Would this be making me feel so unwell as my gp disagrees?

[Littleladybugs]

I have extremely heavy periods- during them I cannot leave the house as the bleeding is so severe and I get so dizzy.

I take ferrous fumarate (x2 a day ) have done for 3 years now, gp said add spatone if I really thought I needed to which I did and now also feroglobin liquid.

Im exhausted and can’t function , a 10 min walk makes me so exhausted I have to sleep afterwards, I get breathless. The gp told me ‘this ISNT biological’ asked me to do a depression questionnaire but so many questions were focused on fatigue issues that she scored me as being depressed (I’m not)

My ferritin is 9 and my haemoglobin 113 of relevant - they said ferrous fumarate is all they can/ will prescribe but it’s not the cause of my issues so I don’t know what to do

Mefanamic acid prescribed by gp helped my awful heavy periods my ferritin was 5 and I had awful palpitations due to being anemic.
I finished having babies years ago so had an ablation so have virtually no bleeding now but not suitable if you want children

This is so interesting to read. I am currently taking the same tablets prescribed by my GP. My ferritin is 5 and HB 110.

I didn't realise how tired and washed out and low I was feeling until I started taking these tablets ! I feel like a new person ahain so I am hopeful they are working as they should !

My hair has been falling out , feeling so washed out and tired (which I put down to stress) gained a great amount of weight and have been over eating - is this because of the tiredness and trying to eat to gain energy??

My periods are also heavy and I'm going for an internal ultrasound soon to check for fibroids - I hear this is very common in women??

@lololy how long did it take to start to feel better?

@Cvoight I feel like it kicked it quite quickly . I didn't realise how awful I was feeling until suddenly I wasn't . If you don't feel a difference since taking the iron pills, I would definitely say go back to your GP to find out what's going on. You might need something else to help you get back to normal again.
Best of luck xx

@Cvoight I feel like it kicked it quite quickly . I didn't realise how awful I was feeling until suddenly I wasn't . If you don't feel a difference since taking the iron pills, I would definitely say go back to your GP to find out what's going on. You might need something else to help you get back to normal again.
Best of luck xx

@Cvoight if your ferritin is 9 and HB is 113 then this definitely suggests anaemia .

Is this your current level at present?

Coeliac diagnosis and going gluten free sorted out my period issues. My ferritin was always really low (less than 5) and haemoglobin just on the lower limit of normal despite iron tablets for months and months.

Going gluten free sorted out the iron absorption issues, which in turn sorted out the anaemia which then meant periods were just heavy side of normal rather than not being able to leave the house heavy. Just wish it had been discovered a decade earlier.

I'm sorry that you and others are struggling - DD has horrific periods and suffers with anemia. We found that the only way to get the GP to take her seriously was to take her phone to the loo with her and photograph and date/time stamp each pad. We then made the GP sit and look at them to understand that the heavy bleeding wasn't normal. We then said that if they weren't going to sort out the anemia we wanted a letter from them stating their reasons for not doing so.Needless to say they then took her seriously. It feels awful to be "that patient" but no GP is going to commit a refusal to investigate to writing.

I was chronically anaemia due to endometriosis so when I did become pregnant it made things much worse. I was admitted for bleeding at 20wks and the consultant was concerned because of risk of passing out was around 83 (8.3 in old money). I also had high blood pressure.
Despite 10 wks of iron supplements nothing changed so I had infusion at 32 weeks because my ferritin was almost zero. They considered it very high risk because I would have struggled with any bleeding during labour.
My consultant came to the conclusion that the iron supplements caused so much gastric irritation that I just couldn’t absorb iron.
Six weeks after infusion people were commenting on my sun tan. I’d been so pale before for so long that the return to normal colour after the infusion looked like I’d had 2 weeks in the Caribbean.
Not everyone responds to iron supplements, with chronic blood loss it’s almost impossible to improve your Hb.
The other possible cause is that you are perimenopausal. If you are ttc may be worth getting your ovarian function tested. You may have to have it done privately, but it will give you an idea of how your ovaries are doing. The AMH test is very sensitive but not funded by NHS. You may be able to request it but it will be charged.

@Littleladybugs this sounds like me and I have adenomyosis and now likely endometriosis (awaiting results). You need a gynae referral. Heavy bleeding like this, the pain and exhaustion is not ‘normal’ I have those things and my iron is within range (with a lot of effort) but I at least know the cause. You need to request an MRI scan to work out the cause (ultrasound is not enough). Unbelievable you’ve been told you’re depressed. Makes me very angry.

Also, sorry to say, you do sound similar to me but thankfully for me the exhaustion and aching legs / pain is usually very bad 2 days of the month but the rest I am ok (some days I have milder pain but it’s manageable). are you like this every day or just during periods (in now way am I minimising, just curious). Also have they not given you anything to reduce the bleeding? Tranexamic acid?

Probably worth adding here (because I’ve seen the other posts) that I keep thinking I’m peri menopausal but the GP says although I might be my levels are still good. I say this because it’s completely possible you’ve got endometriosis or adenomyosis causing these issues (not just low iron) and you’re not yet peri. It has been the case with me since age 32 and it’s unfortunately getting worse as I age (42 now).but I’ve still had 2 children so it didn’t stop that. I saw you’re TTC and wish you all the best with that. You need to get proper care because there are things they can do to help these conditions (more than iron tablets!)

@DataBatman very interesting about gluten free! But I am gluten free and have been for many years - doesn’t seem to make a difference. Did it help pain or heaviness? Mine are possibly less heavy so maybe it’s helped there I guess. Someone else suggested dairy free can also help. Haven’t tried that yet but I eat low dairy anyway.

It helped both the pain and heaviness for me. A lot of my pain was related to passing large clots so less bleeding meant less pain. I don't think avoiding gluten would help if not coeliac, but for me it was the cause of the anaemia which caused the other issues.

@DataBatman that makes sense. Although generally I think gluten is inflammatory hence I cut it out. I am now wondering if it has possibly helped me a bit!

It's tricky if ttc. Get best out of iron supplements if take with vitamin c and avoid caffeine

I know!

I had 20 years of GPs telling me it was A...

Only to discover that I had a very real and serious condition all that time

Hi Littleladybugs,
Wondering how you are feeling and have your energy, iron gone up? I took Ferrous Fumarate for a few months. Wondering if I should go back on them. GP didn't think it is any connection with Peri-menopause , having heavy periods for a few years.