Well, I think that's what its called...A close family member of mine has iron deficiency(her body is unable to absorb iron). I didn't know much about it, but all you need to know is that without iron, the body is sooo tired... The reason I am asking about this is because it is sad to see this person so tired day after day no matter how much sleep she gets. She went to the doctor plenty of times about this, but nothing seems to be working for her...Does anyone have some advice? Maybe previous experience in this problem?

Sounds like the only solution is some kind of supplement. I'm not sure how iron is absorbed and utilized, but there must be some way to get it. Sucks that the problem is compounded by the whole menstrual situation. Would be easier for a male.

Is she deficient in absorbing it? or cannot absorb it at all?

She said that no matter how much iron her body gets, she loses more of it because she loses a lot of blood, which is why its hard for her to be "in a profit of iron".

How's her calcium intake?
found in dairy and dark green veg...

lack of it inhibits iron uptake.
too much caffine leeches calcium from the body.

hope this helps.

I'm assuming her serum ferritin levels are very low as well as her hemoglobin since ferritin is required to help produce red blood cells.

Most of the iron in our bodies is stored and bound to ferritin (a protein that binds to iron), so what a serum ferritin test measures is the amount of stored iron in your body (liver, spleen, muscles, bone marrow).

She really needs to take iron supplements and eat meat at least twice a day. I take a time-released iron supplement because sometimes the regular ones can wreak havoc with your entire digestive tract. Most doctors recommend ferrous sulfate and taking that on an empty stomach. Since iron bothers my GI tract, I take 300mg of ferrous gluconate (35mg of elemental iron) once a day with dinner. When I'm menstruating, I take two a day. That seems to have done the trick.

My serum ferritin was sitting at 3ug/L (normal range is 12-200), my hemoglobin was 109 g/L (normal range 120-160) and my hematocrit was 0.33 L/L (normal range 0.36-0.48).
After six months of taking iron, my serum ferritin was 25, hemoglobin was 138, and hematocrit was 0.40.

Calcium inhibits iron absorption from non-meat sources. Wait at least 2 hours before taking an iron supplement following a calcium supplement or vice versa for best iron absorption.

what's the actual diagnosic?

anemia? if so, what type? there are several...sickle-cell being the most well known.

WOW ILM,, nice new avie!

Thanks FF! Obviously it's not my back ...

ohm,,, then it sux.

second rate b.s. probably photo shopped trash!

you know you luv me

You bet I do!

Not photoshopped ... but definitely cropped for the benefit of all viewers on the forum

prity sure this was mentioned but just in case Ferrous Gluconate is the one that is not hard on the digestion track,,
and maby also sugests a sublingual vitamin B complex may help as well.
she also will want to see a naturalpath doctor, it's a slightly different aspects of medicine that tend to have outstanding results in this type of conditions.
~best of luck

Yeah, that's the type I take. It's much easier to tolerate than the other forms. Thanks for confirming that, phaledax