimal for women is 17 - 18.5 (approximately).
Total Iron Binding Capacity (TIBC) --- Yours is roughly mid-range, suggesting your level is not too bad.
Transferrin Saturation --- Optimal is 35% - 45% so yours is too low suggesting you need more iron.
Ferritin --- Optimal is roughly mid-range or a little higher, so with the range you've given this would be approximately 82 - 120. Your result is rather low and you would probably feel better with a higher level.
Having results that are not consistent - some suggesting that levels are too low and some suggesting levels are too high or okay - is very common, so it is a good idea to look at all the results together and decide what the overall message from the results is. Your results are not great, but they aren't desperately bad either.
Your iron supplement is okay but is slightly too low a dose.
Just for comparison, (I am NOT suggesting this is a good idea for you) my iron and ferritin were catastrophically low some years ago. I got prescribed one tablet of ferrous fumarate 210mg to be taken three times daily. It took me 21 months to get my ferritin up to mid-range. The total amount of pure iron I was taking each day was 207mg.
So, in comparison your dose is small, and yet your results are not outrageously bad (which is good news). You may only need to increase your iron intake by a small amount to raise your iron and ferritin levels.
My suggestion is to do one of the following, whichever you prefer :
1) Keep taking the same iron supplement you currently do, but add more foods to your diet which have generous amounts of iron in. See this website :
2) Start taking two a day of your current iron supplement, at least for a few weeks, but definitely not long-term. Since you seem to be absorbing iron fairly well you will need to re-test in about 4 - 8 weeks. Nobody can tell how fast they will raise iron and ferritin to begin with. Knowing how well you raise iron is very important since high levels of iron are poisonous, and the body can't get rid of excess iron. It is also helpful to know how fast you lose iron if you stop supplementing.
3) You might try a different supplement with a higher dose of iron in, at least temporarily. Once your results are as close to optimal as you can get them you could reduce the numbers of days a week that you take them. For example, you could try taking one tablet a day of ferrous gluconate 300mg which contains 35mg of iron per tablet. I've never tried ferrous gluconate myself, so I don't know how tolerable it is. In general the higher the iron content of an iron supplement the fewer people tolerate it. [For comparison, the supplement I take - ferrous fumarate 210mg - contains 69mg of pure iron per tablet.]
If you decide to try ferrous gluconate make sure to buy the coated tablets (if available) to reduce irritation in your stomach. In the UK ferrous gluconate can only be bought in pharmacies. A prescription isn't required - you only need the pharmacist's permission.
Be aware that changes in diet can change the speed of your iron absorption and iron loss.
In healthy people iron is lost in absolutely miniscule amounts in faeces each day. But people who have periods, piles (haemorrhoids), anal fissures, Crohn's Disease, Ulcerative Colitis, Coeliac Disease, non-coeliac gluten intolerance, or diverticulitis can lose far more blood (and hence iron) than healthy people.
Once your levels of iron and ferritin are closer to optimal you should reduce your iron intake again. Don't stop it altogether because if you do you'll end up going back to what is "normal for you" and that is likely to be too low. You will need to find your maintenance dose, which can take ages and also requires lots of repeat testing.
Going over optimal in anything related to iron is not a good idea. So, if your serum iron is still below optimal when your ferritin reaches optimal then live with that.
Anecdote : When I got my ferritin to mid-range my serum iron was still too low. But I lived with that rather than push my ferritin higher. When I was trying to find my maintenance dose of iron I did (accidentally) go overboard and ended up with a serum iron which was the best I'd ever seen it but my ferritin was slightly over the range. I didn't like that so I stopped supplementing for four months. My ferritin dropped by 90 points in that four months.
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