Audrey-B

T4T3hell is correct.

With a ferretin of 22 you are not anemic, but that is low. You iron needs to be lifted so good idea that you are taking something stronger than a basic multivitamin. For some people low iron and low B12 go together. A lot of people who have low iron also seem to have low vitamin D and/or low zinc. I think you should have a full blood test and find out where you values are with your other vitamins just incase you are low in other things.

My ferretin kept dropping each year and my doctor didn't say anything about it until it dropped to 8. My hair had been shedding for 6 years at that point and i focused on the low iron, believing if i could lift my iron then my hair would stop shedding. My gp didn't test anything else, just told me to buy an iron supplement.

The problem is that i spent 2 years lifting my iron levels and then learnt that i infact had an auto immune thyroid condition known as Hashimoto's. I had spent 2 years focusing on ONLY my iron. What a waste of time, when all along my low iron was a symptom of my thyroid issue.

Not only was my iron low and difficult to lift, my vitamin D was extremely low as was my iodine.

My thyroid doctor then found out i was not digesting protein sufficiently due to my pancreas lacking a certain enzyme and hair is 98% protein. This was also linked to my thyroid condition.

Unless you are totally vegetarian and your low iron is a diet related condition, pretty much all other iron issues are a sypmtom of another condition. Finding out what that other condition is is the difficult part.

While taking iron supplements, don't drink things which contain caffeine within 2 hours of either side of taking your iron. Calcium and zinc will inhibit iron absorbtion so dont take these products along with your iron either. You should also check out the anemia board as you will find a lot more information there.