🥀 My iron deficiency
🚨 a PSA to all my menstruating females 🚨
My period was irregular for basically my entire life, and it actually went completely missing for a large part of 2020. Thankfully, I was able to get it back and it's been regular for 9 months (our bodies are truly amazing).
I had a regular period, was exercising consistently, eating well, sleeping well - everything seemed to be fine. I thought this would be a good time to take a blood test to reaffirm that everything was also normal on the inside but wow, I was in for a shock.
My bloodwork came back normal, except for my iron levels. My ferritin (stored iron) was at a level of 1. Just for some context, the acceptable range is 5-272, and I was at a 1. There was even a note underneath saying that my test has been re-run to confirm the results - I'm pretty sure the lab technician was shocked as to how I was still alive and functioning with such a low level.
I was so shocked - I was eating tons of fruits and vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes, tofu - I was doing it all.
Blood test results
When I saw my blood test results, I felt super faint, dizzy, and my vision was getting splotchy. I remember going to my mom's office - she was on a video call so I went to my dad's room but he wasn't there. By this point, my head was feeling like it was going to explode and I felt really hot all over. I knew I had to talk to someone so I interrupted my mom's meeting, and the next thing I remember was waking up on the floor.
I immediately asked my mom (who was hovering over me) if I fell, and she said that she had placed me down. This again was so surprising to me - I had never been the type to get emotional, let alone faint, but here I was reading that I had an iron level of 1 and fainting.
Once I had regained my composure, I started to seriously think about what the issue might be. I was definitely eating iron-rich foods every day so I thought that the issue was absorption. Maybe I was ingesting these foods, but my body wasn't able to extract the iron and therefore use it.
Getting such a low iron level was shocking because surely a level of 1 would mean I would have experienced some serious health effects? But our bodies are so adaptable that I was probably able to function at my current level, even with such low levels.
I'm so grateful that nothing bad happened to my health but rather, this was a wakeup call for me to get my life together and boost those levels.
Supplements
Thankfully, my doctor works on Saturdays so I called him up and we spoke about my results. He told me that 9/10 girls my age have iron deficiency and that this was normal. (Okay thanks, but I don't want to be 9/10 girls!!). I mentioned that I thought I had an absorption issue since I was eating so many iron-rich foods per day, but he said that an absorption issue was very rare unless I had a disease such as Crohn's. He prescribed me a 30 day supply of Euro-fer, a 300 mg iron supplement to be taken with orange juice (since Vitamin C helps boost iron absorption).
One drawback is that these pills are such high dose (women in my age bracket only need 18mg of iron per day) that they can cause side effects like bloating, diarrhea and constipation which I definitely experienced for the first few days. I'm also not sure how I feel about consuming so much iron (much more than we need) - but I think for the first 30 days, to get my levels up, it's worth a shot.
Diet
As I mentioned, my diet was okay (or so I thought) but still, I introduced dates, dried apricots and pumpkin seeds. I also made sure to have a glass of orange juice every day, a bit with my iron pill in the morning, some at lunch, and the rest in the evening with my dinner.
I cut out caffeine as black tea can block the absorption of iron and I read that even green tea can - so just to be safe, I cut all teas out until I got my bloodwork done again.
Lifestyle
I don't want to be relying on the supplements to keep my iron levels in check as I truly believe that we can fix so many issues with diet and lifestyle.
I purchased a cast iron pan to cook my lunch in, as I read that it leeches iron into the food. It's been a pain to season and SO heavy to use, so I haven't used it much yet.
I also came across this Lucky Iron Fish which is basically an iron ingot that you can boil with your food. The concept is the same as the cast iron pan whereby it leeches iron into the food. However, you can also use it to make Iron Water (iron-infused water) which you can then drink like normal. I've been making this everyday, and it's super easy to make. It claims to release 6-8mg of absorbable iron, which would be amazing.
The mind
What I found interesting is that as soon as I read about my low iron levels, I found myself feeling exhausted (one of the symptoms of anemia). Nothing had changed except the fact that I now knew for certain that my ferritin levels were low. This just shows how powerful our minds are. They say that ignorance is bliss, but in this case, I'm so happy I found out because I can't wait to see how great I feel once my levels are sky high!
Concluding thoughts
Like I said before, I truly didn't know that anything was wrong with my body. I was working out consistently, juggling so many responsibilities, and genuinely doing so much without feeling tired. This was a wake up call for me - I'm still young and can fix these things before they cause any major issues down the road. If you haven't gotten your blood checked recently, I definitely urge you to. It's better to prevent, rather than fix once it's too late.
Sending you lots of love, light and iron!!
-Reina xo