Exhausted but Iron Looks Fine? Check Your Ferritin

Exhaustion, brain fog, and the desire to chew ice are signs your iron levels may be low—even if they look normal. Time to check in on this overlooked protein.
Exhausted but Iron Looks Fine? Check Your Ferritin
Andrzej Wilusz/Shutterstock
|Updated:
0:00

Sabrina Cuevas didn’t think much of her new habit at first. She’d stop at the gas station, fill a few cups with ice, and chew her way through them during the day. Then it became four or five cups, every day, and people started calling her the Ice Lady.

The craving, it turned out, was a symptom. Ice chewing, called pagophagia, is sometimes an overlooked sign of iron deficiency.
Sheramy Tsai
Sheramy Tsai
Author
Sheramy Tsai, BSN, RN, is a seasoned nurse with a decade-long writing career. An alum of Middlebury College and Johns Hopkins, Tsai combines her writing and nursing expertise to deliver impactful content. Living in Vermont, she balances her professional life with sustainable living and raising three children.