25/09/2025
Here’s what I see in clinic all the time: you’re following the advice you were given — taking the iron tablet your GP or pharmacist recommended, trying to eat more iron-rich foods, even remembering your vitamin C.
And yet… you’re still tired. Really tired.
Not just “I need an early night” tired, but dragging yourself out of bed, getting breathless walking up the stairs, feeling lightheaded when you stand too quickly, or noticing more hair in the shower than usual.
Concentration feels harder, moods are flat, and exercise recovery just isn’t what it used to be.
Then your bloods come back and you’re told, “your iron is fine.” But your ferritin is sitting around 30–35 — technically “normal,” but nowhere near the optimal range where women actually feel good.
And here’s the thing: for many women, low iron isn’t just about not eating enough steak. It can be heavy periods, gut issues that stop absorption, chronic inflammation raising hepcidin, or even long-term stress shifting how your body uses iron.
On top of that, your body makes a hormone called hepcidin that blocks most of the iron you’re trying to absorb. It’s a protective mechanism, but it means that the 100+ mg tablet you’re faithfully taking? Your body may only be absorbing 5–8% of it.
The good news is, once you understand how hepcidin works — its daily rhythm, what raises it, and how to work with it rather than against it — everything shifts. I’ve seen women move their ferritin from the 20s and 30s up into that 70–80 “optimal” zone within a few months, and their energy, focus, and stamina return with it.
Exhaustion isn’t a normal part of life.
Does this sound like you? Let me know! (And sorry it’s been so long!)
Megan xo
PS – And a simple tip you can start today: always add a squeeze of lemon juice to your greens. 🍋
