If you have heavy cycles, plant-based eating without a plan, endurance training, restless legs, hair shedding, ice cravings, breathlessness on stairs, or a ferritin that looks “in range” but sits in the basement, iron may be the missing piece.
If you have rising ferritin with inflammation, a family history of iron overload, or you supplement “just in case,” iron may be the wrong piece. Iron is not a wellness trend. It is a Goldilocks mineral: too little and oxygen delivery, thyroid function, and mitochondrial enzymes suffer. Too much and oxidative stress climbs.
I never treat iron from hemoglobin alone. Ferritin, transferrin saturation, TIBC, and the inflammatory context(because ferritin rises when you are inflamed) all have to agree. Women in reproductive years and people with gut malabsorption are the groups I test most carefully. Men and post-menopausal women should not casually add iron.
Fatigue is not an automatic invitation to take iron. It is an invitation to measure it. When were ferritin and iron saturation last checked together; not just a CBC?
#Iron #Ferritin #Fatigue #WomensHealth #FunctionalLabs
