Hi everyone, I was very relieved to find this newsgroup following a random web search having returned from my doctor following another iron injection !
I am in New Zealand, I am confused over some of the figures presented, my haemoglobin is 117, others talk about 11.7...is this the same thing ?

I was caught with a low ferritin level following donating blood for the first time. It was at a level of 6. Following 8 iron injections it is now up to 12. But the doctor is not happy with that either so am still waiting to see my GI specialist.

I now feel I am obsessed by eating the right foods, combinations plus fitting in the Vitamin C drinks ! Also I have heard that drinkling tea is not good for absorption....is there any fun left ??????? Or am I to look forwaqrd to eating liver and no more cups of tea ????????

i am a 45 year old female.

Welcome to the Red Cross Reject club Bindy! That's how I found about my anemia too. Your Hgl does mean 11.7. The norm for women being 12-15. The Ferritin is a measure of iron present in your bloodstream and normal is 10-220 (scores between 10-20 are considered very low but not "deficient.") Your body can usually continue to manufacture a sufficient supply of red blood cells as long as your iron is above 10--once it plummets below that it generally means you no longer have enough iron in storage to do so. Mine usually ranges between 3-8 so my Hgl scores are often low as well between 10-12. Many others here have the same problem and several of them have really low Hgl scores! I can't imagine trying to function with an Hgl of 8--I've been a 10 and it was hard to breathe! Keep up with your doctor's recommendations and read the other posts. They'll give you a good idea of what many fellow anemics are going through and how they've coped. Good luck! Keep in touch from down under!