When low iron uproots us - Part 1
A holistic approach to Iron deficiency
Sometimes there is a strong weekly theme in my clinic. Something that unites the people coming to see me in a common symptom, challenge or pondering. This week it’s all been about iron; iron rich food sources and the ‘whys’ of deficiency. A clear majority of the women that come to see me are iron deficient, and I’m also seeing more children with iron deficiency.
Many people come feeling exasperated, maybe you can relate? Having consistently low iron stores despite a diligent effort to increase iron in your diet, taking supplements, or organising infusions. You may have an initial increase in ferritin levels (your iron stores), though it often plateaus or within a few months is low again.
We need to think more deeply about the qualities of iron to understand why you might tend towards iron deficiency and anaemia. My work as a Naturopath is to think holistically and ask the questions
are you absorbing the iron
how is your digestion
is there anything in your diet reducing your absorption
is there inflammation at the heart of this low iron (low iron is a secondary marker for inflammation)
Then, most importantly, my questions are ‘what does iron deficiency feel like to you’ and ‘how does this relate to your life?’. This gives us a much deeper insight into your remedies.
Supplementation, supporting absorption, and increasing iron in the diet is important, but doesn’t always resolve iron deficiency. It is often a tendency that needs support. It becomes an opportunity to listen in a deeper way to the language of your body.
Why is it that people with iron deficiency are also often:
anxious
highly sensitive
shy
have an aversion to conflict
find speaking up for themselves difficult
are very empathic
are experiencing high stress, or have experienced shocks
tend to have sensitive hearts (palpitations, arrhythmia)
or sensitive tummies (digestive upset, multiple food sensitivities)
Can you relate to these characteristics? Perhaps this is you to a tee. Why do we experience cold hands and feet, shortness of breath, tiredness and headaches when we’re low in iron?
To answer these questions we need to study life (one of my favourite things to do, personally!). Rudolf Steiner said “To truly know the world, look deeply within your own being; to truly know yourself, take real interest in the world.". Iron is an incredible element, and to understand iron deficiency let’s get to know this beautiful element’s nature.
The nature of iron
Have you ever held a ball of iron in your hand? I’m having memories of an excursion to a museum where we were allowed to hold an old, cast iron cannon ball. My hand was not expecting the weight of this small sphere. Iron is dense, and impressively heavy.
The very core of the Earth is made mostly of iron, and it is the forth most abundant element in the Earth’s crust. The alpha form of iron is naturally magnetic. Iron has strong attractive forces between it’s atoms that can only be broken by very high temperatures, and it’s boiling point is 2862 degrees celsius! As a substance it is stoic in its form for a long time before it’s affected by heat. It is though, easily affected by oxygen and moisture and rusts easily, as we know, when left out to the elements.
Picture the Earth for a moment in your minds eye; its gravitational pull, its orbit in the solar system. Think about its heavy iron core. We share this iron with the Earth in our blood. The elemental iron in our body lives mostly as haemoglobin, carrying oxygen to the tissues and cells of our body, and returning with carbon dioxide to be breathed out or transformed.
Iron is essential to us as humans, and also to plants. Our feet and roots are firmly planted on the Earth, though let’s bring to mind the animals of the sea. Fish, jellyfish, seahorse, the beautiful animals of the deep are suspended, buoyant in the water and released from gravity. The blood volume of fish is between 1.5 - 3% of their body weight, whereas in us creatures of the Earth, pulled by gravity, it is around 7% of our body weight. Our blood has higher concentrations of iron than that of our sea friends, which is also why we find a richer source of iron in land animals than we do in fish and seafood. Iron has an intimate connection with our Earthliness and our uprightness.
Iron as an Earth element
In a sense as humans each day we are striving against the pull of gravity. Trying to establish ourselves as independent between the Earth and the Sky. It is incredible to watch a child in their first year of life as they strive to keep their eyes open, to lift their hands, to hold their head upright, to roll, to crawl, and finally to stand independently on their feet despite the pull of the Earth. It is an incredible achievement, to stand upright. And with this we also find our voice, we find our sense of individuality.
