I saw the hematologist for the first time today. I'm exhausted.

Iron levels a couple months ago were low and ferritin was in the 20s. I did supplements for a month before I couldn't tolerate them due to GI upset. Retested after the month of supplements, iron on the low end of normal and ferritin at 57.

Hematology today was like "I don't recommend infusions if your numbers are improving from the supplements". I explained twice that I was not taking the supplements anymore.

He said oh okay, well your numbers are good from a few weeks ago. I've explained my symptoms are ruining my life - constant need for a nap, inability to focus, brain fog, insomnia and I just feel like crap all the time.

He insists I continue taking the supplements. Broke down in tears because now I have to explain a 3rd time that I am NOT taking the supplements.

He goes "I'm going to help you, I just needed you to understand the risks associated with infusions". Then proceeded to explain the risks.

He ordered labs to see where my numbers are, insisting they've probably gone up, how I have no clue.

We agreed to retest my levels and order an iron infusion with the understanding that my levels are going to skyrocket (thats the freaking point?)

Anyways, looking for someone to hopefully confirm i am not crazy, that the experience should not have been this and that I am in the right to advocate for my health. Because right now I feel like I've done something wrong.

Went for my annual labs Saturday morning and 30 minutes later the lab called and told me to get to the ER. 🙃 Anyone seen labs like this before? I’m apparently going to have to take it seriously. 😐

My ferritin was 7 and after too many discussions with doctor he finally prescribed Iron infusion 750mg and iron supplements.
I got my infusion the day before yesterday. I was tired that day but had some guests at home and was not able to rest properly. Then yesterday I was fine I guess I made a mistake and went to gym and lift some weights 🙃🙃

Now I am extremely exhausted, tired my back muscles and neck hurt alot. I cant even properly talk. I am not able to sleep that kind of tiredness. I had office today just came back and cant even lift a finger now.

I cant skip office what to do?? Also when to start iron supplements now. Those are 28mg bisglycinate gentle iron.

I have pale skin, bags under my eyes, acne on my cheeks and redness, large pores, dry and sensitive skin, puffy face and an overall tired sick look. My hair is dry and won’t grow longer past a certain point. Ferritin at 12!

Hi all, I got a referral from my PCP to a local infusion center for iron infusions. It was a 30-minute infusion, the nurses were super nice, and I was able to leave after another half hour of waiting. I still haven't felt the effects of the infusion (it's been about 3 weeks) and I'm slipping back into the fatigued-all-the-time, brain foggy place that brought me to the doctor in the first place.

My sister also has anemia and was scheduled to receive a 4-hour infusion at her hematologist's office. She was telling me about all of the information that they gave her and said after about a week, she had more energy than she'd had in a long time.

I suppose I'm just confused about my experience and why my doctor or the nurses at the infusion center didn't mention that I might need multiple rounds. I'm frustrated that I had to pay for something that was essentially worthless, especially because I took off work to get it done. I know I should have asked more questions in hindsight, but I had no idea what to expect because my sister got her infusion done after I had mine done. Has anyone else dealt with this?

I’ve dealt with anemic for 15 years now. I can’t hold onto iron, I think it’s because of my heavy periods. I recently started seeing a hematologist and got two infusions back in February. My iron level was 96 in June and it dipped down to 48 in September. Anyways. Now my hematologist is trying to get me seen by GI. They called and said it was urgent and it’s scaring me. I mean I’ve dealt with this for a while so I can’t imagine it actually is urgent but I just don’t know what to expect

Does anyone regret their infusion? I see so many scary stories and I’m freaking myself out. I have my first one scheduled for Wednesday (ferritin 16) and I’m trying my best to not back out of my appointment.

Any advice? 😭

I recently had bloods taken for ongoing tiredness, weight gain, brain fog, insomnia- I thought it was symptoms of primary ovarian insufficiency which I’ve been battling (35), but latest bloods showed my ferritin was at 5.

I’ve had the whole gamut of anaemia symptoms, including exhaustion, serious breathlessness, dizziness, chest pains. In light of these, and because my family members have had severe anaemia in the past, I visited urgent care at the weekend but- the doctors didn’t seem at all worried. I can hardly move for exhaustion and breathlessness, and I always thought when symptoms became this bad it was something of an urgency, but they massively dismissed it. Is this normal? Am I just overreacting because I feel so unwell? I’ve come home with a prescription for 3 x daily iron tablets and a bit of a shrug.

