Sam does not give a fuck . Dude is dumping off no matter how many yards you need <| sep |> Ferritin kinds of shows you your actual iron reserve in the body . I am not sure how long it takes to restore that to be honest , a hematologist might give you an estimate . What I do know is , recovery is tracked via the rise of hemoglobin levels and drop in nucleated red blood cells noted as nRBC on the panel . It basically tells you the body is creating newer red blood cells properly . Since once you start taking iron there will be an initial period of rapid use , you don ' t expect a rapid rise right away . I think it ' s more important to track these two parameters right now and follow up with ferritin in a month or two or may be even more depending on what the hematologist thinks .