Why are my supplements not working

[questions38]

At the end of June of this year (2009) I was diagnosed with low ferritin (22) and told to take Floridex, an iron supplement, 3 times a day (10mg of iron per dose).  I made sure to take it correctly (before meals, without any calcium products).  I was just recently re-tested and my ferritin has gone down (now 19) instead of up.  I am very concerned and wondering why this is the case.  Oddly, some of my symptoms - shortness of breath, hair falling out, dizziness - have subsided.

[questions38]

Thanks for your help.  I am scheduled for a laparoscopy on November 6th.  I do suffer from very heavy periods - lots of clots. This is a relatively new condition that started earlier this year.  For someone who had insignificant menstrual cramps on the first day of her period, I have now gone to someone who has to take quite a bit of ibuprofen, 3x a day for the first three days of my period.  Hopefully my doctor can ascertain what is going on, but it's quite frightening to see my ferritin levels continue to descend.  I am now on the birth control pill  -started three weeks ago - in the hopes that it will control the bleeding.  Regardless some of my symptoms have subsided as I mentioned and perhaps, as you said, the lab test was incorrect.... any insight you have as to why this condition seemed to come on so quickly and what could be causing the cramping/heavy bleeding would be welcome.

[Dr. Kokil Mathur]

Hi
Welcome to the forum!
If clinically you are better, that means your symptoms are subsiding, then in all probability the lab report is not correct. It would be a good idea to repeat the test.
Another possibility is that the symptoms may have temporarily stopped in response to iron intake.
You need to eliminate the causes of iron loss from the body like bleeding from the gut, UTI, poor iron intake, malabsorption syndromes etc.
Hope these tips help. Please let me know if there is any thing else and do keep me posted. Take care!