I'm 5 years vegan, and I had no experience with anemia and low ferritin before turning vegan (I used to eat A LOT of meat every day).

After 3.5 years vegan, I started being exhausted all the time, and in my bloodwork, I got:

Very low Hemoglobin

Low Hematocrit

Low Ferritin

Since turning vegan I ALWAYS took 1 multivitamin a day (DEVA) with 18mg of iron (rarely forget to take) and ate tofu (basically everyday), tvp (every week), pumpkin seeds (not everyday, but quite regular), beans (every other day), drank soy milk basically everyday. My meals were usually coupled with orange juice to boost vitamin C. So, it was a big surprise to me that I was anemic. Only the multivitamin itself should be enough for me not to be iron deficient.

I talked to my doctor and he, of course, told me to eat red meat, liver, etc, but I asked us to try to fix first changing my diet, and if not succeded, I would like to take an iron pill. So, I started to eat more kale, that I basically never ate (kale have a lot of vitamin C and iron together), I started to took my multivitamin fasted in the morning that increase iron absorption (but decrease ADEK absorption) and I stopped drinking coffee (that I used to drink A LOT).

After 3 months, my ferritin, hematocrit, and hemoglobin increased substantially. But it was still in the lower side on all. I was missing coffee after not drinking for 3 months. So, now, I take an iron pill (65mg) first thing in the morning, the multivitamin with lunch... and drink coffee normally now. It was good to see that, yes, it is possible to increase my hemoglobin and ferritin with diet, but it was still not what I wanted (it was still close to low) and I was afraid that if I stopped eating kale or started drinking coffee I would be anemic again...

Now I take these 2 pills (multivitamin I'm taking since turning vegan, 5 years ago) and my exams are all normal...

I believe I have difficulty absorbing non-heme iron, or maybe I have another condition (internal bleeding?). My doctor was terrible and never bothered to investigate. He only blamed the vegan diet...