Ths is a very boring AIBU. I just want to have a rant.
I hav a 5 month old DS. Lately he has been sleeping a lot better but still not sleeping through - he goes to bed at 7, I dreamfeed him at 10 and he wakes between 3 - 5 for a feed and gets up at 6.30 - 7am. So only waking once. I'm still BFing.
However I have been feeling more exhausted than I did when he was newborn and waking round the clock! I feel dizzy and faint, can barely walk to the end of the road, my arms feel weak, I generally feel like I've been run over by a truck.
I had very low ferritin levels - 10 (e.g. iron deficient) in pregnancy and took iron supplements. The normal reference range is 12 - 150. I feel now like I did then - i.e. it's not just the normal shatteredness that comes with sleep deprivation or broken sleep. I'm sure that's the culprit now, so I started taking the iron supplements I had left over from pregnancy & upping my red meat intake. I went back to the doctor for blood tests and my ferritin came back at 26. (Thyroid function etc all came back fine so that's not it).
I called the doc & said I knew the ferritin was within the normal range but it was still quite low & I was taking my leftover iron already but that they were going to run out soon & given my symptoms I'd like an iron prescription to get it up further (from what I can tell from doing a bit of reading online - yes yes I know, don't trust Dr Google ... but still...) while 10 - 150 is "normal" optimal ferritin levels for females are 70 -90.
She said no, it was well within normal, they wouldn't prescribe and if I wanted iron supplements I would have to buy them over the counter myself. And that I was probably just "tired from the baby" (at which point I really wanted to hit her - I mean no shit that hadn't occurred to me! The baby might be affecting my sleep, oh really?! )
AIBU to think this is a bit blinkered? I don't really mind about buying the iron supplements myself, but if someone presents with symptoms is it not bit bloody lazy & narrow minded to say "no that's not it, no I won't help you" and stick to a massively broad reference range for a possible issue? I already feel much better afer a week of taking my leftover iron supplements and upping my red meat intake.
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AIBU?
to be annoyed by the doctor about my iron levels!
57 replies
Gennz · 23/04/2015 23:02
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