Low iron levels - at my age?!

Whoops - should have put square brackets around grin
bfn

I have never been told my ferritin levels; what is your haemoglobin level - were you told that?

Your GP should be able to diagnose what is causing that and advise or prescribe accordingly - it may be a lack of some other vitamin stopping you absorbing iron from your diet.
You need Vitamin C to help you to absorb iron from your food - a glass of orange juice alongside the steak perhaps?
Some people need B12 or folate but your GP would have found that out.

Yes Nannymarg I also have that problem. I've been low on iron for years but now I'm past the menopause it's become a worry. Like you I feel tired and ache all over so yesterday had some blood tests.
Last time I had my blood test done they came back and my count was 12 so as you can imagine I felt pretty dreadful . The lowest I've ever been was 4 and I was put on iron tablets for a year which bumped it up but the real issue is why is it happening?
I'm surprised your doctor didn't suggest at the very least iron pills and possibly cameras up and down,sorry can't remember the technical term. I refused to have the tests done last time but if my levels have dropped again then I may have no choice as it would mean there is bleeding from somewhere internal.
Are you on daily aspirin ? I am and that is known to cause internal bleeding.
Steak is a good idea,I was told to have two a week but like you I have high cholesterol ! What are we to do? Spinach is good as is Vit C taken with anything that contains iron,helps with absorption. Also in Boots,and other shops,you can buy liquid iron called Spatone,100% natural iron 28 days supply,gentle on the stomach .
Good luck

Stepnana is correct. Some people don't absorb iron very well and taking Vit C with a meal will help. This need not be a supplement, just ask Dr Google which foods are rich in Vitamin C and add them to your meals.

Plenty of green veg will help your iron levels.Maybe 2 portions a day is realistic.

My DH has just been put on a course of iron tablets and has to have Vitamin B12 injections for low iron/ferratin or whatever levels. He is 70 and has never had this problem before. He eats lots of green veg.

You need to have a sufficiency of vitamin B12 in order to process iron from your diet. For those who need to increase iron in the diet a good source is plain i.e. not milk, chocolate. The higher the % of cocoa e.g. 7%% or 85%, the better. I learned this from my friend who was anaemic during pregnancy nearly 50 years ago and having, initially, been advised to eat raw liver but totally unable to do so, was told by her very old GP that chocolate would do just as well. During my own pregnancies and the run up to the menopause I substituted chocolate for Iron pills with great success.

When I recently told my young GP about this, she said she had never heard of it but at a subsequent visit she thanked me and told me she had researched, discovered the efficacy of high cocoa chocolate and was now advising her pregnant patients accordingly. It is certainly much more palatable than raw liver and a good excuse to indulge a 2 squares-a-day chocolate habit #yumyum

We can get much more iron from meat than we can from other sources. Eat more lean meat and chicken.

Didn't your doctor tell you what to do?

Yes, but not all iron is able to be absorbed.....

You should not drink tea for at least half an hour after camels as this can "steal" the iron, so I read.

After meals!

Thanks everyone. I don't drink tea or coffee and I know about Vitamin C with meals containing iron. My Hb is normal apparently so the doctor was leaning more towards either a deficiency in my diet or my iron being 'stolen' as chelseababy put it. The problem is I think, because I'm on my own a lot I tend not to eat properly or snack on high calorie/low iron foods. Or I might be just guessing - surely my diet can't be that bad so I'm tending to go down the stolen route! Ah well, must try harder, can do better, as my school reports used to say. Thank you for your helpful comments and it's nice to know others have had similar problems with no apparent cause found. Very reassuring

I didn't know camels were a good source of iron chelseababy

However:
Spinach is good Not any better than any other dark green leafy vegetable - when the research was done the scientist allegedly got the decimal point in the wrong place and it was thought that spinach contained much more iron than similar veg - hence the Popeye legend!! So it is good but not that good!

I hope your GP has done a test for coeliac disease, however, if you do have that you would probably have had other symptoms too.

Do you know what your haemoglobin level is? It should be between about 11 and 17 for a woman.

Just a ps:
Iron is easier to absorb if it is heme-iron ie from meat rather than non-heme iron from vegetables and dairy.
Tea does inhibit the absorption of non-heme iron, as does cheese and dairy (don't eat a juicy home-made steakburger with cheese on top!).
I presume the same would go for calcium tablets, although I do take those from time to time.

Nannymarg I think that low ferritin levels do not necessarily mean you are anaemic, but if they continued to be low you could become anaemic.

Jalima you certainly seem to know what you're talking about

I was vegetarian for years and had to start eating RED meat again. It's the only food source the body uses to manufacture heam effectively. Chicken etc., just does not do it.

Anya I am not medically trained but have experience as a patient, advice from doctors and also because we have a coeliac in the family which condition can result in anaemia, but we did not know the cause for years. We have done quite a bit of investigation over the years.

Solgar do desiccated liver tablets which are very easy to take if you are not a fan of cooked liver. I take some whenever I feel low energy getting the better of me..

I feel so very tired, get plenty maybe too much sleep and have had blood tests for thyroid but told all well. However, i find that B12 and tablets containing the complete group of B vitamins are a great help taken every day. On occasions when i have stopped taking them I revert back to falling asleep worn out after just being out to the shops.
Maybe worth your trying them.

I have lived with anaemia for a long time. It took four years to get a diagnosis. As I was breathless all the time it was thought I had asthma, them COPD. It was only when I had a blood test for my aching joints they discovered I was extremely anaemic and was urgently referred to the hospital to see a consultant. After many tests (involving many scopes and I even had to swallow a camera) I was told I had angiodysplasia which causes bleeding in my small colon. There is no easy cure and I have to take 600mg of iron daily, I try to keep my diet healthy but find I can't keep my iron level up by diet alone.

I have to be really careful what I eat as so many things can thin your blood and therefore increase the bleeding. Cassia cinnamon and turmeric to name but two. There are also many medications I can't take, including anti-inflammatories, so my joints still ache a lot.

The ferritin level indicates how much iron is stored in the body.

Nannymarg53, have you been referred to a specialist? Anaemia can make you feel really unwell, I know, and there can be lots of causes. I hope you make a quick and complete recovery.

I was extremely surprised that my pre-op blood tests showed I was short of iron- so now take iron + B12 tablets- and also magnesium which seems to have totally got rid of the muscle pains in my calves.

I have always been anaemic. My mother used to give me an iron tonic called Parrishes Food. My haemaglobin reading is always low - 11. Iron tablets had no effect apart from making me constipated which made the piles bleed. I try to eat as much red meat and liver as possible. Have a varied diet and cook everything from scratch. Will certainly try the vitamin B12 tablets and the dark chocolate. Cocoa instead of tea?

dark green veg, like kale, spinach, etc.