The Iron Clinic

06/07/2025

04/07/2025

What does Iron do in the body?
Iron helps deliver oxygen and energy to your body. Without enough, you might experience brain fog, forgetfulness, and trouble thinking clearly.

Discover more:

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04/07/2025

and
Symptoms of are 3 more common in women at risk of i.e the symptoms of : brain fog, forgetfulness, failure to process, inability to cope, social anxiety etc. are similar to those of ADHD - is there a misdiagnosis?

Iron is a key component in cellular function and important for neurotransmitter synthesis i.e. to make Dopamine and Serotonin. These are responsible for well being and brain function. Low iron reduces the ability of brain cells to talk to one another so confusions, fogginess, forgetful and anxiety etc.

Prof Richards's team screened 600 university students for iron deficiency -those at risk were 3x more likely to score positive for ADHD. suggesting that symptoms of ADHD may well be related to The Iron Clinic every week we see women told they have ADHD and the symptoms resolve following an iron infusion.

what is your story?

02/07/2025

Half of young women with Heavy Menstrual Bleeding have iron deficiency. In women < 25years with onset of HMB from the start with a history of nose bleeds or their mother had HMB or bleeding then there may well be an underlying problem with how their blood clots (Von Willebrand's). The first line treatment is Tranexamic acid.

29/06/2025

With Michael Auerbach our director Prof Toby Richards recently published the international guidelines on the management of Iron deficiency in Lancet haematology - good to see these picke dup by the NY Times

Significant numbers of older people have the condition. Many find relief with an effective treatment that is being more widely prescribed.

24/06/2025

students screening for anaemia -20% of women have anaemia

23/06/2025

We were delighted that our service was recognised by Bupa UK. last week as all treatments are overseen by a specialist doctor offering a full consultation, treatment and long term follow up plan. Unfortunately, having done >100 BUPA patients with great feedback BUPA withdrew approval today!

We remain the only professional iron infusion service in the UK

19/06/2025

The pathophysiology of iron deficiency in chronic inflammation. Increased cytokine levels in all conditions, and decreased renal clearance in CKD and CHF, result in enhanced hepcidin levels. These inflammatory effects are are seen in hospitalised patients. High hepcidin levels bind, internalize and degrade ferroportin on the lateral membrane of duodenal enterocytes and spleen macrophages. Iron remains trapped in enterocytes, which are then shed in the gut. Iron is also sequestered into macrophages, which are responsible for destroying senescent red blood cells and recycling their iron. Serum ferritin levels are regulated by the iron content of macrophages and increase in inflammation (apoferritin as an acute-phase protein). A decrease in circulating iron leads to lower amounts of iron bound to the iron carrier protein, transferrin, and subsequently to a decline in transferrin saturation and low iron supply to all organs. Furthermore, cytokines may also have negative effects on erythropoietin production in the kidney and erythroid cell maturation, while also increasing macrophage iron retention. Note that the increased iron losses that can occur in specific chronic inflammatory conditions are not illustrated here. Plus and minus signs represent increase/enhancement and decrease, respectively. EPO, erythropoietin; FPN, ferroportin; IL, interleukin; TNF, tumor necrosis factor; TSAT, transferrin saturation1070 | A JHA JH CAPPELLINI ET AL .

17/06/2025

Prof Richards lectures at the international conference on how to recognise and treat iron deficiency in bariatric surgery - iron deficiency affects half of people who have had weight loss surgery

12/06/2025

How do my symptoms improve after an ?
Pivotal to an iron infusion is to give a full treatment dose (20mg / kg so normally 1000-1500mg) i.e. if you are empty to refill the petrol tank! An individuals’ response is variable and does depend on their baseline symptoms and level of iron deficiency:

• Severe symptoms of Pica (eating ice), restless legs and itching, often pass in days.
• Within 2 weeks most notice that when they are walking upstairs it no longer feels like the challenge of Mt Everest!; dizziness, shortness of breath, chest pain, palpitations reduce.
• By four weeks people notice more colour in their cheeks & the dark lines under their eyes improve. They generally feel better with more energy and better sleep. The brain fog and forgetfulness improve, and people report feeling ‘brighter’ like the light switch has been turned on.
• At 6-8 weeks most iron deficiency symptoms that will resolve, have resolved; fatigue and tiredness improve, people report more energy, and their mind is clearer with symptoms of anxiety or ADHD passing. Libido and s*x drive also returns.
• At three months this is the time to repeat blood tests to ensure ferritin > 50 and more iron is not needed
• Hair loss takes longer, in iron deficiency follicles are more likely to be programmed to shed. Those already present will continue but as ferritin stabilises > 50 then the new follicles will behave normally. So the shedding continues for 3-6 months but then as the new hair grows it will thicken up over 1-2 years. Unfortunately, hair takes a long time to grow!

06/06/2025

IRON & VIT D
is common and we often see women with low VIT D. and taking VIT D supplements. In this large well conducted clinical trial, adults were randomised to Vit D supplements and this showed NO benefit on iron levels.

The treatment of is appropriate iron supplementation; we see too much advertising of 'therapies' that simply do not work (patches, sprays, magnesium, Vit D etc.). Vit D in this setting, like most other medical settings. is a marker of being unwell and again treatment does not correct the underlying problem.

In iron deficiency treatment with iron will correct the illness i.e. the iron deficiency and in most case Vit D levels rise naturally.

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04/06/2025

leading the way with screening all female students for heavy periods and anaemia