S4E8 The Iron Protocol Part 1, with Caitlyn Hartigan

Welcome to this 2 part series of Alopecia Life around the topic of iron deficiency. A couple years ago, living with "low iron" caught up with me. I found myself unable to do simple tasks like walk my dog, go up a flight of stairs without feeling like my heart was beating out of my chest, and I had an incessant cough that wouldn't go away. I soon discovered that my Iron had dipped to an alarmingly low level, but there was more to the story than I realized. I didn't fit the puzzle pieces together until April of this year when my symptoms resurfaced, with additional ones that were perplexing. I had seen multiple general health care providers and a hematologist, and we still hadn't identified what the cause was. I'd been given a standard suggestion on how to take iron, every other day with some orange juice. It just wasn't cutting it. I soon found the Iron Protocol (for Iron Deficiency with or without anemia) on Facebook, and it was a total lightbulb moment. I had always wondered why I had low iron, and also why it didn't seem to ever bother my doctors over the years. I also wondered if it was deficient because I had two autoimmune conditions? Was it a factor in these conditions? I'm pleased to have Caitlyn Hartigan here to share what the Iron Protocol is, what ferritin is, how to identify some of the signs of low ferritin, how iron moves through our body, and quite a bit more. We've broken it down into two separate episodes because it's a lot of information, and we wanted to have time for questions that may have come up between episodes.This is a reminder that neither me or Caitlyn are medical professionals. This podcast is for informational purposes only. Let's welcome Caitlyn Hartigan to Alopecia Life.Thank you for listening to this first episode talking about iron and ferritin. After our interview, I jumped on the support pages I run and am part of and asked questions of the group members living with alopecia or who have a child with alopecia. For the past decade I've heard a large percentage of folks living with alopecia areata saying they had low iron. So it didn't surprise me that the poll revealed over 42% mentioned they have "low iron", and that a good portion of the group didn't know what ferritin is, or even that some had high iron. I hope those of you with iron and ferritin issues have your wheels turning, know what questions to ask of your healthcare providers, and are feeling hopeful. To find out more about Caitlyn and to check out the protocols on Facebook, the website, or to follow on Instagram, check out the links provided here in the show notes. https://theironprotocol.com/https://www.facebook.com/groups/3412143085483810https://www.instagram.com/theironprotocol/Support the showAlopecia Life provides free resources for school and home education, including a growing list of alopecia books, education videos on YouTube, links to support groups within the US, UK, Canada and more. You will also find access to Head-On, Stories of Alopecia, the Alopecia 101 free course, paid Alopecia Roadmap course for parents of children living with alopecia, and personalized coaching. Together, we can make a difference. To find out more, https://www.alopecialife.com/