How long to raise iron levels?

6 months ago I was diagnosed (again) with anemia. I've been taking Slow Fe twice a day, and trying to eat more iron-rich foods. I also have addressed a problem with very heavy menstrual bleeding within the past 3 months.

I had my iron levels checked again recently. My %saturation has raised from 8 to 10% (should be at least 15% though I'd like it at least 20%), and my total iron from 33 to 35 (should be 40-175 allegedly, and I know nothing about it to think otherwise). I don't know my hematocrit, that wasn't tested.

It seems like this is a very slow gain. When I called my doctor's office, the assistant didn't have much to say. I asked if I should up my Slow Fe to three times a day, and she said no. And I asked if she had any other advice, to which she said no. So I figured I wasn't getting much help there and stopped asking questions.

Is this the normal rate I should expect my levels to rise? It seems slow to me. A decade or so I was on iron three times ago, and I thought that might help, but then if the assistant didn't suggest that I suppose I should stick to two. I did some Googling and maybe I should eat an orange or take a vitamin C pill along with the iron, to aid in absorption? I'm sort of sporadic about when I take it, usually anywhere from 2 minutes to 2 hours after a meal, not sure if that affects anything.

Thoughts? Advice? Should I just stick with it and be patient?

I do feel a million times better, but I addressed multiple medical issues over the past 6 months so it's hard to isolate what affect the slight increase in iron has had, isolated from the other changes.