After 6 months I am finally seeing some progress with my iron panel!
I spent 3 months on 4 ferrous gluconate tablets a day and my ferritin, saturation and iron barely budged. In fact, my serum iron actually decreased. I felt completely miserable with the prospect that I wouldn’t be able to optimise my NDT unless I could figure out how to get it to increase.
Eeyore recommended Three Arrows Nutra and after three months my results are considerably higher with only taking two tablets a day - with the added bonus of no digestive upset and no silly schedule to ensure it’s absorbed.
Hopefully a couple more months and I will be optimal
**previous results in comments**
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Beau55
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I feel like it’s too soon to say, I wasn’t sure which symptoms were low iron and which were thyroid. I’m still trying to gradually increase my Armour but it’s slow progress as I find each raise very difficult. I’m sure once I arrived at the perfect dose and my iron is optimal everything will be improved 😊 just need to keep plugging away!
I completely understand, it’s impossible to attribute symptoms to one particular problem when you have a lot going on. Obviously I hope you can start feeling the full benefits of the NDT soon.
May I ask another question? I’ve looked at the Three Arrows website (*that* was exhausting in itself! Perhaps it’s a marketing ploy…..) and, according to the dosage calculator, I’d need between 3-6 capsules a day. Now, while I’m more than prepared to pay for supplements/treatments in order to get to a place where a) I have more get up and go and b) I’m not continuously checking in with myself thinking “how do I feel?”, at £30+ for 80 capsules that’s pretty expensive (particularly on top of everything else I’ve bought….oh, and the cost of living crisis). So my question is: did you effectively *under* dose for your weight yet still saw improvements in your levels? Much appreciated 🙏
yes exactly, I am moving in the right direction I hope but I felt like the iron situation was really dragging me backwards with my raises.
Okay so I have to be honest - I didn’t bother working out my weight etc for dose. I am pretty rubbish at remembering my supplements everyday. I knew I would struggle to plan 3 or more around my thyroid dose. The website recommends I take between 3-6 a day but I kept it at 2 a day and still saw a massive improvement.
Now I know it is working, I am going to try increase the dose to try and get it up to optimal in the next three months 😊
Fantastic news 👏👏 it is a much easier route than the iron options we are given here!
I am delighted🤗 always a bit cautious about singing somethings praises but this stuff is a winner and made by a strong women who was in desperate need like us.
Once you get over the rather terrible American website which is very off putting 😆
No - I usually point at iHerb simply because they are about the only place I've found both haem (heme) and ferritin products available. Not a UK site but the UK arm of the US company.
It's complicated and I don't really understand. There has been development of plant-based products but all information seems to go back to a tiny number of things which are related to Impossible Foods/Meat/Burgers.
Google suggests that plant based heme iron is a thing, but I see nothing explaining how and don't see any plant based heme iron supplements. I'm not even sure how it is possible. I already eat a lot of red meat and would like an alternative.
I would buy cast iron pans but I can't manage them during days of fatigue...
The iron from cast iron pans will enter our systems either from physical wear (i.e. tiny iron particles) or chemical reactions (e.g. anything acidic).
That is, it will be pretty much the forms of most iron supplements.
In modest doses, and for long-term maintenance, it probably works fine. But insufficient for those who are positively iron deficient. (If it were able to provide enough, it might well cause the same digestion issues many report from standard iron supplements.)
This is a link to a much more reasonable article than many:
The 30 Best Vegan Sources of Iron [Chart and List]
This was the only offering I found over here but they put rather a lot of excipients in which I didn't fancy and they work out far more expensive than Three Arrows
Yes they seem way more expensive, thanks for finding them though! From what they describe on their packaging, plant based heme iron is less absorbable!
thank you so much for suggesting it to me, I was at the end of my tether with it and was considering a rather expensive iron infusion! I think it’s safe to say we can recommend this to others with low iron and have peace of mind that it will definitely help get the numbers up relatively quickly 😀
This actually works out very reasonably priced when you consider how well it works and like you say much easier to add without fear of stomach issues.... you would think a gentle raising of levels must be better than a sudden large dump into your system especially when your red blood cells take 90 days to renew?
I bought the 6 pack last time as I put my daughter on them too (use by 4/2024) I don't understand why they call it the 6 month pack as 1 bottle lasts 3 months 🤗 and 'less than a $ a day'.... my math makes it nearer to 24p per capsule and you only take 1 or 2?!
But heck I'm only a donkey! Glad you gave me the heads up...
Cheaper than last time and 10% OFF with the code FRANKLIN 🤗
So that's less than 22p each 💃🤸♀️🥳 in weird English math!
helvella is right, it is a truly awful website! But product and delivery are great!
Yes I think they are actually very reasonable considering you can assure you are actually absorbing and using the iron!! Cheaper iron alternatives are a waste of money even if they are more cost effective. I am going to order some more soon and will give the code a go thank you!
Eeyore how many do you think we would need to maintain once optimal? I’m thinking maybe 1 a day or every other and a 6 monthly iron panel
I think there is always a 10% somewhere so you may have to go fishing... not hard to find 🤗
I really don't understand iron storage/ usage all that well, I guess it would depend how much you get from your diet and if you are still menstruating or suffered a bleed etc...
Like you say test every 6 months and feel our way as we do with all the other supplements... I'm sure I have read about some who have been woefully low for years and then all of a sudden gone way over so definitely needs monitoring.
One a day gives 20mg or 111%DV (but what body size that is based on??) which is what I've been doing, bloods due in two weeks if I can wrestle the results out of the Endo 😬
I've only ever done one a day as my transferrin is high though my ferritin is low so slowly, slowly allowing my red blood cells to regenerate ☄️
My ferritin was 25 ug/L and after 3 months of one a day 67ug/L
Hi just raising this post as I am looking into ordering the heme iron. Did anyone have any side effects? Will it increase my other iron markers? They were all ok, just the ferritin I need to increase. It's at 28 at the minute.
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