09/17/2025
🧠I’m NOT a physician (medical doctor), but I AM astounded by the research around iron as a cofactor in producing dopamine, serotonin, and norepinephrine, neurotransmitters that shape focus, motivation, and mood (etc).
🧠A PLOS ONE meta-analysis put it like this: “serum ferritin levels in ADHD patients were significantly lower than those in controls” (Wang et al., 2017).
🧠But here’s the important part:
🔸 Iron deficiency isn’t the cause of ADHD.
🔸 Taking more iron doesn’t cure ADHD.
🧠What it DOES suggest is that iron levels can influence how the brain uses dopamine.
🧠For some, low iron may worsen attention, mood, or fatigue. For others, restoring normal iron (with medical guidance) can help overall functioning, but ADHD is still a neurodevelopmental condition that requires BROADER support.
➡️I think this is VERY worth knowing. My iron had been profoundly low (I got infusions) when I was getting a regular period (I had golf-ball-size blot clots from the endo, and it was unsustainable without more iron, but “it was all in my head anyway so…that’s another story).
➡️Now, without bleeding like I did then (only from the progesterone to shed my uterus lining), my iron is OK.
➡️BUT, my ferritin, my IRON STORES are low! We do not talk enough about this. Then I got it up to “normal” which was 7 times LESS than actual OPTIMAL levels.
➡️I work CLOSELY with my patients’ physicians since I like every variable that’s IN our actual control to be fine-tuned. Vitamin D, Thyroid, IRON, ETC, so that we are working on executive functioning from the most sturdy place as possible:
➡️Always get labs checked and talk to a trained medical professional before supplementing. 🩺
If you needed to HEAR this, consider dropping a ❤️.
I love you. Surthriving with you, XO, Dr. Jen
