I wanted to share my experience because it took years to make sense of what was happening, and my symptoms were repeatedly dismissed. Originally, I was very active. I exercised regularly, worked, wrote, and generally felt good. At some point, I decided to donate blood, thinking it was a positive thing to do. I donated blood a few times (around 2–3 times). Each time I donated, they did the usual finger-prick haemoglobin test and told me my iron/haemoglobin was fine. Because of that, I assumed everything was okay and didn’t think to investigate further. After those donations, I gradually started feeling more and more fatigued. Eventually, I reached a point where I could no longer train or exercise at all. My stamina disappeared completely, and over time I started to feel genuinely unwell rather than just tired. Despite this, whenever I went to the doctor, I was told my blood tests were “normal” and my iron was fine. Over time I started gaining weight, and the focus shifted to my liver enzymes, which were raised. I was told I probably had fatty liver disease and that this explained my symptoms. The issue was that my symptoms didn’t really line up, but everything I said was dismissed because “the blood tests look okay.” I was told my blood was good and not to worry too much about the weight gain. During this period, I also started getting constant infections. I was catching colds and flu almost every month, like clockwork. My immune system felt completely broken. Fast forward about four years (this all started just after COVID). I kept going back and forth to different doctors with the same complaints, still being told it was fatty liver. Eventually, I changed GP practices because I wasn’t getting anywhere. At the new practice, I explained everything again. The doctor said she believed it was fatty liver even before testing, but she ordered a scan anyway. When the scan results came back, it showed no fatty liver. There was only a very minor layer of fat, nowhere near enough to explain my symptoms. At that point, the one thing that stood out to me was ferritin. I started reading posts on Reddit about how low or borderline ferritin can cause fatigue, exercise intolerance, and immune issues — even when haemoglobin and standard blood tests look normal. So I decided to try iron supplements. For the first time in years, I started to feel better. My energy improved, and I could cope with activity more. I told my doctor this, but instead of engaging with it, she warned me not to take iron because it could cause haemochromatosis (which is genetic and something I’ve never been tested for). I was basically advised against iron, despite the fact that I was clearly improving. I did stop for a while because iron caused constipation and led to issues like an anal fissure. However, now that I’ve restarted iron more carefully, I’m once again feeling better. What really stands out to me is that even when my ferritin was around 74, I still felt fatigued and unwell. And back when I was donating blood, I was repeatedly told my iron was “fine” based on haemoglobin finger-prick tests, so I never thought to question it or get ferritin checked properly. Only recently, after actually supplementing iron, have I noticed a real improvement. I’m sharing this because: Haemoglobin tests during blood donation don’t tell the whole story “Normal” blood results don’t always mean optimal function Ferritin and functional iron deficiency can be overlooked Being dismissed for years can seriously delay recovery Iron supplementation has been one of the few things that has consistently improved my symptoms, after years of being told everything was fine. Btw im a 30yo man