Dr. Mary Claire Haver

Number two, you need to know what your ferritin level is.

Why?

Ferritin is our iron storage hormone.

It is the first thing to go when our iron levels are low.

Your blood iron may look...

totally normal.

But what is stored in the bone marrow is what's important.

And they've changed it.

It used to be 30 was the cutoff.

In the last few years, they moved it up to 60 for a ferritin level.

So it can pick up low iron stores

way, way, way, way, way earlier before you ever become anemic.

Again, it's an early warning system, right?

And this is one of the things we see aging and menopause chip away at.

Low ferritin levels are related to fatigue, hair loss, brain fog, anxiety, all things that happen in perimenopause, right?

So it is one of the critical labs that we get to try to differentiate, is this perimenopause or does she also have a low ferritin level that we can treat, right?

right, by giving her iron either through an iron transfusion or oral iron supplementation, iron-rich foods.

Number three, vitamin D. You need to know your vitamin D level.

And remember, there is low, which is less than 30.

There is optimal, which is 60 to 100.