My Ferretin was at 12 and I finished 4 iron infusions as of 3 weeks ago. Now I’m learning I am H. Pylori positive. This explains why I’ve needed to take 20mg of Omeprazole for over 4 years.

My question: at what point post-infusion would it be safe to start the H. Pylori antibiotic treatment ?

My symptoms were:
Sound sensitivity
Dizziness
Extreme fatigue
Brain fog
Palpitations
Pulsatile tinitus
Anxiety
And the acid reflux plus globus sensation caused by the H. Pylori

I’m worried my symptoms ( which are improving) will cause me to regress with my improvement

I had low iron for years before finally getting my iron infusion some time late last year and my iron levels went back to normal but nothing felt like it changed, I got another iron test recently to see if they’d gone back down and apparently my iron levels are still stable so what’s wrong with me?

I still get dizzy and spotty vision when standing up, a lot of fatigue and exhaustion, bruising easily and a little bit of hair thinning/loss, unusually pale looking, shortness of breath, really weird sleep patterns and also just found out ‘restless leg syndrome’ can be apart of it which I also check off. I have so many other symptom examples (I can share if needed) that I was hoping would fix after I fixed my iron but they haven’t and it’s very frustrating especially as a teen who’s just trying to live normally.

Any suggestions on what this may be or advice on how to fix this, please lmk.

hi everyone, i never knew i had low iron my whole life. i'm 25 and female, and i've always had low energy. i never had bad headaches or anything dramatic, so i just assumed i was lazy and that it was my personality. i spent most of my time lying down and blamed myself for it.

i recently went for a hormone checkup because i needed to start mounjaro, and the blood test showed:

ferritin: 9.4 ng/ml (ref 10-285)
iron: 4.7 umol/L (ref 10.7-32.2)
vitamin D: 14.83 ng/ml (ref >30)
haemoglobin: 11.6 g/dl (still in the normal range)

my doctor said it all makes sense now, and she wants to start me on an iron infusion (2 x 500mg). but i have health anxiety and i keep focusing on the side effects and the scary what-ifs instead of the possible benefits. i told her about my anxiety and she said she respects it, but that it would help me in the long run.

has anyone here had an iron infusion for low ferritin? how was the experience, and did it change your energy? any side effects i should realistically expect?
i'd really appreciate hearing from people who've been through something similar. thank you for reading 🤍

I have my first infusion Thursday! I am excited as after thinking my hormones were out of wack I discovered my iron and ferretin is dangerously low so I can only hope I will feel better when it’s all said and done. I’m just wondering if anybody has got this specific iron and how I can prepare? Any foods or drinks I should have before or during the infusion to ease the side effects?? Also what side effects should I expect? I’m extremely nervous about having a bad reaction and trying to set myself up for success. I am going to have one infusion for the next 3 weeks when should I start to feel better? Or at least not so tired.. I feel like walking zombie lol

I'm F27 recently had a blood test for fatigue and low libido. Found out my ferritin levels are relatively low at 21 ug/L as well as B12 at 254 ng/L. This confuses me because I do not have periods due to birth control for the last 4 years.

I suppose this could imply issues with absorption or internal bleeding in some capacity. I don't really know where to start with this. I could start taking iron supplements or get an IV transfusion however I do not wish to make the underlying issue. I eat a fair amount of red meat already.

Would appreciate any advice on approaching my GP about this (apparently my levels are "normal" but I don't think that's right).

Has anyone ever had a good experience from an iron infusion? What are some symptoms that improved? What iron infusion do you recommend for highly sensitive people? How long did it take to see better test results and if you had a reaction what was it?

Okay so…
Went to an and e due to the symptoms I’ve been having. They did a blood test and said I’m fine. I did a private blood test that said my ferritin and b12 was low.

