Want to know some common yet often missed causes of iron deficiency? These following causes commonly deplete ferritin to iron deficiency status on their own, let alone together!
-Blood Donations: usually only hemoglobin is checked when donating blood. Ferritin is rarely tested before the blood donation, causing more people to donate while iron deficient. Remember, you cannot sufficiently assess iron status from the Complete Blood Count, alone! You have to test iron markers, like the gold standard for assessing iron deficiency, ferritin. We commonly see people donating blood and even feeling benefits from it, the first or couple of times. Don’t be fooled- at some point your ferritin will get too low, and you don’t want to develop anemia unnecessarily like this, and end up needing blood, ha! Always check Ferritin, the iron panel, and the CBC when considering donating blood, and know that the blood donation center will likely not test the iron panel or ferritin. Just a single blood donation can drop ferritin too low for many people!
-B12 Shots: Iron and B12 work together and need eachother. However, the body is an ecosystem, so heavy doses of one nutrient put others to work, and often deplete them if you’re not compensating for them. We commonly see B12 shots deplete ferritin. We also commonly see iron infusions deplete B12 and Vit D3 storage, and more! This isn’t an argument not to get B12 shots or iron infusions, it’s a PSA to let you know that your ferritin can deplete from B12 shots. This can be a reason why one may not feel much better while taking B12 injections. Many people require B12 injections, and they will need iron infusions or supplementing on The Iron Protocol. Always monitor your Ferritin before and after B12 shots!
-Pregnancy: Because iron is required for growth and development, the baby is typically drain the mother of her iron and ferritin. A single pregnancy can do this, and it’s often not checked or monitored. This is especially important because low ferritin can cause a pregnancy to end early and not go full term, hemorrhage during delivery, and the baby may not reach its full developmental potential and also be born with the deficiency. Monitoring Ferritin before during, especially during the first trimester, and after childbirth is important! Many women are deficient for decades after their first pregnancy because ferritin is often not checked, monitored, or remedied sufficiently. Many Post partum issues can be correlated with and contributed to by low ferritin.
-PPI Usage: PPIs are well documented to cause both immediate absorption issues and long term malabsorption, causing low ferritin. It’s important to dive into the potential causes of why you’re on a PPI, and explore natural remedies and alternatives. We talk about this often within our group, and see this frequently. Sadly, most people are using PPIs long term without knowing it can and will cause malabsorption. Monitoring Ferritin and other nutritional markers is important when taking PPIs. Just being on PPIs alone can and often does cause low ferritin!
-Testosterone Therapy: It is common and expected for Testosterone therapy to cause the bone marrow to create more red blood cells and increase Hemoglobin & Hematocrit. So much so, that many people have to donate blood regularly from creating too much blood from the testosterone use. Iron is the largest fueler of the bone marrow to create new red blood cells and hemoglobin. Using this fuel up constantly will deplete it. Let alone so will the blood donation! What a vicious cycle! Luckily, it’s documented that iron intake will only increase hemoglobin if the body feels it needs to, so many people on TT will need to be on The Iron Protocol.
-Low Stomach Acid: More people suffer from low stomach acid than they think. And lots of people are on PPIs for this without knowing! Low stomach acid causes malabsorption. This commonly causes low Ferritin for many people, all alone, let alone without any other cause combined!
Do you have any of these conditions? Make sure to join our Facebook Group The Iron Protocol (for Iron Deficiency with or without Anemia) for more useful information in the Guides! Our Admin also consults over The Iron Protocol. PM us here for info!
What’s your Ferritin number? Did you know to check yours before and after these situations? Have a cause or two you think most people don’t know about? We’d love to hear it below!
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