Doctors call a form of stored iron in the body ferritin, iron is needed to carry oxygen in the blood, the life of each cell in your body depends on the adequacy of this oxygen supply.
With a lack of iron stores in the body or a decrease in ferritin, you will experience many boredom and ailments.
What are the ways to compensate for low ferritin?
How can ferritin or iron stores be increased?
In the following we will talk more about how can I raise my ferritin levels quickly?
what you will read next :
Is there a way to increase ferritin rapidly?
Our body needs iron to transport oxygen. Without enough iron, it is not possible to deliver oxygen to our cells. Measuring ferritin shows the amount of iron stored in our body and actually gives your doctor an estimate of how much iron your body has.
What is ferritin?
Ferritin is not the same as iron, but a type of protein that stores iron and releases some iron if your body needs it.
Ferritin is usually present in your liver (and less so in your bone marrow) and is much less in the bloodstream, whenever your body needs iron stored in a ferritin depot, it sends a signal to these organs.
What are the symptoms of iron deficiency, or symptoms of low ferritin?
Your body needs iron to do the following:
- Metabolism
- Production of some hormones
- Growth
Iron deficiency is associated with the following symptoms:
- Fatigue and weakness
- Irritability
- hair loss
- Deformed nails
- Headache
- Dizziness
- Shortness of breath
- Irregular heartbeat
- Paleness
In the early stages of anemia, the blood tests may not change, but as the deficiency and depletion of iron stores progress, both the clinical symptoms become more severe and the tests become abnormal and show low ferritin.
The test you will be asked for ferritin will measure the amount of ferritin in your bloodstream. The higher this amount, the higher the ferritin stores in the liver and bone marrow.
Perhaps the most accurate test and way to assess the amount of iron stored in the body is a biopsy of the liver.
Blood test to evaluate ferritin:
After a short blood test, the lab can determine the amount of ferritin in your blood.
The unit of ferritin is nanograms per milliliter, which means that there are several nanograms of ferritin in each milliliter of your blood.
Normal blood ferritin levels
Normal blood ferritin levels are:
The values may be slightly different in different laboratories.
Blood ferritin level tests and blood iron level tests are often performed simultaneously; these two series of tests are interrelated.
If your ferritin is less than 10 ng / ml, you will need treatment.
How to correct our low ferritin level?
To increase the amount of ferritin:
Your doctor should first look for the cause of your iron deficiency. In postmenopausal men and women, iron deficiency or iron deficiency anemia may be due to abnormal blood loss, so a set of tests will be necessary.
After examining and determining if your body is low in iron, your doctor will start treating your ferritin deficiency by prescribing the right iron supplement.
Ferrous sulfate tablets will be a good choice for treatment.
Doctors recommend that three Ferro sulfates be taken daily for six months, after six months the amount of medicine is reduced, for example, one a day.
Of course, the amount and type of iron-containing drug is prescribed by your doctor and according to your condition.
Iron supplements are better absorbed on an empty stomach but cause stomach upset. The best time to take medicine is before meals.
Constipation and pain in the stomach and dark stools can be side effects of taking iron supplements.
Vitamin C increases the absorption of iron from the intestines, it is better to avoid caffeine for two hours after consumption.
Doctors believe that without medication, you will not be able to compensate for your iron deficiency.
Hematologists advise that it is very difficult to make up for the lack of ferritin with food alone. The food you eat daily should contain at least 20 grams of iron to meet only your daily needs.
Healthy people need to eat at least 200 grams of meat a day to maintain their iron stores and prevent iron deficiency anemia.
Red meat and liver have the highest amount of iron absorbed by the human body.
Iron in plants is not well absorbed by the human body.
The World Health Organization recommends that iron supplements be taken in combination with folic acid, as folic acid is essential for cell formation.
So:
- Include lean red meat in your diet.
- You can use white meats such as fish and chicken.
- Use natural, fresh vitamin C from the intestines to increase iron absorption.