Ferritin

It was recently suggested to get my ferritin levels to 70, so naturally I had to explore this. Ferritin is the body's store of iron, which is different from hemoglobin. In short, one can be iron-deficient (lacking iron stores, ferritin) but not be anemic (lacking hemoglobin). I was diagnosed as anemic in college and then again during my first pregnancy. In fact, I nearly risked-out of my first Homebirth because my iron levels were too low (I'll have to look up specific numbers and if it looked at ferritin too). Thankfully, with Floradix and an iron-folate-A supplement, the iron levels were increased and my child still had perfect iron levels after 15 months of exclusive breastfeeding (she didn't give a crap about food - it was for the birds).

This article on iron deficiency anemia was interesting to me because many of the symptoms coincide with adrenal fatigue, as do a number of the supplements (ex: b12). Symptoms of fatigue, depression, dizziness. When I was diagnosed with adrenal fatigue, I was also simultaneously diagnosed with anemia. The two are definitely connected, but it's unclear to me which comes first, if there is, indeed, one which does come first. Perhaps it varies. 

The best sources of iron are meat and shellfish, and some foods that inhibit iron absorption are diary, coffee, tea, and chocolate. This is interesting, personally, because I have very few cravings when pregnant, but one has consistently been seafood. My second pregnancy specifically had me craving crab. I have also learned that my body type needs red meat. I can feel the low iron when I don't consistently eat red meat (but I do have aversions to meat when pregnant...go figure). I've also decided to consciously increase my seafood intake to 2-3 times a week, if/when possible.

In my first post on adrenal fatigue there was an article that discussed having functional adrenal levels that, when taxed by pregnancy, resulted in low adrenal function. It seems to be a similar situation with the ferritin. Perhaps one has functional Ferritin levels, but, with the increased demand caused by pregnancy, the levels become low and readily depleted. 

So next up is an iron test specifically to measure my ferritin levels.