Ferritin, from 7 to 16 and then stalling
Hi everyone,
TL:DR --> is it normal for ferritin to initially double, and then stall in the teens, with consistent supplementation over 2 months? Without a strong known bleeding source is this always a red flag or can it just be a normal part of the iron journey?
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First of all I want to say that I was a member of the fb group for the Iron Protocol but I've deactivated my fb account for now. I've not adhered to the protocol because the amount of iron, especially taken with vitamin C, caused me a number of side effects and I decided I would be okay with slower results.
My ferritin was originally 7.7. I tried various forms and dosages of iron and settled on being able to tolerate iron bisglycinate 50 mg every other day and B12 1000 mcg daily. This amounts to 25 mg daily of iron, which is light-years beyond what I had been consuming previously. I'm also eating a lot of steak and komatsuna.
After 2 weeks of these measures, my ferritin was 16.1 and I was getting pretty excited. However, a month and a half after that, my ferritin is only 14.6.
I'm wondering if this is normal. My inclination was to up the bisglycinate dosage to 75 mg and to alternate daily with heme iron but this has led to anxiety, headaches, and abdominal upset. I'm having trouble understanding if this plateau is a temporary thing and the numbers will likely continue to rise or if there is some underlying issue. Will my numbers not rise at all if I continue on the dosage my body could tolerate without issue?
I don't have particularly heavy periods anymore and I don't have stomach ulcers or h pylori. I guess I'm getting a bit of "health anxiety" wondering why my ferritin hasn't budged when it initially had (half-worrying a bit about colon tumors and the like). Is this just a normal thing to happen?
Even though I'm not taking iron as high as the protocol states, 25 mg a day is loads higher than I was getting before I started on supplements, so shouldn't the numbers be going upward if only slowly?
I live in a rural village in Japan and infusions aren't available. Also can't push my doctor for tests and such.
I take other supplements as well: methyl folate, magnesium, D3, omega, B12 as mentioned. I get kits of vitamin K in my diet and eat pumpkin seeds for copper.
Thanks everyone.
edit: I'm not sure if this matters but I drink 4 cups of cold brew coffee daily. never within 2 hours on either side of my iron though. But could this still effect absorption?