Been iron deficient and sometimes anemic for many years, just now addressing it!
It‘s so good to recognize the problem - it gives me hope. my ferritin was 8 in 2019 and again 8 something recently.
I didn’t realize how low this was until I got a new doctor who was more insistent that raising my iron could help me feel better (I really do feel awful for years, most my life really, but am also used to it?) and stated that many hematologists like to see it 70 or even higher.
as a teen, I had a blood draw and was fully anemic, low hemoglobin. but I literally never remembered more than a passing “hey, maybe take some iron supplements“
and then they didn’t retest until I specifically asked for it recently at the advice of a therapist.
so this is a case where doctors taking it seriously and helping to educate patients can make a HUGE difference. like I was so surprised my doctor said she’d suggest iron infusions if supplements don’t help in 3 months - and was so adamant I should focus on treating this and that it could improve my life. and of course it’s so common that testing menstruating women should be routine imo.
I just saw the lab tests as a little lower than the “normal” lower limit of 15 and had no idea. so it would also help to revise those, I’m hearing…