Low ferritin and can’t tolerate iron supplements

I’ve been dealing with the worst Lyme flare since being diagnosed in 2015 after undergoing a routine endoscopy in July. I believe it’s in part due to tapering off a decade of SSRIs. In any case my biggest symptoms are derealization, near fainting, extreme weakness, pallor, etc. my naturopath found I had a ferritin of 23, which according the the American society of hematology is an absolute iron deficiency. My iron sat and hemoglobin are normal. The problem is I cannot seem to tolerate iron supplements. I’ve tried about 10 different types, heme vs non heme. My biggest side effects are agitation, insomnia, and nausea. I’m at a complete lost as to what to do. I’ve been eating tons of meat and taking blackstrap molasses. I am negative for celiac. I think ssris may deplete iron, so could be the route cause since I’ve taken them for so long. Any thoughts? I almost want to stop thinking about and treating it as it’s causing my so much anxiety. But I FEEL depleting in some nutrient. Any thoughts?

When my son was iron deficient due to undiagnosed celiac disease - he took the liquid floradix. It helped.

I also took it after my initial consult at the J clinic.
I was borderline low - the floradix worked.

http://www.floradix.net/

My dr said the liquid is well tolerated compared to tablets

i would give another vote for eating liver

i eat it regularly - its very safe, super nutritious and unlikely to do you any harm even if you eat it every day. 2-4oz a day for a few weeks should replenish your iron levels.

my other thought is perhaps this dysregulation of ferritin - in that it doesn't seem to line up with your Tsat and HGB readings - is really just a sign of rampant inflammation.

Lyme causes inflammation like nothing else and inflammation dysregulates so many things in the body
-hormones,
-nutrients
-neurotransmitters

you mention your Lyme is flaring - maybe that's the driver

just sharing thoughts that might help you get upstream of it

sounds like your underlying issue may be bart ( anxiety derealisation, gut issues, circulation issues etc )

the iron imbalances may be a downstream effect - but not necessarily driving symptoms at all by themselves - esp as the other markers do not indicate anaemia.

brittle nails, bruises that don't heal ( or slow healing generally) pallor, weakness etc - would all seem to fit. ​

bart can also cause an occasion type of cyclic haemolytic anaemia - which i have had - some transient oddities on the CBC - but unless you catch it at the exact moment its occurred it does not show up as anaemia

have you been diagnosed with or treated bart ?

i was sensitive to treatment also - and all full strength abx or herb treatments made me much worse - and then when they ended i wasn't much better

but have made some good progress without debilitating herx like reactions by very gradually working up the dose of buhner bart herbs - so maybe that is an option

may be that is an option for you ?

Thank you so much! I will definitely look up Buhner. 🙂