Persistent tiredness in women is often dismissed. Iron deficiency is one of the most common, and most missed, reasons behind it.
A few quick questions to help you see whether it is worth asking your GP for a simple iron blood test. Designed for women and people who menstruate.
I'm Dr Cory Dugan, a women's-health and iron-deficiency researcher. I built this from the screening questions used in my research into iron deficiency in women.
No sign-up needed. Your answers stay on your device and are not stored.
Your iron risk check
Lower risk
What to do next
Want the evidence behind this?
I will send you a short, free guide on iron, fatigue and women's health, and what a ferritin result actually means.
Your email is used only to send the guide. It is not shared, and your answers are never linked to it.
Please read. This is an educational awareness tool, not a diagnosis and not medical advice. A higher result is a prompt to have a conversation with a qualified clinician, who makes all clinical decisions. It does not replace a blood test or a GP assessment.
It is built on the risk factors and screening questions from my research into iron deficiency in women, including my study of exercising women and studies I have co-authored screening active and community women. Self-reported risk factors and symptoms are non-specific: they flag who might benefit from a blood test, they do not detect or rule out iron deficiency. Only a blood test can confirm it. Ask your GP specifically for a serum ferritin test, because iron deficiency often develops well before it shows up as anaemia on a standard blood count. Thresholds for iron deficiency vary between laboratories and guidelines.
Based on: Dugan C, Scott C, Abeysiri S, Baikady RR, Richards T. The need to screen for anemia in exercising women. Medicine. 2021;100(39):e27271. · Dugan C, et al. The relationship between menorrhagia, iron deficiency and anaemia in recreationally active females. J Sci Med Sport. 2024. Heavy-bleeding questions adapted from Fraser IS, et al. Int J Gynaecol Obstet. 2015;128:196–200.
While you wait for the guide
Two more things that might help
The Iron Protocol
The full guide, free: what ferritin actually means, how repletion works, and a printable script for the GP conversation. Twenty-two pages, no paywall.
Iron is one input. This is a five-minute self-assessment across eight areas of health and life, so you can see where energy is actually leaking. Free to take.