When we look at the processes between water animals and earth bound animals, we see that iron has a relationship with how we stand on the earth, how grounded we feel, and how ‘in’ our body we are. How comfortably we stand up as an individual.
When iron is low
When we are iron deficient we feel tired, vague, and foggy minded. It is hard to keep a clear string of thoughts together, and easy to loose focus and concentration. It is hard to carry ourselves through the day, our energy is hardly there. We can be pale, lightheaded, dizzy. Gravity is having it’s way over us, and our sense of uprightness is changing. We are letting go of our Earthiness, beginning to float, while at the same time feeling heavy and foggy.
We could say, we aren’t really ‘in’ ourselves. We aren’t grounded. We are becoming more like a fish; buoyant, floating, without memory. We’re becoming more feeling, less judgemental, less stoic, more homogenous.
Blood is the carrier of our warmth, and warmth inherently invites us into our bodies. When you’re low in iron, your hands and feet tend to be cold, it is not uncommon to experience other circulation challenges like Raynaud’s syndrome, or painful chilblains. The less iron available to our periphery, the less circulation, the less warmth, but also the less we feel safe and present.
Shocks and fright are often followed by chills. If you have ever experience high anxiety, a panic attack or large shock of some kind you will have experienced the cold feeling in your body, the pull of heat toward your heart and away from your extremities. We are frightened out of our skin, and all warmth leaves us. It takes time then to relax and come back to yourself. Shock can be often followed by memory loss and confusion. We’re not really all there.
Long term stress can also affect us in a similar way over time. The remedy is warmth, it’s an invitation back home; a warm blanket, a bath, a cup of tea, a hug from a friend, the warmth of kindness and care. We know iron’s correlation with the blood and with warmth, and it is no wonder that the less iron in our blood, the more anxiety builds in us. We can’t feel ourselves. It makes our heart race, our thoughts are unguarded and worries blooms. We long to feel grounded, full and warm again.
Planetary influences
Iron is the element associated with the red planet, Mars. Mars symbolises action, conflict, courage, passion, will and drive. It is also associated with war, being named after the Greek God of war. Weapons and tools through the earliest of human history were made with iron.
The organ iron and Mars is associated with then is the gall bladder. The centre of the important catabolic processes of the body, the gall bladder rules the acids that break everything down in order to be built as new life. The seat of action and energy.
Tuning into Mars, the gall bladder and iron I am reminded of the balance between breaking down and building up, the essential nature of death for life. It reminds me about the importance of my voice, of my part in life, of having a say and standing up for myself. We can understand then why there is a commonality when iron deficient to feel shy, to dislike conflict or debate, to find it hard to speak us for yourself.
Or to feel indecisive, and find it hard to make decisions and action them. To feel alone in your own company, easily feeling pulled along by the crowd or opinions around you.
Iron as a grounding mineral that helps us feel upright and individual, gives us a voice. To discriminate for ourselves what we want, and speak about it. Even simply in the sense of feeling clear about our life, beyond the wishes of others.
The nature of iron, these incredible characteristics and affinities, give us a real feeling for the remedies that would support you feeling deeply present in yourself, grounded, confident.
Can you start to feel what might support you? What may give iron a more resonant home in your body, for it to soak into your blood and carry life, energy and your beautiful spirit into everything you do? So you feel connected, with yourself and the core you share with the Earth.
Next we’re diving into remedies
what is it that supports us to overcome our tendency to iron deficiency
What else are we thinking of when it comes to low iron
what happens when we have too much iron
why I will interpret your test results differently to a GP
rich food sources of iron
which supplemental forms of iron I recommend
how to increase your absorption of iron
Join me for Part 2!
Deepening our Roots and Replenishing Iron
Lots of Love, and fiery mars strength
Sarah x
