Hi, I am a 26 yr old woman who has always been fit and well... these last 2 years my ferritin levels continue to be low but my heamoglobin is normal - therefor, I am not aneamic. I take iron tablets and then when my ferritin is up - the doc says to stop them... then they drop again but the doc doesn't seem worried by this... so neither am I but... I continually feel ill... I never have any energy what so ever... even though I am not lazy and do go out and about and make myself do things... I usually have a nap between 3 and 5... not a solid 2 hours though... I sleep well at night... approx 8/9 hours but never feel refrshed in the morning... during the day I have dizzy spells and get shakey... like I need a sugar boost... have had blood sugar test and am not diabetic. Docs have checked thyroid, auto immune etc but all in normal range. I did have some problems with my cortisol tests for a while but they have now rectified that. Please... I am at my absolute wits end... does anyone have any suggestions?. I feel if I go back to doc, she will think I'm a hypochondriac... She has told me my job is tiring - I look after babies at home and also look after a boy who has special needs and diabetes... I don't have my own so can rest as and when... HELP??

Have you considered getting an MRI or CAT scan?
You might try that if you need to, you might find soemthing that's been overlooked by the doctors. Also, go for second opinions if you have not, different doctors might find or think of something that the other one has not.
I hope you get well soon.

Thanks... my doc says she has looked for the obvious... so there would be no need for scans... I was thinking more along the lines of m.e or something similar but the doc says there is no specific test... life!. lol... Thanks anyway :)

The scans are there to find the NOT obvious am I correct? If he's ruled out the obvious, then it's probably best to do one of the tests in case somehting was overlooked. Your health is very important, so don't just let this go.

You know your body, and you know something isn't right. Making sure it's nothing serious is a must.

Have you had any blood work for any possible viral or immune-deficient problems? You need some detective work to find a cause of your symptoms. Immunology and Rheumatology workups might help. I had symptoms like yours, plus widespead paid and tender joints. It took lots of blood tests to get to the bottom of the mystery.

You could have an underlying viral infection, an auto-immune disorder that they didn't check for, endocrine problem; it's hard to say. Sometimes mystery disorders are found by extensive workups at a teaching hospital. It is a process of elimination, in order to narrow down a specific cause. When the more obvious has been eliminated, you start looking at the possible less-obvious.

Was the cortisol problem due to it being low? What was done to fix that? Because Adrenal Fatigue can bring on symptoms like yours, and stress and lack of rest can bring on Adrenal Fatigue.

Did you see a hemotologist?

If your feritan levels are droping you shouls also see a gastroenterologist. You would need to get some testing done to see if there is a problem. May be bleeding . Or it can be MALABSORBTION (sp?)