PSA: COVID can trash your ferritin
33F, I don't menstruate thanks to skipping the placebo week of my birth control pills.
Had COVID (probably, maybe the flu, didn't test) early April. Felt absolutely dog-tired afterward for a week, which is normal for me, but then it lasted for another two weeks, which isn't normal for me. Even stuff like two flights of stairs has left me wiped out the next day, it's been crazy.
Went to the doctor after week four of extra-super-fatigue, and she heard a heart murmur. Blood work showed ferritin 39 which isn't that crazy, but TIBC was 545. After a CT and echocardiogram, nothing was wrong with my heart itself except the murmur.
Doc said she's seen several patients this spring with low ferritin and a heart murmur after having had COVID. She also mentioned she has hemochromatosis and she had a low iron reading after this spring's COVID, which is nuts.
So anyway, PSA, turns out COVID can wipe your iron, and low iron can also independently cause a benign heart murmur. TIL. My heartburn PPI makes oral pill absorption a pain in the ass to deal with, so hopefully insurance will cover an infusion and I can get some energy back soon.