Latest labs and ferritin question

[Ericamegan]

I just got my latest labs.   I got my ferritin tested for the first time and it's at the low end.  How much should I supplement?  Any certain kind of Iron?


Free T3- 3.4 (2.3-4.2)
Free T4- 1.0 (.8-1.8)
FERRITIN- 31 (10-154)
Total Iron- 74 (40-175)
Iron Binding capacity- 306 (250-450)
% Saturation 24 (15-50%)
DHEA Sulfate 79 (40-325)
Testosterone 1.6 (.5-8.5)

[ahmee]

I just wanted to throw in a good word for ferrous bisglycinate as well. I take 3 18mg capsules with vitamin C and lysine, both of which enhance absorption.

[Ericamegan]

Thanks for the advise.  I'll try to find one of those.

[gimel]

I found this info.  Also, recall that a good level for women is reported to be 70-80.

"The recommended way of taking iron to build up levels as fast as possible is to build up slowly over a week or two to let your digestion get used to the added iron and take the iron twice a day. You are aiming to ramp up to 150mg to  200mg of elemental iron a day which is 8 of these capsules a day. You need to build up to this dose over a week or two letting your digestion settle at each dose level before increasing. We have found that if you take several grams of vitamin C with each dose of iron that it both helps absorption and helps counter the constipation that iron can cause. These iron capsules are available from health food shops, pharmacies, and web resources like Iherb. It can take several months to bring iron up to a suitable level and you must remember to stop supplementing iron 5 days before lab tests."

This may be a bit aggressive for some patients.  I started with 28 mg of Ferrous fumarate daily for several weeks, then increased,  Right now I am taking 3 capsules, so a total of 84 mg daily, along with Vitamin C, as recommended.    My ferritin started at 40 and at last test was 80, so a good improvement.  

Both ferrous fumarate and ferrous gluconate are good.  Ferrous sulphate is good also, but you'll notice that for a given size pill, there is somewhat less elemental iron compared to the other two, so you would need to adjust accordingly to get the same effect.