After years of aggressive blood donations and decades of a vegetarian diet, my ferritin fell to 11. Due to my weight loss efforts and extreme calorie deficits, I really struggled to get enough iron and started losing a lot of hair. I started taking iron more consistently and only saw a small increase, so I went for an iron infusion that nearly killed me (I had a rare severe hypersensitivity reaction). I thought that would make a difference as I did get most of the bag in, but tragically my ferritin is back down to 34, which is even lower than my measurement last February.
My GP wants to prescribe another infusion using a different formula over a longer time period. Still there's a good chance I could have another reaction, which obviously wouldn't be safe for a fetus. Now I'm debating whether or not to postpone another month.
This would be the second time we pushed things back (the first time I decided I wanted to get my BMI on the lower end of overweight instead of the higher end to help with my PCOS). It just doesn't feel fair. I'm turning 30 in a couple months and I feel like every missed cycle could mean the difference between having kids or not, since I truly don't know my fertility picture (have never been pregnant, on hormonal birth control since 14 years old).
I guess I'm wondering what you folks would do in my situation? I'm on day 9 of my cycle which means I'll probably be ovulating around the 14th (but I couldn't say because I don't know my cycle length). Should we just sit this one out or risk a massive inflammation event shortly after possible conception? Is the worst that could happen just no implantation? How vulnerable is a blastocyst to systemic inflammation if my body doesn't take well to the infusion again? Thank you for any feedback/advice you can offer.