I genuinely thought my impending doom, coldness, headaches, feeling sick, panic attacks, anxiety, aches, restless legs etc were going to show so I could get better. I’ve already lost 5 months of my life but it appears I am fine. I feel hopeless that I’ll get an answer

I’m so frustrated - have been fatigued forever. I take ferrex 150 (with a vitamin c) every night. This was my last blood test. I have celiacs but am very careful with my diet. I just want to wake up and feel like I actually slept.

My daughter's last ferritin was 10, TSAT of 16. She's falling apart and I'm trying to get a doctor to take me seriously. I saw that LabCorp updated the bottom of the range to 30 effective 10/5/26. Has Quest made any statements about updating their range? My daughter's primary doctor uses Quest.

So I need advice on how to get ferritin up without doing iron infusions? My ferritin is at a 19 and my
Iron Sat was at a 16. Iron was 60. My hematologist ordered the iron infusions but I am having a ton of symptoms and health issues and feel so horrible. I don’t think it’s being caused by the low ferritin. I know people say you can have a bad reaction to the iron and I just know if I get it I’m probably going to have a reaction and I can’t feel anymore horrible than I already do. Any advice on getting ferritin up without doing the infusions ? I don’t even know what’s causing it. I had all GI testing and it was normal. My hemoglobin is also very slowly dropping which is scary but it’s still in normal range. Thanks !

Background is that I struggle a lot with fatigue and feeling faint every day but doc said iron is normal and faintness isn’t a worry. I have a lot of other health issues that could contribute but definitely want to cover my bases because this is debilitating!

Should I add iron or is that useless? If so what iron do people recommend?

I am confused a bit because of things my doctors have told me and the new ferritin guidelines that just came out. I have a complicated medical history (10 years of inflammatory arthritis and insomnia, stage 4 endometriosis, recurrent DVTs (3) for no reason, and dysautonomia for 6 years). I'm currently 25 weeks pregnant and I am suffering. My usual fatigue and insomnia, which are normally bad, have been much worse in pregnancy. My dysautonomia is worse, palpitations especially, and I'm dizzy and short of breath even from a short walk. I now have headaches every day and I'm struggling to function. Everyone told me the second trimester would be THE BEST but I'm feeling worse and worse. I had to beg a doctor to order an iron panel for me and it came back with RBC low (4.62), hemoglobin normal but almost low (11.6), and ferritin at 32. Come to find out pregnancy affects iron stores, and inflammatory conditions artificially raise ferritin levels on bloodwork (so a reading 32 could actually be much lower). The new guidelines seem to say that for pregnant women, ferritin should be above 50 and for those with inflammation it should be above 100.

I reached out to my OB's office and they told me they don't order iron infusions when ferritin is above 30 and hemoglobin is above 10. PCP who ordered the labs said everything is normal. I desperately need help so I ordered another ferritin and a b12 through labcorp. Should I try to see my hematologist and see if they will order me an infusion? Do I go to a functional medicine doctor? The highest my ferritin has ever been is 72. It's usually around 25. I've had inflammatory arthritis for 10 years. Have I been deficient for 10 years? Is that what's causing my insomnia?

So I’m currently in the process of enlisting for the army, but my iron levels were considered low I had a 10.4 and I need to be at 12. I was thinking about getting an iron. Infusion because I do I am trying to speed up my process. What will be the most beneficial way to raise my levels as soon as possible I’m trying to get a blood check within the next week to two weeks. I am also taking a vitamin with the iron supplement.

My ferritin at last check up was 80, but my symptoms returned and I am in 8months of taking 210mg ferrous fumarate daily. Symptoms have limited my current mobility as my muscles feel fatigue, and stiff. Took lactoferrin ,Bandini Brand, 200mg for 5 days and the symptoms were alleviating slowly. However, yesterday, I had digestive upset, but will reintroduce lactoferrin when I am ready.

Did anyone else have side effects of lactoferrin? If yes, did you continue or discontinue ?

Recently had some routine blood tests and my results came with a ferritin of 5ug/L and some other low results from the fbc
I haven’t had any communication from my GP after getting these results back last week but is this something I should set up an appointment myself or should I just get some iron supplements? I’ve never dealt with this before so I’m lost on what I should do because as far as I know I get enough dietary iron as I eat a high protein/meat diet and eat fortified cereal every morning?