Hi
My daughter has hashimotos and been exhausted for a long time. Her ferritin results are low but within range 26 ng/mL (23 - 300 ng/mL). She suffers with food intolerance and I would welcome a recommendation for a supplement that is gentle on the stomach to raise her levels to see if this helps.
Thanks
Triciatextiles
NICE consider a ferritin level below 30 = iron deficiency - see
cks.nice.org.uk/topics/anae...
In all people, a serum ferritin level of less than 30 micrograms/L confirms the diagnosis of iron deficiency.
(ug/L and ng/ml are the same)
However, before taking an iron supplements she needs an iron panel to see if she is iron deficient and a full blood count to see if she has anaemia. If she already has a good amount of serum iron and saturation is good then supplementing will take these over range and too much iron is as bad as too little.
If she is iron deficient or anaemia then her GP should prescribe and regularly monitor her levels.
Thank you - very helpful. My daughter doesn't appear to be iron deficient or anaemic according to her results but she has a lot of the symptoms and she has been prescribed meds a few years ago under a different GP in another area. I will speak with her GP as they never seem to prescribe any meds for anything if test results are in the “range”
If she does need and gets prescribed iron, you can ask for liquid iron. I get it on prescription and it is much gentler on the stomach
Thanks I will ask her GP
There are lots of different ways of supplementing iron. See this post in reply to another member - ignore the bits at the start about pregnancy :
healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...
The problem with supplementing iron is that you can't actually tell in advance what the effect will be. The most important measures in testing iron are:
1) Ferritin (iron stores) - this is the thing that most doctors test when they want to know about iron levels. Optimal is usually suggested to be 50% - 75% of the way through the range, or a narrower suggestion is 55% - 70% of the way through the range.
2) Serum iron - optimal is suggested to be 55% - 70% of the way through the range, higher end of that for men.
3) Transferrin Saturation percentage - optimal is suggested to be 35% - 45%, higher end of that for men.
See this link on optimal levels of iron:
rt3-adrenals.org/Iron_test_...
People who start taking iron supplements to raise one or more of the above three things could find that :
1) Iron rises, possibly dramatically, while making little or no change to ferritin.
2) Ferritin rises, possibly dramatically, while making little or no change to iron.
3) Iron rises to a good level, and once it has reached it, ferritin then rises too. This is the ideal scenario, and it is important to stop taking iron at the right time so that neither iron, nor ferritin nor saturation rises too far. It may require a maintenance dose of iron to keep levels as close to optimal as possible.
4) In any of the above scenarios transferrin saturation percentage might rise dramatically. This is not good - for example very high transferrin saturation percentage is found in haemochromatosis - and duplicating any test results from that is not a good idea.
Any of very high iron, very high ferritin or very high saturation should be avoided because such high levels are poisonous, and iron can end up being deposited in various organs where it isn't wanted.
You might find this thread of interest :
healthunlocked.com/thyroidu...
Thanks - lots for me to read
I got advice here for my daughter Her ferritin was low at 9
The gp sent her for an iron transfusion
It’s now 125
facebook.com/groups/theiron...
Thanks - but i don’t have Facebook so I cant access it
I got Facebook just to join this group, I’m glad I did, I’m so shocked, I myself have had low ferritin all my life.
Low ferritin, high iron
Ferritin recommendation needed
Low ferritin 
Low Ferritin 
