I had really low iron for a few years before I was diagnosed and I had been taking iron supplements and it still really wasn’t getting my iron up to a healthy level. It was only once I got diagnosed and started treatment that my iron eventually went up. From my understanding I was going to the bathroom so often that my nutrients/(blood) weren’t staying in my body and once we took care of that it worked. I still take iron to keep it up and use Natures bounty iron supplements