The Iron Clinic

25/03/2026

WHY AN IRON INFUSION ? - here is the patient feedback

I just wanted to write to say a huge thank you following my IV iron infusion in January. I’ve recently had my ferritin retested and it’s now at 74 ug/L (it was previously 6 ug/L) – and the difference in how I feel is genuinely life-changing. It’s hard to overstate the impact this has had on my day-to-day life!

Before the infusion, I felt constantly drained – like I was running on empty. Now, I feel like I have my life back. I’m able to play in tennis league matches without that underlying fear that my energy will suddenly disappear halfway through. In fact, I’m now playing competitively and socially in the same week, which would have been unthinkable before.

Outside of that, the changes have been just as profound. I’m playing with my children in the garden and no longer feel like I need to nap just to get through the day. Even the headaches I used to suffer from have reduced significantly in both frequency and severity. To give you a sense of how different things are – on Sunday afternoon I played a 4.5-hour league match, worked on Monday, and still made it to the gym on Monday evening. That would have been completely impossible a few months ago.

I’ve already been encouraging friends to get their ferritin levels checked and to push conversations with their GP if they feel they’re being brushed off – particularly where symptoms are being attributed too quickly to things like perimenopause.

I honestly can’t thank you enough for the role you’ve played in turning this around for me. If there is ever anything I can do to support the clinic – whether that’s sharing my experience, providing a testimonial, or otherwise – I would be more than happy to help.

21/03/2026

One 325-mg ferrous sulfate tablet ≈ 13 mg absorbed iron.

To match that with diet alone, you’d need:

🥩 3.3 lb steak
🥬 18 lb spinach

(Steak assumes ~25% heme absorption; spinach ~5% non-heme)

Food is important, but for iron deficiency, tablets are doing a very different job

11/03/2026

Menstrual health cannot remain a blind spot in our health system” 🩺✨
we are proud to be sponsoring and funding the SHINE project with IronLife Shine to promote screening, awareness and education for women about heavy periods and iron deficiency.

As we mark International Women’s Day, our Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Amanda J. Broderick, highlights a national scandal, nearly half a million women are currently on gynaecology waiting lists, with many waiting years for their pain to be taken seriously.

At the University of East London, we aren’t just observing this crisis, we are tackling it head-on.

Through our SHINE project, we have launched the world's first university-wide screening initiative. By using trained nursing students to deliver simple tests, we are identifying undiagnosed iron deficiency and providing support to young women who have struggled in silence for years.

Our mission is clear, early screening and community-based support are vital to ensuring that no woman’s education or career is derailed by a treatable condition.

We are proud to be at the forefront of women’s health research, creating a future where health equity is a reality for all, regardless of background or postcode.

This International Women’s Day, we move beyond awareness to action, ensuring health equity is the foundation for every woman's success.

06/03/2026

https://swanseastandard.com/2026/03/06/leading-iron-health-expert-to-host-free-public-event-in-swansea/

Residents of Swansea are invited to a free public event on iron deficiency and anaemia at HMT Sancta Maria Hospital on Tuesday 10 March 2026 (6pm–8pm). (See flyer attached). The open evening, hoste…

04/03/2026

We are delighted to be running an Iron Infusion service in Swansea next Tuesday (walk from train st. or good parking)
We also have an open evening, talk and free testing from 1800.
This is a first for Wales and we hope to raise awareness and treatment.

Please contact info@theironclinic.co.uk or you can book here:-
Consultations are online most days and then after the consult we can book you directly in for the infusion.

25/02/2026

Restless legs - Common in pregnancy this can be a significant problem for women and often indicative of severe iron deficiency. If untreated the symptoms can continue for many years.

Recent guidelines have confirmed an important role for iron in the treatment with multiple clinical trials showing superiority of IV iron over oral iron

Restless legs syndrome is a neurological disorder that causes an overwhelming urge to move the limbs and can negatively affect sleep and quality of life.

Approximately 8% of US adults experience symptoms of restless legs syndrome each year, and 3% have moderately or severely distressing symptoms at least twice weekly.

