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At the American Infusion Center\u2019s location on lower Broadway in Manhattan, La-Z-Boy recliners with laptop tables are positioned in front of windows overlooking the Hudson River. The majority of people sitting in those seats\u2014click-clacking away on their computers with an IV dangling from one arm\u2014are women, including me. And many, including me, are there to get an iron infusion\u2014a treatment that, despite being well-informed about my health, I hadn\u2019t even heard of until I was in dire need of it at 47.<\/p>\n
My iron levels weren\u2019t ever mentioned at doctor\u2019s visits until I was pregnant with my daughter at 39. With another human growing inside me, the need for adequate nutrients had new urgency. Those levels were steady for the duration of my pregnancy, but after a whirlwind four years\u2014living through a challenging postpartum period, perimenopause, and a global shutdown\u2014they took a nosedive.<\/p>\n
But the drop wasn\u2019t something my doctors picked up on easily. It took a year of relentless symptoms (fatigue, hair-shedding, brain fog, restless legs, anxiety), monthly periods reminiscent of crime scenes, and two myomectomy surgeries (to remove clusters of uterine fibroids) before I was deemed anemic. Iron deficiency is the most common cause of anemia, a condition that occurs when your body doesn\u2019t have enough healthy red blood cells. You can be iron deficient (meaning you have low stored iron, or ferritin) but not necessarily anemic, although untreated iron deficiency often leads to anemia.<\/p>\n
Though my iron deficiency went largely unrecognized for a time, I\u2019m certainly not alone in this journey, which\u2014like so many diagnoses in women\u2019s health\u2014often follows a long and winding path. A 2024 report from JAMA<\/em> Open Network found that 34% of women between the ages of 18 and 50 are iron deficient. Post-menopause it becomes less common, as women stop bleeding regularly, so there\u2019s less iron loss; that\u2019s also why iron deficiency is less common in men.<\/p>\n The reason so many women find themselves dealing with anemia, particularly in their 40s (I was 45 when I was diagnosed), is not so straightforward\u2014which is why it comes as no surprise that many are searching for answers and sharing symptoms on TikTok. Ahead, we sort through the signs of iron deficiency, including fatigue, shortness of breath, dark circles, cracking skin, and what social media is calling \u201cferritin face.\u201d<\/p>\n Iron is a building block for hemoglobin, a protein in your blood that is required for the production of the red blood cells that deliver oxygen throughout our bodies. It sounds vital because it is. It\u2019s key for optimal skeletal and cardiac muscle function, for hair growth, and for making neurotransmitters in our brain (including the dopamine and serotonin that have such a profound effect on our moods), says Imo J. Akpan, MD, a hematologist at New York Presbyterian.<\/p>\n \u201c[Iron] also plays a quieter but important role in supporting regular ovulation and a healthy uterine lining, both of which matter when someone is trying to conceive,\u201d says Lora Shahine, MD, a reproductive endocrinologist and ob-gyn at Ivy Fertility in Seattle.<\/p>\n And iron is foundational to how our bodies produce energy. Explains Amanda Kahn, MD, an internist in New York, \u201cWhen iron stores are low, women often feel it everywhere, from their energy levels to their mood to their hair.\u201d<\/p>\n Do you have heavy periods? Do you have brain fog? Do you get winded walking up stairs even when you\u2019re in really good physical shape? These are some of the questions Jamie Rosen, a 40-something brand consultant in New York City, remembers being asked by her hematologist Rachel Kramer, MD, during her first visit. \u201cI was like, \u2018Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,\u2019 to everything she asked me,\u201d says Rosen, who had a list of symptoms that she had long been brushing off.<\/p>\n<\/div>\nWhat do we need iron for anyway?<\/strong><\/h2>\n
The face (and hair and body) of iron deficiency<\/strong><\/h2>\n