📄 This JAMA Patient Page describes restless legs syndrome and its symptoms, risk factors, diagnosis, and management.

https://ja.ma/3N0rqav

18/02/2026

Iron Deficiency in Men is unusual
The body is amazing it holds about 4000mg of iron and recycles 500mg of iron per month. There is no means to 'excrete' iron so the recycling accounts for >90% of iron needs. Consequently normal absorption pathways from the gut are pretty rubbish - just 2-3mg per day. This is why women are disproportionately affected as a baby requires >1000mg of iron and iron losses in blood from the menstrual cycle can be 25mg or much more in women with heavy periods.

In men that develop iron deficiency, often it can happen over months / years and there has to be a cause. Poor absorption from coeliac disease, atrophic gastritis or weight loss surgery. Or blood loss; gastritis, ulceration, inflammatory bowel disease, or polyps / cancer. So endoscopy and colonoscopy is indicated in most.

Here Dr Susan Jain and our ODP Nick, providing IV iron to a gentleman before his endoscopies. In the Uk an iron infusion is routine and a full treatment of 1000-1500mg can be administered in a comfortable safe environment in just 15-30 minutes

13/02/2026

Common symptoms of anaemia incl.:
🥱 Tiredness
😵‍💫 Dizziness or feeling light-headed
❄️ Cold hands and feet
😖 Headache
🫁 Shortness of breath, especially upon exertion
🫀 Irregular heartbeat

If you experience any of these symptoms without any apparent reason, you may have

11/02/2026

03/02/2026

Heavy Periods (Heavy Menstrual Bleeding) is very common. HMB affects 1 in 3 women and the most common cause for and . Despite this the UK NICE guidance does not advocate testing Ferritin. The reason? - because there are no data suggesting that HMB causes iron deficiency and that iron deficiency causes symptoms. To address this The Iron Clinic has launched a screening project to gather data to change UK guidance.

Please help us https://www.shineonwomenshealth.org/

Note: HMB is a symptom that can have many causes, but it is often the HMB that can impact a woman's quality of life - here is a simple guide to symptoms (any 2 means HMB): -
The need to double protect
To get up at night-time
Double protect
Worried about going outdoors one or two days of the week

Note a tampon or sanitary pad can hold 10-15 ml of fluid. So more than a dozen per cycle means you are losing more than 80ml of blood. That adds up to ONE LITRE of BLOOD per year!!! HMB needs treating!

That is a LOT of IROn i.e. 500mg. and a normal diet will not support those losses.
Iron Deficiency needs treating!

Iron is stored in Ferritin and Ferritin is the best marker of iron stores
Ferritin > 50 is normal
Ferritin < 30 is iron deficiency

Iron Deficiency causes symptoms that can be disabling.

Yet there is no charity, no central place to get good advice, no recognised source for information, nowhere for women to get help advice and direction!

We will soon be transitioning to the IRONliFE, a Charity headed by Prof Toby Richards to raise awareness for women about heavy menstrual bleeding and iron deficiency. To offer the correct medical advice to empower women to get the correct information in order to get the correct treatment and to stop the suffering of many. Please watch this space over the next few weeks.

27/01/2026

Your blood lives or dies by three nutrients: iron, folate, and vitamin B12.
This chart shows how they build every red blood cell you have.

🩸 Iron: You eat 10–20 mg a day but absorb only 3–15%.
Heme iron (meat) gets in easily. Non-heme (plants) struggles.
Vitamin C boosts absorption. Inflammation blocks it through hepcidin, trapping iron in storage.

🧬 Folate + B12: These two run the DNA synthesis machinery in your bone marrow.
Folate depletes in months. B12 lasts longer but needs intrinsic factor to be absorbed. Lose either and red blood cells enlarge but can’t divide.

♻️ Recycling: Your body reclaims ~25 mg of iron every day from old red cells

🔗 The triad:
Iron delivers oxygen.
Folate builds DNA.
B12 activates folate.
Break one link and oxygen transport collapses.

That’s why fatigue, pale skin, brain fog, or numbness often trace back to this same biochemical network.

Source: Color Atlas of Pathophysiology, Thieme.